IFLA: The “Whoa” Edition of the Horoscope for the Week of October 15

by | Oct 15, 2023 | IFLA | 283 comments

Arright, here’s the stellar deelie-o:  War.  You’ve got Mars on one side of the sun, and Jupiter retrograde on the other.  And neither of those planets move fast, so it’ll be a while before that breaks up.  Sorry about that.  Mars being in Scorpio, we should expect ambushes, hiding under rocks, and poison.  Jupiter retrograde being in Taurus, we should expect a surprising lack of innovation, but endurance.  Also slaiughter.

Libra: 4 of Wands – A nice party, but in the latter stages where the guests have moved on.

Scorpio: Knight of Cups –  Arrival, approach, advances, proposition, demeanor, invitation, incitement.

Sagittarius: The Blank Card.

Capricorn: Ace of Swords reversed – Redlining the engine can make it blow up.

Aquarius: Page of Coins – Application, study, scholarship, reflection.

Pisces: 5 of Coins reversed – Disorder, chaos, ruin, discord, profligacy.

Aries: Knight of Coins – Utility, serviceableness, interest, responsibility, rectitude, also an armored car driver.

Taurus: Death reversed – When it’s reversed, it doesn’t mean death-death, just lying around being useless, depressed, potential as opposed to actual good things ending. Or failure due to you being lazy and/or mopey.

Gemini: Queen of Coins – Opulence, generosity, magnificence, security, liberty.

Cancer: 7 of Wands reversed – an uphill battle.

Leo: The Empress – Fruitfulness, action, initiative, length of days, the unknown, clandestine, also difficulty, doubt, ignorance. 

Virgo: 9 of Wands reversed – doors closed against you.

I totally get why fans of a band don’t like it when that band changes.  After all, they’re no longer producing the sound that made them fans in the first place.  However, I also have respect for bands that do decide that either they’ve done all they can in their idiom or that they’re bored and aren’t willing to keep beating a dead horse for the paycheck (looking at you Aerosmith).  But then there’s another problem to sticking with “your style” into old age:  it can demonstrate how old you’re getting.  Like this one for example.  It’s a good song and it’s in the OG style (though Dave Navarro has evolved) and it’s got the same generally upbeat, wholesome moral lesson as so many of them do.  And by itself it’s fine, but listen to it immediately after something from their pre-breakup discography and you’ll go “Holy Fuck Perry Ferrel really doesn’t have the chops anymore.”

About The Author

Not Adahn

Not Adahn

Despite all my rage, I am still just an impeccably dressed rat.

283 Comments

  1. juris imprudent

    How you treat the weak is your true nature calling.

    How Nietzschean.

    …also an armored car driver.

    Hmm, that implies it isn’t my money.

    • UnCivilServant

      What? You don’t move your gold reserve in armored cars?

      • juris imprudent

        Why would I ever drain my pool?

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        It’s your true call of nature.

  2. The Late P Brooks

    Sagittarius: The Blank Card.

    Is that anything like a blank check?

    • Not Adahn

      Printed on cardstock instead of paper.

    • SDF-7

      It is whatever you want it to be. Who knew Obama was a Sagittarius this week?

  3. CPRM

    Taurus: Death reversed โ€“ When itโ€™s reversed, it doesnโ€™t mean death-death, just lying around being useless, depressed, potential as opposed to actual good things ending. Or failure due to you being lazy and/or mopey.

    So I should just go back to bed?

    • SDF-7

      That sounds like you’re trying for la petite mort

  4. Not Adahn

    Add one more anecdote to the “why I hate NY” pile…

    In OH, I could get a liter of Rittenhouse Rye Bottled-in-Bond for less than a fifth costs me here. And I bought it in a Kroger.

    • Tres Cool

      In Ohio, even in Kroger, you still bought from a state store. The benevolent powers in Columbus just allow Kroger to act as their agent for liquor sales.
      Other fun fact- if you see a Starbucks inside a Kroger, those are actually UFCW Kroger employees in the green aprons. Not Starbucks employees.

      • Not Adahn

        I’m still going to be treating that place like the duty-free on the way back from Montreal.

    • rhywun

      โ˜น๏ธ

      The fifth is $25 near me at the supposedly best liquor store in town. I don’t know how that compares to NYC since I never found that brand there.

      Comparing vodkas, the prices are roughly the same as I am used to.

      Which sucks because all other food and beverages are about 1/3 off what I am used to paying. I got 1.5 dozen eggs for 2 bucks today.

      • Aloysious

        Now I’m hungry for an egg and anchovy sandwich.

  5. Tres Cool

    “doors closed against you”

    Well, since Im the dumbfuck that often charges in w/o thinking, maybe thats a good thing?

  6. DEG

    Fruitfulness, action, initiative, length of days, the unknown, clandestine, also difficulty, doubt, ignorance.

    Not sure if that’s sufficiently shitty.

    Nice dog videos.

  7. Tundra

    Has Lily met her match? Look like a pretty evenly matched donnybrook to me.

    “Leo: The Empress โ€“ Fruitfulness, action, initiative, length of days, the unknown, clandestine, also difficulty, doubt, ignorance”

    I have no idea how to assess that.

    I don’t mind it when bands take a different direction especially if it’s interesting. I find that the bands that I love the most I’ll stick with a lot longer. But that song kind of sucks. You can you can tell when they’ve lost it when they need to engineer the vocals so heavily.

    Still, good on them for keeping it going.

    • Don escaped Texas

      I have no idea how to assess that.

      Like this!
      * first half: Fruitfulness, action, initiative
      * second half: the unknown, clandestine, difficulty, doubt, ignorance
      – Deion Sanders

      • juris imprudent

        Deion – how dare Stanford do to us what we almost did to USC last week.

  8. Not Adahn

    Something I’m not used to here is just how piddly, rinky-dink the “festivals” are up here. I went to Bennington’s “Harvest Festival” yesterday and it was about 10% the size of the Kolache Fest in the bustling metropolis of Caldwell, TX. Fortunately, the drive there would have been worth taking without any real destination to go to. Also, compare Butlerville’s 4-hour “Rennaissance Festival” with Norman which can at least sustain a weekend.

    I am also wondering where the people are for Bennington to have a downtown/commercial district that large.

    • R.J.

      That looks great.

      • rhywun

        +1

    • UnCivilServant

      You have a snake under your arm.

      • Not Adahn

        “No Stick in Armpit.”

    • SDF-7

      That does look great — do we sell those in the shop now or was this a custom job on your part?

      • SDF-7

        Sweet.

      • Not Adahn

        The lady taking the order said that there would be a sale announced soon, so she held the order until the sale dropped. Saved me 30%.

        I bought a second jersey (for refereeing in) during that sale to pay back her kindness.

    • Sean

      <==

    • The Hyperbole

      The 2 giraffes fucking was for OMWC’s coffee shop, the Glibs logo that got fucked over for the love child of Mr. Peanut and Millburn Pennybags was the katana wielding squirrel riding an eye laser shooting eagle carrying a rattlesnake with a Lee Marvin scale pattern.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Business news you can use

    North Dakota is also hampered by weaker access to pipelines than the Permian Basin, where many producers can use pipelines that lie entirely within Texas, skirting federal regulation of interstate pipelines. Thatโ€™s only one example of a relaxed regulatory environment in Texas, compared to places like climate-conscious Colorado, the nationโ€™s No. 4 oil producer, where output is still down 3 million barrels per month, said Jay Hatfield, CEO of Infrastructure Capital Advisors in New York.

    โ€œThereโ€™s this place called Texas that doesnโ€™t really know what energy regulation is,โ€ he said.

    We call it “The Suicide State”.

    • dbleagle

      Damn I hate saying this, but good on Texas………………………………..also this doesn’t mean I hate the Jerryboys or Astros less.

    • Not Adahn

      I know. Remember when Bush’s lax environmental standards resulted in completely wiping Galveston off the map? Or Abbot’s refusal to tie the TX electrical grid into the rest of the country’s made everyone in central TX freeze to death?

      /CNN

      • DrOtto

        They kept waiting for rolling blackouts/brownouts this summer as we were hammered day after day w/100+ temps. You could here the disappointment in the media whores when it wasn’t happening.

      • prolefeed

        We did have power outages here in Central Texas two years ago – when we got a once or twice in a century cold snap.

        I would rather risk that again than have huge electrical rate increases so they could prepare for weather I might never experience again here.

      • rhywun

        so they could prepare for weather I might never experience again here

        Better that than the huge electric rate increases that are coming for most of us, for graft and appeasement to the climate gods.

  10. Gustave Lytton

    I doubt Egypt is going to take in strays. All they have to do is look at the last 75 years, particularly Black September in Jordan and Lebanon generally. Terrible houseguests.

    • Tundra

      We could force them to take them. We could finance the whole thing. But we aren’t. Ffs, we’re not even pressuring Qatar to evict Hamas.

      I wonder why we aren’t

      • SDF-7

        Somewhat serious answer? Because the PPP administration appears to take direction from the far left (even though they were supposedly voted in moderate) and the far left is firmly on the side of Iran and Hamas because Israel is pseudo-European, Western Civ and “colonizers”. Anything the noble Arabs do against the West in general, Israel in particular is good — it is counterbalancing for past atrocities and colonization and keeping the Middle East down (maaaan).

