IFLA: The “Climate Change” Edition of the Horoscope for the Week of March 17

by | Mar 17, 2024 | IFLA | 209 comments

Erin go braugh, pip-pip cheerio wot wot and all that.  I will have had at least three corned beef meals by the time this drops.


Being overheated can look a lot like being lazy


Booor-ing! The skies are doing basically crap all week. Saturday will be lucky (especially for Pisces), and Saturday night will be a great time to get lucky.

Maybe the cards will be more interesting. Can’t be less.


Gertie is not nearly as affected by the heat.


Pisces: 5 of Cups reversed – News, alliances, affinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects.

Aries: Ace of Swords reversed – “Hero of zero” goes awry.

Taurus: Ace of Cups reversed – This is not your week.

Gemini: The Lovers – The obvious, with the additional meaning of “trials overcome.”

Cancer: 2 of Coins reversed – Enforced gaiety, simulated enjoyment, literal sense, handwriting, composition, letters of exchange.

Leo: The Magician – Plans work this week.

Virgo: 3 of Swords reversed – Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion.

Libra: Strength – Power, energy, action, courage, magnanimity, complete success and honors. *flexes*

Scorpio: Temperance reversed – The No Fun Brigade is interfering with you.

Sagittarius: Page of Coins –  Application, study, scholarship, reflection, news, messages.

Capricorn: Knight of Coins – Utility, serviceableness, interest, responsibility, rectitude.

Aquarius: 7 of Wands – Standing strong, Successfully resisting.


Taking a break and letting Scout play.


About The Author

Not Adahn

Not Adahn

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

209 Comments

  1. Sean

    “Cancer: 2 of Coins reversed – Enforced gaiety, simulated enjoyment, literal sense, handwriting, composition, letters of exchange.”

    Umm…

    What?

    • Chafed

      After you get drunk on St Patty’s Day you will give someone a written apology.

    • PieInTheSky

      the woke agenda finally materializes

    • Brawndo

      State enforced homosexuality is here

      • DrOtto

        It is coming up on tax time.

  2. The Other Kevin

    “Leo: The Magician – Plans work this week.”
    Good news for Mrs. TOK. So far so good.

    “Sagittarius: Page of Coins – Application, study, scholarship, reflection, news, messages.”
    Way better than the last few weeks. I’ll take it.

  3. Chafed

    “Sagittarius: Page of Coins – Application, study, scholarship, reflection, news, messages.” My horoscope may be a day late. Daughter 2 has gotten her college acceptance letters. She was distressed the school she liked most didn’t offer her any scholarship when a school that is slightly more competitive did. I told that didn’t make a lot of sense and maybe she overlooked something. No, I was told. The schools are quite clear about offering scholarships, or not. I gave her the same advice. She went back and reread her acceptance letter.

    “Oh, they did offer me a scholarship but the link doesn’t work.”

    “Let me see it.”

    She checks again without handing me her phone. The scholarship is just under half the cost of attending. 🙄

  4. The Late P Brooks

    Sagittarius: Page of Coins – Application, study, scholarship, reflection, news, messages.

    Does that mean I’m supposed to do something with the big pile of unopened mail on my counter?

    • Fourscore

      I get very little mail, pick up at the PO. Bills are paid on line. The Mrs gets a lot of catalogs and she saves them until the stack is too big for me to carry to the trash burner. Make 2 trips, those things will burn for 24 hours is the stack is big enough.

      Phone calls are rare, even the telemarketers have given up. Life is good without the petty annoyances.

  5. juris imprudent

    “Hero of zero” goes awry.

    Too cryptic for me.

    • Not Adahn

      Hero OR zero.

      I was channeling today’s drunkenness.

    • rhywun

      Right?

  6. juris imprudent

    Lemon curd.

    But the best part is Taibbi’s take:

    Now he’s claiming to be a free speech victim. He is not. He is however in the top-5 discussion for biggest clowns in the media business, a hard list to crack. You have to go deep in the stupidity playoffs every year to earn that kind of rep. Don Lemon has.

    As for Elon, I obviously don’t love what he’s done with regard to me, or Substack, or what he’s done on a variety of other speech issues, but tossing Lemon out isn’t one of his bigger offenses. I’d have preferred to see Elon keep the man on the platform and do regular interviews tossing insults over Lemon’s head, as he did in the first-and-last interview. The spectacle would have gotten tremendous ratings and drawn more traffic to the platform.

