STEVE SMITH FRIDAY NIGHT LINKS AND ADVICE

by | Feb 28, 2020 | Advice, Daily Links | 459 comments

STEVE SMITH HELP TOURISM!

STEVE SMITH HERE MAKE FRIDAY NIGHT FUN FOR FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN PEOPLE. HIM GIVE LINKS, AND HIM GIVE ADVICE! HIM GOOD AT BOTH.

STEVE SMITH THINK MANY FUNNY GLIBERTARIAN PEOPLE HAVE HARD TIME LATELY. SO STEVE SMITH WANT MAKE SMILE.

HERE FUN LINKS!

  • STEVE SMITH THOUGHT WAS BEAR WHO GOT BEANS FROM CAMPERS. STEVE SMITH GO LOOK AT AIRPLANE. BY LOOK, MEAN RAPE.
  • THAT NO WEAPONS CACHE! THAT TOOL KIT FROM SUGARFREE DUNGEON!
  • NO! THEM NEED WAIT FOR CASCADIA BE FREE! JOIN STEVE SMITH IN FREEEEEDOM!

SEE! THEM GOOD LINKS. NOW STEVE SMITH GIVE GOOD ADVICE!

Q: My daughter’s in-laws host small parties, and extend invitations to me through my daughter, saying to her, “Tell your dad he’s invited.”

The in-laws have my phone number and are known to send texts. Is it too much to expect a phone call, or even a simple text, directly from the hosts for such invitations? Do such indirect invitations reflect an insincere wish for my attendance, perhaps just for the sake of maintaining appearances?

A: STEVE SMITH HAVE IDEA. NEXT TIME GO TO PARTY, DRINK ALL WHISKY, WINE, BEER, SPIRITS CAN GRAB. PUKE ON HOSTS. SEE IF NO GET INVITE NEXT TIME! IF NO, THEM NO FUN AND NOT WANT YOU THERE. IF INVITE AGAIN, CAN DO WHATEVER WANT!

IF THAT NOT SOUND GOOD, THEN JUST HIT THEM ON HEAD WITH BIG ROCK.

WHY YOU NO SEND INVITE DIRECT?

 

Q: Years ago, bridal showers were theme-based. Now, they send a list of where the bride is registered. I thought this was reserved for the wedding gift.

When I choose a shower gift from this list, I pick a less expensive one, if possible, and later choose a pricier wedding gift. Some of the shower gifts are very expensive. Could these be combination shower/wedding gifts? I feel rather cheap at this point. What to do?

A: STEVE SMITH LIKE APPROACH. IT NO CHEAP. HIM TRY THAT. HIM FIRST GIVE OLD BIRD NEST AT SHOWER, THEN GIVE MOOSE SKULL AT WEDDING!  OF COURSE, THEN STEVE SMITH CELEBRATE WITH GUESTS. BY CELEBRATE, MEAN RAPE. GUESTS. OFFICIANT. WEDDING PARTY. AND CAKE.

STEVE SMITH GIVE AWAY BRIDE.

FREE CASCADIA!

About The Author

STEVE SMITH

STEVE SMITH

STEVE SMITH PROMINENT FOREST LAWYER. AND RAPESQUATCH OF IMPORTANCE. ONE TIME GRAND MUFTI OF CASCADIA. FREE CASCADIA!

459 Comments

  1. Sean

    Zardoz does better links.

    • Tulip

      You could just ask Steve to visit you. No need to insult him.

      • Sean

        I’m angling for more gifts of the gun.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        Congrats! You get the gift of a crate of Mosin that have been sitting at the bottom of the Caspian Sea for 30 years!

      • Sean

        Well…how thick was the cosmoline?

        I’ll always take more Mosins.

      • Animal

        Short on tent poles?

  2. C. Anacreon

    Soon every part of the USA not on a coast will be Idaho.

    • C. Anacreon

      Two potatoes are walking down the street. How can you tell which one is the prostitute?

      The one stamped “I da ho”

      • westernsloper

        BOOOOOOO!

    • Nephilium

      Does the North Coast count?

  3. Gustave Lytton

    primate nocta.

    • Chipping Pioneer

      I larfed.

  4. Gustave Lytton

    Make Idaho’s Portugal a reality.

    • C. Anacreon

      Portugal’s famous wine is Port — would that mean Idaho’s famous wine would be Ida?

      • Ted S.

        It’s as sweet as apple cider.

      • Jarflax

        Ida is Virginian wine

  5. Not Adahn

    The “bride” with STEVE SMITH is a skank.

    • Sean

      I’m wondering about the couple in the background with matching shirts.

      • Not Adahn

        They’re married.

    • Jarflax

      THEY ALL SLUTS TO STEVE SMITH

  6. Not Adahn

    Oppenheimer weapons?

    *dives behind cover*

      • Sean

        That’s on my playlists. I’m a fan of Sting and The Police.

      • Mojeaux

        #metoo

      • Ted S.

        There is no monopoly of common sense
        On either side of the musical fence.

        (Sorry, I think it’s a terrible song.)

      • Sean

        Meh, you like black and white movies.

        ?

      • Nephilium

        I thought I liked you Sean.

        Even my 25 year old niece now appreciates black and white TV shows (I introduced her to the original Twilight Zone).

      • Sean

        Pics? ?

        And of course she liked the episode with William Shatner. Who wouldn’t?

      • Nephilium

        Sean:

        I’m the safest guardian of my niece. She’s got a boyfriend who she’s living with (who seems to be a nice guy), a mother, and a step-father who is more protective then me.

        There will be no pics. If you come to the CLE, I may judge you worthy to meet her. But she is a Bernie supporter at this point in her life (I consider this a failure on my side). Howe’er she’s learned that not all libertarians are terrible people, since she knows I am one.

        And I started her with the corn field episode.

      • Sean

        *sigh*

        Neph,

        I am hopelessly in love with my gf. (Who is also heavily armed. Think Burt and Heather from Tremors). ?

        I’m just playing around. I thought that was evident.

      • Nephilium

        Sean:

        There’s no anger. Just warning.

        /pours Sean a bourbon on the rocks.

        My BIL is more violent then I am. He’s bitched about shit my girlfriend has said before.

      • MikeS

        That’s one of his few redeeming features.

      • Rhywun

        I haven’t heard that song in decades. Yeah, meh.

      • Mojeaux

        Knew it before I clicked!

      • Tulip

        Me too! Love that song! Pfft to Ted S.

      • Mojeaux

        I don’t LOVE it, but I won’t go to the effort to hit the fast forward button. The propaganda of it turned me off even when it first came out.

        This is the best Sting/Police song ever.

      • Rhywun

        Looks like “Synchronicity II” is the only Police or Sting song to make the transition to digital for me.

        But yeah, I wouldn’t kick “King of Pain” out of bed.

      • Mojeaux

        Fields of Gold is a good album. “St. Augustine in Hell” is a fun one.

        Then there’s this cover on which he sings backup.

      • Mojeaux

        Oops. Messed up the song and the album. Ten Summoner’s Tales is a great album.

      • Rhywun

        How about this song where Sting sings backup?

        I have always utterly loathed that song.

        ?‍♂️

      • Mojeaux

        How about this song where Sting sings backup?

        Well. That was a blast from the past.

  7. Q Continuum

    “Now, they send a list of where the bride is registered”

    Registries are horseshit in every case except for wedding gifts.

  8. Not Adahn

    So…

    In the “weapons” we have a hatchet, two santoku-style chef knives, a fishing knife, and a boxed set (still in the original box) of camp/fish knives.

    Those slackers! I’ll bet if they took even two minutes they could have found rocks around the tent that were equally weapons.

    • Sean

      Strangely enough no pics of the sks.

      • mikey

        It’s being stored safely in one of the cop’s home gun locker.

  9. Mojeaux

    I have no cumin.

    • Not Adahn

      *blink*

      Really? That’s like turmeric, you never run out of it.

    • Q Continuum

      must… not… make obvious joke…

      • Mojeaux

        Well, I wondered if anyone would make the obvious joke…

      • Jarflax

        what condomint humor are you resisting?

      • AlmightyJB

        I’m proud of you Q

    • Nephilium

      I don’t understand.

      /hides spice cupboard.

    • Tulip

      That calls for an emergency store run. I’m out of thyme. Will buy tomorrow.

      • Spudalicious

        Thyme is on my side. Yes, it is.

      • Nephilium

        So you’re Fallen?

      • Sean

        Can you save it in a bottle?

