A viral internet joke becomes a real-life, good-natured ‘battle’ for a lot of people with the same first name. Behind the scenes of the ‘JoshFight.’ From a report:
It began as a joke, Josh Swain emphasized. Spring, a year ago. As a pandemic surged, and millions idled at home, Swain, an engineering student at the University of Arizona, was very bored online. He noted that every time he tried to create a social media account, the name Josh Swain was already taken. An amused Swain logged onto Facebook, gathered every “Josh Swain” he could find into a group message, and offered a brash challenge, which was basically this: On April 24, 2021, everyone named Josh Swain should meet at these select coordinates — 40.8223286, -96.79820002; it turned out to be farmland in Nebraska — and duel for the right to be The One and Only Josh Swain. “We fight, whoever wins gets to keep the name, everyone else has to change their name, you have a year to prepare, good luck,” Swain wrote.
Over time, Swain’s terse, off-the-cuff, throw-down to all Josh Swains became a viral internet meme, leaping the curb from a bored joke into something quite real. The battle would broaden from Josh Swains to anyone named Josh, with Joshes from all over suggesting they, too, would come to Nebraska for a fight to be the The Only Josh. Terms of engagement were offered: they’d fight with foam pool noodles. Last Josh Standing wins. A public location was settled upon. (The original one turned out to be a private farm.) There was even a charitable angle: Supporters were asked to make contributions to the Nebraska Children’s Hospital and Medical Center Foundation, and bring an item for the local food bank. On Friday, Joshua Swain, 22, got on a plane for Nebraska. And this past Saturday, on a grassy field in Lincoln, it actually happened. Josh vs. Josh vs. Josh vs. Josh vs. Josh, in the JoshFight of the Century. “It was insane,” Swain said. “I can’t describe it. It’s so heartwarming, so incredible. It was a beautiful day.”
I got my second dose of Moderna yesterday and now I have a high fever. I know I have a high fever even though I don’t have a thermometer. I haven’t owned a thermometer in years, mainly because I so rarely get fevers; I probably should have purchased one when I was at the pharmacy getting the shot. But I know I have a high fever because I had a fever dream last night, something that hasn’t happened to me since I was in my teens when an illness pushed my temperature up to 104. Also, my brother reports that the second dose of Pfizer caused his temperature to reach 102.
“If we minimize what happened on Jan. 6th and if we appease it, then we will be in a situation where every election cycle, you could potentially have another constitutional crisis,” Cheney said later in an interview with POLITICO. “If you get into a situation where we don’t guarantee a peaceful transfer of power, we won’t have learned the lessons of Jan. 6.”
“And you can’t bury our head in the sand,” she added. “It matters hugely to the survival of the country.”
@Michael Cain: I’m happy I’m having these reactions. I would be concerned if I didn’t have any. I’ve read that that isn’t necessarily a sign the vaccine isn’t working, but I still have this lingering paranoia about not having received a real vaccine. It was at a small pharmacy in Bronx I found on the CDC’s website last month after everywhere else was booked. I looks legit. But I actually went to Google to look up “fake vaccines” or “vaccine scams” to make sure I hadn’t fallen for one. That’s why I consider these reactions a good sign. I think they also suggest my getting Covid last year may have provided some protection. I had a strong reaction to both doses, which doesn’t happen to everyone. I’m also glad none of the side effects include breathing problems. I didn’t feel I was breathing comfortably for an entire year after getting Covid; this problem essentially disappeared after my first shot and I can’t figure out why. It’s like it zapped any lingering long Covid symptoms I had.
I read somewhere that it is age related. Something like our immune systems get tired over the years (or something or other) I got the J&J: Nothing. My eldest got the J&J too: Kicked his ass the next day.
@Michael Cain: I didn’t have any reaction to the Moderna vaccine either. However, I give platelets regularly and the blood bank does a COVID antibody screen with each donation. I had negative prior to the shots; now I get a high positive result. A little extra comfort there that it all worked as designed.
A German police bomb squad called to investigate a suspected hand grenade in a Bavarian forest has revealed that the object was a rubber sex toy.
A jogger reported finding a bag containing the device on Monday in a forest outside the city of Passau, near Germany’s borders with Austria and the Czech Republic.
The discovery of forgotten or hidden munitions is a regular occurrence in Germany more than 75 years after the end of the second world war.
When the bomb squad arrived and inspected the contents of the bag, they determined it was a rubber grenade replica. The condoms and lubricant in the bag helped point to the device’s intended use, police told the German news agency dpa.
“An internet search confirmed the suspicion,” police said. “There are actually sex toys in the form of hand grenades.”
@Doug Mataconis: goddam Joe Biden and his Green New Deal. ( 😛 yes, i read the article, I’m just anticipating what several months of Fox News’s round-the-clock coverage this summer is going to be.)
Have y’all seen the video where the leader of our well-regulated militia fails to kill an animal from point blank range with four shots? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc14LK4n5ZE
I hope they send him back to mother Russia for remedial training!!!
NEW: Donald Trump is likely to fight any criminal charges stemming from a New York investigation of his taxes by claiming he relied on his lawyers and accountants to prepare documents and approve transactions, legal experts said
How was I to know all those dastardly lawyers and accountants around me were committing nonstop crimes‽ I’m shocked! Shocked I say!
@Doug Mataconis: From the limited interviews I have seen, Rogan seems to vacillate from seeming perfectly reasonable to pushing some of the dumbest conspiracy theories around. I don’t get him.
@Kylopod: Your reactions track what I’ve seen in articles–that people who previously had covid have more pronounced side effects to the vaccine, and that the vaccine seems to clear some long-covid symptoms.
Josh Marshall, over at TPM, has been soliciting input to how people are perceiving the “woke” issue. He points out that the reaction to every positive shift in societies values have been accompanied by whiners who think or say, “this women’s lib thing is going too far, aren’t these girls every going to be satisfied” or, “It’s getting to the point where you can’t even tell a good old Polack joke without someone getting offended”, etc. These takes haven’t held up well and while a fair number of people at the time might have thought these were reasonable points, now that our society has shifted they just sound like *ssholes.
On the other hand, these changes in society have also attracted their share of virtue signalers who just want something to prove their holier than thou attitudes. These people also sound like *ssholes. So Marshall is asking, “Where are we on the spectrum right now? What is legitimate change and what is tiresome virtue signaling?” Here’s one perspective from an academician:
Absolutely right, this latest one. My university sends out an endless stream of apologies for centuries old ethnic crimes, “climate surveys” asking who feels excluded, demands to take one kind of sensitivity training after another, and letters from every administrator after every national controversy showing “compassion” and asking us all about our feelings. Administrators are being hired by the droves to supervise all this, write reports, conduct surveys, and police language.
No one talks about accomplishments or excellence any more or follows what social science has shown since after World War II — that the best way to overcome discrimination is for groups to work together to achieve important real world objectives. I love to read books about World War II military history and again and again I ask myself whether America today could possible fight and win that kind of war again.
The greatest irony is that the older women and minorities who actually had to fight severe discrimination are just shoved aside in all of this. We have reservations about the endless feelings talk, but the mid career people, especially the white men, are determined to prove their purity. They have a new old boy system to signal their virtue and hire their favorite “diverse” youngsters without consulting the actual varied colleagues in their workplace.
I, too, never thought I would see the nonsense taught in literary theory seminars take over real institutions and politics. But it has.
@Kylopod: i’ve had lifelong awful insomnia and on a good night I get to sleep in an hour, on a bad night I don’t sleep at all, so to occupy my brain I find long podcasts and for a couple of years I listened to his, and his podcast is very attractive because it’s usually about three hours long, so I don’t have to keep opening my eyeballs and selecting the next podcast. And it’s really sad how inhomogeneous it is and a few months ago I just stopped listening altogether.
He can have a really great podcast talking to physicist Brian Greene, and he can turn around the next day and spend three hours being a UFO nut with some obvious crank. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was that he goes into these Jordan Peterson modes where he’s all like, men don’t act like men and feminist women are domineering whores and they’ve used cancel culture at Universities to beat cowardly men into submission and etc etc etc.
And I know where this comes from, I’ve actually seen this in several over-50 comedians, they still want to get onstage and make tranny jokes like they did 30 years ago at The Chuckle Hut in Cincinnati and now they get booed and protested when they do that and they’re pitching fits about their precious Free Speech. No dude, it’s just the times have changed and you haven’t. It’s like, you could probably get onstage in 1940 and make N-word jokes, but by 1970 you had to cut that shit out. It’s not some horrible oppression of your Free Speech, it’s just society’s mores changed.
And that shit started to become like every other podcast and it just wasn’t worth it anymore. Which is sad because he really is an incredibly talented interviewer, how many of us could go to a bookstore, pick a random book, and interview that author for 2 1/2 hours and have it be interesting?