    But if I’d spent years reading headlines like “How Elon Musk Became a Geopolitical Chaos Agent” in the New York Times or “Who Can Rein In Elon Musk?” and “The world’s richest man remains desperate for our attention” on CNN, it’d be hard to resist the temptation to humiliate castaways from that world who washed up on my shores. The only miscalculation is that when the castaway is Don Lemon, the cruelest thing you can do is let him be himself.

    • The Other Kevin

      That last line is a William F Buckley level insult. Ouch.

      • Chafed

        That will leave a mark but Lemon won’t understand why.

    • The Other Kevin

      i have a hard time believing he demanded all of that. Especially since the story came from an unnamed source.

      • R C Dean

        I have no trouble at all believing Lemon is so entitled and disconnected from reality that he would ask for all that.

        Whether he did or not, who knows?

    • rhywun

      In one moment, Lemon asked Musk about the alleged rise of hate speech on the platform to which Musk grew visibly annoyed.

      Why would Musk entertain for one second the thought of that fraudulent asshole working against his interests from the inside? It doesn’t make sense.

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

        Apparently he wanted to offset Tucker being on there, and appear balanced.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    Fantasy world

    “The problem is corporate brands that don’t care about these cities,” said Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin, who led the city’s effort to impose limitations on new dollar stores from opening. “As soon as they feel like they can’t make margins, they leave.”

    “Our strategy is to move to a local resilience strategy instead of a proliferation of dollar stores,” he said. “What I want to promote is neighborhood markets.”

    He pointed to Meijer opening small supermarkets in Cleveland in underserved areas as a model for future retail growth in the city.

    But similar models have failed in other cities. Other chains, such as Walmart and Target, have attempted to open small stores in cities such as Chicago and Baltimore and wound up closing, leaving communities in a lurch.

    ——-

    Stacy Mitchell, the co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, said that stronger antitrust enforcement and greater investment in capital programs for small businesses are necessary to revitalize independent grocers.

    “We need to level the playing field that gives big chains advantages over” local businesses, she said.

    Bring back the Mom ‘n Pop corner grocery store. Meijer and Target couldn’t make neighborhood stores work, but let’s sucker people into thinking they can survive and prosper in an incredibly cutthroat market segment, so we can pat ourselves on the back for sticking it to The Man. While you’re in there, why not mandate a $25/hr minimum wage?

    Why don’t those dollar stores carry fresh produce? Maybe because if it doesn’t sell fast enough it has to be thrown away, and that’s wasteful and it eats into razor thin margins.

    • Brochettaward

      My idiot brother has bought into the corporate greed narrative on inflation. I have asked him why he doesn’t find a small mom’n pop grocer to shop at to no avail. Surely if corporate greed is driving prices, he should be able to go do the local grocer and find what he wants at more reasonable prices.

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      These do in the last decade or so. Perhaps proximity to the Imperial Valley.

      https://99only.com

    • Grumbletarian

      And make sure you do nothing whatsoever about mobs robbing places either. After all, businesses have insurance.

    • rhywun

      stronger antitrust enforcement and greater investment in capital programs for small businesses are necessary to revitalize independent grocers

      LOL

      So much stupidity to choke on in just the quoted passages.

    • Suthenboy

      “As soon as they feel like they can’t make margins, they leave.” <–Thief complains victims dont have enough money to steal

      As soon as they start losing money? Cant pay the lights? Cant make the payroll and all of the associated govt tack-ons?
      They only do that because greed.

      If Wal-Mart cant float it, neither can mom and pop.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Small grocers are integral parts of a strong local community. Do they need to be independent? I don’t know, but Wal Mart, Target, and Dollar General all suck out from the local community.

      We have strayed too far away from capitalism and have empowered the Federal government to such a degree that of course big corporations are going to be the only option for most people. As always, how do you break the bond between corporations and the government?

  8. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Hero or zero?

    • Not Adahn

      Yup.

  9. The Other Kevin

    I saw this happening last night. Unbelievable how fast this developed. Trump used the word “bloodbath” in a speech about car imports, and the usual suspects claim he’s calling for violence after the election.

    https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1769245792831701070

    • juris imprudent

      Did the sun rise in the east today?

    • CPRM

      I am shocked! SHOCKED! To find out you can manipulate soundbites. Why I never in a million years would have suspected such things!

      • Sean

        😂😂

    • rhywun

      LOL I thought your prediction was crazy.

      I’m not cynical enough, yet again.

