Tuesday Morning Make-Up Links

by | May 28, 2024 | Daily Links | 221 comments

Well, I wasn’t around the last couple days because of traffic. At least that’s what car racing looks like to me. And I’m taking off again after today for a quick trip to the Garden Spot of the East, aka Baltimore. With Tomb Raider (don’t ask). The Old Man has the kavorka, as well as animal needs. But I won’t leave quietly.

The first noise I’m making is birthdays, and they include the father of modern paleontology who has been unpersoned by the usual morons; a guy screwed by the corrupt Olympic system, if you believe the biopic; a guy who inadvertently created classic novels; the godfather of Greta; a guy who managed himself from hero to pitiful clown; a woman who was truly a pip; a great songwriter, performer, and raging asshole; one more reason we should nuke Canada; a great bass player with an even greater beard; someone who was a true performer and entertainer; easily the best steel and dobro player ever; a guy who put real zing into the sport of hiking; the white Marion Barry; and the Cuban Harold Stassen.

And with that behind us, Links are in front of us.

GAY!

Every once in a while, the cognitive dissonance devolves into absolute comedy.

I have an alibi.

The next official language there will be Ladino.

But they passed a law forbidding you to close.

Although this might put the last story into perspective…

Proving again that “fact-checkers” are partisan cunts.

Old Guy Music this morning is my discovery of the Dead covering Traffic. So ultimately Boomer.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

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

221 Comments

  1. Common Tater

    I liked the “Museum of Palestinian History” better.

    • Not Adahn

      The museum describes the exhibit as exploring “anti-Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander hate, Black hate and anti-Jewish hate.”

      I assume they meant to write anti-Black hate. Otherwise my mind would be blown.

      • Not Adahn

        The striking employees also set up a GoFundMe campaign to compensate for missed wages. The campaign has raised $3,939 as of Sunday afternoon.

        Lulz. I guess they lost the phone number to the Tides Foundation?

      • Common Tater

        “Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander hate”

        Is that even a thing? Unless they have a wide definition of “Pacific Islander”, I don’t think I’ve ever met such a person.

      • Not Adahn

        “AAPI” includes Native Hawaiian in its vast trolling-for-more hate net.

      • Common Tater

        I read it’s now AAPINH because they don’t want to be included?

        (Never met a NH either.)

      • rhywun

        Because nothing is more satisfying than a day of stewing in “hate” and racism.

      • rhywun

        Is that even a thing?

        No, it’s way to gain more power and dollars.

        See also: recent attempts to make “MENAs” not white. In New York they explicitly admit it’s about feeding them more cash.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Speaking of MENAs… when I was working at a Megacorp, we had HR doing a tally of “diversity.” One of the guys working for me was a child of Palestinian Arab immigrants. His family moved to Israel from the same city in Turkey that mine did, and ended up in the same city in Israel that most of my family is in.

        For HR, he was Diversity and I was not.

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        I have met native Hawaiians, they hate just as well as Native Americans.

  2. Not Adahn

    When commie pope says there’s too much faggotry, well…

    • SDF-7

      Talk about “a stopped clock…” Credit where credit is due… he’s not wrong there. And in general, taking people who can actually keep oaths of celibacy into seminary seems like a good idea to prevent future scandals and all. I know it will disappoint the clique in Rome according to all reports though.

      Morning, all.

  3. Common Tater

    “A Target in downtown San Francisco, California, was referred to as “one of the most dangerous” stores in the US with almost every item having some sort of lock.”

    Well, California legalized shoplifting, and banned self-defense.

    • Rat on a train

      They should put in their six-month notice.

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        It wouldn’t surprise me if the city was giving them cash under the table to stay, just to keep the optics on the cities side.

  4. SDF-7

    The presidential candidate held a comfortable lead in the polls as her party’s primary got underway last summer. But one afternoon, as she was entering a hotel for a meeting, she was confronted by dozens of her top rival’s supporters, chanting that the contest was rigged.