        If that’s not true — they’ve gone out of their way to make me believe it over the last 3 years. The two guiding stars of everything they’ve done: “Is it 180 degrees from what OMB did?” and “Does it degrade Western Civilization?”… okay and number 3: “Does it hide PPP’s personal corruption and DC’s corruption in general?” That one is plenty important.

      • KSuellington

        That certainly seems to be the case, I mentioned it earlier this week in a comment, but I was listening to the local lefty radio stations and they said that explicitly. The attacks were perfectly justified to fight against a white, European, colonizer.

      • rhywun

        something something history written by the winners

        JFC

  11. Mojeaux

    Taurus: Death reversed โ€“ When itโ€™s reversed, it doesnโ€™t mean death-death, just lying around being useless, depressed, potential as opposed to actual good things ending. Or failure due to you being lazy and/or mopey.

    Not-moping is the cost I bear to sustain my laziness. Otherwise I would be a hypocrite, which is worse.

  12. Rebel Scum

    Application, study, scholarship, reflection.

    All I’m hearing is that I am bogged down at work.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    More fabulist butthurt

    โ€œFrom Exxon-Mobil to Shell, Guyana to Cote dโ€™Ivorie, those with fossil resources seek to boost production and delay action to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions,โ€ said MIT professor John Sterman, a senior advisor at Climate Interactive, an organization that models future warming based on countriesโ€™ proposed actions. He said that path will lead to โ€œcatastrophe.โ€

    Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson, who heads the emissions-tallying group Global Carbon Project, said no country or company wants to cut oil and gas production if someone else is going to sell oil anyway.

    โ€œWeโ€™re in a fossil trap,โ€ Jackson said.

    ——-

    โ€œSo long as oil is demanded,โ€ Gross said. โ€œDemand drives production โ€” we need to change the whole system to reduce oil demand.โ€

    โ€œReplacing oil in power production is a lot easier than replacing oil in transportation,โ€ Gross said in an email. โ€œWe need changes in the transportation sector, along with policies to reduce demand for transport โ€” like teleworking, walkable neighborhoods and good public transportation.โ€

    Don’t forget the battery powered airplanes.

    • SDF-7

      Well, the guy is half right. Telework and the like (and the whole walkable neighborhood thing for folks who like it, ditto public transportation [though of course, the idea is to make that mandatory for the plebes and all]) to reduce demand to decrease fossil fuel consumption? Fine… if that’s what the market can push for, and it should happen naturally through adaptation if prices stay high.

      The half wrong of course is that there’s really nothing to replace it outside of widespread nuclear (imho anyway) and a good storage technology to translate the electrical generated into transport fuel (like making hydrocarbons for example… I don’t know if that would ever get economical with cheap enough generation, though I rather doubt it — I just don’t think strip mining for lithium and the like is a great plan either).

      • Rebel Scum

        the idea is to make that mandatory for the plebes and all

        You can have my sedan from my cold, dead hands.

      • DrOtto

        Longroofs for the win.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Nice. Another ‘goon fan.

    • Suthenboy

      These people are________ .
      A. Deluded
      B. Insane
      C. Evil
      D. All of the above

  14. Rebel Scum

    You people (Democrats) are literally insane.

    Democrat New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman has called on the United States to โ€œwelcomeโ€ Palestinian refugees as experts predict that one million people fleeing the Gaza Strip will need new homes.

    โ€œFifty percent of the population in Gaza are children,โ€ the congressman told the New York Post on Saturday. โ€œThe international community as well as the United States should be prepared to welcome refugees from Palestine while being very careful to vet and not allow members of Hamas.โ€

    As if we* are not currently importing enough questionable people. They’re Arabs. Let the Arab countries take them.

    *By “we” I mean the criminal USG that is facilitating an invasion of the States.

  15. Rebel Scum

    She should start and OnlyFans.

    Lauren Boebert, whose opponent raised $3.4 million last quarter, raised $853,840.

    I’m sure those are all small donations from politically engaged citizens.

    • Tres Cool

      I’d watch that for a dollar!

  16. hayeksplosives

    Aries: Knight of Coins โ€“ Utility, serviceableness, interest, responsibility, rectitude, also an armored car driver.

    Sweet! All my Uber and Lyft drivers this week will be soldiers or medieval knights! This should be interesting.

    • Tundra

      Knights Templar would be pretty cool.

      • hayeksplosives

        I have a lovely crusader cross (made in Jerusalem) to wear while riding with my armored chauffeur.

        Similar to this one: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143241626084

      • Tres Cool

        When just a St. Christopher medallion wont do…..

      • Tundra

        Neato!

    • SDF-7

      Going full palanquin?

  17. Sean

    “Cancer: 7 of Wands reversed โ€“ an uphill battle.”

    You just don’t know.

    • Drake

      Sounds like another week to me.

  18. Rebel Scum

    I guess it was insufficiently Democratic.

    A U.S. District Judge ruled Friday that Galveston County violated the federal Voting Rights Act in 2021 when it drew new districts for its commissioners court.

    Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, appointed by former President Donald Trump, ruled the countyโ€™s 2021 commissioners court precinct map โ€œdenies Black and Latino voters the equal opportunity to participate in the political process and the opportunity to elect a representative of their choice to the commissioners court.โ€ As a result, the county has been ordered to redraw the map by Oct. 20.

    The lawsuit stands as the first county-level redistricting case since the most recent census that drew intervention from the federal government.

    Can they not vote? My choices almost never win. Where muh-representation at?

    • prolefeed

      You’re only allowed to do it if it is explicitly racist minority redistrcting.

      Cue the howls of lefty outrage if, say, Hawaii was court ordered to gerrymander some white-majority legislative districts (that would flip to Republican) to reverse the disproportionately Asian dominination of the legislature.

      • dbleagle

        I would laugh and laugh. I doubt it would make any difference though.

      • prolefeed

        A small difference. I’m sure I could gerrymander such a map through Kailua/Kaneohe, Hawaii Kai, and Laie that would go Republican every time in those three areas.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    a good storage technology to translate the electrical generated into transport fuel (like making hydrocarbons for example

    I did a little reading up on “synthetic” fuel a while back. Basically, you take the end products of burning a hydrocarbon fossil fuel and reassemble it, using the energy produced by the original combustion process plus the losses on both ends. Not what I would consider efficient. The process could be presumbly improved through development. And you have to figure out where to find “green” energy to carry out the process.

    • SDF-7

      Yup — that’s what I remember from organic chemistry — you can get just about anything if you’re willing to expend the energy (the ratios and likelihood vary by pressure and temperature). So no reason why you can’t rebuild hydrocarbon bonds as an energy store (after all, that’s why the plants build hydrocarbons in the first place and all). So it would presuppose abundant nuclear power that would be better stored for transportation and a method to get to gasoline / petroleum that isn’t ridiculous (and how likely the latter is is what I’m unsure of… I know there was the Navy project to make JP6 [kerosene?] using excess reactor power in CVGs, so if that wasn’t a pipe dream and can scale, it seems like a good pilot project…)

      • Don escaped Texas

        Not what I would consider efficient

        if youโ€™re willing to expend the energy

        One way (the bad way) I explain the second law of thermo: clamp an outboard motor in a drum of water, hook it up to a gallon of fuel, and fire it up. In a few minutes, you’ll run out of gas, and the water will be warmer. Wait another hour: the motor and drum will cool off, but the gallon of fuel won’t reconstitute itself. Disorder increases, and only tremendous use of energy can locally create order: disorder will win in the end.

    • thrakkorzog

      There have been a number of ideas trying to run with this. The basic idea is using some sort of poop from sewage plants and plankton to transform human waste into usable fuel. You basically pump in poop to the organisms responsible for creating fossil fuels. It kind sort works on a small scale.

      It was found unfeasible, by the same people who love ethanol subsiidies who love ethanol and Iowa and go to state fairs to pander.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    experts predict that one million people fleeing the Gaza Strip will need new homes.

    That much destruction should make Krugabe deliriously happy.

    • SDF-7

      So Israel is trying to help Gaza with a massive broken window fallacy?

      • Fourscore

        I was thinking that but you said it way before I was even thinking it.

  21. Rebel Scum

    You guys are always good about tampering down the rhetoric.

    โ€œHouse Republicans have selected as their nominee to be the speaker of the peopleโ€™s House the chairman of the chaos caucus, a defender in a dangerous way of dysfunction, and an extremist extraordinaire,โ€ House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Friday on the steps of the Capitol, flanked by dozen of Democratic lawmakers. โ€œHis focus has been on peddling lies and conspiracy theories and driving division amongst the American people.โ€

    House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., labeled Jordan an โ€œinsurrectionistโ€ and said he would be on a glide path to becoming speaker if not for the unified opposition of Democrats.

    โ€œHe was directly involved in the right-wing coup that sought to overturn the 2020 election,โ€ she said, referring to Jordan and the 147 congressional Republicans who objected to certifying presidential election results on Jan. 6, 2021.

    “Every Republican who cast their vote for him is siding with an insurrectionist against our democracy,โ€ Clark said.

    “Everyone who disagrees with me and uses the legal process to challenge election results is a dangerous insurrectionist.” is just good messaging.

    • The Other Kevin

      I wasnโ€™t sure until I read this vitriol now Iโ€™m a fan.

      • juris imprudent

        Just because a group of morons hate someone doesn’t mean you should like him.

    • prolefeed

      “But if you pick a RINO again, and need two Democrats like us to make it happen, the two of us and every single Democrat are gonna still vote against literally any Republican you nominate.”

