Sunday Morning Sighing Links

by | Feb 12, 2023 | Daily Links | 263 comments

A year ago today, the first bombshell hit to start the process of turning 2022 into the worst year of my life; as the year went on, they continued to drop, getting bigger and bigger. And for whatever reason, reminders keep popping up on my phone and my watch. Hey Apple, there are Memories I have no desire reliving, stop notifying me. I am NOT fishing for sympathy, but just bitching about Apple and its relentless algorithms which I can’t figure out how to turn off. Maybe if I use the onion on my belt…

But at least there are some reasons to celebrate. I had a lovely dinner last night with a rather fetching gerontologist. And there’s birthdays, which today include a guy whose spirit is alive in current jurisprudence; a rather petite fellow; a guy who was truly opposed to change; a guy whose views were evolutionary rather than revolutionary; a guy who was no fan of live theater; a leading candidate for shittiest carmaker; the spiritual father of Rashida Tlaib; a guy who was a total amateur; a Jewish cowboy; a guy who was anything but normal; a guy reputed to put Milton Berle to shame; one of my personal heroes and profound influences; an apparent clone of Roberts; and the star of a remarkable number of my favorite films.

Well, let’s see if Links are at all cheery.

 

This will turn out to be a guy in a lawn chair with some helium balloons tied to the arms.

 

I’m sure this is somehow connected to the Great Balloon Plague of 2023.

 

This Jew is making popcorn.

 

“Fuck ’em, they didn’t vote for me.”

 

Just in case you think politics is deeply dishonest and deeply stupid… here’s more proof.

 

Hey, let’s meddle in the internal politics of another country. Of course it’s the brain trust of Tommy “I Love Totalitarianism” Friedman and Joe “Where’s the pudding cup and my daughter?” Biden.

 

Every bit of this rings true to me.

 

OK, I’ll admit it, this did cheer me up a bit.

 

Know what always cheers up the Old Man? Clark Terry. And the Easter Egg here is the bassist.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me. Wait, wrong book, I'll find something else.

263 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    You people sure have a thing for hats.

  2. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    Benedict wasn’t even that conservative. He just wasn’t a raging communists like Francis.

    • Rat on a train

      Socialists are the center don’t you know?

  3. Count Potato

    “2022 into the worst year of my life”

    It’s that, or this one, is true for many people. People just wouldn’t listen about how much future damage was being done 2020.

    • Mojeaux

      I think he’s talking about SP dying.

      • Count Potato

        Oh, sorry I missed that.

  4. Ted S.

    but just bitching about Apple and its relentless algorithms which I can’t figure out how to turn off

    Stop using iShit and other aPple products?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      It’s either Apple who sucks or Google who sucks. Pick your poison.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Yep. I can’t go full privacy mode because I’m running my business and phone apps have become necessary.

        I chose Apple because Google went full evil and Apple isn’t quite there yet.

      • hayeksplosives

        I just bought a new phone and new number for my NW coast reboot.

        The lady at t mobile asked if I wanted to transfer stuff from my old phone. NOPE was the answer. Going to clean-slate this bitch as much as possible.

      • Ted S.

        Wait a second. You’re moving from Pahrump?

      • hayeksplosives

        Yup.

      • Zwak says Your Husband is a Polar Bear, Skinny.

        Hayek, when you get settled up here, drop me a line when you feel like it.

      • tripacer

        Are you by any chance going to be visiting Hanford on a regular basis?

      • hayeksplosives

        I’m going to be living/working in Everett/Mukilteo area. I know nothing of Washington State. I can use all the help I can get!

      • tripacer

        There’s a lot of DOE sciencing happening out in Hanford/Richland, is why I was curious.

      • Pat

        Hey, if you see this, and you haven’t left town yet, get in touch if you’d like. I’ve been meaning to try to set up a time to say hello and keep forgetting or putting it off. Sorry about that. rTtsVtYpKxR5PwT3zf@protonmail.com

      • Pat

        Also, as you may know, I moved here from Washington state. Other side though – Spokane. I don’t know who’s copying who, but if it keeps up there’s a good chance we’ll end up in the same town again eventually.

      • hayeksplosives

        Pat, the ship has sailed. I’m in WA right now. Might never get back to Pahrump if the attorneys and real estate agents are worth their salt.

        Sorry we couldn’t meet up while I was there. You can’t say I didn’t try, but I know you’re a bit of an introvert. 🙂

      • Pat

        Ahh, bummer. My apologies again. While I *am* an introvert and hermit, I swear I really wasn’t deliberately blowing you off. I just haven’t quite been able to get my head out of my ass since my mom died, and it’s been a little hectic dealing with probate and showings the last couple months since my property went on the market. If we do manage to cross paths again some day, drinks will be on me. Good luck with everything.

      • robodruid

        Hope all is ok with ya.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Sounds like HE went scorched earth.

      • hayeksplosives

        I’m doing just fine. Thanks for asking.

      • db

        Nukular option?

      • hayeksplosives

        @dk. Yeah, you could say that.

      • slumbrew

        What of the job?

        Regardless, I’m sure you’re doing the right thing.

      • hayeksplosives

        Nuclear option is apt; gonna have a lot of tritium in my future.

    • PieInTheSky

      Google gives me all sorts if past notification and the everpopular montly timeline with every place i have been the past month

    • rhywun

      My phone or computer used to do that “memory” thing and I did something that stopped it but I don’t remember what.

      • The Last American Hero

        30 seconds in the microwave usually does the trick.