@Kylopod: Long haul symptoms disappearing after the 1st shot has been well documented and reported by many. It will be interesting when they figure out why. That was your proof you got the real deal.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Im sorry–only a retard (forgive me woke police) would travel to another continent to shoot an Elephant. There has to be some technology that allows them to point, shoot, and see there they WOULD have hit the animal. Basically a souped up paintball—and get a nice mock up for their wall back at the cabin.
If you aren’t going to eat it–no reason on earth to kill it.
@Sleeping Dog: oh cool, they’re using plasmids. What’s awesome about that is that you can scale the shit out of that. And it’s so easy that I did it as an undergrad when I worked for a biophysics professor. When we wanted to do research on a SNARE protein, we would look at the genetic sequence that made the protein, figure out which bases we wanted to alter, then email a company in Massachusetts the sequence, they would synthesize it and mail it back to us in a test tube in a chilly styrofoam box, we would stick it in some E. coli, and they would start chugging the protein out. As far as bio-manufacturing processes go it was the easiest shit in the world.
At this time in 2019, only 10 percent of tank trucks were stuck in park due to a short supply of drivers. Now, according to National Tank Truck Carriers, that number has reached 20 to 25 percent.
To offset the deficit, tanker employers have had to increase their rates, which, combined with the heightened demand, could lead to higher gas prices amid the shortage.
Notice there is no talk about increasing driver pay to increase supply of drivers.
I have read recently that current thinking is the side effects have nothing to do with the mRNA per se, but are responses to the lipid nanoparticles that protect it. At least one animal study found that LNPs produced a similar range of side effects as in humans (ie, from nothing to fevers, fatigue, swelling, etc) whether loaded with mRNA or not.
LNP seems to be one of those technologies that have slowly emerged over decades, and is now suddenly critically important.
Bloody hell, everything is just awful and I am so angry about so many things… so I’m going to tell you about something good happening, something tiny and sweet and inconsequential in the hope it might help you if you are feeling as overwhelmed by horror as I am.
My Dad lives in an apartment near a canal and a certain duck has taken a liking to his balcony. So much so that she nested there last year and is nesting there again this year. But there are some things you need to know about this situation.
First: my Dad’s apartment is on the 9th floor. It’s about 150 feet up, if memory serves. Ducks usually nest close to water. And in fairness, the water is close…. just a really, really long way down.
Second: My Dad absolutely LOVES wildlife and birds especially. He’s been a member of the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds for my non-UK lovelies) all his life, since he was a child (he’s in his sixties now).
So when this duck picked his balcony, out of dozens of potential nesting spots, she did well. Apart from the whole DEADLY DROP OF DOOM to the water bit. She found the best human to help her. And my Dad takes this responsibility VERY seriously.
So last year, it was a bit of a saga. He was amazed she chose to nest on his balcony, delighted in fact, and watched over her and the nest during the first lockdown. Honestly, it was a gift for him too. He rearranged the planters on the balcony for safety…
And he made a plan for when the time for the ducklings to hatch came. My Dad used to be in the military (survival specialist) so he applied his many skills to making sure all would be well on the big day. He sealed off the gaps in the balcony so the ducklings…
wouldn’t tumble to their deaths moments after hatching. I mean, they bounce pretty well, but not THAT well. And he already had a bucket and also a rope long enough to reach the ground because, like me, my Dad thinks ahead re. fires etc.
Anyway, the day came, and the ducklings hatched, all 7 of them, and he lowered them down to the ground in a bucket while Momma Duck watched carefully and provided a loud commentary throughout. Then he raced down to ground level and made sure they reached the water.
There were predatory birds circling, so he made sure none of them picked off any ducklings as they made their way to the canal. It was pretty much the best thing that happened last year. My Dad is so great.
So this year, the duck came back. Mrs Mallard, as Dad calls her. She scoped the balcony out, destroyed a few plants, picked the planter she wanted to nest in and settled down. My Dad – and I in fairness – were absolutely delighted she came back.
She laid a month earlier this year. And there are 11 eggs! She sits for about 20 hours a day. My Dad has stuck loads of old maps over one half of his patio doors so he can walk around his flat without frightening her. It’s adorable.
So I enjoy regular updates on Operation Mallard as he calls it (I call it Operation Mallard 2, Electric Boogaloo, because I am silly). Apparently, Mrs Mallard has friends (maybe her children?) who call for her everyday.
As my Dad put it (imagine a soft Lancashire accent) “They fly past, about six of ’em, calling away to her. Then she covers the eggs with down and leaves and goes of with them for an hour or so. For a coffee and a bit of a natter, I s’pose, then she comes back.”
I phoned a week or so ago and he didn’t answer, which was strange. He phoned me back right away. “Sorry, didn’t get to the phone quick enough. Forgot to move it last night, so had to commando crawl across the living room so I wouldn’t frighten Mrs Mallard.”
Imagine a man in his sixties COMMANDO CRAWLING ACROSS HIS OWN LIVING ROOM to get to the phone without frightening a nesting duck. That’s… that’s probably all you need to know about my Dad, really. He is that good.
As ducklings tend to hatch first thing in the morning, he’s also shifting his sleep cycle so he can be certain he’ll be awake and ready to help them get to the ground when the big day comes. And, my lovelies, the big day this year will be in early May.
And yes, I will provide regular updates. As my readers know, I am a monster who loves to make people cry. But only with my fiction, my lovelies, and this is the real world. This is actually serious shit. The fate of 11 ducklings rests in my Dad’s hands. Soon, literally.
Lovelies! An #operationmallard update already! Just spoke to my Dad and he tells me that he expects the ducklings to hatch on May 5th (next Wednesday) but could be the days either side of it. He’s finished fully prepping the balcony so the ducklings will be safe.
Mrs Mallard is happy and well, and as the nights have warmed up a little bit, she’s hopping off the nest for food and water for a couple of hours after dark, when it’s safer. But today, she popped down to the water in the morning and Dad said this (it made me laugh):
“When she comes back, she stands on the rail and looks at me. It’s like she’s trying to place me. I look back at her, and think ‘Do you remember me from last year? Do you remember that I helped you? But you’ll not think I’m brilliant next week, will ya?'”
She went for him last year, understandably, when he went out onto the balcony to rescue the ducklings. But it makes me laugh to imagine m’Dad and this duck having these silent conversations, these moments of connection. He is so adorable.
Oh, and I said you were all VERY INVESTED NOW and he’s apologised in advance for not being able to film the moments they hatch but he’ll be too busy running around trying to catch tiny beeping ducklings and putting them in a bucket with a grumpy Momma duck complaining.
He said his friends have been nagging him to get a proper camera and a tripod and he said “Oh I can’t be doing with all that, I wouldn’t know where to start. And anyway, it’s the ducklings that are the priority.” Too right. He takes his Duck Dad responsibilities very seriously <3
@MarkedMan: These movements regularly go “to far” in that they are single issues within complex systems. Meaning that when the single thing changes–there are 2nd, 3rd, 4th order of effects that activists haven’t thought about and there is no energy left to address. The negative collateral effects usually just linger until they become egregious enough that they become their own single issue with energy behind it.
A lot of women with high ambition and skill benefited from “women’s lib”. But frankly, women with moderate/low ambition outside of being family women suffered a loss of status culturally and economically (unless of course they married a high-earning spouse.) A lot of these women ended up going to college and starting careers merely to be considered “eligible” by white collar partners.
Integration left a lot of black people and businesses stranded into subsistence and low growth situation–it wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns. My grandfather was part of management in a paper mill–his neighbors? A dual PhD couple (who taught high school). All the time I spent playing at their house with their dog–I was kicking it with PhD educated people. They had no kids of their own so I was their adopted grandson when I came to visit my grandparents.
This could never happen today. My grandparents and the “Smiths” wouldn’t buy in the same neighborhoods and neither Mr nor Mrs ‘Smith’ would be teaching local public high school. That neighborhood today is a low income community that battles with drug use and drug distribution.
The original residents that were forward thinking and pushed their kids into college had kids that generated income to afford to live in bigger houses in better locations in nicer cities. The residents that weren’t forward thinking or simply lost kids to the streets were trapped along with their kids or grandkids that inherited those home after they passed on.
A cheerleader in Pennsylvania who posted a rant against her school on Snapchat. It didn’t happen on school property but was posted from home. Nonetheless she was suspended from the JV cheer squad when school officials became aware of the post.
She filed a lawsuit against the school district and won at the lower court level. Now her case will be argued today before the Support Court.
As I see it, the districts actions were unconstitutional and violated several SCOTUS on the First Amendment rights of students.
If America, runs out gas this summer, it will be due to the refiners reducing production to meet demand over the pandemic. Now they would like to enjoy a few months of fat profits as demand returns.
@Doug Mataconis: Jesus. She was a 14-year-old JV cheerleader who tried out for the varsity team and didn’t make it, and posted on social media “F–k school f–k softball f–k cheer f–k everything” and a picture of her middle finger.
I can tell you my exact words, had I been principal and a teacher had bought that social media post to my attention: “she’s a teenager and she just got bad news, just ignore that shit.”