      • Jarflax

        Cumin is special purpose for me. But thyme? Thyme I need for everything.

      • Tulip

        Yes. It’s a favorite of mine. I thought I had more, but apparently not.

      • Mojeaux

        I love rosemary on pork and chicken. I may or may not add sage.

    • Spudalicious

      Buy it in the Mexican section of the grocery store. It will be a third of the price of the stuff in the spice aisle.

      • Rhywun

        I can’t even.

      • Tulip

        No accounting for taste.

      • Tundra

        Is that a lobotomy scar I see?

      • Spudalicious

        What a cunte.

    • AlmightyJB

      Making chili?

      • AlmightyJB

        Ancho chili powder or smoked paprika would give you some of that smokey flavor and both would go good in that.

      • Mojeaux

        Huh. Well, I have Spanish smoked paprika.

      • AlmightyJB

        Perfect.

    • Tundra

      Question: do thyme and cumin work together?

      • AlmightyJB

        Sure, on a pot roast, that would be great. Or in beef stew.

      • Tundra

        I’ve been arguing with a friend that he can include both in his braised chicken thighs. After softening the onions.

        My Friday nights have really gotten lame.

      • AlmightyJB

        Yeah, that would be good.

      • Nephilium

        I’d say welcome to being an adult Tundra, but fuck… If I’ve kept up correctly, you’re older then me. So I can still be the young PUNK!

      • Tundra

        Yes, I’m older than you.

        And you are welcome to be the young punk!

        Here’s a song for you.

      • Nephilium

        Old punks don’t die, we just stand in the back!

      • Tundra

        You are correct, young punk.

        Thank you!

      • MikeS

        LOL. OK, Boomer.

    • C. Anacreon

      Summer is a cumin seed,

      Loudly sing boo-hoo.

      /PDQ Bach “The Seasonings”

      • Gender Traitor

        Two thumbs up for PDQB!

    • Chafed

      Those are my kind of people.

  10. Spudalicious

    If it dilutes the California influence, come on in.

  11. Tulip

    Hayek? Did they figure out what is going on?

    • Nephilium

      I’m still catching up, but Hayek was in the last thread.

      • Tulip

        But I didn’t see a diagnoses

      • Tundra

        I don’t think there is one yet.

        Still waiting for my room for overnight. I’m on this IV diuretic to help with the swelling but it makes me pee every 10 minutes. Upside it, they’re not replugging me into the SpO2 and BP cuffs since I have to keep going (which the nurse warned me would be the case).

      • Tulip

        I saw that. Very scary.

      • MikeS

        Dang… this is news to me. Get better quick, ‘Splosives!

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        Hope she’s OK. Sounds as if she’s is the joint overnight.

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        Yeah, what they said.

    • Cannoli

      Feel better soon ‘Splosives!

  12. Spudalicious

    And if that’s a “cache” of weapons, I’m a third world country. As long as I stay away from bodies of water.

    • Sean

      I can take over a third world country, like Canada.

    • Jarflax

      It included scary 6 mm pistols! The dreaded .25

      • Sean

        I assumed those were the 6mm airsoft pistols.

      • Jarflax

        It seems to imply they were in addition, but since it also refers to a replica uzi as a weapon…

      • Sean

        Always assume bad “journalists” .

    • Tulip

      No kidding, my kitchen alone could be made to sound like a terrorist training camp. Assholes

    • mikey

      Some boasting UK cops showed a picture of all the “weapons” they’d “taken off the street”. The take included an old butter knife and a rusty pair of pliers ( or somesuch). Half the stuff looked like they’d pulled out of the boot of a rusty old Morris in a salvage yard. They were quite proud of themselves.

      • Nephilium

        Damn, I remember our local police department showing us the “weapons” they’d “confiscated” back in the 80’s. One of them was a Krueger glove. I have yet in my 30 years since then ever heard of anyone building such a weapon for their use.

    • westernsloper

      That wasn’t a cache of weapons, that was a heroine addicted taxidermist or fish mongers stash.

    • AlmightyJB

      I bet that not a fun way to go.

      • Jarflax

        It’s a very still death, but probably not calm

      • Fourscore

        Blowfish suck

  13. Tulip

    Hey Nephilium, your trip sounds great! I’ve had successful trips in the pasta where I had the first and last night’s nailed down, but otherwise just wandered and found something along the way. It’s a good idea to have a list of things you’d like to see and do (more than you can accomplish), then pick as time and serendipity allows. I hope you have a wonderful time!

    • Nephilium

      Thanks Tulip. The girlfriend and I have… differing views… on what we would like. I’m more then happy to let her go on guided tours while I walk around a town and meet up with locals. The reason the hotels in Iceland are locked in is that they were already selling out (we had to select two different ones for the two different two night stays already).

      I’m planning on taking lots of pictures, and spending as much time as I can trying to talk to locals. My German is probably at the level of a Kindergartner, while my French is from three years of High School (I’m better at German now).

      • creech

        Four nights in Cologne? Try this – take a boat ride up the Moselle and get on and off at some of the nifty wine towns between Koblenz and Trier.

      • Nephilium

        Wine? But I want the Kolsch!

      • Rhywun

        Ooo I like that idea. I haven’t been in that area.

    • Heroic Mulatto

      It is believed the kitten is female, though this has not been confirmed.

      Now even pets are getting in on this gender-fluid shit?

      • Gustave Lytton

        Well you know, with the increasing number of hikikomori, they just may never have seen pussy before.

  14. Mojeaux

    So my spice rack, which appears in slivers in pix of food that I have shared here, was made specifically for McCormick bottles. I no longer wish to be enslaved by my love of McCormick-shaped bottles and wish to be enslaved by my love of square bottles such as you see here. Now, I love my spice rack, but you see that space on the left? Nothing will fit there except those stupid wonky little bitty things.

    I need a spice rack that’s just slightly bigger. Sadly, I would pay someone to do this, but I have no money and thus, will continue to be driven crazy by that space where my new bottles don’t fit.

    And yes, I’m going to do pretty labels and not those crappy hand-written mailing labels. Eventually. When I get around to it.

    • Ted S.

      Keep the McCormick bottles and refill them with other loose spices.

      • Mojeaux

        I sold them (for quite the sum). They are “vintage” now and collectible.

    • Nephilium

      Mojeaux,

      Look into the Spice House. They do free shipping for their new flatpacks, their spices are good (and the Vulcan’s Fire Salt is amazing if you like spicy).

      • Mojeaux

        I get my spices here.

      • Nephilium

        Looks like a decent selection. But they have no Vulcan’s Fire Salt. I am very interested in some of their extract/flavor options, but I noticed a lack of two of my favorites Chocolate and Coffee. Not to mention, no lemon extract, just lemon oil.

      • Mojeaux

        That would be here. However, their 32-oz bottle of Madagascar bourbon vanilla extract was $150.

        This is the place with that $30/lb Spanish goat cheese I fell in love with.

        I hate to admit this, but I just get McCormick’s lemon extract. And I also found out (the hard way) that lemon extract goes rancid.

      • Nephilium

        At no point should you need a 32 ounce bottle of Vanilla extract. I say this as a drunkard, a baker, and a cook.

      • Mojeaux

        *slips big bottle of vanilla extract behind back and whistles innocently*

      • Nephilium

        Mojueax:

        /hides the fact that I have vanilla beans, extract, sugar, and paste.

        I like vanilla.

      • Mojeaux

        As I have said before, very often I will add almond extract to any non-chocolate cookie or cake that calls for vanilla extract.

        I don’t mix almond and lemon/lime/orange.

      • Jarflax

        Well, maybe she wants to make 30 gallons of ice cream?

      • Nephilium

        /hides all of his cookie recipes from Mojeaux

      • Tulip

        Vanilla doesn’t go bad. *Hides huge bottle from Mexico*

      • Rhywun

        LOL. Looks at my 1oz bottle of pure vanilla extract that is still 90% full after a year. Guess which one of those three positions I fill.

      • Ted S.

        Missionary?

      • Mojeaux

        I wish I had somebody who could go to Mexico and get me a huge bottle of vanilla like that.

      • Tulip

        Next time I go, I’ll let you know.

      • Mojeaux

        THANK YOU!!!

      • Jarflax

        Tulip, the world’s most vanilla smuggler?

      • Ted S.

        I think UCS is the most vanilla.

      • MikeS

        Guess which one of those three positions I fill.

        Phrasing?