    The normally stoic Sheinbaum strode inside and upbraided Alfonso Durazo, the official coordinating the primaries for the Morena party.

    “Wherever I arrive, I want to be respected,” she declared, jabbing the table. “Do you understand?”

    Oh she sounds nice and not Hillary-riffic at all… Good luck, Mexico.

    • rhywun

      “In my house, we talked about politics at breakfast, lunch and dinner,”

      *shudder*

      Yeah, good luck. She sounds like a more extreme version of her mentor.

  5. Evan from Evansville

    Roald Dahl had the best WWII assignment. He was apparently quite good at seducing wives of Important Folk in the US, pumping them for information. I’d like to think several characters are crafted ’round those he plucked ‘roud with.

    Seinfeld and the kavorka set my morning to a bright mood: *Costanza after sleeping w married woman who seduced him*
    “I committed adultery!”
    “No, you haven’t. *I* did.”

    It’s time to hit the bricks in my Harry Potter office in 20 min. My new gig requires an article: “Kids as Cogs.” I haven’t come up with a thesis/point or punchline yet. I’ll seam it together and share. ‘Tis a remarkably good day. Hope to share it w y’all. The lure of the animal radiates. Onward ho!

    • UnCivilServant

      Kids make poor cogs. They lack symmetry and structural integrety. At best they might be irregular cams.

    • Pine_Tree

      Write the whole “Kids as Cogs” things for the “medium-sized medieval ship” definition of cog.

      • UnCivilServant

        Young Goats make terrible cargo ships.

      • SDF-7

        No kidding.

      • Not Adahn

        But they are very scalable.

    • Evan from Evansville

      It really is best described as White Collar Factory Work in the 21st Century I can make a serious post; could legit make it a stand-up bit. Each kid is a little cog, I sort them by size and slot them where they ‘belong.’
      The ‘bit’ is: I grade 4th graders’ state essays for ISTEP/ILEARN (Those were/are Indiana’s. This project is Missouri.) I get them and grade them on three metrics:
      Purpose & Organization; Development & Elaboration: Both are graded from 1 (lowest) to 4.
      Conventions (pretty much caps and punctuation, but also grammar and spelling. They are VERY lenient. Grade 0-2. ~80% are 2s.
      I’m expected to grade 200-250/day. Calculates (evenly) to one essay per 3 min. After I grade ’em, I submit and the next one slides to me. Over and over. Our team is 13 total, 3300 we did last Fri. We’ve done 66/77k. This is our last week. I do not know if I can get another project from them right after. I have no idea what occurs next. So this week, I’m gonna bust it up in the best way possible. Looking at my stats, I’m doing DAMN well compared to my group. Especially for a Rookie. This bodes well, me thinky.

    • Endless Mike

      “pumping them for information” LITERALLY

  6. SDF-7

    But they passed a law forbidding you to close.

    Like the comments / brief discussion the other day about the rest of the country and especially the transportation industry telling California they’re not going to abide by their stupid rules — at some point it will make more sense to just close up shop and let them fine you. Personally, I would think they’re past it (given the risk to employees and all), but that’s up to them. But we’re an example for the nation, right Gavin (you frakking moron).

    Also on the California politics front (and probably a preview for the rest of the country on Dem election strategies, but given Gavin’s fixation on “sanctuary state” status maybe not as bad) — all the YouTube ads I get lately are the annoying Lt. Gov. harping on about how extremist Republicans are going to roll back abortion. I suppose if it worked in 2022 it is worth a shot again…

    • Fourscore

      My, how things have changed.

      We went from “Do you have protection?” to

      “It’s OK, I’m on birth control” to

      “OMG, I’ll be able to have an abortion!”

      /Lost in the Wilderness

    • juris imprudent

      But we’re an example for the nation

      I believe the proper term these days would be cautionary tale.

    • SDF-7

      Better margins for the oversight agencies if you don’t need to actually spend on health care, no wonder she’s in favor of massive increases in government programs for Memorial Day vets.