Right-wing messaging is so effective that we all know it doesn’t matter that the Kamala Harris book thing was debunked within minutes; its existence was enough, it’s with us forever, you will be hearing references to it 25 years from now.
@Teve: There’s an old Sesame Street where Oscar the Grouch makes weird flavors of ice cream such as spaghetti & meatballs, and the other characters are surprised to discover they like it.
Walmart made a half-assed attempt to compete with Amazon Prime a few years ago, now they’ve got a new plan and it seems wholer ass, called Walmart plus. Might be interesting.
@Jim Brown 32:
Unfortunately there are a few reasons those hunts are necessary. There are people living near, if not all around many of the African reserves. When I was there I had to admit the inhabitant’s demand for protection against wild elephants had to be accounted for. Hard to blame them when it’s an indisputable fact Americans wouldn’t tolerate wild elephants in their neighborhoods, not for one minute.
Either it’s controlled or people deal with mortal threats themselves, there’s no stopping it. The second reason is if the elephants must be culled it makes sense to have people pay a big fee to do it, if such can be found. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on one’s point of view, there are such people, people who think nothing of dropping a hundred grand plus to plug an elephant.
Those fees are a big part of funding the maintenance of the preserves, both in staffing and building allies of the reserves in the nearby communities. No matter what they do an elephant is bound to go into their fields from time to time, tear down a house and/or kill someone. The existence of an economy associated with game preserves is key to their continued existence.
@OzarkHillbilly: @Teve: What I find myself wondering is 1) how long has this guy been an asshole and 2) why didn’t the psychological profile discover it? On my more cynical days, they abyss in which my soul seems to dwell suggests that they’re not screening assholes out, they’re screening them in. But that can’t possibly be correct. The police are the good guys, right?
For some reason, my insurance agent elected to call me last Monday. He told me, again, the insurance wouldn’t pay for the PET CT. That’s old news, and I’d rather not keep bringing it up, thanks.
But he said something interesting. It appears, if I understood correctly, any further expenses, be they medication or treatment, related to the hernia, are still covered under the same deductible. So if the surgeon, say, decides the single mesh he put in wasn’t really enough, and tells me a second one should really be placed in, that would be covered.
We’ve discussed that, but I’m hoping it won’t be necessary, even if it’s an outpatient procedure.
He then asked me whether I’d gotten a COVID vaccine, and strongly advised me to travel to Dallas or Miami to get one, as “you won’t get one here this year.” the next day registration opens up locally.
Ever notice irony tends to have a great sense for timing?
@Just nutha ignint cracker: I said the other day that there are lots of problems that originate with having a certain percentage of voters who absolutely refuse to raise taxes for any reason at all. Bad policing is one of those problems. Around here a new cop starts at like 31k a year. Young friend of mine just got a job driving a forklift in the local Target Distribution Center making 39k a year. So you’ve got people who go into policing because they can’t get a job driving a forklift. Obviously this is just one example but you get the drift.
It’s actually a big part of the reason Florida’s politics are so screwed up. You’ve got a lot of elderly retirees from the Northeast who move here because there’s no state income tax and they want to keep as much of their six-figure pension as they can. They don’t give a fuck about your kid’s school, they don’t give a fuck about giving any hungry person food stamps, they sit and watch Fox News 14 hours a day and they will vote against anybody who raises any tax for any reason.
My last speeding ticket was not really excessive and it was $300. Cuz the local government has to get the money from somebody.
I enjoyed sharing a recipe yesterday, so Imma keep it going. For dinner tonight, Carmelized Corn and Black Beans. This is my take on a very popular dish at a local cajun/creole chain called Yats. From what I can tell, west African cuisines have similar dishes.
Ingredients:
1 bag of frozen corn, or a few ears of fresh corn (or an equivalent amount of canned corn if you really have to)
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 T of Brown Sugar
One red bell pepper, medium chopped. If I don’t have this, I’ve used canned chilies, roasted red peppers, or even diced canned tomatoes. Obviously this changes the flavor of the dish significantly, but it’s still good.
1/4 cup milk or half and half (cream is too heavy, but I think skim milk is too light)
1/4 tsp cayenne or more to taste
1/2 tspish of Oregano (I do a decent palm full, so this is just an estimate)
Some scrapes of fresh nutmeg
Salt and pepper
Melt a knob of butter in a pan over medium heat. Butter does a better job here of carmelizing than any oil.
Add corn and saute for 10 minutes until the corn starts to carmelize. If your heat is too high and you get some scorched corn, that is fine it still tastes great.
Add brown sugar and cook for a few minutes more, stirring constantly to coat the corn in that sugary goodness, and up the carmelization.
Add red pepper, saute for a bit longer, maybe a minute or two
Add black beans, another 2 minutes.
Add milk, cayenne, oregano, salt and pepper to taste, and a few scrapes of nutmeg.
Let simmer a bit until it thickens.
Serve over rice, top with finely chopped red onion, and a bit of cheese and sour cream if you don’t mind the added calories and fat.
Federal investigators in Manhattan executed a search warrant on Wednesday at the Upper East Side apartment of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who became President Donald J. Trump’s personal lawyer, stepping up a criminal investigation into Mr. Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine, three people with knowledge of the matter said…
…The federal authorities have been largely focused on whether Mr. Giuliani illegally lobbied the Trump administration in 2019 on behalf of Ukrainian officials and oligarchs, who at the same time were helping Mr. Giuliani search for dirt on Mr. Trump’s political rivals, including President Biden, who was then a leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.
@Neil J Hudelson: Man that looks good. I cook two Ethiopian dishes but it looks like I’m going to be adding west Africa to my repertoire tomorrow.
(Tomorrow because I’m still outfitting my cooking gear and I don’t yet have a skillet for high heat. I can’t decide between carbon steel and cast-iron but might pick one up in Gainesville tonight)
@Jim Brown 32: PhDs teaching in the local high school still happens–we have one at one of the high schools that I substitute at–but I think it’s always been pretty rare.
@CSK: The ones in the YouTube video imbedded in the article certainly don’t LOOK particularly appealing. They look burnt. And kinda grey–like the bacon was old, or something.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: My son had a middle school English teacher with a PhD. He was a great teacher, one of my son’s favorites. He had been teaching for a while and decided to go back and finish the PhD.
@Teve: I get it. Better than you can imagine. I left a warehousing job in 1985 that was paying $32k/year as the base (~$15 and change an hour) to go back for my teaching credential and never made that kind of money again in my life until I went to Korea–where the money wasn’t actually the same, but the GINI coefficient evened things out.
My social security and a $595/month Teamster’s pension pay more than than I made the last 15 years of my working life before the move to Korea. I can see why conservatives are angry about Social Security. Social Security alone is paying me more to sit at home than I made in the shipping department at a long-haul truck parts factory. (Those “good industrial wages” those guys are always rattling on about.)
For Republicans, the 2022 Election Is All About Wokeness
Over at Vox, James Carville takes a shot at identity politics:
Wokeness is a problem and everyone knows it. It’s hard to talk to anybody today — and I talk to lots of people in the Democratic Party — who doesn’t say this. But they don’t want to say it out loud.
This is what you’d expect Carville to say, and I’m not going to take sides on it at the moment. But one thing that’s clear is that Republicans sure think that attacking wokeness is a winning strategy. Off the top of my head, the past few weeks have produced the following three-day wonders from the conservative noise machine:
Liberals are banning Dr. Seuss!
John Kerry is giving away our secrets!
Joe Biden is going to ban red meat!
You should call the police if you see a child wearing a mask!
Kamala Harris’s book is being passed out to illegal immigrants!
Woke capital is ruining our country!
Vaccine passports are the beginning of a liberal police state!
Baseball is un-American for objecting to voter suppression in Georgia!
If I could be bothered to hit up Google I’m sure I could double this list in a minute or two. And I’m not even counting the big, sustained jihads about the election being stolen or the COVID-19 vaccine being a hoax of some kind. Even for Republicans, this is a helluva list.
For whatever it’s worth, this means that Republicans are putting their money on Carville. That doesn’t mean they’re right, but it’s worth thinking about.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
They do, don’t they? I love bacon, particularly the thick-cut kind baked on a rack in the oven. Oreos I can do nicely without in any form.
A lot of fusion cuisine (French-Vietnamese, for example) is wonderful, but I think we’ve gotten to the point now where people are coming up with grotesque combinations just to outdo one another. I’ve seen Cheeto-coated sushi and Ham and Banana Hollandaise Casserole. No thanks.
Somewhere I have a copy of their crawfish etoufee recipe, but since it is the exact recipe I only share it with friends over email to protect Yats’s IP. Also it’s kind of a pain, so it’s easier just to go and get it at the restaurant. Since I did the work of recreating the B&B recipe, I feel I’m OK in sharing it.
I’m assuming you are Indy-based, although I know at one point there were Yats in Tippecanoe, Bloomington, Chicago, and Columbus OH. As you may know, the original creators of Yats had a falling out, and one of the proprietors went and created Papa Roux, focusing more on Po Boys, but still featuring some slightly-tweaked Yats recipes. That fella (I have no idea his name) helped his wife (Girlfriend? Mistress?) create “Yo Mama Roux’s” on the far east side.