      • R C Dean

        Me neither.

        But I don’t think I’d like cynical-enough R C.

  10. Ted S.

    “Fuck you, Erich, I’m in the west now.”

    • Ted S.

      That was supposed to be a reply to JI.

  11. CPRM

    Taurus: Ace of Cups reversed – This is not your week.

    No need for cards to tell me that.

  12. DEG

    Erin go braugh

    Erin go bra-less.

    I like the featured image.

    Nice dog videos.

    Plans work this week.

    Not sufficiently shitty.

    • Grummun

      I knew an Erin at school that took the “go bra-less” to heart. Be careful what you ask for.

      • DEG

        Don’t harsh my mellow.

      • Spudalicious

        I haven’t heard that in many a year. It needs to make a comeback.

      • Spudalicious

        *holds back a tear*

      • CPRM

        You watch a lot of Hallmark movies?

      • Grummun

        I do, actually. I’ve said before the only reason to watch Hallmark movies is for the actors. Krackow is one that I find particularly handsome.

      • DEG

        Yes

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

    Aquarius: 7 of Wands – Standing strong, Successfully resisting.

    The ZWAK abides.

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      How many are American? I reckon upwards of 70%

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        🙄

        I think they were issued those hats. Speaking as a Hibernophile: 🤮

        Where’s KSue?

    • rhywun

      What time does the giant crystal clover descend the pole?

  14. Not Adahn

    Over the last three days, I have eaten corned beef dishes prepared by six different cooks and I have my own in the slow cooker.

    The “St. Patrick’s Benedict” was probably the best.

    • CPRM

      I’m doing a shepherd’s pie. Damn ground lamb is $16 a pound here. Thanks a lot Obama Trump Biden.

  15. hayeksplosives

    The planets may not be doing anything interesting, but all is aligned in my world.

    Work is going great (setting new records daily on neutron yield) new hires are turning out to be awesome, “coworker” is in town.

    We watched Dune Pt 2 at the IMAX yesterday. Really good. Then had excellent steak. Then a romp at the hotel, and I came back to my own apartment for a recovery day.

    Happy St Pats. 🍀

    • rhywun

      back to my own apartment for a recovery day

      My god, you are living in heaven.

      • hayeksplosives

        I’d have to agree there.

        Best of both worlds.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    I am shocked! SHOCKED! To find out you can manipulate soundbites. Why I never in a million years would have suspected such things!

    A totally new and unheard of phenomenon, impossible prior to the advent of artificial intelligence.

  17. mikey

    Bring forward front the morning post about the mercury cleanup.
    When I was five or six I had one of these: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/206321226663096468/
    That’s a blob of mercury at the bottom.
    We quickly tired of the puzzle and that silver stuff was too fascinating, so we broke it open and dumped the mercury on the sidewalk. We pushed it around with our fingers for a bit and then one kid got a hammer and whacked the blob with it. Bits of mercury everywhere- couldn’t get them back together so we just left them and went off the other adventures. Good times – 4th of July I got bricks of firecrackers to play with (unsupervised).

    • tripacer

      My dad drilled holes in my pinewood derby cars and filled them with mercury. I still have the cars, and a film-canister size bottle of it. No idea where he got it.

      • Suthenboy

        Used to be available at pharmacies. I used to have a 1/4 cup or so I would slosh around in gun barrels to remove lead buildup.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I remember my dad doing that, except he melted down lead fishing weights. I still have the cars too.

      • Gustave Lytton

        We did the same except drilled out holes and plugged with cut lengths of lead weight. Back when you could get it as coils.

  18. Grummun

    Temperance reversed – The No Fun Brigade is interfering with you.

    Screw that killjoy anyway.

  19. Evan from Evansville

    Taurus: This had BEST be my week. So far today several good applications submitted. The CVS warehouse gig is calling me. I’ve been dreaming of a factory/warehouse job for quite a while. Schedule, accountability, and not being surrounded by popcorn children. All I really need is hours, shit to do, and $$. I eagerly await.

    Me from DedThred on my ADHD issues: Toddler Ev used to repeatedly run into walls as a joke. (Huh.) I am shocked that I was injected with the shit I got last week from my psychiatrist. I was born in ’87. I missed the Wagon by that much. I’m on stage 3.5 of new meds to address that Very Real Issue w me. My bro has the laser focus from Dad. I am, in my own sphere, complete diffusion. This has served me (about) equally well and for ill.