    • Suthenboy

      It sounds to me like every republican needs a good ‘ol fashioned reprogramming.
      Does the IRA have any budgeting devoted to building camps?

  22. one true athena

    Does anyone want a Lego Star Wars advent calendar? It’s from a few years ago and not opened. I’d rather it go to a kid who would enjoy it than sit on my shelf.

    • KSuellington

      My kids would love it, theyโ€™re Stars Wars and Lego fans. Obviously canโ€™t pick it up as Iโ€™m not going to SoCal anytime soon, but could send you something for shipping.

      • one true athena

        Awesome! .Just send me your info at athenaofprogtown at Gmail

      • KSuellington

        Great! Thanks Athena. My kids are going to dig it!

  23. The Late P Brooks

    So Israel is trying to help Gaza with a massive broken window fallacy?

    Economic stimulus. Jobs. They’ll be rich.

  24. Rebel Scum

    Why is he yelling?

    Joe Biden one week after Hamas invaded Israel and went door to door hunting civilians and taking hostages:

    โ€œWho in Godโ€™s name needs a weapon with 100 rounds in their chamber?!?โ€

    You’d have to fire 100 rounds for there to be 100 “in” the chamber. And I like the optics of angrily invoking “God’s name” from a fake Catholic who is trying to strip citizens of their rights in a clear violation of the federal Constitution.

    • prolefeed

      “Half the country needs high capacity magazines so we can overthrow the government, just like in the 1770s, when you inevitably get too tyrannical and try something like confiscating our guns, or throwing us into the reeducation camps your party’s nominee in 2016 just openly advocated for.

  25. LCDR_Fish

    Some good pieces at NRO this week. One of the few sites I actually like subscribing to – in terms of volume of content daily and avg quality if nothing else.

    I Took My English Dad to an American Football Game

    Experiencing an NFL game in London

    Of all the things that might plausibly have been stolen from the hospital in which my dad was having his hip replaced, the last thing Iโ€™d have anticipated was that. His wallet, I could have comprehended. His phone would have fetched a pretty penny if sold for parts on the underground market. Even his car keys might have proved tempting to a particularly ambitious thief. But a Jacksonville Jaguars baseball hat? In London, England? I was floored.

    I was even more floored by his reaction to the theft. I had assumed, in all honesty, that he would shrug it off and move on. I had bought him the hat the previous Christmas, as part of what has become an annual tradition of Americana-themed gifts. I had obtained Gators gear for my nieces and nephews; a bag of Dunkinโ€™ Donuts ground coffee for my brother-in-law (an inside joke, of sorts); a Montreal Expos T-shirt for my uncle (long story); and, for my dad, Iโ€™d bought a Jaguars hat. At a recent family reunion, heโ€™d seen me wearing mine and mentioned that he liked the design, so weโ€™d bought him one on a lark. But here he was, somewhere between hips, genuinely mourning its loss. โ€œIt wouldnโ€™t be too much trouble,โ€ he asked after he had related the story, โ€œfor you to buy a new one and FedEx it over?โ€

    And so, duly touched, we had. Which, in turn, brought him closer to the team, and, by extension, to me. Not long after the arrival of the replacement hat, I began to get text messages asking if the Jags had won โ€” and against whom โ€” and by how many points โ€” and so on. If I traveled to an away game, he asked for photos from the trip. When play-off season rolled around, he wanted to know if the team might conceivably make the Super Bowl. It was all rather pleasing. And yet, in another sense, it was wholly unsatisfying. Heโ€™d request the score, but possess no real grasp of what it meant. Heโ€™d ask which team they were playing against, but have no context within which to process the answer. Heโ€™d be happy they were in the playoffs, but remain unsure as to what that actually meant. Irked by this unusual breakdown in communication, I resolved to fix it as best I could.

    Which is why, on a warm day in October, the two of us walked into the Tottenham Hotspursโ€™ remarkable new stadium in London, armed with two tickets to see the Jaguars play the Buffalo Bills. It is, I suppose, one of the great coincidences of my life that the NFL team that I happened to pick up when I moved to the United States was the one that plays at least one game each year in the country I left behind. Now, it perhaps seems unremarkable that the NFL is spreading its wings to other nations. But, back in 2013, when the Jaguars first began playing games abroad, the idea was nothing short of revolutionary. With good reason, many thought that the experiment would end in failure. Surely โ€” surely? โ€” there could not be enough NFL fans in England to fill a stadium, let alone to fill Wembley Stadium, which holds 90,000 people? But, as it turned out, there were. And, better still, it turned out that those people liked it so much that the Jaguars could make the journey an annual tradition. This year, for the first time, they expanded the jaunt to two games.

    By the time I arrived in England, the first of those games had been played (in that contest, the Jaguars beat the Falcons by 16 points, just as the Founding Fathers intended), but the second game โ€” against the Buffalo Bills โ€” still remained. And what better introduction to football could there be than a good olโ€™ AFC brawl featuring Trevor Lawrence and Josh Allen, two of the most exciting quarterbacks in the league? In my heart of hearts, I did not expect the Jaguars would win it. But I did expect a spectacle, and, just as important perhaps, I expected some answers to a bunch of the questions that had been nibbling at me for a while: What was an NFL game in London like? Could the Brits really host โ€” or enjoy โ€” an event as unashamedly theatrical as this? Was my dadโ€™s embryonic interest in football simply displaced attachment to his hat?

    Within a mile of the stadium, it became readily apparent that I was not in Jacksonville anymore. At NFL games in the United States, you may see one or two conspicuously out-of-place shirts; in London, they were ubiquitous. Technically, this was a Bills โ€œhomeโ€ game, and it showed: For every piece of teal on display, I must have seen 50 or 60 shocks of blue. But interspersed with those were the colors and logos of every other team that plays football in these United States. In the seats around mine, I saw fans of the Patriots, the Packers, the Chargers, the 49ers, the Chiefs, the Titans (and there I was thinking that the English had good taste!), the Giants, the Vikings, and more โ€” each proudly displaying the marks of their tribe.

    Some of these fans were expat Americans desperate to see a game โ€” any game. Others were eccentric Englishmen who had decided to adopt American football as a hobby in defiance of the overwhelming disdain in which it is still held in British culture. For both, the game represented a homecoming. Imperial Britain exported its games around the world, which is why one can watch cricket in India, rugby in New Zealand, and soccer in South Africa. Exceptional America kept its games for itself, which is why, with a handful of quirky exceptions, football and baseball have remained synonymous with the Stars and Stripes. When those games venture abroad, people are ready.

    I had wondered if the foreign setting and the presence of so many neutrals would alter the feeling of the event and turn it into a bloodless exhibition match. As one would struggle to generate excitement at a political convention that was stocked with assiduously disinterested independents, to inspire joy at a wedding that was attended by guests who knew neither the bride nor the groom, so I feared that an NFL stadium filled with dispassionate onlookers might represent a carnival more than a competition. But I was wrong. Certainly, there was a gap between those of us wearing the colors of the two teams on the field and those who were in search of a nice day out and โ€œa good game.โ€ And yet, whatever effect the neutrals might have had was more than offset by the increased fervor of the partisans โ€” people who, by definition, had either traveled a long way to get there, or who had been long starved of live football games in which they were closely invested. There are fans, and then there are the fans who care enough to attend a game staged in England โ€” and it showed.

    After the final whistle had been blown, Jaguars running back Travis Etienne commented immediately on the noise. โ€œIt was so loud in here โ€” the intensity, the crowd โ€” everyone was going crazy,โ€ Etienne said. โ€œI was leaning into the huddle and I couldnโ€™t hear what Trevor [Lawrence] was saying. Thatโ€™s the first time thatโ€™s happened to me in my NFL career.โ€ My dad, who is no stranger to live sports, agreed with this. โ€œThat,โ€ he said afterwards, โ€œwas the loudest crowd Iโ€™ve ever heard.โ€ (The volume in the stadium was undoubtedly helped along by the fact that, as an exception to the usual rule, spectators were permitted to bring their beers to their seats, a practice that is typically forbidden to English fans, and which explains why, for all its remarkable technological innovations, Tottenhamโ€™s stadium completely lacks cupholders.)

    Before kickoff, I had wondered to myself what my dad was likely to think of it all. He had never watched an NFL game in his life, let alone in person, and the sport that he does watch religiously โ€” soccer โ€” is different in a number of pretty important ways. For a start, soccer doesnโ€™t stop. In that game, there are two halves of 45 minutes each, and, absent an injury or some other unforeseen event, the game continues unabated until the referee blows the whistle. There are no commercial breaks, no time-outs, no play clocks, no two-minute warnings. Substitutions are permanent, the players do not line up in set formations, and the offense and defense consist of the same people. Football, by contrast, starts and stops like a late-1990s Backstreet Boys song. It is halted briefly after each play, and for even longer after touchdowns, field goals, punts, turnovers, and reviews. Football is unimaginably explosive, and then it is completely quiet. When the advertisements are playing on TV, everyone on the field just stands around. And then thereโ€™s the clock, which inspires rules and conventions that are downright alien to the uninitiated. It is possible for a stranger to watch a soccer match and grasp its outline within minutes, but of football this is untrue. As a matter of fact, many of the rules of football are inscrutable to an outsider. What constitutes pass interference, who is eligible to catch the ball, when a throw represents intentional grounding, which formations are illegal, what counts as offside, when a punt is a touchback, why some behavior is holding and some is not โ€” itโ€™s confusing as hell.