If you haven’t been, definitely try to find time to go. Their BBQ gator po boy is one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. Now, fair warning, the proprietor’s politics are just plum crazy. You’ll be greeted with signs proclaiming Mayor Hogsett to be the equivalent of Mussolini, rather than a pretty ineffective and weak mayor, and that masks and covid are bullsh!t. If she’s working, you’ll hear nothing but political rantings from the back kitchen, while the front of house staff quietly shake their heads.
A lot of women with high ambition and skill benefited from “women’s lib”. But frankly, women with moderate/low ambition outside of being family women suffered a loss of status culturally and economically (unless of course they married a high-earning spouse.) A lot of these women ended up going to college and starting careers merely to be considered “eligible” by white collar partners.
I’m… not understanding your point here. It was a good thing women wanted to be trophy wives had an easy time scoring high-wage earning mates until women’s lib made them have to improve themselves to remain competitive? Sucks to a woman who just wants to stay home with the kids because now she had to be slightly educated to get herself a doctor?
Women with “moderate/low ambition outside of being family women” *always* had to do something to be “eligible” to white collar partners besides be young and pretty. Every girl was supposed to be young and pretty so what made you marriageable? If you wanted The Guy With A Future, you had to distinguish yourself from the other girls doing the exact same thing. You took etiquette lessons or did cotillion or something that showed you had class and elegance; being well-rounded was a sign of good breeding and plus in making a good match. The jokes about the MRS degree pre-date women’s lib by decades, with several colleges in the early 1900s being notorious for women attending solely to land a husband and not giving a damn about academics or future job.
Michael Collins, a member of the Apollo 11 crew has died
Collins was the astronaut who stayed alone in the Apollo 11 Command Module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were on the Moon for just under 24 hours
Buzz Aldin is now the last surviving member of the Apollo 11 crew
@Mikey: This is an extraordinarily big deal because the search warrant includes his office and electronic devices. The government has to jump through many hoops to get authorization to even seek a search warrant for an attorney’s office or records. This had to have been approved at DOJ level and the affidavit supporting the warrant would have had to be very specific and detailed as to the alleged criminal conduct.
I never answer my phone unless I’m certain who the calling party is. Even then I almost always wait to see if the caller leaves a voicemail. Many times all I hear on the voicemail is “end of message” if I hear anything at all.
Earlier today the phone rang and displayed a number I did not recognize so I ignored it to see if I would get voice mail. This time I got a complete voice mail:
This is nxx-xxxx (the number of the recent call that I did not recognize) I just got a Social Security scam call that showed your number as the caller. Just wanted to let you know what was going on.
I’ve never received a message like that before.
I suspect scam callers randomly generate phone numbers to deceive Automatic Number Identification systems.
I think I will let it go for now.
A while back, I got a call that I didn’t know, but answered. “Hi. Did you just call me?” Someone had spoofed my number for a spam call, and the guy called back to find out who was calling him.
Turns out he’s a trucker that drives by my house frequently. Nice little conversation for a couple minutes.
According to CNN, The Hill, and The Independent, Trump may be resuming his MAGA rallies next month. He’ll also hold events to support candidates running against Republican incumbents who’ve said unkind things about him.
My wife, in a spasm or good citizenship, once emailed (via a form) the Former Guy’s WH about something. The form asked for a phone number, which my unsuspecting bride provided the house land line. During the campaign, there would be about 4 FG fund raising calls per day, that continued for a couple of months after he left office. The calls have always used mostly spoofed phone numbers in the caller ID and yesterday one came as the Texas Children’s Hospital. A bunch of scum bags.
@dazedandconfused: Had no friggin idea wild elephants would kill a human. This is why I like OTB and also why I never assume I fully understand an issue that Ive only read about.
Your right–I wouldn’t’ even put up with an aggressive racoon let alone an elephant.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
I used to work as a forklift/warehouse guy in a DIY store, then as a contract worker, in the late 8o’s/early 90’s.
Fair money at the time; probably more per hour relative to inflation etc than I was making till fairly recently in my current place.
But apparently the thing is now that most warehouse work is no longer direct employment on reasonable terms, but the parent firm contracts the warehouse to a logistics firm, who subcontract to an operator, who subcontract lbour to an agency, who employ a mix of “self employed” and agency temps on “zero hours” contracts, and minimal employment rights.
And after all the companies in the chain have wet their beaks, it’s thin gruel for the actual workforce.
Trend was just getting started when I decided to try for a mature student place at university.
@KM: My point is that “women’s lib” (at least the efforts around employment ceilings) raised the bar on what’s considered a successful woman and put many women in a rat race they didn’t want to be in. Because, well, we want “improved” women over run of the mill high school educated ones. I happen to think experiences improves people over education but that’s a different discussion. Culturally, it became a detractor (and economic penalty) to be a full time caregiver/homemaker without a career path. Many of these people are unhappy until they retire. Does that take away from the good that occurred because of increased opportunities and a raised bar? Nope–but we must be sensitive that there are people that loose out in every system and system improvement.
@Jim Brown 32:
That’s not women’s lib; that’s capitalism and the free market. If the best women can aspire to socially is homemaker, then someone who’s only interest is homemaking is all set. When there’s multiple choices introduced though, successful and educated men tend to select women who more closely match themselves. If you only serve instant coffee in your the-only-one-in-town cafe, cappuccinos were not a threat. When your customers start trying different variations at the new Starbucks down the road, you can either improve your product or deal with the fact customers are going to pick what they think is a better product. Just because you don’t want a career or masters degree doesn’t mean others aren’t going to want someone who does as a mate. What’s more, why should women who *did* want into the “rat race” be kept out so unambitious women aren’t made to feel like their social status was lessened? Maxwell House Instant doesn’t get to tell Kona Gold to go away, it’s making them look bad. Some folks will prefer it but it’s a fact that if given a choice, it’s not most people’s favorite.
I think the key to your statement was the fact that you used the words “low ambition” aka women who don’t really want to try hard in life. Don’t be fooled – there’s definitely competition, judgment and plain ole’ Keeping Up with the Jones for housewives too. Those ladies work hard for no paycheck. Women who stay home with the kids have interesting experiences and skills as well. You don’t have to be highly educated to be smart, accomplished or do something worthwhile with your life. However if the point was to get married and just…. bum around the house with maybe some kids in the background then yes, women’s lib definitely ruined your prospects.
One of the girls I went to high school with was very open about wanting to snag a husband instead of college and not work; she didn’t want kids, just a guy with a car dealership to keep her in a comfortable life. She found one….. and was divorced before my sophomore year of college started. I see her in my FB feed sometimes, complaining that she can’t find someone because she never went to college. Nope, she can’t find someone willing to be her sugar daddy now that she’s not young, blonde ‘n dumb anymore. Meanwhile the few homemakers I know were college or career women who decided to take a break and ended up loving it; they gave themselves options and homemaking turned out to be what they wanted.
@Kurtz:
Showering with a bacon-scented soap and wearing clothing washed in bacon-scented detergent sounds like a great way to have every dog within a five-mile radius slavering over you.
@CSK: I can see a potential for ham and plantains with hollandaise sauce on them, but it’s hard to find plantains that aren’t too ripe to use as a neutral starch. Bananas are too sweet and have the wrong texture, to my mind. Maybe ham and jicama with hollandaise would work. Or sunchokes might be good.
@JohnSF: Yeah. What you describe is frequently the case in the US now also. In the area in which I grew up (about 4 or 5oo km north of where I live now) there were strong unions in that industry when I was working, but even the union jobs have employment at will, and from what I hear, lots of workers end up looking for new jobs just as they would achieve journey-level wage rates. I don’t know how long you can keep churning the same labor force, but since people in the lower classes have limited horizons, I expect that a fair number go from one place to the next hoping that lightning will strike and they’ll clear the bar–if only for a few years.
@CSK: I never got into sushi while I was in Korea. I tried raw tuna in season at a bar with a friend once, but based on how things went when I got home, I assume something in the ingredients disagreed with me. I had never eaten fish other than canned tuna and occasional shell fish until I got to Korea. I had both fish allergy and sulfite sensitivity. Even fresh fish that I didn’t react as allergic to in tests created reactions when eating them. Korea/and or aging out of some food allergies was a boon to my culinary experiences.
@Teve: There’s a confectioner in Seaside Oregon who sells rashers of crispy bacon that are dipped in milk or dark chocolate. I recommend the dark chocolate, drizzled in maple syrup. My pancreas, on the other hand, screams, “No, oh God, No…Wait a minute, go back and get another one.”
(Teve throws 5 pairs of socks and t-shirts into his car, and various charging cables, and opens up Google Maps. I-75 North, Google, and straight on till mornin’.)