  5. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    “ This confirms my general suspicion, that postwar expansions to science (and academia more broadly) have happened via increases to the number of less prestigious schools, less talented professors and less intelligent students. The whole enterprise has been inflated at the bottom, in other words, and not at the top, such that we’re wasting huge amounts of money for very little added advantage.”

    Yes, and this trend went into warp speed starting in the late 80’s.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      The massive influx of government subsidies to tuition in addition to government almost completely taking over research directly or indirectly has changed the basic goal of research from scientific inquiry to the satisfaction of Leviathan.

    • hayeksplosives

      There are some serious gaps in certain technical fields in our current crop of engineers age 30-45. I am the youngest of the “old guard” in my technical area, and the shortage of US citizens (needed for security) who can do this drives up my salary but also presses the need for me to convey my knowledge and experience to the new 25-30 year old crowd.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        I don’t find that surprising. Most of our engineers who knew RF field theory were not homegrown. We were hiring Chinese that emigrated through Toronto.

      • hayeksplosives

        Unfortunately the major espionage issues at all of our DoE facilities lately have been through Chinese natives, whether naturalized US citizens or not.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        The STEM push of the last two decades was wholly superficial. Instead of trying to get people who had no real interest in engineering and science, they should have been elevating those who had real aptitude and desire.

      • hayeksplosives

        Very good point 👍

      • Gender Traitor

        But too many of those might have been the wrong type of people!/University DEI Dean

      • Don escaped Texas

        That might be true.

        But I think it’s more true that there are always mixed populations with mixed abilities. In engineering school 40 years ago, I knew I wouldn’t trust half the guys in my class to run a Dairy Queen for two hours on a Tuesday night.

      • Spartacus

        Most of those are already going into engineering and science. The big STEM push was inevitably going to draw in mediocre students, mostly because the good ones are already there. Plus the fact that kids today are relentlessly pushed the idea that they are doomed to a life of poverty and despair unless they get a college degree, which is a horrible waste of resources and talent that is a better fit for trades or other skilled work. Many of our current college students would be happier and better off if they went though a one year training program and some kind of apprenticeship.
        No public college is ever content to remain in a steady state–it’s grow grow grow and the only way to do that is to push in ever more marginal groups of students, who either drop out or migrate into something that they can actually finish, which is a big contributor to the rise of all the ____ Studies degrees.

      • juris imprudent

        The ever popular fool’s errand of making everyone above average.

    • juris imprudent

      Let’s not forget the Ike didn’t just warn of a military-industrial complex, but also the subordination of research to govt control. Consider what has happened with nutrition science and public health in that time.

      • juris imprudent

        frackin fingers that for the before Ike

      • DEG

        Ike’s brother Milton was president of Johns Hopkins, Kansas State, and Penn State. I don’t remember the order, but I remember Milton spent time as president of all three.

        Ike made sure Milton’s schools got hand-outs from the Feds.

  6. Ted S.

    a guy who was a total amateur;

    Happy birthday Avery Brundage?

  7. Ted S.

    a guy who was truly opposed to change;

    One of those people promoting the cashless society?

  8. Count Potato

    “If a field is utterly changed by new, foundational discoveries, a lot of older work will never be cited again. Papers in fields experiencing stagnation or steady, cumulative advancement, on the other hand, will continue to cite increasingly old research, as work from many generations ago remains relevant.”

    That also seems to indicate that science now is less wrong than it was.

  9. Ted S.

    and the star of a remarkable number of my favorite films.

    I couldn’t guess correctly from among Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfus, and Robert Shaw.

    • rhywun

      Or Robert Duvall.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Duvall actually has been in a lot of my favorites. Amazing actor.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yes he is. I waver between him and Gene Hackman

      • hayeksplosives

        Hackman is awesome, and agree about Duvall.

        Also have to toss Gary Oldman into the mix. He is GOOD.

      • Ted S.

        If you can find Tomorrow, it’s definitely a film worth watching.

      • creech

        Duvall could ride a horse as General Lee and leave a horse head as Tom Hagen.

      • Pat

        Miniature is probably my 2nd favorite Twilight Zone episode entirely on the back of his performance.

  10. Ted S.

    OK, I’ll admit it, this did cheer me up a bit.

    Put a similar ad up near the entrance to Auschwitz.

  11. Stinky Wizzleteats

    Here you go OMWC:
    “Hi, Just tonight I got a notification from iOS (11.0.1) that it created some “Best Of The Year” album with a ton of photos of painful crappy memories. I don’t remember enabling a “feature” like that and I want to know how to turn that crap off.”

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8095754

    There’s a good answer in the thread that should work.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Thanks, I’ll give that a try!

      • R.J.

        Oh, good. I just read and was about to make the same suggestion.

      • hayeksplosives

        Oh fine. Make it easy. I am fixing my old phone memories by filing for divorce, taking a new job, moving to a new state and buying a new phone.

        Man do I feel silly.

        🤣

      • Shirley Knott

        Don’t feel silly. From everything I’ve seen you post over the years, you wouldn’t do this without ver good cause. Reach out to us if we can help in any way.

      • hayeksplosives

        Thanks. I think I’ll be fine, but moral support is always appreciated.

        Swissy and CPRM were on Zoom last night and cheered me up.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Sorry to miss it. I was out at dinner in Buffalo, trying to convince a gerontologist that I’m not too old.

        I’m apparently too old.

      • R.J.

        If moral support helps, moral support I will give. I’ve been missing the Zooms due to excessive work obligations. I must give moral support via comment section.

      • Ted S.