    Ritalin and Adderall, meh. NOW! Hot, legal drug-dealer has me on straight-up “Amphetamine Salts.” Now I’m on Day 10 waiting for a monthly scrip of 40mg Vyvanse, aka Lisdexamfetamine. On the plus side, she listened somewhat to my lack of extra funds. I’m getting a month supply of that shit, or am supposed to. Another psych said I should “run back to her” cuz no one else would look at my med chart and prescribe me half of the shit I’m on. (Clonozepam w my history? It IS a legit anti-convulsant, and anxiety is hands-down my biggest epileptic trigger. I’m surrounded by it.)

    I mostly got and get away with my never-ending stray thoughts cuz I’m (observably) well-behaved and I did well in my studies and (mostly) in adulthood. (I just didn’t/don’t always care to learn certain things. Math and risk aversion come to mind.)

    • Mojeaux

      Good luck getting your Vyvanse. I just gave up.

      • Evan from Evansville

        Apparently it’s the Hardcore shit. Thirty day supply, been waiting a week so far. However, my 20mg “Amphetamine Salts” work well. I am uncertain of the (proper) legality behind this. I rather enjoy being introduced to another level of the Drug World. My highest level? Buying coke on the streets of Medellin on my own. (I watched my friend the first time, then went solo later.) I would have preferred my hot psych uh..upped the ante even further by giving me MORE incentive to see her frequently.

        She openly had me take some drugs to see if it would “improve” my sexual abilities. And then message back about how it worked. (I’m virile. The changing of meds/dosages tricks my highly sexualized brain into an amazing treadmill…sadly w infrequent finish. (Not a prob today.))

      • Tres Cool

        Jugsy had trouble getting Adderall so her doc switched to Vyvanse, evidently at the same time all the other docs did the same.
        Not they’re both in short supply in SW Ohio.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        Aw, hun. Bronkaid + caffeine + aspirin again? Claritin-D?

      • Mojeaux

        No. Vyvanse is for ADHD (among other things), and there is no stack on earth that compares to the effectiveness of amphetamines. (The ECA stack is a weightlifter’s trick, btw.)

        THAT SAID. I CAN live without it. My life is only marginally harder because I arranged my life to flow with my ADHD. My kid is in hell without it and the shortage is just getting worse, so I’m worried for her.

        That ALSO said, the longer I’m off it, the deeper my creative well gets. I mean, Vyvanse puts me on the productive straight and narrow, and my creativity just takes a hike. I don’t know which I’d rather have.

      • Tres Cool

        So the opposite of me eating opiates and writing CL ads.

      • DrOtto

        I’m more of a crush and rail guy, myself.

      • Toxteth O'Grady

        I know, but. 🤷🏻‍♀️

        Bronk was an excellent tip; merci buckets.

      • Mojeaux

        You’re welcome!

      • Evan from Evansville

        Thank you so much for this! I have lost my mind and now with ADHD meds…I literally was like “Holy shit. This is how Normal People’s brains work.

        I’m around and first draft of fun, uplifting piece on the way!

    • Evan from Evansville

      WHOOPS. *I am confused why I wasn’t pumped with ADHD stimulants when I was a kid in the 90s. I missed that pharma drive by like two years. I should’ve been injected with the strongest shit back then. My Mini-Me youngest nephew, Ezzie as well.

      The whole family recognizes he has a lot of Ev in him. So… Evan+Ezra. “Evanezra” is the easy combo, but too feminine for our character. “Ezan” fits the bill quite nicely. Closer to my full name, but the diminutive is his. And he’s got “Ezzie” already. Hrm.

  20. Evan from Evansville

    Ooooh and St. Patrick’s Day! Hannah Lore _____. She coulda been The One. Fell in college love w her, but was too stupid to realize to do anything about it other than make out. Which is odd, cuz I had gone past that before, though not all the way. I spoiled a rotten chance cuz I’m an idiot. She was a damn hot nude model. We got along swimmingly.

    She coulda put me on a pathway. However, then I wouldn’t have gone exploring like I did. That’s an interesting humdinger. I’m likely happier for not “Being” w her. Much gained and lost in my life, as they tend to be.

    I would have handled that differently, were I a different person. (Where’s the fun in that?)

  21. Gustave Lytton

    Fuck Pence. Still repeating the Jan 6 lies, no sympathy or humanity towards those being crushed by the state, and zero contrition for his role in kabuki theatre.