    • Grummun

      Saw a T-shirt at the Utica Ice Cream Festival over the weekend (paraphrasing):

      “Just so there is no confusion: Memorial day is for soldiers that died overseas. Veteran’s Day is for soldiers that came home. Armed Forces Day is for soldier still serving.”

      The moral: Ilhan should eat more ice cream. Or something. She’s probably lactose intolerant.

  7. SDF-7

    Sort-of Ray of Sunshine (Sort of because you know they’ll keep trying… but nice to see a little sanity for a change…)

    • rhywun

      Yeah, you don’t let the opportunity to grow rich off total power die on the vine.

      They will keep pushing it until it happens.

  8. juris imprudent

    With Tomb Raider (don’t ask).

    “What we have here, is… failure to, communicate.” [and very much picturing a set of leg irons]

    • Mojeaux

      She can’t quit him.

  9. juris imprudent

    a great songwriter, performer, and raging asshole

    Ooooh, so many choices for that.

    As it happens my ex- and I went to one of his concerts, pre- catalog reconciliation; I think it was touring to support Centerfield. Anyway, Bruce Hornsby – who we had never even heard of – opened and totally stole the night. We ended walking out on Fogarty because it was like he was pretending to be Deep Purple, was just impossibly loud and wouldn’t play any of his disputed [at the time] songs.

    • Drake

      He has a concert this Sunday at the Amphitheatre in Simpsonville. We were debating whether or not it was worth it.

    • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

      Fogerty was born and raised in the same place as my mother, albeit two years younger. I will have to ask her if she knew him.

      • The Last American Hero

        So you were Born on the Bayou?

      • Drake

        His mother was a Cajun Queen.

  10. Not Adahn

    NPR finally got around to running a hit piece on Brandon Hererra!

    The intro tells you all you need to know — Hererra demonstrates GUNZ USED BY THE NAZIS and to ASSASSINATE MLK JR!

    https://www.npr.org/2024/05/28/nx-s1-4976242/gop-rep-tony-gonzales-fights-for-his-political-life-in-texas-against-a-newcomer

    Although the NPR dude doing the NPR pronunciation of “Hererra” is kind of humorous. Oddly enough, NPR has nothing to say about Ernie’s rhetoric about “taking you to the deep end and drowning you.” You’d think that would be violent hatefullness coming from someone bordering the Rio Grande, but principals/principles I guess.

    • Common Tater

      No mention AK use by commies.

      “Although the NPR dude doing the NPR pronunciation of “Hererra” is kind of humorous.”

      Which isn’t even correct.

      • Not Adahn

        Ummmm, do YOU have a degree in Chicano Studies? I didn’t think so. Just because one Tio Thomas went full coconut doesn’t mean your betters at NPR aren’t going to say things the right way.

      • Common Tater

        Brandon Hererra doesn’t even make sense. A hererra would make the iron, but wouldn’t do the actual branding.

      • The Last American Hero

        I thought it was called Latinx studies.

      • Not Adahn

        The department heads at the various UC schools have been unwilling to spend the money to change their letterheads.

  11. rhywun

    Yeah, my Target is nothing like that. If it was, I wouldn’t shop there. There is no way I am waiting for an “associate” to unlock every item I take off the shelf.

    • Old Man With Candy

      After a 6 hour drive tomorrow, she’ll be ready to kill me.

  12. R.J.

    So far it looks like Chase Oliver is the libertarian party presidential nominee. I give up.

    • Common Tater

      He doesn’t sound that bad based on what I’ve read.

      • Old Man With Candy

        He is. You can rely on the modern Libertarian Party to nominate the worst possible candidates.

      • Common Tater

        Seems more libertarian than the last two?

        Rekenwald (sp?) might have had purer positions, but isn’t a good spokesperson.

      • PieInTheSky

        he advocating wearing masks inside and out all the time during the vid.

        He is pro transitioning children.

        called the Jan 6 thing a unique moment in history and implied it is worse than all the mostly peaceful riots.

        seems pretty bad.

      • R.J.