        How about immoral support? 😉

      • Gender Traitor

        OMWC – so she considered a date with you too much of a bus(wo)man’s holiday?

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Too old for dating or as a research subject?

      • juris imprudent

        I’m apparently too old.

        As if you haven’t turned away teenage girls for the same reason.

      • Pat

        If I can be of any use locally, let me know. Sorry again for putting off getting in touch with you in person for so long, now I feel like a right twat.

  12. Ted S.

    “Fuck ’em, they didn’t vote for me.”

    From the article: ‘Republicans are already pouncing. Zeldin was in Albany on Monday to rip the proposal, calling it “Hochul control, not local control.”’

  13. Rat on a train

    McDonald’s will remove ‘McCrispy’ sign located next to UK crematorium: ‘Tasteless’
    Back in the 70-80s we took trips to Big Bear. The front route goes by Patton State [psychiatric] Hospital. The surrounding area was farmland at the time. I recall a roadside stand with the hospital in the background. A sign advertised dried fruits and nuts.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Everybody’s so offended these days.

      Fuck ‘em, that’s funny.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The Brits need to go back to the stiff upper lip stuff instead of being whiny bitches with hoity toity accents.

    • Zwak says Your Husband is a Polar Bear, Skinny.

      Part of the confusion is that McD’s has always been tasteless…

  14. PieInTheSky

    Fuck ’em, they didn’t vote for me – meh not a fan of nimbys myself

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      The point being that those neighborhoods probably didn’t vote for subsidized affordable housing in the first place, regardless of where it’s built .

      • PieInTheSky

        Be that as it may

      • rhywun

        subsidized affordable housing

        They are equally opposed to private housing there.

        Snob zoning sucks as much as other kinds.

      • Ted S.

        Isn’t the issue more that there’s already private housing there, but the state would prefer to change it to high-density housing?

      • rhywun

        Yes. What I meant was they are equally against private-funded density.

      • R C Dean

        I tend to think of true NYMBYism as having the position that “X should absolutely be built somewhere, just not here.”

        Sinking a very large chunk of your capital into a home is typically done because you like the neighborhood/community you are going to be living in. I don’t have a big problem with people who do that saying they don’t want it to change, because they decided to live there because it is the way it is. Now, if they are out pushing low-income/dense housing as a requirement for somebody, just not them, that’s NIMBYism. Think windmills off Martha’s Vineyard.

        Just saying “I don’t want my community fundamentally transformed”, not so much.

      • rhywun

        I understand that motive but it rubs me wrong that they should have so much say over what a landowner wants to build on his property. I get “housing here, factory there” but when it gets down to minimum lot sizes and number of parking space requirements – that’s too much power.

      • Don escaped Texas

        It’s just a question of property and coercion.

        The projection of some tacit ownership in property one doesn’t own is evil and ought be resisted because such thinking infects an increasing fraction of folk and is a primary ingredient in the rise of civic authoritarianism.

        Agreeing to some society for the preservation of common interests including property values should be defended. If you love your HOA (I do, second good one), good for you; if you don’t, why’d you make the largest investment of your life under such an umbrella?

      • The Last American Hero

        Regarding the HOA – because virtually all of the neighborhoods around here have them and you can’t escape them, and because there are many considerations that go into home ownership.

      • Pat

        Regarding the HOA – because virtually all of the neighborhoods around here have them and you can’t escape them

        That, and you generally can’t ascertain the petty machinations of the HOA until after you’re a member. It’s not like a civil government where the ideology of the leadership is obvious and public. If I decide to move to Chicago I have a pretty good idea what I’m signing onto in terms of municipal and state laws and regulations. HOA board vice president Joe Jerkoff, on the other hand, probably didn’t craft, publish and relentlessly advertise to the entire state his campaign platform of requiring board approval of potted plants and prohibiting the use of hoses exceeding 2 meters in length.

      • Fatty Bolger

        You can and should research HOA’s before buying somewhere. Search for complaints, if there’s a lot of complaints about drama or aggressive enforcement, you’ll likely find it. We took several areas off the list of places we would consider, due to obviously bad HOAs.

  15. Shirley Knott

    I got chastised at work for asking customers “smoking or non smoking?”
    Turns out the proper question is “cremation or burial?”

  16. PieInTheSky

    Ethiopia has restricted social media and messaging platforms ahead of rival planned rallies following a split in the popular Orthodox Church.

    The row has caused deadly violence and began last month when some clerics accused the main church of ethnic discrimination, which it denies.

    The authorities banned protests by both sides due to take place on Sunday.

    Some supporters of the main church angrily accuse the authorities of backing the breakaway group.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64597375

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Rwanda 2: Orthodox Boogaloo?

    • Ted S.

      It’s obviously those white Orthodox Christians keeping the black man down.

  17. rhywun

    “Fuck ’em, they didn’t vote for me.”

    Classic “I hate everyone involved”.

  18. hayeksplosives

    Well as a Redskins fan I can’t root for the Eagles. Soooo..go KC?! Win one for the Mojeaux!

    Have to figure out where to watch. Gotta be a sports bar around here somewhere.

    • Count Potato

      Yes, I’m a Giants fan rooting against the Eagles.

    • Grumbletarian

      Eagles beat the Patriots in a Super Bowl (granted, thanks for Belichick being an idiot and benching his best BD for the entire game.)

      And I just hate Mahomes’ schoolyard football where he runs around in the backfield for an hour then flips a behind the back left-handed pass forty yards downfield against the grain and one receiver or another makes some ridiculous catch.