  22. Grumbletarian

    Scorpio: Temperance reversed – The No Fun Brigade is interfering with you.

    I’m helping cover for my boss while he is out on paternity leave. 63 hours worked last week, and that doesn’t count doing shit from home. Five more weeks of this to go.

  23. Tres Cool

    Spent the morning and mostly up till now with Tres Ver 2.0 and Tres Sr. Great time.
    Ate too much, so now a nap before I open the Tall Cans™.

    Should be no doubt this is my St. Patrick’s theme music.

  24. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Booked my travel for Glibcruise Glibcation! That plane ticket was…not cheap. I could have gotten it much cheaper by flying into MIA, but I did that last time and it was a pain in the ass.

    • CPRM

      Onan related note, has there ever been a case that put a threshold on ‘speedy trial’?

      • DEG

        I knew someone involved in prison reform back in the 90s. He told me that when he lived in California in 60s, the rule was the prosecutor had to be ready to go to trial within 30 or 60 (can’t remember which) days of an arrest. This guy contrasted with PA, which at the time I knew him, if the trial took place within six months of arrest, that counted as speedy.

        I did not do any digging to see if he was correct.

      • Tres Cool

        Don’t spill it.

    • The Gunslinger

      “While we should always be grateful for any appearance in which Mr. Toobin manages not to be caught having a threesome with a couple of no-shows”

      Nice

    • DEG

      I love the opening line.

    • juris imprudent

      Editor’s note is horseshit. Keeping control of Congress is more important than the Presidency.

  25. R C Dean

    “Leo: The Magician – Plans work this week.”

    Well, crap. I don’t really have any plans.

  26. R.J.

    Well, my Windows ten laptop developed some bad driver issues, and I couldn’t solve it. I got pissed and slammed the lid, and shattered the screen. I am not particularly Stoic today. The good news is, I had a copy of my resume and other documents saved in the cloud.
    I just got a cheap Windows 11 machine so I can keep working on stuff easily in the Windows Office universe.

    • Urthona

      Been there

    • DEG

      Sorry.

      I think a cigar and an Irish whiskey are called for.

      • Tres Cool

        For years my drink(s) was Coors Light and shots of Crown. One year I decided to celebrate with Guinness and Jamesons.

        I think I understand why Sinn Féin used to bomb shit.

  27. Tres Cool

    For St. Patricks day: Obligatory

  28. prolefeed

    Was just on Mrs. Prole’s family Zoom. One of her relatives lives in the Twin Cities, and was bitching about the clueless Minneapolis city council trying to mandate wages for Uber and Lyft “employees”, resulting in those companies shutting down service for the whole state. She suspected the people who were cheering as the council voted for that idiocy were heavily weighted with taxi drivers.

    One of the relatives on that Zoom call said the city council had no right to tell a private business how much to pay for “wages”.

    I was sooo tempted to shout, “That’s exactly what a minimum wage mandate is, except for every business. And all y’all support minimum wage increases!”

    But … nah. Let it go.

    Then Mrs. Prole said a similar thing happened somewhere else.

    Me: “That was here. In Austin. And you voted for it. And then about a year later, after Uber and Lyft followed thru on cutting off service to here, that got repealed.”

    • Toxteth O'Grady

      I hope the missus has redeeming qualities.

      • Tres Cool

        Huge tracts of land.

      • prolefeed

        She has those, yes. 😃

        Except for politics, we get along great.

      • CPRM

        She got her 40 acres and you’re the mule, eh?

    • rhywun

      This kind of stuff is generally a sop to unionized whatnot – taxi drivers, bus drivers, etc.
      I’m not even sure what kind of excuses they come up with because they are so obviously, transparently against the people who need mobility options.

      But getting out of Dodge is absolutely necessary in order to begin to open people’s eyes.

    • R.J.

      If the pitchforks and torches come out, my spare bedroom
      will be empty after April 10th.

    • Spudalicious

      “My little Halliburton honey boo-boo.”

    • cavalier973

      Hilarious. 🤣

    • cavalier973

      “If it wasn’t for feminism, she’d be having children instead of bombing them.”

  29. CPRM

    Would anyone else be up for a zoom tonight? The usual hour?

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      I’m a definite maybe

    • R.J.

      I’ll come say hi at 7:00 CST.

  30. CPRM

    “Have the good manners not to hit the man until he’s your husband and entitled to hit you back!” Classic Hollywood line that couldn’t be written today.