    When talking to my American friends, I still tend to preface any observations I may have about football with a pro forma โ€œOf course, as a novice, I donโ€™t understand the game like you do.โ€ But, standing with my dad, a true novice, I realized just how much I have learned over the last five years. In much the same way as, when learning a language, there comes a point at which you suddenly realize that you can speak it without thinking about it at all, so, with sports, does there come a point at which newcomers grasp that they are fluent. On the train on the way down, I had sketched out the basics for him on a small piece of paper, and I supplemented this lesson as the game progressed, filling in this or that detail, suggesting what he should watch for, and explaining why I was nervous about this or that development. To my delight, he seemed to get it quite quickly, and, better still, he seemed to enjoy it, even going so far as to offer some solid observations about the game, such as that the Jaguars quarterback seemed to be hurried by the lack of protection and that the Bills offense was being thwarted by the coverage of the Jaguarsโ€™ cornerbacks. Perhaps most gratifyingly of all, he echoed back to me a characterization that I have often made at football games: โ€œThis,โ€ he said, โ€œis the successor to the Colosseum.โ€

    And would you believe it, the Jaguars won. In the grand scheme of things, it wouldnโ€™t have mattered too much if they had lost; the purpose of the day was to see what the NFL was like in London and to introduce my dad to the game I love, as he had introduced me to soccer when I was a little boy. But goodness me did the victory put the icing on the cake! At the time, it felt enormously stressful, but in hindsight I got the best of both worlds: The Jaguars won, and in a close, high-scoring game that featured one of the best performances of Trevor Lawrenceโ€™s career and boasted one of the most riveting fourth quarters that I can remember. Drama is an invaluable teaching aid, and boy did we get that in spades. Within the course of a few minutes, I went from thinking that the Jaguars were going to blow it to thinking that they were going to win to thinking once again that they were going to blow it. We saw turnovers and touchdowns and a failed two-point conversion. We saw a running back burst through the line to presumably put the Jaguars beyond reach, only for the Bills to march down the field in just over a minute and respond with seven points of their own. The neutrals were entertained, the die-hards lost years off their lives, and my dad, the newcomer, was overwhelmed. What a wonderful sport football is.

    And then it was over, and we started the long trek from America back to England. Not far from our oasis at Tottenhamโ€™s temporarily converted stadium, Arsenal F.C. had been playing a game of the other sort of football โ€” the one that actually involves feet โ€” and, as we walked the two miles or so back to the train station, a legion of their fans came pouring out of a nearby arena and joined us in our approach. For a moment, two worlds collided, with the NFL fans talking about their game and the soccer fans talking about theirs โ€” never the twain to meet.

    โ€œWhat is all this?โ€ I heard an Englishman in a red Arsenal jersey ask his identically attired friend.

    โ€œMust have been some kind of American football game,โ€ came the reply, in a tone that would have thrilled Jane Goodall.

    Then, an American accent returned the favor. โ€œI guess they were at the soccer game?โ€ it said, to a woman wearing a Raiders hat.

    โ€œSure looks that way.โ€

    On these conversations went, in parallel. For me, a Brit-turned-American, it was all rather disorienting.

    โ€œThat was the worst โ€˜roughing the passerโ€™ call Iโ€™ve ever seen,โ€ said someone to my right.

    โ€œYou think that was a bookinโ€™? Are you โ€™aving a larf, mate?โ€ said someone behind me.

    From the left: โ€œJosh Allen threw for more than 300 yards, and we still lost.โ€

    From somewhere else: โ€œOne nil, one nil, one nil!โ€

    โ€œThe problem was on third down,โ€ said a guy in a Bills sweater. โ€œAnything more than seven yards, and we couldnโ€™t get it done.โ€

    He was interrupted by another Arsenal fan, who jostled past me, gesturing to his friend. โ€œHaaland didnโ€™t get into the game at all. We kept him out for 90 minutes.โ€

    As our train wound its way out of London and back into the countryside, the football fans dwindled in number until the only passenger who was left wearing an NFL jersey was me. Looking out of the window, I saw the empty fields and towering church spires and Stuart-era homes that had been the mainstays of my childhood, and the dayโ€™s extravaganza suddenly felt a million miles away. Aware of the sudden incongruity of my appearance, I commented on the change to my dad.

    โ€œI guess thereโ€™s only one American football fan on the train now!โ€ I said.

    โ€œNo, Charlie,โ€ he replied. โ€œThereโ€™s two.โ€

    • LCDR_Fish

      One more:

      I Knew Africaโ€™s Most Important Economist. It Needs Economic Freedom

      George B. N. Ayitteyโ€™s wisdom on entrepreneurship has a lot to offer the continent.

      Reeling from military coups in Gabon and Niger, Africa is being put to the test. Many African economies, once primed for rapid growth, have encountered major stumbling blocks, putting prosperity on hold for hundreds of millions of people.

      African countries remain some of the poorest in the world. According to International Monetary Fund (IMF) data, per capita GDP in sub-Saharan Africa peaked in 2014, at just under $2,000, gradually dropping by more than 10 percent to about $1,700 in 2023. Global GDP per capita, on the other hand, has risen nearly 15 percent. Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa, the IMF warns, could decline โ€œpermanentlyโ€ if geopolitical tensions continue to escalate.

      Many of Africaโ€™s poorest countries are also the least free. According to the 2023 Index of Economic Freedom from the Heritage Foundation, five of the ten least free nations in the world are in Africa, with Algeria, Burundi, Eritrea, Sudan, and Zimbabwe sitting alongside the likes of Cuba and North Korea.

      This is a pivotal moment for African policy-makers, especially reformers working for economic prosperity in Burundi, Ghana, and elsewhere across the continent. While progress has been made over the decades, with the African Union recently joining the G20, sweeping market-economy reforms remain elusive.

      In their time of need, Africaโ€™s reformers can and should heed the advice of a late Ghanaian economist who is unknown to most Americans: George B. N. Ayittey. Born 78 years ago this week, Ayittey was an African economist par excellence who shared similarities with Milton Friedman as an anti-authoritarian and a champion of individual rights. Contrary to popular belief, Ayittey argued that Africaโ€™s persistent poverty is the result not primarily of colonialism but rather of the autocratic abuse of power.

      I had the privilege of knowing Ayittey very well, alongside other African thinkers whom he mentored. When Ayittey passed away last year, Africa lost a son who trusted in entrepreneurship to alleviate his continentโ€™s suffering, and I lost a good friend. Most of all, Ayittey believed in the freedom to innovate, starting new businesses, growing them, and creating local jobs that do not rely on the government. In his words, โ€œAfrica is poor because she is not free.โ€

      Alas, too many African policy-makers elevate the state over the individual. In Ayitteyโ€™s home country of Ghana, where farming is the primary occupation, the government does not afford property rights to women. Trapped in an unjust system, Ghanaian women, like many millions of women across the continent, cannot obtain land deeds and titles for plots that already belong to them, making it virtually impossible to use the land and harvest crops. Nor can they sell them without government interference, which limits free trade.

      In my home country of Nigeria, government interference stifles entrepreneurs, who struggle to innovate because of red tape and rampant corruption. A local hotelier, for instance, may be forced to pay dozens of separate bills for annual fees, taxes, and licenses โ€” from operating a parking lot to simply putting a company logo on a car โ€” without even necessarily knowing why they need to be paid. In some cases, the government can issue a small business four or five different bills simply to cover property taxes.

      Then thereโ€™s the issue of corruption, whereby local bureaucrats exploit the regulatory process to enrich themselves. Between 2014 and 2018, the economic toll of corruption amounted to over $1 billion, more than Nigeria spent on education and health during that period.

      Ten years ago, the Central Bank of Nigeria launched a $1.3 billion fund to offer loans for small businesses. Within two years, 24 state governors ended up with $236 million, with evidence suggesting that most or all of the funds were embezzled. Two years after that, not one of the governors could publicly identify the small businesses that received loans from the fund.

      Today, no one knows where hundreds of millions of dollars ended up. But, if history is any indication, the rich โ€” Nigeriaโ€™s public-sector elites โ€” just got richer.

      The status quo in Ghana, Nigeria, and other African countries would upset Ayittey, who often lamented the economic statism that the continentโ€™s many dictators repurposed from colonial powers. Rejecting the orthodoxy of contemporary advocates of a centrally planned economy, Ayittey implored Africans to rediscover their true heritage โ€” one of free village markets, where chiefs and elders were limited by governing structures built on consensus. He often spoke out against the corruption linked to the government, envisioning an Africa where both men and women hold economic and political power โ€” the power that still eludes millions of his fellow Ghanaians.

      Ayittey argued that, long before Europeans landed on the continent, parts of Africa enjoyed their own indigenous concepts of freedom and limited government. Ayittey would call on Africaโ€™s youngest generation โ€” the โ€œcheetah generation,โ€ as he called it โ€” to build on these principles of the past, rejecting the authoritarian impulses of the old guard (which he called the โ€œhippo generationโ€).

      Ayittey would call on people like me, as he did several times in person, to stand up for freedom where it is most threatened. And I do, working with other โ€œcheetahsโ€ to chart a new course for our continent.