        What Pie said. His printed positions indicate good libertarian. His actions and statements do not.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Seems more libertarian than the last two?

        We have fun dunking on Gary Johnson but come on, he is not worse than Chase Oliver.

      • Common Tater

        Gary Johnson was a former governor. Which was a big plus.

        Anyway, this Chase Oliver person is against the wars, drug prohibition, gun control, wants to get rid of the Education Department, etc. If he can articulate those positions, then that’s good. It’s not like he is going to win the election.

      • bacon-magic

        He’s so bad I want the naked guy back.

      • juris imprudent

        Well, at least it was you that said that, and not Q.

    • Certified Public Asshat

      So far? He’s the guy.

      The VP is a former cop too.

    • Not Adahn

      The missed a chance to put Chase Strangio on the ticket with him.

    • Not Adahn

      political activist, sales account executive and HR representative

      Three odious professions.

    • Not Adahn

      He defeated a more hard-line Mises Caucus candidate by less than 1 percent in the penultimate round of voting, before delegates were asked to choose between Oliver and no candidate.

      Fascinating. The initial reports I read said he won with 90+% of the vote. Framing uber alles.

      • Rat on a train

        According to CNN, the final vote for Oliver or nothing was 60% Oliver, 36% nothing, and the rest write in.

    • Not Adahn

      we’ve identified young people, and in particular those who are upset with the war going on in Gaza, upset with the immigration crisis, and upset with cost of living,” Oliver said. “Those are the young people that we’re going to target.”

      Lemme guess what his “solutions” are to Gaza and the border.

      • rhywun

        Is it a final solution?

    • Rat on a train

      They forget that I have other options when not voting for the lesser evil. They want my vote, they need to put someone on the ballot I can vote for.

      • Old Man With Candy

        Yeah, they’ve been pretty lame in that regard. I couldn’t vote for Barr, couldn’t vote for “Doctor” Jo. And I won’t vote for this assclown, either.

      • Rat on a train

        I’ve read that I should hold my nose and vote L to preserve ballot access. “Vote yellow no matter the fellow.”

    • Certified Public Asshat

      LOL: https://www.votechaseoliver.com/about

      Chase Oliver is a 37-year-old Libertarian activist living in Atlanta. Dubbed “…the most influential Libertarian in America…” by Rolling Stone

    • Raven Nation

      Tom Woods posted about this yesterday. He was part of getting the Mises Caucus into control:

      https://mailchi.mp/tomwoods/lpconvention?e=cdfc59dbe3

      Punch line, Chase Oliver “is the best thing Donald Trump could possibly have asked for.”

      • R.J.

        This:

        Thus here is how he (Oliver) feels about you, dear reader:

        “There is no tent big enough for myself, my friends and family to be alongside racists and bigots. Lew Rockwell and his work is bigoted tripe.”

        Ron Paul reads Lew Rockwell every day, and Lew was Ron’s chief of staff. The message here isn’t exactly subtle.”

        Oy.

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        Anytime someone says “XXXX” is racist, I think to myself, did they target a specific person solely because of their race?

        If not, no. It isn’t racism.

    • Gustave Lytton

      RIP Harry Browne. At least he was a principled grifter.

      • Gustave Lytton

        How I Found Freedom in an Unfree Party

  13. Sensei

    The other difference is Springsteen having this ability to appear progressive and conservative at the same time.

    Not this born and raised in NJ at the time conservative and now libertarian. With the exception of a handful of songs I have no interest in Springsteen and especially when he sings them.

    Why Bruce Springsteen’s America Was Never Real
    A new book unpacks ‘Born in the U.S.A.’

    https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/music/bruce-springsteen-born-in-the-usa-steven-hyden-book-6df95001?st=odfqh9d46nntlgu&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • juris imprudent

      I think it was KDW in his NR days that wrote an interesting piece comparing Springsteen with Glen Campbell (who was a train wreck of a person – kind of the classic rock and roll trope in real life) and that Springsteen sang about the life Campbell lived, but otherwise his music wasn’t authentic to him as a person. None of his actual life (rather sedate and suburban) reflected in his lyrics.