  31. Grummun

    Today I learned that Everclear 95% is a much better thermal paste solvent than isopropyl.

    • CPRM

      But if I buy that I don’t think I’ll ever get around to the computer work.

    • Tres Cool

      They’re both consumer grade and its likely not important, but which one leaves more residue ?

      • R.J.

        Has to be the Everclear. I am curious.

      • Ted S.

        Yellow?

      • The Bearded Hobbit

        I am curious. Yellow?

        Not sure how many of the young ‘uns here will get the reference.

      • Fourscore

        Sort of young but I got it. Never saw it though

      • Grummun

        A fine question. Does pure ethanol leave something behind when it evaporates? I have to think the 5% water in Everclear was distilled.

        My sophomore roommate, a tremendous Dead fan, used to use my 151 Rum to clean the heads in his tape deck. I always thought that was a bad idea.

    • Spudalicious

      Isopropyl is usually 71 or 91%. I can see where Everclear would be more effective.

      • Tres Cool

        I posed the question because what you buy in a liquor store or at a pharmacy isnt reagent or ACS grade.
        And if you’re working on a CPU that may or may not be important. I think Id opt for trichloroethane.

      • Spudalicious

        Yeah, residue is a separate question but an important one.

    • R.J.

      Hah!

    • CPRM

      Real ‘news’ stories are indistinguishable from the Bee now. They have outlived their reason debtor or something.

      • R.J.

        “ At publishing time, Matt Walsh pre-ordered Princess Peach: Showtime!”

        The demo was underwhelming. I sense a rare miss for Nintendo.

    • Brochettaward

      I mean, everything is pretty fucking pointless at the end of the day. Besides Firsting.

      It’s a real wonder why the left has dominated the culture sphere the way they have with brilliant minds such as Walsh serving as the vanguards of the conservative cause there.

  32. R.J.

    The old show “Sledgehammer” is on a channel called “catchy.”

    • Sean

      I watched a bunch of those yesterday!

  33. Shpip

    Remember: puns on St. Patrick’s Day don’t just shame you.

    They Seamus all.

    • juris imprudent

      Word got out that a young fella named Lee was fond of an Irish lass.

      Word got back that she’ll lay Lee.

      • R.J.

        Irish you hadn’t made that pun.

      • R.J.

        That Irish lass was named Erin. It was told that when Erin walked around in the summer, Erin Go Bra-less.

      • Spudalicious

        Braugh. Go. Erin wants nothing to do with you.

  34. UnCivilServant

    How did the New Vegas developers manage to make so many DLCs out of weaponized misery?

    • UnCivilServant

      … Grenade rifle it is.

      • UnCivilServant

        Fun fact – Tribals are allergic to 40mm Grenades.

      • UnCivilServant

        My complaints about Honest Hearts boil down to a small number of issues

        1 – I can’t tell the tribal enemies apart from the tribal friends until they start shooting. They just dress too much alike.

        2 – The companions don’t shut up, often initiating forced conversations to tell me to do the quest objective I’d be working on if they hadn’t just interrupted me.

        3 – The poinson effects which render the entire screen blurry and impossible to tell what’s going on. Especially when every melee enemy inflicts it with every hit.

        4 – The unfun traversal of the new map drives me nuts. There’s a bunch of nooks which look like they should lead somewhere, but often just dead end. The routing to get to point B is overlong and convoluted, requiring constant re-checking of the map. There are landmarks you can’t physically reach, like the crashed plane perched on top of the cliff. I just hate the map.

        5 – The vast majorty of the quests are fetch quests.

        6 – All of the interesting lore requires poking my nose into the corners of the map where something does exist amidst all those dead ends and twisty paths. It’s just not worth it amidst all the building annoyance at the rest of it.

      • Sean

        I don’t have that DLC.

      • UnCivilServant

        Which one(s) do you have?

      • Sean

        GRA, Courier Stash, OWB, & Lonesome road

      • UnCivilServant

        Lucky you – only one of the awful ones.

  35. DEG

    O’Grimacy and the IRA

    While sales for the minty milkshakes are still going strong after 50-plus years, the fuzzy green mascot didn’t make it nearly as long. It fell by the wayside at some point in the 1980s.

    Was it Philadelphia’s fault?

    The story goes that O’Grimacey was discontinued due to choice comments made by an actor playing the mascot at an event in Philly, where he spoke out in favor of the Irish Republican Army, the paramilitary group that claimed the mantle of earlier IRAs active during the Irish War of Independence.