      Africaโ€™s prosperity will depend on her cheetahs. If we remain pro-market reformers, Ayitteyโ€™s wisdom will not be shared in vain. Hopefully, one day soon, we will all say, โ€œAfrica is rich because she is free.โ€

      • Fourscore

        When I see the Africans crossing the southern border I understand why. Bad government at home.

      • rhywun

        That is a lot of words to say that sub-Saharan African “leaders” are almost all kleptocrats.

    • rhywun

      Yeah, I never thought it would catch on in Europe. Now there are leagues everywhere. Germany even has promotion/relegation lol. I’m guessing the money isn’t quite the same as here.

      • hayeksplosives

        The great Adam Vinatieri started as an Amsterdam Admiral.

        His NFL career outlasted that farm league by many years.

    • hayeksplosives

      On behalf of other non-subscribers, thanks for pasting!

    • Gustave Lytton

      Exceptional America kept its games for itself, which is why, with a handful of quirky exceptions, football and baseball have remained synonymous with the Stars and Stripes

      Missing a sport…

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Too bad, haters

    A โ€œโ€˜diesel-poweredโ€ automobile, and not one that was battery-powered, sparked the widespread fire earlier this week at Luton airportโ€™s parking lot near London, according fire department officials.

    The blaze, which damaged about 1,500 vehicles in the car park and led to the temporary closure of the airport, was not instigated by an EV. โ€œWe donโ€™t believe it was an electric vehicle,โ€ Andrew Hopkinson, chief fire officer for Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said. โ€œItโ€™s believed to be diesel-powered, at this stage all subject to verification.โ€

    The Daily Mail reported that the fire started under the hood of a Range Rover diesel, caused by an electric fault or fuel line leak.

    I’m sure the people who owned those other cars feel better.

    If that had happened here, there would already be a dozen class action suits against Rover, the airport, and any other deep pocketed entity.

    • Drake

      I find that hard to believe. Diesel burns slow and smoky. If that car burned long enough to start that big a chain reaction, it’s because their fire response was very slow.

      • Suthenboy

        An EV did it. Obvious causes are obvious.

        The left does this all of the time. “See! See! We aren’t as bad as you say, you do it too!”
        I am surprised the article didn’t start off with “I am a internal combustion engine guy but even I think….blah blah blah”

  27. The Late P Brooks

    Again?

    The current run of Fordโ€™s popular Explorer has been hit with multiple issues and recalls since its debut in 2019. Honestly, it has been a real embarrassment for Ford. And, unfortunately, the recalls just keep on coming. In fact, the recall announcement today is a re-recall after owners came back to Ford dealers with similar issues after getting the first recallโ€™s fix.

    So todayโ€™s recall announcement is for the same 2020 to 2022 Explorers exhibiting rear axle bolt failures. Owners experience a loss of power while driving and roll away when in Park. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been investigating bolt failures after the first recall since June of this year.

    What exactly is happening? The rear axle horizontal mounting bolts are fracturing. The result is that driveshafts can disconnect, which can cause a crash. Fordโ€™s records show it has 396 incidents of axle bolt failures.

    I thought the first “warranty repair” was a software patch for the parking brake.

    Maybe those bolts were made of the same material as the intake valves which failed.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    Fordโ€™s first recall involved a software update to have the parking brake applied automatically when in Park. But, obviously, that didnโ€™t address the fracturing bolt issues, which the NHTSA addressed in documents related to the issue. Now, the actual cause is the focus of this recall.

    Replace the defective part? Ford has a better idea.

    • Tundra

      They tried to slow walk the cam phaser issue in my truck. They did the software update first, naturally. I asked the guy if it ever actually worked. He hemmed and hawed, but I knew the answer. I just kept on them until they fixed it – right before my warranty ended.

      • Not Adahn

        It wouldn’t go past “stun?”

    • LCDR_Fish

      She looked pretty healthy when Adam Carolla talked to her a few months back.

      • Tundra

        Cancer is weird. I had a friend die from brain cancer. It was only a couple months from diagnosis to funeral.

      • Beau Knott

        Yeah, my late friend was diagnosed May 30, died August 16. Nominally jaw cancer, but I’m not convinced the tumor they removed was the primary. Sigh.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Condolences. Damn.

      • Beau Knott

        Thank you. It was a rough time. He declined precipitously the last 2-3 weeks. I last saw him a week before he passed, and while I didn’t expect an end so quickly, that the end was looming was obvious.

      • Tundra

        I’m sorry. I’m old enough to have seen that too many times.

        Cancer is scary as shit. A few of us went to visit another friend who was clearly days away. We had to gown and mask up, etc. It was heartbreaking to see a formerly big strong dude all shriveled up. Because I deal with pain with inappropriate humor, I told him “Jesus, Jimmy, you look like Yoda!” He laughed.

        At the funeral his daughter came over to me and said it was one of the only times he laughed in the last few weeks. I think about that a lot.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I can see how that would be especially good medicine.

      • Beau Knott

        You’re a good man Tundra.

      • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

        Two months ago, a friends mom thought she had pneumonia, turns out it was cancer. Today is her memorial.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Yikes.

      • Suthenboy

        Sometimes cancer chews on you forever, sometimes it strikes like lightning. In any case, fuck cancer.

    • rhywun

      +2 thighs

      RIP

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      RIP pretty ’70s lady.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        (Never wondered before why Jack is riding on the left. The Regal Beagle influence, I suppose.)

      • rhywun

        Ha, nope.

    • Tundra

      Whoops.

  29. The Bearded Hobbit

    RIP Piper Laurie, too. Nominations for #3?

    • Tundra

      A bunch. But I don’t need a visit from the Feds.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      God, she was so good in The Hustler.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Actors only?

    • Ted S.

      I keep expecting Joanne Woodward to die.

    • Animal

      I’d say Lou Reed, but we’ll always have Lou Reed.

      • Suthenboy

        How old are you? (rhetorical)
        She was a top sex symbol for quite some time in the ’70s.
        She was on par with Farrah Fawcett, Cheryl Teigs, Bo Derek…..that crowd.

      • Mojeaux

        Piper Laurie?

      • Suthenboy

        I think I misunderstood who you were referring to.

      • milo

        Suzanne Sommers was the bidness.

    • Shpip

      Well, Andy Bean just passed away, too.

      My one Bean story: I caddied a pro-am in high school where he was the pro in our group. It was seeing him up close that day when I realized that no matter how much time I spent on the practice range and the putting green, I was never, ever going to make it to the PGA Tour. It seemed like the guy could make the ball do everything except grow legs and walk into the hole for him.

  30. Ghostpatzer

    Gemini: Queen of Coins โ€“ Opulence, generosity, magnificence, security, liberty.

    Woohoo!

  31. hayeksplosives

    What the heck are the Buccaneers wearing? Is the dreamsicle orange authentic throwback colors?

    • Tundra

      I love it.

      Love.

      • hayeksplosives

        Ooh, thatโ€™s rough! ๐Ÿคฃ

  32. The Late P Brooks

    Economic analysis

    Economist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman has declared victory over inflation. โ€œThe war on inflation is over,โ€ he said in a recent tweet. โ€œWe won, at very little cost.โ€

    ——-

    Krugmanโ€™s chart seems to indicate that โ€œinflationโ€ has dropped below 2% in September 2023. However, the issue lies in the way he measures inflation. His chart uses the Consumer Price Index but strips out food, energy, shelter and used cars. Critics argue that this measure is simply too narrow.

    โ€œEx food, energy, shelter and cars? Whatโ€™s left, fax machines?โ€ one reply to Krugmanโ€™s tweet read. The comment was apparently a dig at the professorโ€™s infamous 1998 comment that the economic impact of the internet would be less than that of the fax machine.

    Bidenomics is winning. You just have to squint a little.

    • juris imprudent

      He went from shilling for the smartest guys in the room, to President Pudding Pop. Winston’s Mom isn’t that shameless.

    • Suthenboy

      “Economist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman has declared….” <——- Stop right there.
      I love how it starts off trying to pretend the guy has some credibility so dont bother criticizing him.
      Where is my trillion dollar coin?
      +1 fake alien invasion.
      By the way, that one doesn't seem to be getting much in the way of legs despite the MSM's best propaganda efforts.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    For most Americans, the battle against inflation isnโ€™t over until they earn enough to support their families and survive.

    You’ll never win a Nobel Prize with that kind of thinking.

  34. Mojeaux

    Bill Belichick can’t seem to win without Tom Brady.

    • Gender Traitor

      Have we determined whether it’s physically possible for “Chuckles” Belichick to look even more dour than when he was winning?

      • Mojeaux

        Im not watching that game. I just saw the score at half time of Iggles v Jets.

    • Grumbletarian

      He’s as great a coach as he is a terrible GM. But he’ll never admit he can’t draft worth a shit and so the Patriots will have to dump him. They’re on their way to a top 5 draft pick and I do not want Belicheck in control of it.

    • Tundra

      I love that song. She did a nice job with it.

    • Tres Cool

      Great googly moogly!

      Dem laigz….she thicka than oatmeal

      • Tres Cool

        She doesnt seem to have the chops to pull off White Rabbit.
        But you know who does? PANK!

      • Tres Cool

        I have a soft-on and my bunk could be in the immediate future.

      • Suthenboy

        She was hot as hell back in the day but she didn’t age well.

      • Tres Cool

        /looks in mirror
        /concurs

      • Tres Cool

        If you can handle Tony Visconti’s smug fart-sniffing, he breaks down “Heros” vocals.