      Go, SMOD!

      • slumbrew

        *fist-bumps Grumbletarian*

      • Count Potato

        BD? Maybe I need more coffee?

      • Brawndo

        He’s referring to Malcolm Butler, but he played Cornerback. Not sure what BD means.

      • Count Potato

        So DB for defensive back?

      • juris imprudent

        Mahomes’ schoolyard football

        The one thing I like – spontaneity. You probably hate jazz too you monster.

      • Gender Traitor
    • db

      Ok, HE, you win the prize. I knew the Eagles were in the Syper Bowl because Dr. GF and her family are from the Philly area, but I had no idea who their opponent was. I was wondering if I’d find out before we get to the game party at our friends’ house.

      • juris imprudent

        You did know it wasn’t the Steelers.

      • DEG

        I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict there will be rioting in Philly tonight.

      • hayeksplosives

        So…normal Sunday in Philly?

      • creech

        No, riots are scheduled for Friday and Saturday nights only. Sunday and the rest of the days are reserved for yoots of one race killing yoots of the same race, and for grandstanding candidates for mayor calling for a crackdown on crime (even though they have been on City Council for years and didn’t scream shit about crime.)

    • Don escaped Texas

      Eagles: 9
      Chiefs: 10

      KC wins the SEC alumni battle. Watch their Trey Smith 65 at tackle.

  19. Zwak says Your Husband is a Polar Bear, Skinny.

    One of the thing I hate most about Facebook, and the rest of social type media for that matter, is the total lack of awareness of things such as people deaths. I would constantly get reminders about my old friends Russ’s or Jim birthdays, while they had been dead for years at that point.

    Fuck algores rhythm.

    • Don escaped Texas

      I kind of take it the other way: there’s Mike; gee I miss Mike….good times….oh well.

      Some folks still post nice things and memories on dead profiles. Wow, he was nice to everyone….and so on

      I don’t delete dead guys from my phone or even old girlfriends any more than I erase them from my mind.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Same here, I don’t do the Facebook thing but I do have numbers in my phone for people I haven’t talked to for 20 years. Sometimes when I scroll through the numbers I’ll notice one and it triggers a bittersweet memory but those can be the best kind.

    • hayeksplosives

      I deleted my Facebook account. FB tried to get me to “suspend” it instead but I said yeah, bah, delete it.

      It then told me it would “start” deleting it in 39 days.

      Never again, metalizard.

      • juris imprudent

        Yeah, I deleted entire years of my old stuff. And FB still reminds me of things it told me I deleted. So it will get nuked.

      • Brawndo

        I didn’t even realize deletion was an option. Mine is currently suspended, but I’ll look into it. Even though I highly doubt it will truly be erased on their servers.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Don’t worry, the NSA has a backup in case you need it.

    • Tonio

      Yeah, FB just served up some “memories” of me and my psycho ex. Ugh.

  20. R.J.

    Last call;

    Today’s meetup in the Bearded Hobbit tour is 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM.
    It will be at The Lazy Dog in Plano, 8401 Preston Road, Plano TX 75024.

    • PieInTheSky

      That is to early to drink though

      • Count Potato

        It’s never too early to drink on a Sunday.

      • R.J.

        He just drove from VA to TX. That deserves a beer at noon. Hoping the turn out is more than just me and Trashy.

      • Don escaped Texas

        75024
        picking between single moms at Legacy never got old

        VA to TX
        There’s beer in Memphis

      • Trigger Hippie

        Super Bowl Sunday is an unofficial national holiday. We generally let it slide.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Hydro in Portugal, not what I would have expected.

      • juris imprudent

        You did not know Portugal is mountainous?

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Just never occurred to me. Don’t really know why.

  21. Homple

    Observation:
    “Innovation in all fields of research and invention has entered a uniform, precipitous decline since at least 1945”

    Explanation:
    “Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity.”
    …Dwight Eisenhower

  22. Ownbestenemy

    TSA was exceptionally shitty this morning. Gave my just turned 18 son a full pat down and got all pissy when we were snapping photos.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      The proper response to a patdown is “Oooo yeah, right there, that’s great…”

      • Rat on a train

        A little to the left.

      • Ted S.

        Back and to the left.

    • hayeksplosives

      I had to declare firearms when I checked in for my flight on Friday. Lady was suspicious of my Nevada drivers license and wanted another ID. I flipped her my Department of Homeland Security badge and she quit giving me shit.

      Also my “I’m in no mood for this shit today” look might have seared her forehead a tinge.

      • juris imprudent

        I thought you were Dept of Energy? Yeah, while I have it, I always carry my CAC for TSA – I won’t have a RealID until there is no avoiding it. And I get no shit. I suppose after I retire I’ll only travel on my passport.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        Passport card for me

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Just saddens me that we need passports or the equivalent to travel within the US. That was supposed to be only for the oppressed commies.

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        I’m just old enough to remember when you could use someone else’s ticket to get on a plane.

      • juris imprudent

        Oh, I don’t intend to fly anywhere except out of the country when I retire.

        + multiple diesel-fueled roadtrips

      • hayeksplosives

        “ I thought you were Dept of Energy? ”

        I’m an international woman of mystery.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Didn’t you have your fingerprints removed?

      • hayeksplosives

        We at the FBI do not have a sense of humor that we’re aware of.

        ::flashy thing::

  23. Don escaped Texas

    shittiest carmaker

    Renault died before decent cars were built by anyone. Renault Truck is actually part of Volvo.