  14. rhywun

    “___________ has become a convenient scapegoat. As a result, we’re neglecting the real causes of these problems.”

    I think Judith is on to something.

  15. ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

    Back in college, I had a roommate who was a former Catholic priest who worked at the Vatican. He was gay, and said the whole place, including the Swiss guard, was “queer as a three dollar bill.”

    Jew hate. Shocking.

    I hoped he was shooting sling shots at cops. Alas.

    More Jew hate.

    SF, city of my fathers birth. Oh, how you have fallen.

    And so on.

    And so on.

    Boomers chose… Poorly.

    • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

      Oh, and of the Fleming children, Ian was NOT the best writer. That would be his brother Peter, a great travel and history writer focusing on central Asia.

      For example: https://www.amazon.com/News-Tartary-Peter-Fleming/dp/1531842631

  16. Common Tater

    “Blanca C., 28, met Mohamed Ali S., 17, in a bar in German city Frankfurt on October 3 last year, where the pair consumed a few drinks and drugs together, according to prosecutor Constanze Jung.

    ‘Then they left [the bar] to go to her flat and wanted to have consensual sex,’ Jung told German tabloid Bild.

    But when Mohamed reportedly failed to get an erection, Blanca laughed at him for it.

    This enraged the Tunisian teenager who ‘hit her, choked her and throttled her’ in a violent frenzy until she died, Jung said.

    The defendant allegedly filmed part of the attack on his phone. As he angled the camera at Blanca’s body, he boasted: ‘I killed her’, according to the prosecution.”

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13467445/Murder-woman-28-beaten-strangled-death-17-year-old-laughing-sex-filmed-alleged-killer-court-hears.html

    CWASA

    • Old Man With Candy

      Did he finally get it up after he offed her? Give it a poke while it was still warm? That IS a tradition in that part of the world, after all, and we need to have cultural tolerance.

    • R C Dean

      I like the way they blurred part of her face, but made sure to use a pic that showed that she was something of a hottie.

      To protect her privacy, or something.

      $20 says the killer does a too-short stint in jail, and is allowed to stay in the country.

      • PieInTheSky

        well you cannot deport him to that shithole Tunisia

    • Not Adahn

      28 year old goes to bar to pick up 17 year olds? If that’s a recent pic of her, she must have been extremely crazy.

      • PieInTheSky

        yeah that part is sus as the kids used to say a while ago I do not know the current lingo

      • juris imprudent

        She overestimated the quality of Damascus steel?

    • juris imprudent

      …a prison sentence of up to ten years under German juvenile criminal law if he is convicted.

      How enlightened!

      • juris imprudent

        Maybe the Germans should think about not allowing 17 year-olds to drink?

      • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

        Well, he didn’t use a gun, so…

        Progressives for the Win!

  17. SDF-7

    I played https://squaredle.com/xp 05/28:
    *24/24 words (+2 bonus words)
    🎯 In the top 9% by accuracy

    I played https://squaredle.com 05/28:
    *31/31 words (+2 bonus words)
    🎯 Perfect accuracy
    🔥 Solve streak: 385

    • Sean

      I played https://squaredle.com/xp 05/28:
      *24/24 words (+9 bonus words)
      📖 In the top 5% by bonus words

      I played https://squaredle.com 05/28:
      *31/31 words (+8 bonus words)
      📖 In the top 4% by bonus words
      🔥 Solve streak: 338

  18. UnCivilServant

    (-_-)

    You are selling a device on a chip that supports the SPI standard for serial data transfer. Your data sheet includes the voltages, timings, pinout, even optimal soldering temperature profile… but not the format of the data your specific module trades in.

    The SPI standard says “here is how you will trade bits”. It does not dictate the content or meaning of those bits, so that it can be tailored to the needs of the devices. If you don’t put the data format in the documentation, I don’t know how to talk to your chip, and thus won’t buy it.