  35. hayeksplosives

    Todayโ€™s surprises (at least to me):

    Browns beat 49ers
    Bengals beat Seahawks
    Jets beat Eagles

    I like sports upsets.

    • rhywun

      -1 Bills kthxbai

      • hayeksplosives

        Ok, Iโ€™ll let the Bills win. ๐Ÿงšโ€โ™€๏ธ

        (I donโ€™t think theyโ€™re in danger)

      • rhywun

        They do need to wake up.

        25 years in NYC and I never really gave a shit about the Jets or Giants – nice to be back in Bills territory. Sort of… the vagaries of NYS culture place Ithaca in Bills territory even though geographically I am closer to NYC.

      • dbleagle

        Whelp now the refs are protecting Allen like Brady. That was a bullshit roughing call.

      • rhywun

        Heh. Help more, refs.

        They need it.

      • rhywun

        even though geographically I am closer to NYC

        OMG as a map nerd I should have known better.

        I am actually about 80 miles closer to Buffalo than NYC. I don’t know why I thought otherwise.

  36. Suthenboy

    In a just universe stupidity and mendacity would be terribly painful but treatable.

    I am doodling around before bed watching YooToobs and I run across this: How Geography made the US ridiculously over powered.
    That’s right people, magic dirt. I punched out right away but betting there is nothing about cultural values that include work ethic, lack of corruption and liberty.
    In the sidebar I see a follow up: How North Korea became so insanely poor.
    No doubt they lack magic dirt. It isn’t fair. We should give them some of our success.
    It reads like crib notes from A People’s History of the United States.
    I would try to watch these but I wouldn’t be able to get the taste out of my mouth even if I used some gasoline for mouthwash.

    Magic fucking dirt. Never mind that culture is the root of it. Never mind that culture in the majority of the rest of the world is shit.

    • Don escaped Texas

      Russia has more majik dirt than the US and they’re a shitshow, always have been

      PS: I’m known for saying “stupid oughta hurt”

      • Suthenboy

        Ditto : Africa.
        Australia is not what I would consider geographically blessed and yet…

      • Suthenboy

        I forgot my favorite – Brazil. Now that is some serious magic dirt.
        Brazil is the country of the future….and always will be.

      • rhywun

        God forbid we allow them to take advantage of their natural resources.

    • rhywun

      doodling around […] watching YooToobs

      I think I see where things went off the rails.

  37. milo

    I apologize for the rant up front.
    My house payment 2 years ago was $412 a month. It will be $529 a month this coming year. Taxes…insurance. The escrow has gone up.
    One more example of increasing the cost of energy increases the costs downstream. Oh wait, I’m an idiot for believing that.
    The smoke up my ass the last few months about the economy has me smelling like brisket. Yet it is all I read about on the main channels. Thank Yahweh for this place.
    I get a 3% COLA on my pension every year so far. I’m not complaining about that. It’s more than what a lot of people out there have. It’s more than what I had the last ten years of my employment. “We have to tighten our belts”. Found out some belts are tighter than others then.
    I’m still falling behind. Groceries, gas.
    I have had to cut down on trips to see my father in the home the last couple of years. If you don’t think that has me thinking negative thoughts about the proponents of the Green New Deal…well, there we are.
    Cheap gas. Cheap diesel.
    Kind of makes sense that is what is good. Unless you are a leftist, authoritarian asshole. Please notice I attached no party to that statement.
    Again. Sorry for ranting.
    I can just see the end of the rope from here.

    • Mojeaux

      You know, you don’t have to apologize for ranting around here. ๐Ÿ™‚

      • milo

        Thanks, Mo. Still feel bad about it though. We all have problems. But, I don’t talk to many people in real life anymore.

      • The Bearded Hobbit

        Especially when the rant is spot-on.

      • Fourscore

        Truth telling is not a rant.

        I got an oil change at the Ford guy on Friday. $90. Luckily I drive little so that was 2 years worth. Everything was good, only brake pads wearing down but still OK. I’m pretty easy on brakes, don’t go too far or too fast.

      • milo

        Thanks, Hobbit.
        I don’t know exactly who or what is responsible for everything getting so much more expensive the last few years, but I do know that I am getting very tired of the usual suspects telling me that everything has never been better.
        To Hell with you, you lying piece of crap. It might be better for you and your ilk, but it is so because of a whole lot of peoples’ loss. And before someone drops in and says that is what socialists say…I agree. This kind of crap is what launched socialism. Kill the middle class. Kill the merchant class.
        I don’t want it. I’m on the free market side.
        Yet, once again, historically speaking. Here we are.

      • Drake

        Lots of little policy decisions made by people who hate us – shutdown pipeline projects and cancelled oil drilling permits for instance.

        One big one – our government keeps spending over a $trillion more money than it takes in a year. So they print up the cash, which makes the cash in your wallet worth less,

      • milo

        And I do think that is part of someone’s plan.
        Or maybe it’s all incompetence.
        I don’t understand why we even care what the reasons are.
        REAL RANT ON.
        If that makes me a Trumper, well then sign. me. the. fuck. up. As a matter of fact, as near as I can tell, most of us here agree. We only disagree on what to do. Libertarian Party? Pull the other one. It has a bell on it.
        I don’t give a good Goddam who it is that shakes the regular shit up. IT ISN’T WORKING. And it hasn’t for my most of my life.
        JFK. Johnson. Gulf of Tonkin. Nixon. EPA. DOE. Fucking Carter. Reagan. Iran. Clintons. Bushes. WMD. 9-11. Obama. Trump. Biden.
        Incompetence, my hairy white ass.
        Take a page from the Leftists. PIss THEM off for once. For real.
        Not the faux rage they playact at. I mean, really piss them off for once.
        Maybe then more people will wake the hell up.
        RANT OFF.
        I will be feeling so guilty tomorrow for spouting off.
        Just has been a bad day. Dad is failing. Finally. And I feel guilty for feeling relieved.
        Doesn’t negate what I said. Just wish I was more erudite and polite in saying it.

      • Don escaped Texas

        It’s totes okay to be mad

        but stay based, stay principled in how you make your decisions; if anything, take time to reflect on your principles, where they came from, and think about how almost nothing you see going on left or right has anything to do with principles: it’s just identity politics that make people mad (notice that the good guys never do anything to fix anything that the bad guys, and their only excuses are unfalsifiable conspiracy theories). It’s a shit world, but it was not made to plan by some well-oiled machine.

      • rhywun

        Sorry for your troubles but you are absolutely right to rant.

        I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it either.

      • milo

        Just realized I could have done a Billy Joel “We Didn’t Start the Fire” thing.
        Not a Billy Joel fan. That’s my excuse.

      • milo

        Thanks Rhywun. I will still feel guilty tomorrow but your comment helps.

      • LCDR_Fish

        https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-2023-deficit-was-really-2-trillion/

        Oh yeah…, but since someone linked to the 1.7 trillion deficit piece earlier this week, Dominic Pino at NR had an article at the same time saying the deficit was actually 2 trillion because CBO used numbers that estimated “savings” resulting from the Supreme Court striking down the student loan forgiveness plan.

        The Congressional Budget Office published its last monthly report for the 2023 fiscal year, and it found that the 2023 deficit was $1.7 trillion. The real deficit, however, was about $2 trillion.

        The reason for the discrepancy is that the CBO counts as savings the Supreme Courtโ€™s recission of the Biden administrationโ€™s illegal and unconstitutional student-loan program. The CBOโ€™s budgetary-scoring methods include in the baseline spending for a year any programs that are enacted and scheduled to take effect. When the fiscal year began in October 2022, that included the student-loan program, which wasnโ€™t struck down until June 2023. When the scheduled student-loan spending did not occur, that gets counted as savings in the budget, even though no money was actually saved.

        The estimate for the costs of the student-loan program in 2023 was $333 billion. That means the $1.7 trillion deficit estimate is $333 billion lower than the deficit actually was. That puts the deficit over $2 trillion.

        This is not an effort by the CBO to make the Biden administrationโ€™s fiscal record look better than it is. It is simply in following the CBOโ€™s longstanding budgetary scoring rules, which apply to Democrats and Republicans. The deficit estimate from 2022 looked larger than it actually was because it included the student-loan spending that did not occur. CBO scoring rules donโ€™t really account for administrations pursuing blatantly unconstitutional policies with enormous budgetary impacts that are certain to be struck down by the Supreme Court.

        The deficit roughly doubled from 2022 to 2023, when not including the student-loan program on either side of the ledger. Total receipts are down by 9 percent year-over-year. Income and payroll-tax collections were down by $326 billion due to lower capital-gains revenues (which were unusually high in 2022) and the adjustment of tax brackets in response to inflation. Income-tax refunds were also significantly higher in 2023 than in 2022. Corporate-income tax collections were roughly the same.

        A non-tax source of revenue that also declined was the profits from the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve banks can make profits like normal banks, except that their profits are turned over to the Treasury each year. This year, Fed banks were not profitable, due to interest payments exceeding income. The Fed put $107 billion in the Treasury last year and virtually nothing this year.

        On the other side of the ledger, total outlays increased by 11 percent year-over-year. Inflation adjustments for Social Security contributed to a $135 billion increase in benefits. Medicare spending went up by $126 billion. Medicaid increased by $24 billion. Borrowing to make up for the shortfalls, combined with higher interest rates, increased net interest payments by $177 billion year-over-year.