    • Gustave Lytton

      At least they’re bottles and not cans.

      • Mojeaux

        LOL

    • Rhywun

      Yeah, I have a cheapo plastic spice-rack that doesn’t fit those square glass bottles. On the plus side, it has drawers that slide in, and it stores in the cupboard above my stove.

      So I have line-up of square glass bottles sitting next to my toaster oven on top of my microwave.

    • westernsloper

      I love these The bars and the hooks are there too.

      • Tulip

        Hmm, I have an ugly green spice rack from the thrift store that takes up counter space. I am intrigued.

      • westernsloper

        I have an extremely small kitchen with very little counter space. With the exception of large pots and pans, which are in an oversized drawer, the stuff hangs on the wall. I love it. The bars and the hooks and the spice racks are very useful.

  15. Sean

    I see nothing from Trader Joe’s. They have good things in square jars. Look for the 21 season salute, onion salt, everything but the bagel, chile lime, etc.

    • Sean

      Meant as a response to Mo’s rack.

      • Nephilium

        I’m more annoyed by the fact that TJ’s has killed off several jars in the past. The smoked ghost chili flakes have entertained me for multiple Thanksgivings.

      • Jarflax

        Dude a simple wink, or at best a hubba hubba. 21 gun salutes are trying too hard.

      • Gender Traitor

        Mo’s rack

        That was her other avatar.

      • Nephilium

        Oi! GT, did you see my comment on what you should look for in spin classes earlier this week?

      • Gender Traitor

        Doesn’t ring a bell. Can you either link back to it or repeat yourself?

        For fitness purposes, I’m mainly looking for best weight loss & muscle toning that I don’t hate doing. Used to swim regularly, but can’t do that at the Y after work because the HS swim teams take over the pool for a few hours then.

      • Nephilium

        Of course I can.

        For spin classes, know what your goal is. My goal is to work on my RPM and max power, so I ignore half of what the instructor says during the class. If you’re looking to get your heart rate up, aim towards working on a higher RPM, and don’t worry about the resistance. If you’re specifically looking to get stronger legs, then worry about the resistance. I’ve spoken to all of my spin class instructors about my goals before (if I can) or after (if I need to). But my goals are different then most of the people there. I was entertained when one instructor was doing a push for RPM, saw my numbers pre-push, and pulled me off the board. I called her out after the class. Another instructor called me out when she said the RPM cap was at 130, I corrected her that it was 149, she told me to give her more gears.

      • Gender Traitor

        Thanks! (Sorry about the delay in responding – interrupted by a late dinner & clean-up of same.)

        One advantage of the Y spin class is that it’s relatively “low-tech” – there’s no board displaying people’s data, just the little display on your cycle. Makes it easier to ignore what the instructor’s telling you to do re: resistance or RPM. The down side is that it’s a small class, so you can’t just lurk in the back and blithely ignore the call to stand up & pedal without anyone noticing.

      • AlmightyJB

        🙂

      • Toxteth O’Grady

        Reminds me of Kidman in Moulin Rouge.

      • Nephilium

        It’s my second favorite musical.

      • Mojeaux

        I have been told many times that I look/ed like her.

        However, I have spent most of my life being a doppelganger of SOMEBODY. I can’t tell you how many times somebody’s said, “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

        “Nope.”

        I have come to the conclusion that my looks are ubiquitous.

        And now Nicole Kidman mutilated her face.

      • Nephilium

        Mojeaux, there was a time when people told me I looked like Kid Rock.

        I’m not proud of that time.

      • Mojeaux

        That’s not entirely awful.

      • Tulip

        The woman everyone said was my doppelganger was called “lube monkey” for promiscuous reasons. Sigh.

    • Tulip

      Please write it up. my brother continues to mourn the end of Spice Island’s spaghetti sauce seasoning. He found the recipe online and now makes his own.

    • Mojeaux

      I don’t shop at Trader Joe’s. I spice shop here.

      They have sassafras.

      • Nephilium

        But Trader Joe’s does have things like smoke Ghost Pepper grinders, and Cauliflower Gnocchi. They also have some decent Indian frozen dinners.

      • Mojeaux

        None of those things sounds appetizing to me.

      • Rhywun

        decent Indian frozen dinners

        *ears perk up*

      • Nephilium

        Get thee to a Trader Joe’s, and try the Fiery Chicken Curry and Lamb Vindaloo. If you don’t like them (or if they’re too spicy for you) call me out. I’d tag both at a 7 out of 10 on the spicy scale.

      • Rhywun

        Will do.

        I’ve been training myself on spicy Korean ramen soup that I’m sort of addicted to. I used to use half the seasoning with extra water. About a year later I now prefer the whole seasoning pack with less water than the instructions state.

        I’m not at all a spice fiend but I’m much more open to it than I used to be.

      • Tulip

        I like spice, but it is definitely something I use to moderate my eating.

      • Nephilium

        Is Trader Joe’s Indian food the best? No. But it’s amazingly good Indian food on the cheap. For authentic, I go local.

  16. Tundra

    STEVE, it looks like you’ve been skipping leg day.

    I’m disappointed in you.

    • Jarflax

      STEVE SKIP LEG DAY SAVE ENERGY FOR BUTT NIGHT!

    • Nephilium

      Every day is leg day!

      Of course, I’m aiming for more cycling, so I can live with the fact my wrists are getting skinnier, while my legs can still do amazing things.

      • Jarflax

        replace the handlebar grips with those old spring grip forearm exercisers 🙂

      • Nephilium

        It’s entertaining to me how much there’s a difference between what my legs can do versus my arms. I’m usually top power and RPM in the spin classes, but tap out during the arm work every week.

      • Jarflax

        When I was working out regularly I got to the point where I was rowing a couple hours a day at a moderate pace, well over a half marathon a day. I decided to start lifting and figured since I had built core strength it would all be cake. WRONG. You don’t strenbgthen your forarms all that much just holding the handle of an erg, and what strength you do build is all in the fingers, the muscles that run your thumbs barely engage at all. Damn I wish I had kept at it. It is goingto be so hard getting back.

      • Nephilium

        Oh, I’m well aware that the only real strength I have is in my legs. I’ve argued with my doctor when he told me I shouldn’t be able to ride 50 miles because of my elevated blood pressure.

      • JD is Unemployed

        Or shake weights.

      • Rhywun

        “cool-down spray”

        LOLOLOL

  17. Tundra

    I just saw an ad for a Stone Temple Pilots concert. Without Scott?

    Just make a new fucking band, losers.

    • Nephilium

      Sublime with Rome says hello.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Connick as Sinatra, Fail….

    • one true athena

      I’d forgotten he died, so I was poking around on Wiki. I didn’t know STP hired Chester Bennington for a little while after they fired Weiland for the reunion tour. Who do they have now as singer? hopefully someone more stable this time.

  18. Spudalicious

    Okay, 1200 miles in three days has caught up, along with a busy day today. Spud is trashed. Gawd I hate getting old.

    • Nephilium

      Well damn Spud, based on all this bitching, I’m one of the middle aged bastards around here.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Ahem,,, 1200? Good on ya,. it’s a Bitch sometimes,

      • Spudalicious

        Get off my lawn.

  19. JD is Unemployed

    Earlier this week in Acapulco there was some intense Wang on Wang action, with Wang emerging victorious. Said victorious Wang today was beaten by Heather Watson, who upon winning signed the camera lens with “I ❤️ mehicooooo!”, and upon saying in the post-match interview that she was going to eat “some tostadas”, it was relayed in Spanish by the translator as “una tostada”. Something about beating a Wang something something one tostada. Tennis.

  20. westernsloper

    : Years ago, bridal showers were theme-based. Now, they send a list of where the bride is registered. I thought this was reserved for the wedding gift.
    When I choose a shower gift from this list, I pick a less expensive one, if possible, and later choose a pricier wedding gift. Some of the shower gifts are very expensive. Could these be combination shower/wedding gifts? I feel rather cheap at this point. What to do?

    For any shower gift go with something that will be used yearly, fuck registry’s. Give from the heart. Give this and then this to add to it. Merry Christmas every year. Year after year.

    • Tulip

      Man, I miss being able to give 35mm film for weddings and baby showers. I’d usually throw in developing at CVS or Walgreens for at least a few. The digital camera killed that.

    • Mojeaux

      You are a wise man.

      • Jarflax

        I think he’s more of a shepherd. But then I’m kind of an ass so what do I know?

      • Mojeaux

        At least you’re not a crook.