The Lodge 12-in cast iron skillet is $29.90 on the Target website. I go to the Target store today to buy it and it’s $32.90 on the shelf. It rings up $32.90 and I show the cashier the $29.90 price on the website with the same UPC, and she takes $10 off. I got this thing for less than 25 bucks.
Teve to his friend Sarah: “Man, not even 25 bucks. And I’m going to have this thing for the rest of my life.”
Sarah to her friend Teve: “yeah, but owning a skillet for 3 months isn’t very impressive.”
Florida Woman knows Florida Man’s history too well.
@Teve: Several people told me, no no no don’t buy a new cast-iron skillet, you want to go to the antique stores and get an old one because they were made so much better back then. But, I reasoned, if this has become ‘common knowledge’, what antique stores are probably doing now is buying pallets-full of new Lodge cast-iron skillets and repping them as antiques with a hefty surcharge.
Biden: “The most lethal terrorist threat to the homeland today is white supremacist terrorism… We have all seen the knee of injustice on the neck of Black America. Now is our opportunity to make real progress.”
@CSK:
I don’t want anything with cheetos, crushed or whole, but honestly it’s probably not all that different than the various crunch sushi’s that are popular now.
I prefer ahi sashimi, either plain or marinated and seared.
Since people are putting up recipes:
Ahi grade tuna cut into 1.5-2″ square by however long your chunk of ahi will allow
marinate in shoyu, ginger, garlic, and onion in the fridge for a few hours
roll in a good cajun spice (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, paprika, cayenne, and any other red peppers I have around)
cook for a few seconds on each side in a hot cast iron skillet (just enough to sear the spices on and cook it white to about 1mm on each side)
slice thin and serve
Can also cut the ahi into 1.5-2″ cubes and do the same and add over a Caesar’s salad.
@Teve: I can tell the difference. The new one isn’t as black as my 40 year old one is and isn’t rusted on the underside where it meets the stove element.
@Teve: don’t buy a new cast-iron skillet, you want to go to the antique stores and get an old one because they were made so much better back then.
They weren’t made any better back then than they are now. Cast iron is cast iron. BUT… It is still preferable to buy an old one as long as it comes from grandma’s cabinet and not grandpa’s barn. It’s the *40 years of seasoning* that makes an old one superior to a new one. But it only takes a year or 2 of sitting in shtty conditions to destroy all that seasoning.
*when Ma died my sisters fought over her cast iron skillets. If my oldest sis had still been alive there would have been blood. I didn’t even try to get one.
Randy Quaid says he’s “seriously considering” running for governor of California.
From /.
Man who was pinned to the ground by Alameda, California police died
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/550629-man-dies-after-being-pinned-to-ground-by-california-officers-during
I got my second dose of Moderna yesterday and now I have a high fever. I know I have a high fever even though I don’t have a thermometer. I haven’t owned a thermometer in years, mainly because I so rarely get fevers; I probably should have purchased one when I was at the pharmacy getting the shot. But I know I have a high fever because I had a fever dream last night, something that hasn’t happened to me since I was in my teens when an illness pushed my temperature up to 104. Also, my brother reports that the second dose of Pfizer caused his temperature to reach 102.
@Kylopod:
I’m so sorry. I had so little reaction to either Moderna dose that I sometimes wonder if my immune system learned anything or not.
Michigan is seeing an uptick in Covid cases despite vaccination rollout. Younger people now ending up in hospitals.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/25/us/michigan-covid-younger-people-hospitalized.html
Credit where credit is due.
“If we minimize what happened on Jan. 6th and if we appease it, then we will be in a situation where every election cycle, you could potentially have another constitutional crisis,” Cheney said later in an interview with POLITICO. “If you get into a situation where we don’t guarantee a peaceful transfer of power, we won’t have learned the lessons of Jan. 6.”
“And you can’t bury our head in the sand,” she added. “It matters hugely to the survival of the country.”
– Liz Cheney
@Michael Cain: I’m happy I’m having these reactions. I would be concerned if I didn’t have any. I’ve read that that isn’t necessarily a sign the vaccine isn’t working, but I still have this lingering paranoia about not having received a real vaccine. It was at a small pharmacy in Bronx I found on the CDC’s website last month after everywhere else was booked. I looks legit. But I actually went to Google to look up “fake vaccines” or “vaccine scams” to make sure I hadn’t fallen for one. That’s why I consider these reactions a good sign. I think they also suggest my getting Covid last year may have provided some protection. I had a strong reaction to both doses, which doesn’t happen to everyone. I’m also glad none of the side effects include breathing problems. I didn’t feel I was breathing comfortably for an entire year after getting Covid; this problem essentially disappeared after my first shot and I can’t figure out why. It’s like it zapped any lingering long Covid symptoms I had.
@Teve: Life, lemons, lemonade, all that. Here’s to the Josh’s of the world.
@Michael Cain: @Kylopod:
I read somewhere that it is age related. Something like our immune systems get tired over the years (or something or other) I got the J&J: Nothing. My eldest got the J&J too: Kicked his ass the next day.
FWIW…
I have no idea if that is true or not.
@Michael Cain: I didn’t have any reaction to the Moderna vaccine either. However, I give platelets regularly and the blood bank does a COVID antibody screen with each donation. I had negative prior to the shots; now I get a high positive result. A little extra comfort there that it all worked as designed.
@Kylopod: it could have been a placebo effect. It’ll take years to really know how this virus interacts with our bodies.
@OzarkHillbilly:
She’s absolutely right. And the Trumpkins hate her guts.
Austin Hopp, Karen Garner’s arresting officer:
“I can’t believe I threw a 73-year-old on the ground.”
We can.
@OzarkHillbilly: dude made a reference to how he was going to dislocate her shoulder, then he did, then he said “I love it “.
@Teve: Cops like beating up people, are proud of it. I sometimes wondered where they draw the line but I guess there is no line.
Your local gas station may run out of gas this summer
https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/energy/550646-your-local-gas-stations-could-run-out-of-gas-this
@Doug Mataconis:
Maybe next time, take your wife away from people who scare her? Just a suggestion.
Headline of the day: ‘WW2 bomb’ found in Bavarian forest was sex toy, say officials
@Doug Mataconis: goddam Joe Biden and his Green New Deal. ( 😛 yes, i read the article, I’m just anticipating what several months of Fox News’s round-the-clock coverage this summer is going to be.)
Have y’all seen the video where the leader of our well-regulated militia fails to kill an animal from point blank range with four shots?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc14LK4n5ZE
I hope they send him back to mother Russia for remedial training!!!
How was I to know all those dastardly lawyers and accountants around me were committing nonstop crimes‽ I’m shocked! Shocked I say!
Podcaster Joe Rogan is telling younger adults that they don’t need to get vaccinated.
https://news.yahoo.com/joe-rogan-tells-massive-audience-202457655.html
How Pfizer Makes Its Covid-19 Vaccine
@Michael Cain:
according to Randall Munroe, you should query your immune system about exhaust ports.
@Teve:
Especially since he only hires the best people.
@Doug Mataconis: From the limited interviews I have seen, Rogan seems to vacillate from seeming perfectly reasonable to pushing some of the dumbest conspiracy theories around. I don’t get him.
@Teve: “It’s not my fault! They made me do it!!”
@Kylopod: Your reactions track what I’ve seen in articles–that people who previously had covid have more pronounced side effects to the vaccine, and that the vaccine seems to clear some long-covid symptoms.
I hope you feel better soon.
Josh Marshall, over at TPM, has been soliciting input to how people are perceiving the “woke” issue. He points out that the reaction to every positive shift in societies values have been accompanied by whiners who think or say, “this women’s lib thing is going too far, aren’t these girls every going to be satisfied” or, “It’s getting to the point where you can’t even tell a good old Polack joke without someone getting offended”, etc. These takes haven’t held up well and while a fair number of people at the time might have thought these were reasonable points, now that our society has shifted they just sound like *ssholes.
On the other hand, these changes in society have also attracted their share of virtue signalers who just want something to prove their holier than thou attitudes. These people also sound like *ssholes. So Marshall is asking, “Where are we on the spectrum right now? What is legitimate change and what is tiresome virtue signaling?” Here’s one perspective from an academician:
@Kylopod: i’ve had lifelong awful insomnia and on a good night I get to sleep in an hour, on a bad night I don’t sleep at all, so to occupy my brain I find long podcasts and for a couple of years I listened to his, and his podcast is very attractive because it’s usually about three hours long, so I don’t have to keep opening my eyeballs and selecting the next podcast. And it’s really sad how inhomogeneous it is and a few months ago I just stopped listening altogether.
He can have a really great podcast talking to physicist Brian Greene, and he can turn around the next day and spend three hours being a UFO nut with some obvious crank. But the straw that broke the camel’s back was that he goes into these Jordan Peterson modes where he’s all like, men don’t act like men and feminist women are domineering whores and they’ve used cancel culture at Universities to beat cowardly men into submission and etc etc etc.