    • R.J.

      That’s great. Relaunch him with a bomb in his hand then.

  36. Tres Cool

    Thought experiment: Dylan Mulvaney (fake woman) or Christine Blasey-Ford (assumed woman)
    Who is the bigger and needier attention whore?

    Brett Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford recounts ‘darkest times,’ death threats after 2018 testimony: ‘It’s still scary’.

    This leapt out at me:
    “Since coming forward, Ford said she’s endured a wave of death threats, and claims that a simple night out can cost her between $5,000 to $10,000 due to security concerns.”

    Time to hit up a GoFundMe, honey.

    • R.J.

      I cannot imagine that many people give a shit about her now. Can’t be worse than what Ran Paul deals with.

    • creech

      Saw that on CBS this morning They didn’t report if Kavanaugh ever received death threats. Seems to me I read somewhere that “Death threats” are routinely received by figures in the public eye, whether left, right, center, sports figure, actor, etc.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      Oh she wrote a book, must be about how the DNC used her.

  37. Evan from Evansville

    I just finished my submission! Damn. I am SO much fucking ‘better’ with amphetamines.

    @Mojeaux: “That ALSO said, the longer I’m off it, the deeper my creative well gets. I mean, Vyvanse puts me on the productive straight and narrow, and my creativity just takes a hike. I don’t know which I’d rather have.”

    BOOM. I do get more creative. Bro agrees and thinks it’s a crutch. My mind is just free to wander. It’s clever enough to find interesting and novel nooks. Problem is, I get pop-pop-popping ideas and can never decide which one is ‘the best’ to focus on ‘that moment.’ So nothing gets done. I’d like others to experience it. I wonder if it’s enriching or terrifying. I don’t feel any different when on this shit. Straight amphetamine salts, 20mg. I just work. Hrm. It is problematic.

    • Evan from Evansville

      To TPTB: I think I organized it pretty propa’. BUT: I thought the Featured Image would be one folk clicked on. I just wanted a pic of a car with a good smiley face! (It’s Good Enough.) I’m cool w the one of me at my desk after The Incident I put in there.

    • Mojeaux

      Look, it’s tempting to stay in your creative well where the water’s clean and warm and sparkling, but shit gotta get done. Life has to be tended. I was using my art to escape my crappy life (my POS house and my high-maintenance child). I wasn’t on ADHD meds. I got put on them after I told my drug dealer I couldn’t stay awake all day even after a full night’s rest and a shit-ton of caffeine and ephedrine, and asked her about modafinil. I didn’t find this strange. I’d been doing it my entire life, falling asleep about 3p or 7p or both.

      ANYWAY, the Vyvanse came around the time we started getting out from under the POS house, and my high-maintenance child ramped into high gear, then he had to go live somewhere else for about a year and my life calmed down and I was still taking Vyvanse, just puttering along dependably … but my creativity was gone. Son came home transformed into a relatively low-drama, productive human being.

      Now, I’m forced to come off Vyvanse because of the shortage, and boom, I’m sleeping all afternoon/evening again, but too tired to pull an all-nighter, still making money, but my creativity is coming back.

      It’s a tightrope. Last night, I re-read one of my books and cried in all the appropriate spots, which means it IS the Vyvanse suppressing it all. If this goes on much longer, I’ll have written another book in my medieval series (*waves at nw*) and have worked out plot points for all 4 of my planned paranormals.

      It’ll be fine until my stories take over and I stop doing my job and just swim in my creative well where it’s clean and warm and sparkly.

      Dude, right now, you need to get your shit together and stay out of the water. I’m not trying to be mean, but it’s time to get down to business whether you have the amphetamines or not. I have been where you are (not the head injury part), so I’m not talking out my ass.

      • Evan from Evansville

        Thank you. And you’re right. Full-time job search is ongoing. Shifted gears and made it my priority. I’ll get through it.

        Wait til you see my submission! Oh dear, Ev. You don’t make it easy, do ya?
        No. I don’t.

  38. whiz

    To TPTB: My next installment of Overland For Gold has been submitted. Tuesday night would be good for me.

    • Evan from Evansville

      *fist-bump* I’m really enjoying your family history. Teleport me there 4th-dimensionally and I’d be a corpse fairly quickly. However, If I grew up in them days I’d be interestingly useful. I wonder how my physical and mental skillets would translate.

      Well. If I grew up then, I’d be a different person.