      • Ted S.

        I thought he was a wiseguy.

      • Mojeaux

        I ALMOST said wiseguy man.

  21. Winston

    Is Coronavirus gonna kill us all or is it overblown?

    • Tundra

      Ask mom.

    • JD is Unemployed

      Get with the times. It’s called “the Trump market crash” now.

      • Winston

        I see the MSM doing that. Gee I wonder if they have an ulterior motive?

    • Urthona

      overblown as far as death goes.

      the economic effects will be real though.

      • hayeksplosives

        But they are based on panic!

      • Urthona

        they aren’t entirely though. there are very real supply chain disruptions that will slow some things down.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Also, from social distancing actions which can slow the spread.

        That really is the big thing. Slow the spread, reduce the number of cases that need hospital care at any one time, and avoid collapse of the healthcare system.

      • Mojeaux

        I have a client who wants some hardback-with-jackets mini-books printed. I told him that the only cost-effective place would be China and right now, that might be a little bit tricky to get done, if it were even desirable to do so right now.

    • Tulip

      Several colleagues are tracking all reports. One has it bottoming out at 9% fatalities. I mentioned that NPR said 2%, but he hasn’t figured out where that number came from. I’m nervous (and buying supplies to shelter at home) but not yet panicked. At least one colleague that is tracking and nervous has experience with contagious disease. So, I don’t know what will happen. But, I am stocking up.

      • Invisible BEAM of the comment stream

        . . . I am stocking up.

        Us too, but not because of COVID-19, but rather the first- and second-order knock-on effects of pandemic fear (disruption of supply lines etc.). Exacerbated by the fact that the FedGov here in Canada are now letting a handful of hereditary native leaders run the goddamn freight lines nationwide.

        Interesting times.

      • Winston

        One has it bottoming out at 9% fatalities

        If this of all the infected, of the world population or of the US population?

      • Tulip

        Mortality of infected

      • Winston

        I was hoping that since 9% of the world population would be far worse than the Spanish flu!

      • Jarflax

        I srongly suspect even the 2% number is badly exagerated. The total number of infected is almost certainly higher than reported or even known with mostly the sickest people being among the reported cases. (would you let the Government of China know you had the disease unless you were at death’s door?) Maybe I am blase about this because I have lived through too many crying wolf episodes.

      • Urthona

        It is.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        I mentioned that NPR said 2%, but he hasn’t figured out where that number came from.

        That’s from The Lancet, but a few weeks ago.

      • Urthona

        also it’s close to what the Chinese government reported.

        admittedly not the most trustworthy source.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        Well, as a comparison, the Spanish Flu of 1918 was also around 2 percent. It doesn’t have to be Ebola deadly to be serious.

      • Urthona

        I predict it will wind up way under 1%.

      • straffinrun

        You also picked Biden. 😉

      • Urthona

        This will bring me up to 50%.

    • straffinrun

      It’s gonna kill a shitton of people. Not more than flu? I dunno, but discounting it as a blip seems silly. Just because some new problem kills fewer people than, say, car accidents, doesn’t mean it isn’t something to be worried about.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        Ok, but what do you do when gun grabbers make the same argument?

      • straffinrun

        Guns are the cure, not the disease?

      • Urthona

        meh

        human life is overrated

      • Gustave Lytton

        That’s just it. This is a new virus and not well understood in a number of ways. There’s no prior immunity in human, no vaccine, and no treatment. It’s not even clear yet if it reduce yet with seasonal changes like influenza. Aside from the mortality rate (which seems to be much higher than influenza, but not really knowing the denominator yet), a good portion of those infected will need hospital care- mechanical ventilators, supplemental oxygen, and other supportive care. Right now is also peak influenza season (which confers no immunity to coronavirus) which means those resources are already reduced.

        Wash your hands, stay home if your sick, start preparing for localized disruptions and social distancing. Slow the spread and this can be handled as best as possible.

      • straffinrun

        I get that libertarians would be skeptical of the new! threat of the day that is being used by governments to exercise social control. We look at how they use global warming to advance their grip on the people. IMO, we have to offer a solution that both addresses the problem and respects people’s liberty.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Honesty and treating adults as adults would be a start, rather than treating people as children to be herded. Not saying libertarians do that, but seems like a foundation to work from.

      • westernsloper

        How many people die from flu in China every year?

      • Gustave Lytton

        Extremely low, lowest in world (*)

        * Very deaths are recorded as by influenza but rather only by the direct non-influenza cause. There’s also an issue with a lack of national vital statistics. Estimates that I found in academic papers based on analysis is around .5% of those infected, which is about 5 times higher than in the US or other western countries.

      • westernsloper

        I am in no condition to read that. My overall point was do we believe any info that comes out of China?

      • Gustave Lytton

        No, but maybe?

    • J. Frank Parnell

      I’m already dead from the net neutrality repeal.

  22. Winston

    From Morning Links

    We are living in the healthiest, most peaceful time in history, yet we cannot seem to accept it. We constantly have to invent bogeymen, from climate alarmism, nuclear war and financial collapse to deadly diseases.

    Well how to do you justify massive new government programs and regulations then, huh?

    Also this argument puts libertarians in a bind since Everything is Awesome yet we need massive political, economic and social reform just not in the way the left and right want.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      We live in the greatest Timeline In Spite of Gov Regs, just go live FFS!
      We all die in the end, enjoy it while you are here,

      • Winston

        We all die in the end, enjoy it while you are here

        Is that you Keynes?

        Also sorry for your loss. 🙁

    • Jarflax

      Also this argument puts libertarians in a bind since Everything is Awesome yet we need massive political, economic and social reform just not in the way the left and right want.

      Well I would take it as given that we won’t get it, but that said I don’t think it puts any of us in a bind except the utilitarian types. I don’t want a Minarchy because I think it will make us richer (although I suspect it will) I want it because I believe liberty is morally superior to a lack of liberty. Do what you choose, deal with the results.

      • Winston

        Well I was speaking more of the political argument. If everything is awesome then why should we care about whatever the government does and why is the two-party duopoly so bad since they are the ones responsible for the current system? And there is this attitude that libertarians must attack the existing system but not in a “right-wing reactionary” way and call for social and economic reform but not in a “left-wing progressive” way however that is supposed to be done.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        You miss Jarflax’s point, if I may be so bold. Deontologist libertarians don’t care about consequentialism, and vice versa.

      • westernsloper

        And Deon Sanders was arguably the best receiver to have ever played, If I may be so bold. (had to add that since it is the only part of that word that I have heard of)

      • MikeS

        ??

        #80 = #1

      • westernsloper

        Whatever. Who is 80?

      • MikeS

        I can’t even.

      • westernsloper

        Ok, my football trivia is week. ??‍♂️

      • Jarflax

        Liberty is good because it makes us rich and leads to peace and unicorn’s that crap ice cream = consequentialism
        Liberty is good. =deontological libertarianism (which while in one sense an accurate name is in another sense an odd juxtaposition since it implies a duty to be free)

      • westernsloper

        ^This is why I am glad you people tolerate me.

        As to what you wrote below. I am of the mind life is ethics. Some have it, some don’t, and the majority have no idea what ethics really mean because they are all to ready to steal from their neighbor because social contract or steal from work because their employer has more money.

      • Jarflax

        I’m a halfway educated academic type. I know most of the terminology and can look up and understand what I don’t have stored in memory. That means I sometimes sound pretentious. I’m also a decent bordering on good, but self taught cook.

        People posting here regularly can build furniture, sew, rebuild an engine, build a computer, program an app, paint, draw, sculpt, farm, keep bees, build a gun from parts, machine those parts, save a life as a first responder, save that life the rest of the way as a doctor, paint a miniature, build a landscape, lanscape a garden, out shoot me, out drink me, and brew the drinks, analyze securities, analyze the companies that issued the security, write articulately on all these subjects, write entertaining novels, and probably a host of other things I cannot do, or in some cases might be able to do but have not done. I don’t think of what I do here as ‘tolerating’ anyone lol.

      • westernsloper

        At this point in the evening I am too lazy to look stuff up so hence thanks for the explanation. And right on about the folks who post here. An amazing bunch.

      • Chafed

        Some of us file lawsuits.

        /feeling left out

      • westernsloper

        ??