And I know where this comes from, I’ve actually seen this in several over-50 comedians, they still want to get onstage and make tranny jokes like they did 30 years ago at The Chuckle Hut in Cincinnati and now they get booed and protested when they do that and they’re pitching fits about their precious Free Speech. No dude, it’s just the times have changed and you haven’t. It’s like, you could probably get onstage in 1940 and make N-word jokes, but by 1970 you had to cut that shit out. It’s not some horrible oppression of your Free Speech, it’s just society’s mores changed.
And that shit started to become like every other podcast and it just wasn’t worth it anymore. Which is sad because he really is an incredibly talented interviewer, how many of us could go to a bookstore, pick a random book, and interview that author for 2 1/2 hours and have it be interesting?
@Kylopod: Long haul symptoms disappearing after the 1st shot has been well documented and reported by many. It will be interesting when they figure out why. That was your proof you got the real deal.
@OzarkHillbilly: Except Josh Hawley. Screw him.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Im sorry–only a retard (forgive me woke police) would travel to another continent to shoot an Elephant. There has to be some technology that allows them to point, shoot, and see there they WOULD have hit the animal. Basically a souped up paintball—and get a nice mock up for their wall back at the cabin.
If you aren’t going to eat it–no reason on earth to kill it.
@Sleeping Dog: oh cool, they’re using plasmids. What’s awesome about that is that you can scale the shit out of that. And it’s so easy that I did it as an undergrad when I worked for a biophysics professor. When we wanted to do research on a SNARE protein, we would look at the genetic sequence that made the protein, figure out which bases we wanted to alter, then email a company in Massachusetts the sequence, they would synthesize it and mail it back to us in a test tube in a chilly styrofoam box, we would stick it in some E. coli, and they would start chugging the protein out. As far as bio-manufacturing processes go it was the easiest shit in the world.
Capitol Hill Police Officer reportedly had copy of anti Semitic book openly displayed at his post;
https://www.businessinsider.com/capitol-police-officer-printed-protocols-of-elders-of-zion-suspended-2021-3
@Doug Mataconis:
Notice there is no talk about increasing driver pay to increase supply of drivers.
@Jim Brown 32: With a rusty farm implement.
I have read recently that current thinking is the side effects have nothing to do with the mRNA per se, but are responses to the lipid nanoparticles that protect it. At least one animal study found that LNPs produced a similar range of side effects as in humans (ie, from nothing to fevers, fatigue, swelling, etc) whether loaded with mRNA or not.
LNP seems to be one of those technologies that have slowly emerged over decades, and is now suddenly critically important.
You must be some kind of Commie.
@Scott:
On average truck drivers make $63,000 per year
@CSK:
Randy who? That will certainly cut into Kaitlyn who?
@MarkedMan: These movements regularly go “to far” in that they are single issues within complex systems. Meaning that when the single thing changes–there are 2nd, 3rd, 4th order of effects that activists haven’t thought about and there is no energy left to address. The negative collateral effects usually just linger until they become egregious enough that they become their own single issue with energy behind it.
A lot of women with high ambition and skill benefited from “women’s lib”. But frankly, women with moderate/low ambition outside of being family women suffered a loss of status culturally and economically (unless of course they married a high-earning spouse.) A lot of these women ended up going to college and starting careers merely to be considered “eligible” by white collar partners.
Integration left a lot of black people and businesses stranded into subsistence and low growth situation–it wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns. My grandfather was part of management in a paper mill–his neighbors? A dual PhD couple (who taught high school). All the time I spent playing at their house with their dog–I was kicking it with PhD educated people. They had no kids of their own so I was their adopted grandson when I came to visit my grandparents.
This could never happen today. My grandparents and the “Smiths” wouldn’t buy in the same neighborhoods and neither Mr nor Mrs ‘Smith’ would be teaching local public high school. That neighborhood today is a low income community that battles with drug use and drug distribution.
The original residents that were forward thinking and pushed their kids into college had kids that generated income to afford to live in bigger houses in better locations in nicer cities. The residents that weren’t forward thinking or simply lost kids to the streets were trapped along with their kids or grandkids that inherited those home after they passed on.
A cheerleader in Pennsylvania who posted a rant against her school on Snapchat. It didn’t happen on school property but was posted from home. Nonetheless she was suspended from the JV cheer squad when school officials became aware of the post.
She filed a lawsuit against the school district and won at the lower court level. Now her case will be argued today before the Support Court.
As I see it, the districts actions were unconstitutional and violated several SCOTUS on the First Amendment rights of students.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/27/politics/cheerleader-snapchat-supreme-court-first-amendment/index.html
@Sleeping Dog:
Randy Quaid is an avid Trump fan, so the Trumpkins will decide that he’s a winner.
@Doug Mataconis:
If America, runs out gas this summer, it will be due to the refiners reducing production to meet demand over the pandemic. Now they would like to enjoy a few months of fat profits as demand returns.
@Doug Mataconis: Jesus. She was a 14-year-old JV cheerleader who tried out for the varsity team and didn’t make it, and posted on social media “F–k school f–k softball f–k cheer f–k everything” and a picture of her middle finger.
I can tell you my exact words, had I been principal and a teacher had bought that social media post to my attention: “she’s a teenager and she just got bad news, just ignore that shit.”
@CSK:
That also ensures he’s got basically no chance in Cali.
Bacon wrapped Oreos? No, thanks.
https://www.southernthing.com/bacon-wrapped-oreos-are-the-sweet-and-salty-snack-every-barbecue-needs-2648441597.html
@Kylopod:
Indeed. Goes without saying.
@Doug Mataconis:
The very thought makes my stomach heave.
@Doug Mataconis: I was a skeptic about bacon pieces embedded in chocolate that I got as a present a decade ago, but it was surprisingly good.
@Teve: There’s an old Sesame Street where Oscar the Grouch makes weird flavors of ice cream such as spaghetti & meatballs, and the other characters are surprised to discover they like it.
Walmart made a half-assed attempt to compete with Amazon Prime a few years ago, now they’ve got a new plan and it seems wholer ass, called Walmart plus. Might be interesting.
@Jim Brown 32:
Unfortunately there are a few reasons those hunts are necessary. There are people living near, if not all around many of the African reserves. When I was there I had to admit the inhabitant’s demand for protection against wild elephants had to be accounted for. Hard to blame them when it’s an indisputable fact Americans wouldn’t tolerate wild elephants in their neighborhoods, not for one minute.
Either it’s controlled or people deal with mortal threats themselves, there’s no stopping it. The second reason is if the elephants must be culled it makes sense to have people pay a big fee to do it, if such can be found. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on one’s point of view, there are such people, people who think nothing of dropping a hundred grand plus to plug an elephant.
Those fees are a big part of funding the maintenance of the preserves, both in staffing and building allies of the reserves in the nearby communities. No matter what they do an elephant is bound to go into their fields from time to time, tear down a house and/or kill someone. The existence of an economy associated with game preserves is key to their continued existence.
@Teve:
The term “half-assed” has always made me laugh. I keep imagining people strolling around with only one buttock.
@OzarkHillbilly: @Teve: What I find myself wondering is 1) how long has this guy been an asshole and 2) why didn’t the psychological profile discover it? On my more cynical days, they abyss in which my soul seems to dwell suggests that they’re not screening assholes out, they’re screening them in. But that can’t possibly be correct. The police are the good guys, right?
For some reason, my insurance agent elected to call me last Monday. He told me, again, the insurance wouldn’t pay for the PET CT. That’s old news, and I’d rather not keep bringing it up, thanks.
But he said something interesting. It appears, if I understood correctly, any further expenses, be they medication or treatment, related to the hernia, are still covered under the same deductible. So if the surgeon, say, decides the single mesh he put in wasn’t really enough, and tells me a second one should really be placed in, that would be covered.
We’ve discussed that, but I’m hoping it won’t be necessary, even if it’s an outpatient procedure.
He then asked me whether I’d gotten a COVID vaccine, and strongly advised me to travel to Dallas or Miami to get one, as “you won’t get one here this year.” the next day registration opens up locally.
Ever notice irony tends to have a great sense for timing?
@Doug Mataconis: @Teve: Not to worry. The market will take care of the problem by raising compensation for truck drivers to fill the shortage.
No. Seriously. Say’s Law says so. It must be true, or it wouldn’t be called “Say’s Law.”
@CSK:
This reminds me of a snippet of Babylon 5.
Sheridan: “Tell her to come in and to haul ass or she’ll miss all the excitement.”
Delenn:”Very well. I’ll tell her to ‘haul ass.’ But that seems to me a very undignified position from which to command one of the White Star fleet.”
@Kathy:
Great line.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: I said the other day that there are lots of problems that originate with having a certain percentage of voters who absolutely refuse to raise taxes for any reason at all. Bad policing is one of those problems. Around here a new cop starts at like 31k a year. Young friend of mine just got a job driving a forklift in the local Target Distribution Center making 39k a year. So you’ve got people who go into policing because they can’t get a job driving a forklift. Obviously this is just one example but you get the drift.