    • PieInTheSky

      it is obviously not meant for you.

      • UnCivilServant

        Texas instruments Datasheets have spoiled me. Open it up and there is every iota of information you could ever need to use the hardware.

    • Pope Jimbo

      Take a deep breath UCS. No need to get chippy about this.

    • UnCivilServant

      Different product – I HATE Adafruit datasheets. They’re written like they’re talking to small children and leave out the deep technical information that is the only reason to have a datasheet.

      No, I don’t want your Arduino drivers – I’m not using an Arduino, and I’m writing my own code.

    • UnCivilServant

      Why do people like that I2C garbage? A bidirectional data line just makes things messy.

      • UnCivilServant

        With all the devices multiplexed on one data line, how would you ever get a clean signal?

      • UnCivilServant

        Oh, the description was phrased poorly. It would be better stated that those not addressed simply don’t do anything on the data line rather than “leave it high”

  19. PieInTheSky

    you and Judith Curry should get a room or something

  20. PieInTheSky

    the libertarian party nominee was talked about yesterday he seems… something. Micky Malice has been having a field day retweeting him.

    • PieInTheSky

      Michael Malice
      @michaelmalice
      Ladies and gentlemen (there are only two genders: right and wrong), I present to you the official Libertarian candidates for President and Vice president

      https://x.com/michaelmalice/status/1795250159632499120

      • Not Adahn

        SciAm has nothing to do with science. They are good with SCIENCE! however.

      • PieInTheSky

        of they fucking love it

    • PieInTheSky

      Chase Oliver
      @ChaseForLiberty
      I was in the protests for justice reform in the summer of 2020

      Without a doubt, the largest amount of violence, aggression and force was coming from the police and national guard

      The overwhelming majority of folks protesting in the wake of George Floyd’s death did so peacefully

      https://x.com/ChaseForLiberty/status/1612498752152997908

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Always mostly peaceful.

      • R C Dean

        Reminds me of the saying that, if you mix a spoonful of ice cream into a bowl of shit, you still have a bowl of shit, but if you mix a spoonful of shit into a bowl of ice cream, you also wind up with a bowl of shit.

      • EvilSheldon

        I’m sure that the majority of cops and National Guard soldiers were peaceful, too.

      • Not Adahn

        I’m sure that the majority of cops and National Guard soldiers were peaceful, too.,/blockquote>

        That’s why I pin the J6 suicides on the cops. Youve got several thousand protestors who killed nobody, and out of a few hundred cops, five(?) of them thought the correct answer to a problem was a bullet. It shows the differing mindsets between the groups.

    • PieInTheSky

      Libertarian nominee Chase Oliver:

      99% of drag queen story hours are fine for kids. If he had children, he says he’d bring them to one and leave them there.

      “It’s just like the Wiggles”

      https://x.com/EndWokeness/status/1794992462403957031

      • Not Adahn

        I’ve never seen the Wiggles. But I’ve never seen a furry drag show, so I think he’s lying.

      • PieInTheSky

        I think a good number of drag performances have sexual elements at least of the burlesque variety. there could be non sexualized ones but I doubt there are many.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        If the libertarian purity test is if you would leave your kid alone at drag queen story hour then I am definitely out.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Way to go LP, way to go…would have happily voted for Rectenwald and won’t vote for Trump after he backed the $100 billion war aid package. Looks like Cornell West it is.

      • EvilSheldon

        Now I’m curious – how would you be able to tell that it was a furry drag show?

        Anyway, Oliver does seem like the kind of trend-chasing asshole who’d just love to have a trans/nonbinary kid to show off to his equally-assholish friends. So yeah, this is in character.

      • The Artist Formerly Known as Lackadaisical

        TFW when even Reason is more based than the libertarian party nominee.

      • Common Tater

        “Trump after he backed the $100 billion war aid package.”

        Sounds like the smart political move.

      • rhywun

        Drag is basically gay burlesque. It’s absolutely sexual. I would say not at all suitable for children.