    He’s fascinating by any standard. He had a very young wife. His Vichy work is ambiguous (I’m not defending him; it was just a crazy time and life is complicated when a neighboring giant rolls in and takes over everything) to the extent that we truly have no idea.

    Libertarians should take note of nationalized industry: Renault numbers amongst such cautionary tales.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      I had an Alliance that was actually a decent reliable car, not fun to drive but never left me stranded before I gave it to my uncle with about 200K miles on it. Then again, I had a Fuego that burned down on the side of the road shortly after I sold it that was a terribly unreliable hunk of junk.

      • Don escaped Texas

        A roommate in college had a yellow LeCar he called Mr French. Guy’s an environmental lawyer in SAC now.

        At the time, I, of course, was driving a 400HP Chevy pickup, so, it would seem, people never change.

      • DrOtto

        Those were not true Renaults. They were built in Kenosha by AMC.

      • Sensei

        Battery troubles would cause cars to die, especially in the cold. A Kenosha plant employee told me that whenever he left the plant in the middle of the night for the 3rd shift change, there’d be Alliances all over the parking lot with their hoods up, unable to start during those brutal Wisconsin winter nights. As the market for subcompact cars shrunk, the Alliance was (figuratively and literally) left out in the cold. Buyers who still wanted a small car had plenty of choices, and nobody wanted to get stuck with a potential lemon.

        https://www.theautopian.com/le-culture-clash-the-marriage-between-amc-and-renault-was-much-weirder-than-you-know/

  24. The Late P Brooks

    “Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity.”
    …Dwight Eisenhower

    I was thinking something very similar about the disappearance of the “gentleman scientists” of the past.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    Plugs were pulled.

    Good luck, ‘splosives!

    • juris imprudent

      And kudos on the new avatar HE.

      • hayeksplosives

        Thanks, dudes!

  26. DEG

    Maybe if I use the onion on my belt…

    Good idea.

    There was a good spot in 2022 – a whole bunch of Glibs met up in Glibs Gulch. While the reason for the gathering was sad, it was a wonderful thing seeing all those folks from all over in one place.

    She realised then that she had “detected the source across a wide range of frequencies, so the power it would take to generate it could only come from a natural source; not artificial (and not aliens)!”

    C’mon…. we all know it was aliens.

    Pell, a former close adviser to Francis, was jailed for child sexual abuse before being acquitted in 2020.

    I remember the Pell case. I think someone in the Vatican put a hit out on Pell.

    • Gender Traitor

      While the reason for the gathering was sad, it was a wonderful thing seeing all those folks from all over in one place.

      So very much this, and still so very grateful for the opportunity.

      • Old Man With Candy

        #metoo, but I still have feelings of guilt because I was very much not at my best.

      • Gender Traitor

        You were a fine and gracious host, as far as I could tell. The point was for us to be there for you, not for you to be there for us.

      • Mojeaux

        No snark or sap, but I can’t imagine OMWC being anything BUT a fine and gracious host.

      • juris imprudent

        DUDE! FFS. I mean, how Jewish can you possibly be!

  27. juris imprudent

    Streicher turns out to be an interesting case. Never a combatant, and not even a ranking govt figure, and good lord did Germany have a plethora of anti-semetic sources for the Nazis to draw on. He was also the first to be convicted and hanged, because he was a publisher. Not excusing what a loathsome human he was of course – but an interesting choice of target for allied retribution (ehr, justice, yeah that’s the word).

    • Trigger Hippie

      ‘Streicher turns out to be an interesting case. Never a combatant, and not even a ranking govt figure, and good lord did Germany have a plethora of anti-semetic sources for the Nazis to draw on.’

      This is why I think the time traveler character attempting to steer Hitler into a different path in Animal’s latest non-fiction installment may be a little foolhardy. Many people seem to think Hitler and his views were created in a bubble that spread amongst the rest of the Germanic population when from what I can tell, the opposite is true. Did Hitler have a natural charisma that ignited the flames higher and brighter than what would have been possible for most? Absolutely, and the consequences were terrible. That being said, Hitler was also highly unstable, irrational, habitually ignored the advice of his generals during WWII, started a conflict on two fronts when it probably wasn’t necessary, was a methhead, and was an overall incompetent leader. While I don’t think the Nazi party would have ever reached the power it did without him, I could easily see a similar, less aggressively racist(at first) party forming and gaining control of Germany. Would WWII have broken out under such leadership? No idea. But it wouldn’t surprise me if it did and if so, more competent people the Germans may have won that war, causing more long-term death and misery for ethnic and religious minorities across Europe in the long run.

      • Shirley Knott

        Now there’s an alternate history novel that needs to be written.

      • creech

        Eva tried to steer him into other “pursuits” but he wasn’t too interested in sex.

  28. Count Potato

    “Latino preschool teacher puts blackface on kids as part of Black History Month lesson – but school director says she doesn’t understand the problem, asking ‘what is racist?’

    One of the kids can be seen dressed up as a construction worker while another is wearing a dress up police outfit. A third child can be seen in the background although it is not clear what they’re dressed as.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11741063/Latino-Miami-preschool-teacher-puts-blackface-kids-Black-History-Month-lesson.html

    Minstrel Village People?

    • juris imprudent

      GUILT you stupid motherfucker – you are supposed to be all about GUILT for YOUR PRIVILEGEd skin.

      • juris imprudent

        And needless to say that Latinx POC just became a white hispanic.

    • slumbrew

      She’s thinking “people have stopped talking about me so I must do something”

    • R C Dean

      Who?