It’s actually a big part of the reason Florida’s politics are so screwed up. You’ve got a lot of elderly retirees from the Northeast who move here because there’s no state income tax and they want to keep as much of their six-figure pension as they can. They don’t give a fuck about your kid’s school, they don’t give a fuck about giving any hungry person food stamps, they sit and watch Fox News 14 hours a day and they will vote against anybody who raises any tax for any reason.
My last speeding ticket was not really excessive and it was $300. Cuz the local government has to get the money from somebody.
@Doug Mataconis:
Hell yes, more for me!
I enjoyed sharing a recipe yesterday, so Imma keep it going. For dinner tonight, Carmelized Corn and Black Beans. This is my take on a very popular dish at a local cajun/creole chain called Yats. From what I can tell, west African cuisines have similar dishes.
Ingredients:
1 bag of frozen corn, or a few ears of fresh corn (or an equivalent amount of canned corn if you really have to)
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 T of Brown Sugar
One red bell pepper, medium chopped. If I don’t have this, I’ve used canned chilies, roasted red peppers, or even diced canned tomatoes. Obviously this changes the flavor of the dish significantly, but it’s still good.
1/4 cup milk or half and half (cream is too heavy, but I think skim milk is too light)
1/4 tsp cayenne or more to taste
1/2 tspish of Oregano (I do a decent palm full, so this is just an estimate)
Some scrapes of fresh nutmeg
Salt and pepper
Melt a knob of butter in a pan over medium heat. Butter does a better job here of carmelizing than any oil.
Add corn and saute for 10 minutes until the corn starts to carmelize. If your heat is too high and you get some scorched corn, that is fine it still tastes great.
Add brown sugar and cook for a few minutes more, stirring constantly to coat the corn in that sugary goodness, and up the carmelization.
Add red pepper, saute for a bit longer, maybe a minute or two
Add black beans, another 2 minutes.
Add milk, cayenne, oregano, salt and pepper to taste, and a few scrapes of nutmeg.
Let simmer a bit until it thickens.
Serve over rice, top with finely chopped red onion, and a bit of cheese and sour cream if you don’t mind the added calories and fat.
This is a great dish to try out new hot sauces.
Federal Investigators Execute Search Warrant at Rudy Giuliani’s Apartment
Can you spell “quid pro quo?”
I knew you could!
@Neil J Hudelson: Man that looks good. I cook two Ethiopian dishes but it looks like I’m going to be adding west Africa to my repertoire tomorrow.
(Tomorrow because I’m still outfitting my cooking gear and I don’t yet have a skillet for high heat. I can’t decide between carbon steel and cast-iron but might pick one up in Gainesville tonight)
@Mikey: Better yet, it’s smoked!
@Neil J Hudelson:
I love black beans and corn. I’ll try this.
@Jim Brown 32: PhDs teaching in the local high school still happens–we have one at one of the high schools that I substitute at–but I think it’s always been pretty rare.
@CSK: The ones in the YouTube video imbedded in the article certainly don’t LOOK particularly appealing. They look burnt. And kinda grey–like the bacon was old, or something.
@Just nutha ignint cracker: My son had a middle school English teacher with a PhD. He was a great teacher, one of my son’s favorites. He had been teaching for a while and decided to go back and finish the PhD.
@Neil J Hudelson:
I am a big fan of Yatz. What is this called on their menu?
@Teve: I get it. Better than you can imagine. I left a warehousing job in 1985 that was paying $32k/year as the base (~$15 and change an hour) to go back for my teaching credential and never made that kind of money again in my life until I went to Korea–where the money wasn’t actually the same, but the GINI coefficient evened things out.
My social security and a $595/month Teamster’s pension pay more than than I made the last 15 years of my working life before the move to Korea. I can see why conservatives are angry about Social Security. Social Security alone is paying me more to sit at home than I made in the shipping department at a long-haul truck parts factory. (Those “good industrial wages” those guys are always rattling on about.)
KDrum:
@Kylopod: I got my second shot of the Pfizer yesterday and had a sleepless night last night because I had fever chills and a splitting headache.
I’m feeling ok now, but a bit foggy. That could be caused by the sleepless night, the vaccine or both.
I also had the ‘rona last may, so that may also be why I reacted as much as I did to the second dose.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
They do, don’t they? I love bacon, particularly the thick-cut kind baked on a rack in the oven. Oreos I can do nicely without in any form.
A lot of fusion cuisine (French-Vietnamese, for example) is wonderful, but I think we’ve gotten to the point now where people are coming up with grotesque combinations just to outdo one another. I’ve seen Cheeto-coated sushi and Ham and Banana Hollandaise Casserole. No thanks.
@Joe:
This is the “B&B.”
Somewhere I have a copy of their crawfish etoufee recipe, but since it is the exact recipe I only share it with friends over email to protect Yats’s IP. Also it’s kind of a pain, so it’s easier just to go and get it at the restaurant. Since I did the work of recreating the B&B recipe, I feel I’m OK in sharing it.
@Joe:
@Joe:
I’m assuming you are Indy-based, although I know at one point there were Yats in Tippecanoe, Bloomington, Chicago, and Columbus OH. As you may know, the original creators of Yats had a falling out, and one of the proprietors went and created Papa Roux, focusing more on Po Boys, but still featuring some slightly-tweaked Yats recipes. That fella (I have no idea his name) helped his wife (Girlfriend? Mistress?) create “Yo Mama Roux’s” on the far east side.
If you haven’t been, definitely try to find time to go. Their BBQ gator po boy is one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had. Now, fair warning, the proprietor’s politics are just plum crazy. You’ll be greeted with signs proclaiming Mayor Hogsett to be the equivalent of Mussolini, rather than a pretty ineffective and weak mayor, and that masks and covid are bullsh!t. If she’s working, you’ll hear nothing but political rantings from the back kitchen, while the front of house staff quietly shake their heads.
The sandwiches are worth it.
@Neil J Hudelson:
I assume to-go is an option.
@Jim Brown 32:
I’m… not understanding your point here. It was a good thing women wanted to be trophy wives had an easy time scoring high-wage earning mates until women’s lib made them have to improve themselves to remain competitive? Sucks to a woman who just wants to stay home with the kids because now she had to be slightly educated to get herself a doctor?
Women with “moderate/low ambition outside of being family women” *always* had to do something to be “eligible” to white collar partners besides be young and pretty. Every girl was supposed to be young and pretty so what made you marriageable? If you wanted The Guy With A Future, you had to distinguish yourself from the other girls doing the exact same thing. You took etiquette lessons or did cotillion or something that showed you had class and elegance; being well-rounded was a sign of good breeding and plus in making a good match. The jokes about the MRS degree pre-date women’s lib by decades, with several colleges in the early 1900s being notorious for women attending solely to land a husband and not giving a damn about academics or future job.
Michael Collins, a member of the Apollo 11 crew has died
Collins was the astronaut who stayed alone in the Apollo 11 Command Module while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were on the Moon for just under 24 hours
Buzz Aldin is now the last surviving member of the Apollo 11 crew
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/28/us/nasa-astronaut-michael-collins-obit-scn/index.html
@Doug Mataconis: Bacon makes everything taste better.
@Mikey: This is an extraordinarily big deal because the search warrant includes his office and electronic devices. The government has to jump through many hoops to get authorization to even seek a search warrant for an attorney’s office or records. This had to have been approved at DOJ level and the affidavit supporting the warrant would have had to be very specific and detailed as to the alleged criminal conduct.
@Mikey:
Next time, Rudy, ask for a pardon in writing before you lift a finger.
@a country lawyer:
Breaking: Victoria Toensing’s home was also searched.
I never answer my phone unless I’m certain who the calling party is. Even then I almost always wait to see if the caller leaves a voicemail. Many times all I hear on the voicemail is “end of message” if I hear anything at all.
Earlier today the phone rang and displayed a number I did not recognize so I ignored it to see if I would get voice mail. This time I got a complete voice mail:
I’ve never received a message like that before.
I suspect scam callers randomly generate phone numbers to deceive Automatic Number Identification systems.
I think I will let it go for now.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping is now trending on Twitter because of the Giuliani search warrants. How to end up as a permanent punchline…
@Mister Bluster:
A while back, I got a call that I didn’t know, but answered. “Hi. Did you just call me?” Someone had spoofed my number for a spam call, and the guy called back to find out who was calling him.
Turns out he’s a trucker that drives by my house frequently. Nice little conversation for a couple minutes.
@Jen:
Remember when Rudy was “America’s Mayor”?
Now he’s America’s Joke.
I’m sure future history students will think the 2016-2021 Rudy was that other guy’s crazy uncle or something.
According to CNN, The Hill, and The Independent, Trump may be resuming his MAGA rallies next month. He’ll also hold events to support candidates running against Republican incumbents who’ve said unkind things about him.