        This increase in the deficit should not have been a surprise, as the monthly reports from the CBO showed a growing gap between 2022 and 2023 all year long. Politicians are keeping their debt promises, namely, to ignore it.

      • Fourscore

        One day it will be over. There’s not even a discussion about the debt, only how to reduce the deficit (and not much on that either). The train of responsibility has long left the station. Firing them all wouldn’t help, since their replacements would be cut from the same cloth.

    • rhywun

      falling behind

      That is the crux of the matter.

      No worries, rant on. We (the country) are being fucked with and it’s increasingly obvious to more and more. Whether that sinks in to the ACAB, tranny story-time crowd – who knows.

    • Tres Cool

      We’re the most accepting, functional dysfunctional group around. Vent away.
      Had I hit that powerball ticket, knowing I have more years behind me than ahead of me, I pledged that once my fam was taken care of , GlibsInNeed would be a 501(c)(3) charity.

      As it happens, Im going to work (in Georgia) in the morning.

      • Don escaped Texas

        where in GA ?

      • Tres Cool

        Cumming (HA!) and Oxford. My employer’s HQ is in GA, so Ive been asked to managed 2 easy projects this week before they drop the Hammer.
        Ill be back in California for 2 weeks at the refinery next month, so this is how they make nice in the meantime.

      • Tres Cool

        “The Refinery” in Cali is where Im sure stack testers get sent to test their will to live. My last visit as a project manager- anything that could go wrong went wrong.
        Including losing one of my guys that had to go home to a family emergency. Which is fine- family is always more important than work, and it was his Momma. But that left me a guy short. Then equipment started breaking. 1st I lost my data acquisition which meant I spent a day writing down 1-minute concentrations for 3 hours. Then the sample pump on my O2/CO2 anaylzer quit-a quick MacGyver-esque bypass of the pump and using my NOx instrument to pull gas through fixed that. Then I ran out of gas (60/40% H2-He) for my FID. Then the generator that powers the whole works nearly ran out of gas in the middle of a test. It was one thing after another. Then the lab (Enthalpy 4/10 may not recommend) lost 1/3 of the samples I sent them.

        I was ready to arson everything and hang myself. But then I saw my direct deposit. “Fuck. I’ll do this shit for 1 more week. Im a whore.”

      • LCDR_Fish

        Speaking of Refineries in CA – though this was an interesting take.

        https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/10/a-simple-solution-to-end-frivolous-climate-lawsuits/

        Technically speaking…if all the CA special refineries shut down…CA wouldn’t have access to their “special” gas anywhere. A net benefit to CA residents and the rest of us if their standards aren’t arbitrarily imposed on us…but yeah – a hit to Exxon in the short term.

        Oil companies should call Californiaโ€™s bluff and announce their departure from the state at the end of this year.

        The state of California is the latest player to sue various oil companies for alleged damages from climate change, and the oil companies should call the stateโ€™s bluff.

        Like the numerous cookie-cutter climate lawsuits filed by other states and municipalities against these same oil companies, the California lawsuit blames them for causing climate change and all manner of damages โ€” drought, storms, heat, cold, wildfires, rising seas, and so on. And, like the other lawsuits, this one claims the oil companies knew about climate change as early as the 1960s and could have โ€” should have โ€” developed renewable-energy technologies to counteract it, but chose not to in favor of selling more profitable fossil fuels. Of course, it also claims the oil companies continue to damage California by supplying fossil-fuel products in the state.

        The latter claim is a bluff that the oil companies should call. Currently, California has 14 operating oil refineries, down from 18 a decade ago. Of those 14, four are operated by two defendants in the suit: The Chevron refineries in El Segundo and Richmond, and the Phillips 66 refineries in Wilmington and San Francisco. Together, those four refineries account for about 45 percent of total refinery capacity in the state.

        Because California has long mandated special fuel blends and restricted imports of refined-petroleum products, prices for gasoline and diesel fuel in the state have historically been the highest in the nation. Since January of this year, the average price of gasoline in the state has increased by 35 percent to $5.80 per gallon. By comparison, the average price nationwide is just under $4 per gallon. The average price of diesel fuel, critical for the trucking industry and the economy as a whole, has increased by 14 percent in California over the same period, to $6.21 per gallon or over $1.50 per gallon more than the nationwide average.

        Like the multibillion-dollar litigation against tobacco companies that filled numerous state coffers starting in the 1990s, the California lawsuit seeks not to end fossil-fuel production and consumption, which is unrealistic, but instead to enrich the governmentโ€™s political favorites by collecting money from oil companies for the foreseeable future. States can use tobacco-settlement funds for any purpose they wish. Presumably, states would be allowed to use settlement money collected from oil companies for any purpose, as well.

        But what if, instead, the two companies called the stateโ€™s bluff and announced that their California refineries would close permanently at the end of this year? They would not need to admit any blame for causing climate change. Instead, they could rightfully cite the stateโ€™s adverse regulatory climate, the economic damage from which is far more easily quantifiable than the economic damage caused by climate change. The resulting rending of garments and gnashing of teeth would be heard nationwide, because the impact on gasoline and diesel prices, and on the entire California economy, would be quick and devastating.

        How could California respond? The state could not force the companies to continue operating their refineries. Nor could it force the companies to sell their refineries to other companies or to the state itself. And even if the state could buy the refineries, the prospect of its operating them would be laughable. Although the state could threaten to levy massive penalties for environmental remediation at the sites of the refineries themselves, doing so would mean that any local environmental damage was viewed by the state as more important than the lawsuitโ€™s claim that the companies are โ€œdestroying peopleโ€™s lives.โ€

        However serious a problem one believes climate change to be, Californiaโ€™s frivolous lawsuit is nothing more than a state-sponsored extortion attempt that will have no impact on the climate. The oil companies can fight back by forcing the state to live up to its claims.

      • Don escaped Texas

        A, why would anyone leave CA when all your operating costs are getting easier by the day to pass on to clients? They’ve almost achieved utility status: people gotta have fuel, so charge whatever you (and your competition agree that you) want and by the way some of the competition went away.

        B, closing shop and leaving the state does zero to change one’s liability in a lawsuit regarding old damages. If anything, after losing such a suit, they should stay and pump the locals to help pay for everything.

        I though NRO was more generally logical and economics-based than this. What am I missing?

      • rhywun

        1000x all of this.

        The whole thing is a hoax and a fraud and a grift of world-historical proportions.

        But as noted above, it’s a religion now and therefore very, very difficult to fight.

      • LCDR_Fish

        It was a guest piece from a guy at the Manhattan Institute. Maybe tough, but I’m in favor of anything that invalidates the CA CAFE.

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      My standard, stock answer to the Climate Clowns is , “not my religion.” But that’s not good enough anymore.

      It’s like the old Catholic thing about meatless Fridays, “not my religion, I’m having a steak.” But it’s now your religion whether you believe or not. Catholic or not, you cannot have meat on Friday.

      The lefty loonies running the state that I live in have shut down the largest electrical generating plant in the area. “I don’t believe in your religion!”. “Shut up, your electric costs are going up and, oh, by the way, get used to brownouts.” “I can’t use an electric car!” “Shut up, peasant, our religion says that you have no choice.”

      There is no arguing with people about their religion. “God is one” “Shut up peasant, God is three or we will kill you.”

      “OK, God is three,” “God is one now peasant, believe or we will kill you.”

      I’m feeling like a Jew during the Inquisition: “Eat this pork.” “What if I don’t want the pork?” “Easy choice. Eat the pork or die. See? We give you a choice.”

      • rhywun

        It is crazy.

        your electric costs are going up and, oh, by the way, get used to brownouts

        But I have hope that there is an out and I believe this is it ๐Ÿ‘†๐Ÿป
        They can’t draw blood from a stone forever and if we can figure out how to trust elections again, the people have to vote these crazies out.

        Right?

      • milo

        If you watch Youtube and any social media, you are meant to believe that there is half of the country filled with these woke assholes.
        I don’t believe it. I go out and the world seems about the same it was thirty years ago. Granted, I don’t live in a huge metropolitan area, but I imagine it is much the same there. Otherwise, there would not be people moving out; it would be more a plague of locusts invading the outlying areas.
        Costs are rising to put pressure on everyone. Riots means martial law at some point.
        Crap. My tinfoil hat fell off. Gotta make a new one…

      • rhywun

        I think it’s a matter of the left being so prone to shit all over everything.

        I live in a college town and it’s very obvious when you walk around – they tag their leftist bullshit here and there, they rant and rave and get attention in the media.

        It’s not so obvious when you actually talk to a broad spectrum of people like I do. Most people don’t like to shit all over their nest.

      • milo

        Exactly. The perception is meant to incite an overreaction.

      • Gustave Lytton

        There’s new billboard saying to only wash with cold water. Fuck that noise.

      • milo

        Seriously?
        The future of my youth is merging with the past of my youth.

      • Gustave Lytton

        All temperature Cheer commercials?

      • rhywun

        Ha, I usually use cold. But it’s a need vs. cost thing. I usually don’t really need warm or hot.

      • rhywun

        Yes, I don’t have kids.

  38. Tres Cool

    WRT this morning’s Old Man Music, one of my favorite Marty Stuart songs.

    Fun fact- Pam Tillis is singing backup.

    Other fun fact- it was originally a Del McCoury song.

    • Don escaped Texas

      Pam Tillis

      her dad’s “Detroit City” is a top 100 country tune for me

      • Tres Cool

        I lied. It was originally a Ola Belle Reed song, that Del took, and Marty took it from him.