      • Old Man With Candy

        Some obscure horse face with smoker’s wrinkles around the mouth.

      • slumbrew

        It’s been 18 years since her first Doctor Who episodes.

        Dang, tempus fugit

      • Count Potato

        Even longer from when she was a pop singer.

      • Tres Cool

        Rose Tyler. Duh.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Decent body, face needs work, and why oh why wear an outfit with a waistline that comes up to your tits?

  29. The Late P Brooks

    All aboard!

    President Biden told governors from across the country on Saturday that “we can get big things done if we work together” in a bipartisan way across the political aisle.

    Biden gave remarks during a dinner at the National Governors Association winter meeting at the White House, emphasizing that members of the two parties are not going to always agree but can still work together to help their constituents.

    “I’d like to make a toast to remembering who in God’s name we are. We’re the United States of America,” Biden said. “We can get big things done if we do it together.”

    ——-

    Biden pointed to the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that he signed into law in 2021 as an example of what bipartisan efforts can accomplish.

    He said he will try to get “a little bit less partisan” and hopes others will too.

    “I said I wanted to be president for everybody. Not just blue states or red states,” Biden said.

    “Everybody just needs to do what I say.”

    I wish a really big thing would fall on that jabbering imbecile.

    • Count Potato

      Anvil, safe, or piano?

      • slumbrew

        Embrace the power of “and”

    • Don escaped Texas

      governors from across the country

      is not the worst construction ever, but something more useful goes in that space. the Tautology of the Week goes uncited…don’t remember who I was listening to…characterizing the recent Fed inspection of Pence’s home as “agreed to ahead of time,” little brother to the unkillable “planning for the future.”

      • Spartacus

        I personally am much more successful at planning for the past.

      • Don escaped Texas

        there was also some vacuity about Turkey searching for survivors trapped still alive in the rubble

        this from reporters, the masters of language

    • rhywun

      IOW “bipartisan” means “giant piles of cash sloshing around”.

      • R C Dean

        “Enough for everyone!”

      • hayeksplosives

        Make sure there’s 10% for the big guy.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      It’s a useful example of how the psychopaths in DC feel as well.

  30. Dr. Fronkensteen

    I still maintain that innovation follows an S curve.
    Low innovation for a long time. Quick upslope and then a slowing down. Look at aviation. No flight. Kitty Hawk in 1903. The SR-71 in 1964 61 years later. And while there have been improvements over the past 59 years. It was nothing like the first 61 years. I have no idea how long Moore’s law will last but that will eventually slow down as well.

    • DEG

      One my my uncles took my grandmother and my great-grandmother on a trip to Hawaii in the 60s.

      My great-grandmother was born in the late-19th century. Her family was using a horse and buggy to get around until about the First World War. And then in her twilight years, she gets to fly on a jet airliner.

      • Bob Boberson

        My great grandmother was born in 1906 and died in 2002. We have pictures of her as a child sitting in a wagon on her way to church. She remembers how her father had to cut the grain on the outer margins of the fields with a hand scythe because you couldn’t get the horse-drawn thresher around the edges safely. The changes that woman saw in her lifetime are staggering when you think about it.

      • Bob Boberson

        *remembered

    • Fatty Bolger

      Law of diminishing returns.

    • juris imprudent

      Twisting it a bit, but if you include space with aviation, the recent ability to land and re-use launch vehicles (vice just letting them fall into the ocean) is a considerable advance. The old aviation equivalent would’ve been a plane that flew but tell apart on landing.

      • DrOtto

        I picture the Bluesmobile with wings.

  31. Scruffyy Nerfherder

    I suppose she was faithful to her ideas, but some people are terminally stupid in a way that only higher intelligence can achieve.

    https://nypost.com/2023/02/11/jen-angels-kin-dont-want-jail-time-for-attackers-after-oakland-baker-killed-in-robbery/

    “A woke California baker was savagely killed during a robbery this week — and her family and friends are urging authorities not to jail her assailants to align with her social justice beliefs.”

    • Spartacus

      Jail is not for her benefit–it’s for the benefit of future potential victims.

    • juris imprudent

      I would be okay with them deciding against the death penalty – but sorry, fuck you and the deceased, for thinking this goes completely unpunished.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        No dice for me either, I don’t want that type out among us.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Naïveté from beyond the grave. Very sad…

      • R.J.

        If she had survived she would have changed her mind about punishment.

      • hayeksplosives

        I have a vague memory of Sirhan Sirhan stating at a parole hearing that he believes Bobby Kennedy would approve his parole.

        The judge said something along the lines of “Too bad you killed him then. Denied.”

    • KSuellington

      I know someone who was killed in Oakland about 5 years ago in exactly the same way she was. Wonder if it was the same crew as I don’t think they were ever caught. I’d bet dollars to donuts this naïve woman didn’t believe people should be able to arm themselves so the word “anarchist” to describe her should definitely be in quotes. Agreed that the punishment for violent crimes should also be considered not solely as punishment but as prevention of more crimes, as such her beliefs about punishment are at least partially irrelevant. We also have an under incarceration problem in this country.

  32. Q Continuum

    Predictions on today’s game: The Eagles are a symbol of America, the most racist nation in the history of the planet and a bastion of White supremacy dedicated to the destruction of BIPOC and LGBTQITA+++++ communities and the death of Gaia. The Chiefs on the other hand, denigrate indigenous communities, whitewash colonization and celebrate genocide and cultural destruction of the peaceful and perfect tribes from whom the Whites stole land. Therefore, the only acceptable outcome is a struggle session for all players that ends in the disbanding of the NFL and banning of professional sports. Especially ’cause sports are beloved by Deploranazis and people who oppose Critical Race Theory. 4 tha LULZ.

    https://archive.ph/4v4bN

    Slutty Sunday.