      • Jarflax

        Thank you, that is precisely my point. to go off at a slight tangent:

        As I view this, we are inherently free. We have the ability to choose to ignore law, custom, and even conscience, and every single one of us has at some point proven this in our own life. All the arguments boil down to what choices are we (collectively) willing to punish and in what fashion, and possibly to what degree are we willing to persuade and by what methods. We shouldn’t decide these question based on utility because by definition that means the group forcing the ultimate minority (the individual) to bear the cost of whatever good is sought by the infringement. That to my way of thinking is wrong even if the good is great and the infringement minor.

        It seems like every comment I make here lately touches some issue or aspect of the article I am working on. I am starting to feel wholely inadequate to write this. It was supposed to be a light hearted look at law and its justifications/requirements and now I have notes for the rough skeleton of an examination of ethics.

      • SUPREME OVERLORD trshmnstr

        Lol, I remember that exact feeling. Mine turned into three light articles because otherwise it would’ve been a 6 month research project that still felt shortchanged. I’m still a little bit embarrassed by those articles because they feel sophomoric.

        It’s an insanely rich area. Something you could study for a lifetime.

      • westernsloper

        ^This is where my older age has taken my head. Liberty above all. You want my property? My money? My time? My natural rights including the one to protect myself? It’s theft. Theft is immoral. You fucks who want to take that, *looking at Bernie Bro’s* (and all too often the rest of the assholes) You are immoral people. Go fuck yourselves.

    • straffinrun

      Things are great until the aren’t. Equal and opposite reaction. People will be more quick to embrace government intervention when what used to be considered a mild bit of pain is deemed intolerable today. We’re setting up for a bigger fall than last time.

  23. Nephilium

    Good night you magnificent bastards, I’m off to get some sleep before I get yelled at by a fit girl tomorrow.

    • Vacuous

      Hope you have fun with the dominatrix. How much does this service cost?
      /Asking for a friend…

  24. Fourscore

    “massive political, economic and social reform”

    When I see reform used its an admission that the government has screwed up and finally it has dawned on them to pull a switcheroo, preferably by blaming someone else, and screw up again. Why does education need reforming every our years? Healthcare?

    Either the earlier version was crap and those designing it were stupid (but I repeat myself) or the new and improved version will need reforming soon.

    • Winston

      By “massive political, economic and social reform” I was referring to libertarians trying to reform the system by reducing government power, taxing, spending and regulations. These are reforms but not the sort of reforms that the left or right want.

    • Rhywun

      When I hear calls for “massive political, economic and social reform” I just do a search/replace with “smash the system” in my head. They don’t care what the “reform” is – just that whatever is now, is destroyed.

      • Tres Cool

        “Hier stehe ich mit meinen Bajonetten, da stehst du mit deinem Gesetz! Wir werden sehen, was mehr zählt.”

      • Rhywun

        Yeah… that is not a situation I wish to see any time soon. Or ever.

      • Festus

        That’s my brother in a nutshell. Grew up the “Golden Boy” and when his own decisions doomed him to failure decided to lash out at the system. He’s a full-on red commie, now, living on disability and quite content with the crumbs that others provide for him. He has two guitars and unlimited free time so at least he’s got that going for him.

  25. Aloysious

    1. I need a drink or ten

    2. STEVE SMITH not permitted to shove a potato or anything else up my butt.

  26. Winston

    https://boereport.com/2020/02/26/column-youre-crazy-if-you-support-hydrocarbons-and-youre-crazier-if-you-dont-welcome-to-the-worlds-largest-nest-of-catch-22s/

    The opponents of hydrocarbons live in their own private Catch-22, on top of the big one. They demand an end to the development of hydrocarbons. At the same time, they demand “social justice” around the world, which means raising their standard of living through better access to medicine, education, air conditioning, heat, proper nutrition, etc etc., all of which require hydrocarbons. Catch-22.

    Opponents of hydrocarbons live with yet another personal Catch-22 daily; they, to a man/woman/child/LGBTQ+/- cannot live without them, yet they demand that we quit producing hydrocarbons. That is, in plain language, they demand that we quit providing the fuel that keeps them alive. They choose short-term annihilation of the population to prevent a theoretical annihilation if the worst-case scenario of climate change does occur. But wait, some roll their eyes and say they don’t demand an immediate transition, they know it will take time. But then those same people joyfully retweet how fast the “divest fossil fuel investments” movement is becoming, or celebrate life-threatening lawsuits against petroleum companies, and they celebrate when teenagers take to the streets to demand immediate action, and they watch silently without protest as the world is urged to “panic” by their new messiah. They support by silent default immediate action and panic, and cheer its success, while at the same time declare that a transition needs time.

    • Rhywun

      Death cult’s gonna death cult.

  27. Festus

    Well at least OMWC has been putting his young charges to good use – https://youtu.be/mYKLvYGqaC0 Someone linked these kids the other day and I fell into the rabbit hole. Probably on another list now. Such is life.

    • Festus

      That autist drummer is outstanding!

    • westernsloper

      I logged into my you tube account this evening for some reason and this came up. Now that is “Such is life”. I took multiple wrong turns in Albuquerque.

      • Festus

        *grumble/sigh*

      • westernsloper

        This didn’t make me feel better.

      • Festus

        I know that my head would esplode with that much fun all of the time. A man needs some trips and giggles to build character. This is how Bernie-bots are spawned.

      • Chafed

        That video really picked up when the friend arrived. Q worthy.

  28. Winston

    https://mises.org/library/lysander-spooner-libertarian-pietist

    Specifically, after the Civil War there were three interconnected local struggles that kept reappearing throughout America; in each case, the Republicans and Democrats played out this contrasting role. These were: the attempt by pietist groups (almost always Republican) to enforce prohibition; the attempt by the same groups to enforce Sunday blue laws; and the attempt by the selfsame pietists to enforce compulsory attendance in the public schools, in order to use these schools to “Christianize” the Catholics.

    Interesting that these pietists embraced “socially liberal” attitudes like abolishing slavery and public schools and also “socially conservative” attitudes like prohibition, Blue Laws and fearing immigrants.

    Almost like what we think of as “social consevatism” is based on 1960-70s American social disputes and “social liberals” have always included Bloomberg types. After all social liberals of the time embraced gun control and George McGovern was concerned about nutrition.

    Not to mention Progressivism grew out of these pietists and modern wokeness and environmentalism can easily be seen as a new form of secular pietism.

    • Gustave Lytton

      I smell an article….

      • Q Continuum

        ^^^This. Winston, I know you get a lot of shit around here for your… interesting rhetorical style. However, you’re obviously very intelligent and think deeply about these issues. Rather than one-off rhetorical questions, I would actually love to see you submit an article tying all of this stuff together.

        And get an avatar!

      • MikeS

        Seconded on all points.

        Also, don’t write an article full of movie spoilers.

      • Winston

        interesting rhetorical style

        It seems I have a tendency to come across as a lot more hostile then I intend to be. Sorry about that.

      • Q Continuum

        No apology necessary. Just would like to see a longer form exposition of your opinions.

    • Winston

      Speaking of Prohibition thanks to the religious issues of the time in Canada and the UK prohibition was definitely a leftist issue since the pietists were in the Liberal Party and the Anglicans were Conservative. And plenty of Pietists formed the CCF which later became the NDP which used to have a strong prohibitionist element like Bible Bill Temple in Toronto.

      And in the 1920s the Democrats were split on Prohibition since the Southern Baptists were Drys while the Catholics and Northern Episcopalians like FDR were Wets.

    • Festus

      Fuck’s sake, Winston. Who are you actually railing against with these screeds? You are The One True Libertarian and everyone else is a stinky-pants? We get it. Shut the fuck up and go do your Mom’s laundry. Make sure to add a dash of T.S.P. to the delicates otherwise those stains will never come out.

      • Winston

        You are The One True Libertarian and everyone else is a stinky-pants?

        Err… where pray tell did I ever suggest this?

        Who are you actually railing against with these screeds?

        Um people on this site rail about socialists who are not on this site all the time?

      • Jarflax

        Many of your initial comments have the same mocking “Oh, yes [Thing X] that [classical liberals/named classical liberal/libertarian y] predicted/campaigned for as a promoter of liberty has sure done a bang up job of [insert example of thing X leading to some authoritarian tendency]” format. This rubs many of us the wrong way.

        However, your follow on discussions are almost invatiably coureous, well thought out, and supported by an impressive breadth and depth of familiarity with the source material. I join Q in wishing you would write a longer article.

      • Festus

        “Winston’s Corner”. Would read.

      • westernsloper

        + 5 “libertarian Moment ?” questions.