      • Tres Cool

        Pam Tillis always was as ugly as a mud fence. But still would- that voice

      • milo

        She was in a car wreck IIRC. Even after that, she was a good-looking woman.
        You profess to love fat, small-breasted women for Chrissakes.
        I happen to agree with the big girl vibe, but that’s just us Virgos.

    • Tres Cool

      I haven’t seen her work, but something doesn’t add up, according to her bio:

      “She graduated from the College of William & Mary in 2007, where she majored in kinesiology and was a member of the cardiovascular physiology lab.”

      “Wolf was employed at Bear Stearns from 2007 to 2008, later at JPMorgan Chase, working for almost four years in mutual funds and managing accounts between the two banks. Around the time of the buyout by JPMorgan, Wolf started improv classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade and the Peoples Improv Theater (PIT).”

      Unless there’s something about finance I don’t understand (a lot), how do you get to be an account manager at JP Morgan with that background?

      • Sean

        Oral skills.

      • Raven Nation

        Re: Squardle; are you playing the “Got Salt?; 7×7” puzzle?

      • rhywun

        Me, I’ve got like 5 going at once but that is not one of them.

      • Raven Nation

        I think my brain is too linear to work on more than one at a time (apart from the daily ones).

      • rhywun

        TBF, it’s more like, “started, gave up”. But return once in a while if I’m bored.

        So yeah, not concurrently.

      • Sean

        Yes

      • Raven Nation

        I’ve been working on it about a month; 441 words, 11 letters erased.

      • Tres Cool

        “References Available Upon Request”
        Or just call Willie Brown.

      • Ted S.

        Be the right race and sex?

    • milo

      Wut?

  39. creech

    Looks like a couple undefeated teams thought they could just show up and win today, forgetting the “any given Sunday” rule. 49ers had a chance at the end while Eagles just shot the bed.

      • Tres Cool

        Every day is like that.
        Let me gay it up for you.

      • rhywun

        I was trying to avoid the obvious, TYVM.

        Never mind… that is a great tune.

      • Tres Cool

        Bloody Sunday would have been obvious.

        To me, Smiths died after “The Queen Is Dead”

      • rhywun

        Strangeways was kind of shit, yeah.

        But man, the older stuff. Sublime.

  40. Ted S.

    For the Japanophile Glibs, is this really a thing?

    • R.J.

      Thatโ€™s rather nice. Better than waking up to a Sharpie penis on the forehead.

    • rhywun

      Fake. That is not “passed out”.

      • milo

        You are so right. Passed out does not include being upright. You’re lucky it doesn’t include waking up with your head stuck to a bloody piece of the carpet.
        I wish I didn’t know that.

      • rhywun

        Yeah, I’ve seen passed out drunk in a gutter and that ain’t it.

      • milo

        Ha! You made me feel better!
        Assuming you saw it from afar and not the gutter.

      • rhywun

        Seen buddies.

        I’m classier than that; I’ve only been passed out in bars.

      • milo

        Good for you. Never got that drunk in a bar. I mostly ended up in fights from the periphery.
        Not my fault. I swear…I could be standing next to a guy and he would get smacked by some butthole out of the blue.
        Next thing I know, it’s full blown MAD MAX. I was fighting for my life from the floor. Kicking…sometimes biting.
        Explains why I have not been in a bar for over thirty years.
        This was after I got out of the Navy.
        Fook all of you with the squid jokes. Like my skinny arms could have passed Marine Boot Camp.
        My Dad did though. Don’t know how, but he did.
        I’m more proud of that fact than anything I have ever done in my life.

      • rhywun

        Oh no, no fighting here. Ever.

        Just drinking to excess and, to be fair, I have only blacked out once. I was probably on some drug, too – don’t remember which one.

    • hayeksplosives

      Good grief.

      I notice that the CDC commanded all US clinics to dispose of all J&J vaccines they hadnโ€™t used by now. Itโ€™s cheap, doesnโ€™t need refrigeration, and has a long shelf life. Whereโ€™s the money in that?

      By total coincidence, Fauci and friends donโ€™t have J&J stock.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Elon is bad, hurts journalists feelings,
        “What is more, who are these marvellous โ€œactual world-class subject matter expertsโ€ that Musk thinks can provide the news without the need for anyone whose explicit job it is to gather it, scrutinise it, second source it, contextualise it, translate it into something intelligible, edit it, get it checked by a lawyer and make sure that it has some bearing on the truth?”

        https://www.ft.com/content/6a304136-5983-4e2c-99c0-02a8977d05e9

    • Brochettaward

      It says that they know they’ve lost most people, but that the few still getting it are true believers. The ones who will pay anything to get it because they’ve been brainwashed.

      • milo

        Dammit.
        I can’t think of the amusing anecdote. It’s right there…
        The assholes that will keep taking the boosters until they die???
        Unfortunately, a few members of my family. Not interested in fighting that fight.
        They are all in on it. Backing out of it is a no go.
        Kind of like seeing socialism succeed for a few hundred years. I would be gobsmacked.

  41. Mojeaux

    I betcha that face mask grab on Giants’ part started it.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      I’m building a very special Bass, commissioned or not. Look me me up if you are interested 619629 Fore! Oh.4 tree!

      • milo

        Have to have a better clue, my man. I’m not seeing it.
        I’m dumb. Musician…remember?
        I bought a Fender P-Bass when we started our band. Ended up playing rhythm guitar.
        Sold that P-Bass. Still miss it.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Tundra spoke a bass for his daughter, I just happen to have one on my build list.

    • Zwak says the real is not governable, but self-governing.

      Ooo, nice. Trace is one of my favorite albums.

      “walking down main street, getting to know the concrete…”

  42. milo

    Searching for the blue.

  43. Brochettaward

    How much are the Giants paying Barkley again?

    • dbleagle

      The last play of the first half cost the Giants the game,

      Still, the game was much more interesting that I thought it would have been. I thought the Bills would make Giants into mincemeat.

      • rhywun

        That was nerve-wracking.

      • hayeksplosives

        But very entertaining, and you must be pleased with the outcome!

      • rhywun

        ๐Ÿ˜€

  44. Sean

    Get up and kick some ass Glibs!

    โ˜•๐ŸŒ„๐Ÿ˜ƒ

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a_426RiwST8

    ๐ŸŽถ๐ŸŽถ

    The dancing makes the video, but it’s a good song anyway.

    • Ted S.

      [kicks Sean’s ass]

      • Sean

        Pffft, as if.

    • Ghostpatzer

      White boys ain’t got no rhythm. Oh, wait…

  45. Beau Knott

    Good morning all!
    Today I’ve pulled up two more goodies from Laurie Anderson. The first should resonate after the last few years. The second starts with one of my favorite lines.

    Only an Expert.

    Strange Angels,.

    Share and enjoy!

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, Beau, Sean, Ted’S., and Roat!

      • Gender Traitor

        Good morning, U! How’s it going?

      • UnCivilServant

        Dragged myself out of bed, got breakfast, and connected to work.

        Maybe I’ll wake up soon.

      • Gender Traitor

        No rush. It’s overrated.

      • juris imprudent

        Damn, I’m up and don’t have the excuse of work. The dogs are better than an alarm clock, they know they go out at 7.

  46. Rat on a train

    Virginia is seeking nuts

    The Virginia Department of Forestry (DOF) needs your help to continue producing quality seedlings for Virginia landowners. Collect and donate acorns and nuts to DOF this fall.

    DOF grows more than a dozen species of hardwood seedlings at the Augusta Nursery. The seedlings produced are sold to landowners, typically to reforest open lands.

    Why is the state running a public nursery?

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Species that arenโ€™t profitable for private business maybe? Otherwise it sounds like a good old fashioned waste of money.

      • UnCivilServant

        Among all the types of waste, I’m least bothered by this sort of project.

  47. Ghostpatzer

    Mornin’, reprobates!

    Stent-free patzer here.

    <strikeNo rush. Itโ€™s is overrated.>/em>

    Fixed that for you, GT.

    • Ghostpatzer

      Next up, fix my tags.

      • Ghostpatzer

        My HTML identifies as plain text.

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, ‘patzie! ๐Ÿ˜„

  48. Not Adahn

    Well, we’re at the “drive to work in the dark” time of year. Not quite at the “drive home in the dark” stage yet.

    • Rat on a train

      Kids waiting for buses in the dark.

  49. Tres Cool

    suh’ fam
    whats goody

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        (sorry about the jiggle-vision; I had nothing to do with it)

  50. Fourscore

    Morning all of ye that dare to venture here,

    A crisp fall morning, sun will shine, coffee is in the cup, all is right with the world.

    Ain’t turnin’ on the news though

    • Ghostpatzer

      Mornin’

      Ainโ€™t turninโ€™ on the news though

      Right? Gotta keep the blood pressure down.

  51. Ghostpatzer

    Just one more thing.

    29 years ago Mrs. Patzer and I exchanged vows. Surprisingly, she hasn’t kicked me out yet.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      Mazel tov! ๐Ÿฅ‚

    • Fourscore

      Congrats to Missus P, the road is long, full of twists and turns, occasionally a little bumpy but ahead tends to be smoother and less traffic.

      Oh yeah, Congrats to you as well, the music keeps playing and the dancing never stops

    • juris imprudent

      It is amazing what women put up with, isn’t it?