    • juris imprudent

      White chicks? You lead in with that and give us a bunch of busty white chicks? tsk-tsk-tsk

      • Ted S.

        Not tsk tsk tsk, but untz untz untz.

    • rhywun

      Meh, some kneeling and land acknowledgement or two will absolve everyone of their sins so that the game can go on.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    It has been a long time since I bought a battery for a car. They cost a lot more now than they did 10 or 12 years ago, for some reason. I checked Oreilly’s on line, and a Honda battery (the middle one) was about $210.-. Eek. The ranch store has one for about half that. I might be willing to sacrifice 50 cold cranking amps for a hundred bucks. Best case scenario, I dump some distilled water in the battery and limp through the summer and let it be somebody else’s problem next winter.

    • PieInTheSky

      you can always steal one

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      WalMart has good house brand batteries at a not terrible price, just go for the mid or high grade. There’s only two or three manufacturers who are endlessly rebranded anyway.

      • DrOtto

        Johnson and EastPenn. There may be a couple of smaller players, but those 2 are 95% or more of the industry.

    • Sensei

      Do you have a battery charger with a desulfate mode?

      Disconnect the car so as not to freak out or kill the 40 modules in it. It pumps pulses of higher voltage low current to try to help clean the plates.

      Not a a magic cure, but it can definitely extend useful life.

      • hayeksplosives

        Desulfators for the win! I milked 8 years out of my original Ford Expedition battery with a cheap desulfator from Harbor Freight. Finally had to buy a new battery, but 8 years in Minnesota is no jioke.

    • DrOtto

      I just did batteries (note the plural) on a newer Jeep Grand Cherokee. $350 before tax and labor to install them beneath the passenger seat. Because they’re mounted inboard, they are AGM batteries.

      • Sensei

        Did you have to cut the carpet away ala Mercedes?

      • Mojeaux

        VW Beetle batteries go under the rear seat. Super easy to get to. Just lift up the bench seat.

    • Pat

      I had to replace my battery a couple months ago. Paid about 60 bucks more than I did 8 years prior.

      • Fatty Bolger

        You had a car battery last 8 years?!!!

  34. Sensei

    I watched two videos today from Pine Hollow Auto diagnostics.

    State College, PA auto business does some repair, but shops call him for tough diagnostics.

    Ford Fusion with what every new car now has, motor operated transmission selector. Car cracked a plastic bushing overextended the motor module and wouldn’t shift. Provided no trouble codes after the bushing repair. Took him four trips and one wrong part to get it to work again. I’m sure the customer is out at least $500 on repair with no charge on the wrong part.

    He took the busted motor apart and it’s a fucking abomination that, naturally, sits in the always wet wheel well. It’s got three motors, two circuit boards, five or six gears of both metal and plastic, a clutch mechanism and two limit switches. Unreal.

    I hate new cars.

    • Count Potato

      “I hate new cars.”

      I blame the government.

  35. PieInTheSky

    I do not know who to root for in the super bol . Both teams I was rooting for in the previous games lost. On the one hand base on watching It’s always sunny in Philadelphia, I got the idea the Philadelphia sports fans suck and deserve to lose. On the other I cannot root for the same team as Mojeaux 🙂 … tough one

    • juris imprudent

      Basing it on the fans – every team deserves to lose.

    • slumbrew

      Any time people say New England fans are the worst (and they can be bad), I remind them of Eagles fans.

      And Raider fans.

      And New York fans (all sports).

      • slumbrew

        I’ll amend the last with “downstate New York”.

        Bills fans are alright. Sabres, too, in my limited experience.

    • creech

      Philly fans don’t suck; they are true sports fanatics who root for their teams, do or die. (Mostly die.) So when we get a chance at a championship, the over-the-top behavior takes place. [Church today ended with the organist playing the Eagles fight song while the congregation sang it.]

      • Mojeaux

        I think there’s something to be said for a town that doesn’t break and burn its own stuff out of sheer joy or rage.

      • PieInTheSky

        “we are passionate fans” Dennis

      • Sensei

        Just don’t give them batteries.

        /s also an Iggles fan

      • slumbrew

        Or snowballs.

      • Sensei

        I was at one of those games.

      • slumbrew

        Why do you hate Santa?

      • creech

        Yeah, “America’s Mayor,” Ed Rendell actually egged on the snowball throwers! [Yes, he became PA governor and was a D.]

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Renault, you say?

    I want this one.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      The people standing on the gravel road on that seventy degree curve just cracks me up. No fucking way.

  37. The Late P Brooks

    Ford Fusion with what every new car now has, motor operated transmission selector.

    Controlled by the fucking ecu, naturlich.

    • Sensei

      Yup, with three safety interlocks.

      Hope you have no electrical issues with your brake or door sensors. Cause you ain’t moving…

      • Scruffyy Nerfherder

        eerrrrghhh

        That crap aggravates the hell out of me.

        One O2 sensor fails and every advanced system in the vehicle goes on strike.

      • Don escaped Texas

        I was forced to put an enable in AC clutch logic that wouldn’t allow the AC compressor to come on (and steal HP as if a 430HP Series 60 cares) if the brake air was low

        I fought this shit for years

      • Sensei

        One company, GM?, on certain emissions codes will now disable the AC on cars and light duty.

        Can’t remember who.