      • Winston

        Also I wasn’t intending to “attack” anyone here but I was thinking about the flaws of our concepts like “Social liberalism” and the likes of Bloomberg are not an aberration.

      • Festus

        You a stoic man, Winston and relentless. I doff my cap to ye.

    • Winston

      https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/28/american-new-york-war-plastic-bag-ban

      For Rhuywyn

      It is quite thrilling, not least because banning things runs so contrary to the American idea. More than 23bn plastic bags are used in New York each year, and the planet is dying, but even so, the Bag Waste Reduction Law is so muscular, so big government, that no one can quite believe it is happening.

      ….

      New York is the third state, after California and Oregon, to enact the ban, and it is debatable how much good it will do. In Californiain 2019, analysis of the ban showed that in the year it was enacted there was a big increase in people buying bin bags. That still looks like a net gain, however, as does the ban’s inculcation of an environmentalist mindset.

      Addressing the public over the last few weeks, city councillors have adopted the tone of officials trying to prepare bagless people at the checkout as if for war or ultimate survival – “We can do this,” said one – which taking the long view, probably isn’t far from the truth. New Yorkers don’t like to be inconvenienced, but if the bag ban does one thing, it may force us to pay attention and tremble at the inconveniences to come.

      Turdeau Jr is soon going to have take away my plastic straws and bags soon. And the ignorant masses will accept this bullshit.

      Even the Npr points out the flaws.
      https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/04/09/711181385/are-plastic-bag-bans-garbage

      • Winston

        Damn Gilmored, agan.

        And Biden will ban this stuff too as the libertarian Democrat that he is.

      • Rhywun

        It is quite thrilling, [insert massive change]

        Leftism in a nutshell.

        And yes, plastic bag bans are “garbage”.

      • Plinker762

        But the planet. IT’S DYING!!

      • Rhywun

        “Sacrifice begins at home, comrade. You know what to do.”

      • Mojeaux

        Well! Speaking of bag bans, that just reminded me.

        Today I was at the self-checkout in Walmart in KCMO, in my usual store. It asked me HOW MANY BAGS I had used! I said 2 (truth) and it said my bag charge was $0.00.

        W.T.F.

        There is no bag ban/charge here.

        So now I’m wondering if they’re going to start charging for bags everywhere (so something Walmart would do) because they can do it in NY and CA.

      • grrizzly

        Walmart has probably updated the software to be able to charge for bags wherever it’s required. In Massachusetts some cities require all(?, I bet there are exemptions to make it complicated) retailers to charge for plastic bags, other towns don’t. I see this question about the number of bags all the time. But I typically visit Walmarts only in MA or CA. And if I visit Walmarts in the relatively “free” parts of MA, it’s only because Walmart has never been allowed to open its stores in the more “totalitarian” parts of the state: where I live.

      • Mojeaux

        Walmart has probably updated the software to be able to charge for bags wherever it’s required.

        Right, but I do wonder if they’re going to take advantage of it and start charging for bags everywhere anyway. 1¢ per bag is nothing to sneeze at.

        Restrictive gummints and such wrt WM: We went to CA when XX was about 9 months old and we needed baby food, so we hopped on into a Walmart. I could not find the food! Finally, I asked somebody who got very nasty and said, “Walmart doesn’t sell food.”

        “Wait, what? What do you mean, you don’t sell food? Not even baby food or snacks?”

        “You eat it, don’t you? No, we don’t have baby food. This is California.”

        “Look. I’m not from here. MY state isn’t this backward. Please tell me you have indoor plumbing here.”

        She didn’t quite know how to respond to that.

      • CPRM

        Well, seeing as how your kids are teens now and Walmart didn’t start expanding Super Centers out of the southern midwest belt until around 2003, maybe it wasn’t law, but the fact they hadn’t expanded there yet. I dunno. I don’t remember the Wallmarts in Vegas having food in ot 1. But I may be misremembering.

      • Mojeaux

        California WMs didn’t have groceries because of the grocers unions.

      • Mojeaux

        Generally speaking, WMs have always had snack foods and dry baby stuff. When *I* was a kid and WM was still rural, they had snack foods.

      • Rhywun

        I was surprised to find groceries at the Target in downtown Brooklyn. Just junk food and stuff but who buys that at Target when the same thing is available on every corner.

        Same thing at a dollar store across the street from me in Brooklyn. I go there to buy things like an ironing board or a dish rack. Not food. Just weird.

      • CPRM

        When I worked at WM circa ot 3, they did a piss poor job of messaging the anti-union side. The real argument is “Hey Jeff, you stock 10 aisles a night and your co-worker Karen only stocks one during the same shift, do you think you should be paid the same?” but instead they showed videos of a comic villain popping out from rack of close screaming ‘Join my union!’ and warned you not to join that cult.

      • Gustave Lytton

        They’ve bought off the retailers by having a mandatory bag fee here. 5 cents is far more than it costs stores and they get to pocket the difference. And their competitors are equally hobbled from waiving the fee.

      • Mojeaux

        I actually SHOULD use my cloth bags more, but I forget. A) I do not like having all those plastic grocery bags around—I’ve got way more than I can use and we don’t have a dog to pick up shit for. B) The plastic ones don’t hold as much as my cloth ones do. C) You can’t recycle them. D) I do not have enough to crochet anything fro. them and I don’t have time to crochet anyway, or I would.

        I’m not an environmentalist wacko or anything, but I don’t like stuff I can’t use up/burn/recycle or otherwise not throw in the trash.

      • Rhywun

        I’m expecting a set of nylon bags to arrive from Amazon tomorrow – just in time. We’ll see how it works out re: cleaning, forgetting.

        I will say that I DO re-use all my plastic bags, either with cat-stuff or for recycling plastic and metal. When I run out of shopping bags I will have to find some other solution – at my cost. Praise Gaia.

      • Rhywun

        I’m actually curious if the 5 cent fee covers paper bags in NY?* To my complete lack of surprise nobody seems to interested in that.

        *To be clear: plastic banned. Paper bags (with handles?) may (must?) be offered at 5 cents each.**

        **Paper at the choice of the municipality.

        Yes, this clusterfuck begins tomorrow. Fun!

      • CPRM

        put it all in your pockets and just walk out, food is like your right man.

      • Rhywun

        I would like to subscribe to your newsletter, buddy.

      • Chafed

        Send all your money to the AOC Times.

      • Ted S.

        Up here in Ulster County, the paper bags are 5 cents.

  29. MikeS

    Is anybody any good a reading Fraktur? I could use some help with this.

    • Festus

      That website confused me like a housewife approaching carburetor problems with nothing but a butter knife and a pair of high heels.

    • MikeS

      ugh. If a Mod would care to kill that link I’d appreciate it.

      • Festus

        The internet is forever, Kamerad.

      • MikeS

        Wait…are you saying you see a bunch of German you don’t understand?

      • Rhywun

        I eventually wound up with a jpeg that I have no difficulty reading. Do you need a conversion to Latin script?

      • MikeS

        Yes! I would really appreciate it if you could.

      • Rhywun

        Will post below where it’s less crowded.

      • MikeS

        Well…that and English would be super cool…

      • Mojeaux

        That’s what I see. When you said “can you read Fraktur?” I thought you meant the FONT. Well, yeah, it’s in Fraktur all right. GERMAN Fraktur.

      • MikeS

        OK, that’s what most of you are supposed to see.

      • westernsloper

        Good luck with that they are all drunk.

      • MikeS

        Honestly; what happens when you click the link?

      • Festus

        Jpeg after jpeg and no script.

      • Festus

        Jpeg after jpeg and no script.

      • Festus

        See?

      • MikeS

        It’s spreading!!!

      • westernsloper

        It said “open with” and I didn’t. You are a Russian bot after all.

      • MikeS

        I don’t get why it’s doing that. Probably a toxic mixture of Microsoft and Me being drunk.

      • Festus

        I always blame the sleeve of my Grandpa sweater brushing against the touch pad.

      • Chafed

        A German metal band.

    • Toxteth O’Grady

      Rhywun ist sehr fleißig und gelehrt.

      I see a lot of long esses in there.

      If it were in Sütterlin, that would be a real challenge.

  30. Rhywun

    @MikeS – LOL you want English, eh? I would need a bit more time and less drunkenness to accomplish that. It’s talking about bills (currency) and “let’s hope we get spared this shit in the future”. Guessing it’s related to inflation. The language is very stilted so it doesn’t lend itself to easy translation.