@Mister Bluster:
My wife, in a spasm or good citizenship, once emailed (via a form) the Former Guy’s WH about something. The form asked for a phone number, which my unsuspecting bride provided the house land line. During the campaign, there would be about 4 FG fund raising calls per day, that continued for a couple of months after he left office. The calls have always used mostly spoofed phone numbers in the caller ID and yesterday one came as the Texas Children’s Hospital. A bunch of scum bags.
@a country lawyer:
Trump’s people were blocking that, of course. AG Garland will allow the wheels of justice to turn.
Meteorites arrived on Earrh after 22 million myear journey
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/04/28/world/meteorites-asteroid-vesta-earth-scn/index.html
@dazedandconfused: Had no friggin idea wild elephants would kill a human. This is why I like OTB and also why I never assume I fully understand an issue that Ive only read about.
Your right–I wouldn’t’ even put up with an aggressive racoon let alone an elephant.
@Mister Bluster:
I have gotten calls that show my number as the number calling me.
Spoof numbers are often from the same area code as the party they are attempting to scam.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
I used to work as a forklift/warehouse guy in a DIY store, then as a contract worker, in the late 8o’s/early 90’s.
Fair money at the time; probably more per hour relative to inflation etc than I was making till fairly recently in my current place.
But apparently the thing is now that most warehouse work is no longer direct employment on reasonable terms, but the parent firm contracts the warehouse to a logistics firm, who subcontract to an operator, who subcontract lbour to an agency, who employ a mix of “self employed” and agency temps on “zero hours” contracts, and minimal employment rights.
And after all the companies in the chain have wet their beaks, it’s thin gruel for the actual workforce.
Trend was just getting started when I decided to try for a mature student place at university.
@KM: My point is that “women’s lib” (at least the efforts around employment ceilings) raised the bar on what’s considered a successful woman and put many women in a rat race they didn’t want to be in. Because, well, we want “improved” women over run of the mill high school educated ones. I happen to think experiences improves people over education but that’s a different discussion. Culturally, it became a detractor (and economic penalty) to be a full time caregiver/homemaker without a career path. Many of these people are unhappy until they retire. Does that take away from the good that occurred because of increased opportunities and a raised bar? Nope–but we must be sensitive that there are people that loose out in every system and system improvement.
Goth Paladins
@OzarkHillbilly:
Not teally
@OzarkHillbilly: @Doug Mataconis:
Bacon scented soap and laundry detergent are products that exist.
@Jim Brown 32:
The stat is somewhere around 500 a year get stomped. Africa…not to be confused with a petting zoo, ya gotta be tuff to survive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3MTDFNf71I
@Jim Brown 32:
That’s not women’s lib; that’s capitalism and the free market. If the best women can aspire to socially is homemaker, then someone who’s only interest is homemaking is all set. When there’s multiple choices introduced though, successful and educated men tend to select women who more closely match themselves. If you only serve instant coffee in your the-only-one-in-town cafe, cappuccinos were not a threat. When your customers start trying different variations at the new Starbucks down the road, you can either improve your product or deal with the fact customers are going to pick what they think is a better product. Just because you don’t want a career or masters degree doesn’t mean others aren’t going to want someone who does as a mate. What’s more, why should women who *did* want into the “rat race” be kept out so unambitious women aren’t made to feel like their social status was lessened? Maxwell House Instant doesn’t get to tell Kona Gold to go away, it’s making them look bad. Some folks will prefer it but it’s a fact that if given a choice, it’s not most people’s favorite.
I think the key to your statement was the fact that you used the words “low ambition” aka women who don’t really want to try hard in life. Don’t be fooled – there’s definitely competition, judgment and plain ole’ Keeping Up with the Jones for housewives too. Those ladies work hard for no paycheck. Women who stay home with the kids have interesting experiences and skills as well. You don’t have to be highly educated to be smart, accomplished or do something worthwhile with your life. However if the point was to get married and just…. bum around the house with maybe some kids in the background then yes, women’s lib definitely ruined your prospects.
One of the girls I went to high school with was very open about wanting to snag a husband instead of college and not work; she didn’t want kids, just a guy with a car dealership to keep her in a comfortable life. She found one….. and was divorced before my sophomore year of college started. I see her in my FB feed sometimes, complaining that she can’t find someone because she never went to college. Nope, she can’t find someone willing to be her sugar daddy now that she’s not young, blonde ‘n dumb anymore. Meanwhile the few homemakers I know were college or career women who decided to take a break and ended up loving it; they gave themselves options and homemaking turned out to be what they wanted.
@Kurtz:
Showering with a bacon-scented soap and wearing clothing washed in bacon-scented detergent sounds like a great way to have every dog within a five-mile radius slavering over you.
@CSK: I can see a potential for ham and plantains with hollandaise sauce on them, but it’s hard to find plantains that aren’t too ripe to use as a neutral starch. Bananas are too sweet and have the wrong texture, to my mind. Maybe ham and jicama with hollandaise would work. Or sunchokes might be good.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
How do you feel about sushi rolled in crushed Cheetos?
@JohnSF: Yeah. What you describe is frequently the case in the US now also. In the area in which I grew up (about 4 or 5oo km north of where I live now) there were strong unions in that industry when I was working, but even the union jobs have employment at will, and from what I hear, lots of workers end up looking for new jobs just as they would achieve journey-level wage rates. I don’t know how long you can keep churning the same labor force, but since people in the lower classes have limited horizons, I expect that a fair number go from one place to the next hoping that lightning will strike and they’ll clear the bar–if only for a few years.
@CSK: I never got into sushi while I was in Korea. I tried raw tuna in season at a bar with a friend once, but based on how things went when I got home, I assume something in the ingredients disagreed with me. I had never eaten fish other than canned tuna and occasional shell fish until I got to Korea. I had both fish allergy and sulfite sensitivity. Even fresh fish that I didn’t react as allergic to in tests created reactions when eating them. Korea/and or aging out of some food allergies was a boon to my culinary experiences.
@Teve: There’s a confectioner in Seaside Oregon who sells rashers of crispy bacon that are dipped in milk or dark chocolate. I recommend the dark chocolate, drizzled in maple syrup. My pancreas, on the other hand, screams, “No, oh God, No…Wait a minute, go back and get another one.”
@flat earth luddite:
(Teve throws 5 pairs of socks and t-shirts into his car, and various charging cables, and opens up Google Maps. I-75 North, Google, and straight on till mornin’.)
@Doug Mataconis:
Shoulda taken Fountain.*
*LA specific joke. @EddieinCa will get it.
The Lodge 12-in cast iron skillet is $29.90 on the Target website. I go to the Target store today to buy it and it’s $32.90 on the shelf. It rings up $32.90 and I show the cashier the $29.90 price on the website with the same UPC, and she takes $10 off. I got this thing for less than 25 bucks.
Teve to his friend Sarah: “Man, not even 25 bucks. And I’m going to have this thing for the rest of my life.”
Sarah to her friend Teve: “yeah, but owning a skillet for 3 months isn’t very impressive.”
Florida Woman knows Florida Man’s history too well.
@CSK:
That would be my fear as well.
@Kurtz:
Yeah. I love dogs, but being mauled by a pack of them isn’t on my bucket list.
@Teve: Several people told me, no no no don’t buy a new cast-iron skillet, you want to go to the antique stores and get an old one because they were made so much better back then. But, I reasoned, if this has become ‘common knowledge’, what antique stores are probably doing now is buying pallets-full of new Lodge cast-iron skillets and repping them as antiques with a hefty surcharge.
@Michael Reynolds: Ehhhh, I KNEW I shoulda taken a left at Albuquerque
Just watched Biden’s address to Congress. Seemed to me Biden mostly spoke Yiddish.
@CSK:
I don’t want anything with cheetos, crushed or whole, but honestly it’s probably not all that different than the various crunch sushi’s that are popular now.
I prefer ahi sashimi, either plain or marinated and seared.
Since people are putting up recipes:
Ahi grade tuna cut into 1.5-2″ square by however long your chunk of ahi will allow
marinate in shoyu, ginger, garlic, and onion in the fridge for a few hours
roll in a good cajun spice (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, paprika, cayenne, and any other red peppers I have around)
cook for a few seconds on each side in a hot cast iron skillet (just enough to sear the spices on and cook it white to about 1mm on each side)
slice thin and serve
Can also cut the ahi into 1.5-2″ cubes and do the same and add over a Caesar’s salad.
If polls are to be believed, Biden’s speech landed with 80% of viewers. Dang.
Lol
@Teve: I can tell the difference. The new one isn’t as black as my 40 year old one is and isn’t rusted on the underside where it meets the stove element.
@Doug Mataconis: Kill the heretic!
@Kurtz: I gotta get some!
They weren’t made any better back then than they are now. Cast iron is cast iron. BUT… It is still preferable to buy an old one as long as it comes from grandma’s cabinet and not grandpa’s barn. It’s the *40 years of seasoning* that makes an old one superior to a new one. But it only takes a year or 2 of sitting in shtty conditions to destroy all that seasoning.
*when Ma died my sisters fought over her cast iron skillets. If my oldest sis had still been alive there would have been blood. I didn’t even try to get one.