  38. Count Potato

    These “show more” buttons on Twitter are a very stupid change. They aren’t even sticky.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Do you have a battery charger with a desulfate mode?

    Disconnect the car so as not to freak out or kill the 40 modules in it. It pumps pulses of higher voltage low current to try to help clean the plates.

    Not a a magic cure, but it can definitely extend useful life.

    I watched Uncle Tony’s thing about doing that (desulphating) with a stick welder.

    My charger is old and dumb, but when the Element declined to start (twice, now) putting the charger on 10A got the starter spinning. The starter in this thing seems awfully lazy, but I was watching some guy’s video about something or other and the starter in his K24 was just as slow as mine. I want the starter to turn the motor over at about 2500 rpm.

  40. Bob Boberson

    I’m guessing it’s not too early for an OT rant:

    Selling on FB marketplace. I guess there are a class of people who just reply to posts all day that they have no intention of buying as a hobby? Since I posted I’ve answered about 20 (mostly stupid) questions to which I got no follow-up response. One person who was super interested showed up with no money and no means of payment, ridiculous low-ball offers, and one nasty-gram out of left field because evidently I’m an asshole for not selling to that person at a vastly lower price than what it’s worth.

    Selling used items on the internet does not give me faith in humanity.

  41. The Late P Brooks

    One O2 sensor fails and every advanced system in the vehicle goes on strike.

    We can’t have you driving around killing the planet with your wildly-out-of-tune air fuel mixture.

  42. db

    Regarding the link to Eugyppius on scientific stagnation…I wonder if the measures of vocabulary would be the same if AI chatbots were producing a significant number.of papers?

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      if AI chatbots were producing a significant number.of papers

      How could you tell in the social “sciences”?

      • Old Man With Candy

        Or, sadly, a lot of the physical sciences.

  43. The Late P Brooks

    Unimpressed

    “Less than a week after a U.S. fighter jet fired a missile and brought down a Chinese balloon, an utterly harmless civilian airship designed for meteorological use, the US shot down an unidentified object around Alaska on Friday at the order of President Joe Biden,” an op-ed in that paper said. “Stuck in typical partisanship and ‘political correctness,’ orders from the White House are getting laughably juvenile.”

    The Global Times column said it seems clear that Biden shot down the second object quickly after being criticized for taking its time with the first object. It also accused the administration of trying to make the U.S. military look formidable by taking on what China insists are civilian airships.

    “The U.S. did make a strong case that the F-22 is invincible, when its enemy are balloons,” it said. “Unfortunately, this is the way the US propagandizes – bragging about shooting down balloons.”

    “Is US strong or weak? It looks pretty damn tough in the face of balloons, civilian airships, and other innocuous objects. But in the face of real battlefield, U.S.’ choice is to exhaust others,” it added, in an apparent reference to America’s support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia.

    That’s not fair. They can’t say mean stuff about our President!

    • juris imprudent

      Only because we don’t have President Mean-tweets around to kick them back!

    • Ted S.

      If it really was a weather balloon, come out with that publicly after it went off course and before it entered US airspace. And request help in getting it down without destroying it.

      • Fatty Bolger

        Yeah, there’s no reason at all to believe their story that it was just a weather balloon.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      Assume it’s true for a moment.

      Your average six year old is horrified by the thought of what abortion really is.

    • Scruffyy Nerfherder

      “My mother is very deeply a person of faith,” Chelsea said. “It is deeply authentic and real for my mother, and it guides so much of her moral compass, but also her life’s work.”

      An even bigger lie

      • Bob Boberson

        If by faith she means faithful acolyte of Satan.

      • juris imprudent

        Ha! Satan takes a back seat to Hillary’s worship of raw power.

      • db

        She carries around a bottle of hot sauce, too.

  44. Mojeaux

    I see my name being taken in vain this morning. The question is not whom *I* or Trigger Hippie or LJW or Glibertesian are rooting for. The question is whom is OZY rooting for??? He’s a newish transplant.

    Pie, never ever ever root for the same teams I do. They lose less than other teams do, therefore, they cannot win for losing.

    I have two new journals that are just beautiful that I want to write in, but I can’t bear to write in them because they’re so beautiful and I don’t want to mess them up.

    Here’s a question for you: If you vlogged your lifestyle and things that you were interested in, anything and everything, what would you vlog?

    Also, why are there commercials in vids that are made expressly for cats to watch?

    • PieInTheSky

      I’m just bustin balls as they say. Or ovaries.

  45. The Late P Brooks

    If it really was a weather balloon, come out with that publicly after it went off course and before it entered US airspace. And request help in getting it down without destroying it.

    They could at least have offered to share the info it gathered. Why not, if it’s just innocuous meteorological data?

  46. Yusef drives a Kia

    Ya know that feeling you get when you lose your reading glasses?
    Yeah😎

    • slumbrew

      Have you checked the top of your head? I’m starting to pull that move.

      • juris imprudent

        I have to remind my wife of that, often.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    Here’s a question for you: If you vlogged your lifestyle and things that you were interested in, anything and everything, what would you vlog?

    The question which trips me up is, “Who could possibly care, and why?”

    • Mojeaux

      It doesn’t matter who would care. You do it for yourself.

      I find a lot of different weirdness on YouTube I enjoy that a) I would never do or b) I want to learn how to do or c) I wish I had the courage to do or d) I want to learn how to do it better or e) “I could teach that bitch a thing or two” or f) “OMG SOMEBODY ELSE LIKES SOMETHING I LIKE SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

      It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you love it and you share it.