    Dieses Album enthält zehn in der Zeit vom Oktober 1922 bis November 1923 von der
    Vereinigung der Industriellen von Düren und Umgegend
    im Verein mit der Industrie- und Handelskammer Stolberg und den Kreisverwaltungen
    Düren, Jülich, Euskirchen und Schleiden herausgegebene, durch Einzahlung
    voll gedeckte Notgeldscheine sowie einen während der Herrshcaft der Separatisten in
    Düren im Herbst 1923 von diesen ausgegebenen ungedeckten Notgeldschein, zu dessen
    Annahme die Bevölkerung im Kreise Düren gezwungen wurde. Es veranschaulicht
    den ungeheuren Zerfall der deutschen Währung infolge des Ruhrkampfes und die
    Notlage der Bevölkerung des besetzten Gebietes, die vom Reich abgeschnitten, bei
    völligem Darniederliegen von Handel, Gewerbe und Verkehr in sehr erheblichem Umfange
    selbst für Zahlungsmittel zur Bestreitung ihrer Bedürfnisse sorgen mußte.
    Mögen uns ähnliche Zeiten in Zukunft erspart bleiben!

    • Rhywun

      Notgeldscheine

      seems key. It would refer to some sort of “emergency” currency. Something about German currency failing, trade failing, difficulty obtaining necessities, etc.

      • Festus

        I don’t read German but does this have to do with the gold standard? Lotsa words ripe for the picking for umlaut-type bands.

      • MikeS

        It’s about inflation money after WWI.

      • Festus

        So the devaluation of currency without some standard backing the printing press? Like Zimbabwe or Venezuela?

      • MikeS

        Very similar. The difference is in post-WWI Germany, the cities started printing there own money, which also suffered from inflation. And then you mix in a bunch of money printed purely for collectors, and it turns into quite a thing. Some of it beautiful, some of it foreshadowing future events.

      • Festus

        “Well, that’s quite the thing.”

      • Festus

        It’s funny because up in northern BC there are a lot of prairie refugees that came here for the opportunities. Oldsters that still call deer “jumpers” and the like. It might explain the drawl that we have. We sound like Texans with a clipped cadence.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Duren is also in the Rhineland, which was occupied until 1925-30 though nominally under German civilian control. There was also a separatist movement to split from Germany. And finally, in 1923 Germany initially wasn’t going to issue the new mark to the area.

        Some here and some under Conrad Adenauer’s page

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhenish_Republic

        (Thanks for the rabbit hole!)

    • MikeS

      Dude, that’s great! Don’t worry about the English. I can deal with that.

      Yeah, I collect German currency. One of my biggest collections is Notgeld from Duren, between WWi and WWII. This text came up in a lot I am viewing.

      You did me a big solid with this. I owe you one.

      • MikeS

        …and yes, you’d think someone collecting German currency would learn Fraktur and some German. And you’d be right! I know some German, but haven’t gotten around to Fraktur, yet.

      • Rhywun

        LOL I’ve never even heard of Düren. That’s a very specific passion you have, there. I like it.

      • MikeS

        Haha. Thanks! The story of how/why is boring, but it’s grown into something I never would have guessed about 10 years ago when I first found a coin from Duren in a “4 for $1” tray in a coin store in the middle of North America.

      • Festus

        “Indeed these Glibs are a strange and curious people.”

      • Rhywun

        Prosit!

      • MikeS

        Zum Wohl!

      • MikeS

        Rhy, what’s the good German toast you drop occasionally?

      • Rhywun

        Eins, zwei, drei, g’suffa?

      • MikeS

        Ja! For some reason I can never remember it.

    • Jarflax

      This album contains ten from October 1922 to November 1923
      Association of industrialists from Düren and the surrounding area
      in association with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Stolberg and the district administrations
      Düren, Jülich, Euskirchen and Schleiden issued by deposit
      fully covered emergency notes and one during the rule of the separatists in
      Düren in the fall of 1923 from this issued uncovered emergency note, for which
      Assumption the population in the Düren district was forced. It illustrates
      the tremendous decay of the German currency as a result of the Ruhr struggle and the
      Plight of the population of the occupied territory cut off from the empire
      complete deprivation of trade, commerce and traffic in a very considerable scope
      even had to provide means of payment to meet their needs.
      May we be spared similar times in the future!

      Translating from Google translate gibberish: It is an album of unbacked emergency currency issued in the affected regions of Germany during the hyper inflation between Oct 1922 and Nov 1923.

      • Gustave Lytton

        I knew I wasn’t the only one interested in what it said.

      • MikeS

        Thanks. I know about what it refers to, I wanted to see what the author/collector had to say about it. And unfortunately I didn’t learn anything new.

        Since I’m almost assured to not purcha$e it, I’ll show y’all where it comes from.

      • Rhywun

        US $1,799.99

        Dayum. Party at MikeS’s house.

      • MikeS

        Haha. I wish. They are all specimens (check out the serial numbers)…I don’t have the cash for that. ?

        I was hoping there’d be some info in that intro that I didn’t yet know.

      • Jarflax

        So you specifically collect the Düren District issues? Or all of tthem?

      • MikeS

        Stadt Duren and the area around Duren.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Google translate

      This album contains ten from October 1922 to November 1923
      Association of industrialists from Düren and the surrounding area
      in association with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Stolberg and the district administrations
      Düren, Jülich, Euskirchen and Schleiden issued by deposit
      fully covered emergency notes and one during the rule of the separatists in
      Düren in the fall of 1923 from this issued uncovered emergency note, for which
      Assumption the population in the Düren district was forced. It illustrates
      the tremendous decay of the German currency as a result of the Ruhr struggle and the
      Plight of the population of the occupied territory cut off from the empire
      complete deprivation of trade, commerce and traffic in a very considerable scope
      even had to provide means of payment to meet their needs.
      May we be spared similar times in the future!

      Probably a bunch of mistranslations as GT does, but seems to carry the gist.

    • Ted S.

      Note that this being German, the first sentence ends with “wurde” on *line 8*. The second sentence ends with “mußte” on the second-to-last line.

      The last line is relatively easy compared to all that: May we remain spared from such times in the future!

  31. Winston

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/28/humanities-british-government-culture

    The 20th century witnessed a distinctive model of interlocking political, educational and artistic institutions, with the humanities at their core. Public bodies such as the British Academy and the BBC set the template for the optimistic, post-1945 era of public investment in the arts and humanities. The state actively supported their expansion after the war via such icons of mass cultural modernity as the Arts Council, BBC2, the Open University and the new redbrick universities. By the 1980s, this project had borne such fruits as the South Bank Show, the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies and Channel 4. Threaded through all of this was the principle that there was a public interest in understanding ideas, artefacts and events.

    ….

    The 20th-century cultural establishment has plenty of failings, which are readily exposed by its opponents. It has never been as inclusive as its rhetoric pretends, and it is far from democratic. Resentment towards cultural and political elites has clearly been brewing for decades, especially among non-Londoners and non-graduates – an electoral goldmine for Johnson. Too often, these elites have reflexively countered the attacks of Thatcherites and the Murdoch press by closing ranks, relying on the power of their contact books, free tickets and charm, but only deepening the sense of metropolitan luvvies doing favours for each other. The defence of universities and the BBC is going to be an important test case for how much of that establishment survives this government

    • Winston

      These institutions are a reminder of a key flaw of rightwing statism: unless they go full authoritarian these institutions will be quickly skinsuitted into leftist institutions simply because the left will promise them more money and power while the right will at some point get suspicious of them and try to abolish or defund them which will drive them further left. I mean the BBC, BBC2, Channel 4, the Arts Council and the redbrick universities were all created by the Conservatives.

      • Winston

        I was expecting either Doctor Who or Monty Python. I’m so disappoint…

    • Festus

      In other words “Shut up, eat your ration and be edified, Peasant!” The CBC has taken the same tack. Nearly half of their programming has an “intersectional” bent. I weep for the country that we might have become.

      • Winston

        I weep for the country that we might have become.

        52 years too late…

      • Festus

        I see it on the downtown streets every night. What used to be shunned has become the new normal. Our city would never be called the “belle of the ball” but it has become ridiculous. Instead of rowdy, hard drinking ne’er do wells bar-hopping, fighting and fucking, spending their hard earned we have vagrants and bums shitting in the street and sleeping in doorways.

  32. MikeS

    Do I need to feel guilty for really digging this tune?