      • whiz

        Thank you! There’s only 4 installments, but I might look around the internet for more, as the brothers did have other writings recorded elsewhere. What I’ve found so far are just repetitions of the same stories, though.

      • Evan from Evansville

        I eagerly await! Mom is an interpreter at Conner Prairie in Indiana. I believe it’s ‘set’ in 1836 or so. My family and I (minus big bro) are all about it.

  39. Brochettaward

    Fuck, fight, and First.

  40. Ownbestenemy

    Cannot sleep..so…Cliffs Of Dover it is.

    • Ted S.

      Good morning! Off to work in a few minutes, so I can’t zoom. Not that I’ve got the mic or webcam for it anyway.

    • Gender Traitor

      Not hungover, but I really should have had that second mug of chai latte yesterday. Woke up with a caffeine withdrawal headache. Happily, the antidote was waiting for me. ***SLURP!!!***

  41. Gender Traitor

    Good morning, Sean, Ted’S., and hayek (if you’re still awake!)

  42. Beau Knott

    Mornin’ GT, et. al.

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, Beau! Or at least so far so good, I hope?

      • Beau Knott

        Aside from waking up too early, which has become chronic, not bad so far. Hbu?

      • Gender Traitor

        Good morning, U. How are you today?

      • UnCivilServant

        I stayed up too late and didn’t get nearly enough sleep.

      • Gender Traitor

        Sorry to hear that. Hope you have a low-stress workday, at least.

      • UnCivilServant

        No meetings scheduled on the calendar so far.

      • Gender Traitor

        🤞

    • R.J.

      Good morning!

      • Gender Traitor

        Good morning, R.J.! How are things on your planet?

      • R.J.

        Marvelous. The world awaits my labor.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Morning! A bit hungover, but morning nonetheless

      • Gender Traitor

        ::whispers:: Good morning, OBE! We’ll try to type our comments very, very quietly.

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m afraid I can’t do that. My keyboard is a Modern Model M, it’s LOUD.

      • Ownbestenemy

        No headache, just slow rolling the day. Like you, not enough sleep last night. I got swept up in some programming learning.

  43. Not Adahn

    Morning? I have some fasting-required bloodwork today. So it’s not a good morning

    • Gender Traitor

      Sorry, NA! Hope you can get your blood sucked ASAP, then have a hearty breakfast.

      • Not Adahn

        Thank’ee. 8:30 time slot, so not too bad.

      • UnCivilServant

        Hope you get the skilled plebotomist. Last time I had a bruise for a week afterwards because I got the newbie.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Under appreciated skill in the medical field really. I think second to media portrayal of needles, a terrible phlebotomist is probably why many fear needles.

      • Evan from Evansville

        Fun bit: I *always* watch the needlers. Mostly because I’m always curious. I do think it makes them pay closer attention. I’m also a playful and mindful p̶a̶t̶i̶e̶n̶t̶ person. None of that hurts. have never had any vein trouble. I’ve been complimented on my “easy” veins. I’ve never used ’em for fun. Everyone’s mileage varies.

        (It’s sadly predictable how people go along with blood work and injections… as long as the Person in a White Coat is wearing a White Coat. It provides some (real) psychological ease hospitals lack. We all have our own ‘religions’ to trust.)

      • UnCivilServant

        I have small and deep veins (runs in the family) that confound novices.

  44. Fourscore

    Morning All,

    Looks like a rather full house today. Good to see everyone so chipper and ready to tackle the day!

    Weatherman is forecasting some serious snow for end of the week. I’d already put the snowblower away, unused, so I’m sort of undecided whether to move it back into the garage. I think I’ll wait, see if I can drive through it every day. It’ll be gone in a few days anyway. I’m glad to see it, really has been dry and this will get us out of the fire danger.

    • Gender Traitor

      Good morning, 4(20)! Hope you get only as much snow as you need…and maybe not all at once!

  45. Evan from Evansville

    Is it morning if I haven’t slept? Well. Sunrise approacheth. I have things to do. Hrm. I ‘spose it is. Certainly no anger, but this doesn’t please me.

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I always find a way. The vast majority of rocks are unturned cuz no one’s bothered.

    • R.J.

      The rising and setting of the sun is constant regardless of our perambulations.

      • Ownbestenemy

        And that rock you are thinking of picking up may have never been held by any other human being…ever.

      • UnCivilServant

        You have an even better chance of that near the bases of rock formations in weathering zones. The talus is full of new stones.