    • Festus

      No, but I hope that leprosy rots your busy little key-tapping fingertips away. The chicks were mighty fine, though.

    • Chafed

      No. You need to feel guilty for not listening to Eddie Trunk.

      • MikeS

        I listen to Eddie on Monday afternoons when he has time to do his Hair Metal show

      • Chafed

        You fancy boys with your satellites and radios. I’m streaming his Friday night show right now.

  33. westernsloper

    Rights aren’t all rights.

    • Chafed

      Apparently not.

    • Rhywun

      Voter IDs should be free

      I agree. So should be any other permission slip that is “required” for anything not expressly forbidden in the Constitution.

      • Chafed

        I’ve long thought the same thing. Team Red really is the stupid party. Want to enforce IDs for voting? Make them free. Problem solved.

      • MikeS

        ding ding ding

      • westernsloper

        I am pretty sure you can get a free state ID in any state.

      • Chafed

        In California you have to apply for a fee waiver.

      • westernsloper

        So the state makes it difficult to obtain the free ID. Imagine that.

      • MikeS

        In North Dakota, you have to pay a whole $5 IIRC.

      • Chafed

        $30 in California

      • CPRM

        So, it’s the D’s holding the minoriteam down? Or is this a decades old law from when Rs had actual power?

      • CPRM

        When the Rs in Sconnie passed voter ID they made it free of charge, but it was still over ruled by a court. Not sure whether it is in effect now or not. Doesn’t matter, I know important things like corona virus and snow storms that never happen.

      • Festus

        Citizenship is a right, not a privilege. Natural born should not ask, hat in hand, for special dispensation from the Crown to carry on day to day life. If I drive a car or set up a company to manufacture widgets or desire to marry my cousin it’s none of the “governments” goddamn business. Wow. You guys have really rubbed off on me (philosophically speaking).

  34. Winston

    https://nationalpost.com/opinion/diane-francis-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-canadas-high-living-standards?__vfz=medium%3Dconversations_top_pages#comments-area

    The significance is not so much about a single project. It is the beginning of Canada’s irreversible economic decline caused by the anti-enterprise policies of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s regime

    This week Canada’s living standards peaked. The absence of smart political leadership, or an understanding as to how the country prospers, has atomized the national interest into thousands of vested, warring interests

    • Festus

      I can’t wait until all these tribes with overlapping claims revert to 1400 values. Entertaining. In the meantime I’ll be fiddling with myself while Rome burns.

      • Chafed

        That’s pretty mellow end of the world music.

      • Ted S.

        I would have guessed this was the soundtrack.

    • Festus

      And? So?

      • CPRM

        Forget it Festus, it’s PC Town.

      • MikeS

        Which is nowhere near as cool as Guitar Town.

      • CPRM

        Youtube hasn’t been working for me for 2 full days. So no idea what you’re linking to. The mirror site invidio.us has been loading for me though. Even found out someone there commented on the newest cartoon.

      • MikeS

        Guitar Town by Steve Earle.

      • Chafed

        It’s German porn. That’s how MikeS rolls.

  35. hayeksplosives

    I’m in my fairly comfy hospital bed watching Forensics Files. They had a rpisodeon Munchasen’s by proxy.

    They described the profile of the usual perpetrators: usually women, 1/3 of those women NURSES!! Holy cow.

    I’ve known some crazy nurses, but that is startling.

    • Chafed

      Good to know you are comfortable. Are things, for the time being, under control?

      • hayeksplosives

        Thanks! Yeah, hopefully I’ll be out of here tomorrow sometime.

      • MikeS

        ????????

      • Chafed

        Good to hear.

    • Festus

      “Crazy Nurses” was my imaginary punk band name. Be well, Hayek!

      • hayeksplosives

        I’m doing my part in being well!

        Well, something.

    • hayeksplosives

      A couple hours earlier, the pulmonology tech gave me a nebulizer treatment.

      I noticed he was looking at the Tv Forensic Files where they were using diatoms to figure out who killed a 12 old boy in Switzerland. I figure he thought I was nuts.

      The pulmonology tech came back just now for another treatment and asked if they had found the guy who killed the kid. (They did.)

      • Festus

        The last two times I was in the hospital were alienating to me. I realize that it’s a teaching hospital but the era of crepe soles and hushed voices has gone by the wayside like rotary phones. It was like a coed dorm. I thought that post-surgical meant that you get to zone out and heal.

    • Rhywun

      Heh I’m surprised they don’t have that show on blackout.

      • hayeksplosives

        When I was in the hospital a couple of years ago with influenza A and Pneumonia, it happened to be NFL playoffs, NFC Championship game. I was in Minnesota at the time, and the Vikes were in the game. (Although whether they were ever really in it is debatable.)

        I had the game on. Let me tell you, I’ve never had so much attention from hospital nurses. They were popping in to check on me and bring water or blankets ALL the time to get a glimpse of the game.

        It was a bit comical.

      • Festus

        They’re people, just like us. I went through a “dating nurses” period in my life in my early 20’s. Four or five of them. They put their scrubs on one leg at a time just like everyone else.

      • Festus

        Earthy girls, though. Very forward and unafraid of physicality. Hoo boy!

    • Rhywun

      The “affordable housing” set-aside for every fucking project is the biggest scam going these days. Every time I read about that shit I get so spitting mad I can’t continue reading.

      It’s just ass-wrong in every way.

  36. CPRM

    Weekend off. Next week switch from 2nd (2pm CT-10pm CT) to 3rd (10pm CT-6am CT) shift. Shifts are all blackout, no cell phones or internet. So I’ll prolly be around for AM linx only for a bit.

    • Chafed

      Which spy agency do you work for again?

      • CPRM

        A semi private one.

      • CPRM

        I don’t work for the feds or the state, I can say that much. My purview is only one building.

      • Chafed

        That’s what a fed would say.

      • Festus

        Ah. The mole. We hates him we do.

      • CPRM

        “You know, that little scratch on the roof of your mouth, that would heal if only you stopped tonguing it.”

      • Ted S.

        I was under the impression he worked for a casino, watching the hidden bathroom cams for porn.

    • Rhywun

      I don’t work for the feds or the state

      All the overnight shift jobs I worked were in shitholes where I was always on edge because it was “customer service” i.e. open prey for bums and crazies. Godspeed, city functionary.

  37. Festus

    Where the hell is Diggus?

    • CPRM

      He takes Fridays off to readjust to ‘normal people time’. traitor!

      • Festus

        Fucking traitor.

      • Lord Digby's Spirit Animal

        ::Holds traitor statuette::

        You hate me! You really hate me!! Oh, I’m so thrilled to accept this award!

      • Don Escaped ORD

        Sun’s coming over the lagoon.

        It’ll be there in 30 minutes.

      • Lord Digby's Spirit Animal

        Not the Black Lagoon?!?

  38. Festus

    I kinda dig Dave Matthews Band https://youtu.be/k7in-9E3ImQ so I don’t understand the disdain. Fuck it. I like what I like.

    • hayeksplosives

      -1 boatload of river sightseeing tourists.

      • Festus

        Forgot about that. The tunes still stand up.

      • hayeksplosives

        Yeah, and the “fertilizer drop” was the bus operators fault anyway.

  39. CPRM

    Ok. Gonna watch my sleep time copy of Fight Club. I have to make it to the bank before noon to get my first check deposited, because they didn’t tell me direct deposit wouldn’t be set up by my first check. Night night shift folks.

    • Festus

      “Shift Folks” is so problematic that I can’t even! Literally shaking right now. That’s my slave name! HOW DARE YOU?

      • hayeksplosives

        You’re going to need that slave name if Bernie wins (more likely than I care to acknowledge )

      • Lord Digby's Spirit Animal

        The younger crowd today–fucking over everyone, and will never take the blame.

        Also, Howdy, M’Lady. Hope your recovery is coming along well.

      • hayeksplosives

        Thani M’Lord. At this point I just wanna go to my own bed and SLEEP.

      • Don Escaped ORD

        A pox on both their houses.

        Meanwhile, the Senate is not comfortably Red.. I’m certainly no Republican, but a Red Senate is a small price to pay to ensure a check on any Blue president; a divided Congress is further bonus.

        If I could sign some Faustian document condemning us all forever to no better but no worse prospects than America has this instant, I would do so. Short of El Diablo making such an offer, a constipated District of Columbia is the next best thing.

        Less Government is More: Do Nothing in 2024!
        I’m Don Escaped Texas, and I approve this message.