      • Not Adahn

        Now I’m curious – how would you be able to tell that it was a furry drag show?

        Are they singing a mix of Ethel Merman, Lady Gaga and Judy Garland?

      • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

        …“don’t want octogenarians running their lives.”

        I don’t want anyone running my life, regardless of their age.

        He can’t even run his own life, I’ll be damned if he runs mine. Sunshine.

      • EvilSheldon

        “Are they singing a mix of Ethel Merman, Lady Gaga and Judy Garland?”

        I’ll keep this in mind if I find myself around a bunch of furries, in between the other obvious questions.

        Oh, BTW, your relentless bullying was successful. I just signed up for the A8 week after next.

      • Not Adahn

        Oh, BTW, your relentless bullying was successful. I just signed up for the A8 week after next.

        Woot! I’m supposed to get my stage assignment today.

        There are 14 of them, and I’ll shoot them all on Thursday. I also think my disconnector is on its way out, if I understand the symptoms correctly — the hammer didn’t pull back in DA on Saturday (once).

    • KSuellington

      So the Libertarians gave up the possibility of a cabinet position for an actual libertarian in order to nominate this fucking asshat? There was a possibility of me voting for the Libertarian nominee, now there is none. I’ll go Trump, he’s more libertarian than that clown. Also, Trump is now fully into the arc of the hero, I’d like to see Act III.

      • juris imprudent

        fully into the arc of the hero

        Jaysus, that’s like Puddles the Clown playing Luke Skywalker.

      • KSuellington

        We get the story we deserve.

      • trshmnstr

        A clown hero for a clown world

      • juris imprudent

        We get the story we deserve.

        All the world is a stage…

        filled with shitty performances.

      • Not Adahn

        Jaysus, that’s like Puddles the Clown playing Luke Skywalker.

        SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

      • juris imprudent

        I scrolled away and back and I’m still laughing NA. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect response.

  21. Pope Jimbo

    Uffda. Looks like I will have to wait 4-6 weeks for my Pocket Fisherman to be delivered if this catches on.

    As our understanding of productivity evolves, more and more people are questioning the notion that “faster is better.” This shift towards a slower, more deliberate pace of work isn’t just a personal preference but a strategic move for many innovative companies. This movement aligns closely with the growing emphasis on mental health and wellness in the workplace and points towards a future where there’s a greater value on quality of work—and life—over mere output.

    The old-school idea that being busy means you’re productive comes from way back in the industrial capitalism days, when all that mattered was how much you could churn out, and nobody really cared about the toll it took on people.

    But this approach doesn’t always translate to success in today’s corporate setting. Companies leading the slow movement are discovering that by reducing the rush, they’re not only enhancing the well-being of their employees but also improving their bottom line.

    • PieInTheSky

      leave fish alone.

      I am not all for working non stop without thinking and working smart, but probably this takes things way too far.

    • Not Adahn

      Speaking of slow…

      There was a custom jersey company (https://techwearusa.com) that had fast turnaround time and extremely high customization options, since each of their products was made to order. Also due to this, their prices were high. Too high. They started cutting corners on quality and lost a lot of their big contracts.

      One of those big customers went to these guys: https://zerosportsdepot.com/

      They have very limited customization options and orders are produced in batches. They’re estimating eight weeks for turnaround. But they’re half the cost of the others. We’ll see how the quality compares when I finally get my order.

  22. The Other Kevin

    Jerry Garcia’s last concert was in Soldier Field in Chicago. Right after that, I saw Peal Jam play there, but there was a problem with their stage, so the used the Grateful Dead’s stage. So I got to see the last stage Jerry Garcia ever played on.

    I’m hoping more exciting things happen so that story doesn’t make the cut in my biography.

  23. The Other Kevin

    We had to move our Sausage Fest party from Sunday to yesterday, but we still had our best turnout ever. With the derby girls and their families, and my one teammate and his wife, we had a good 100 people in my yard. Partly cloudy with a few sprinkles, but otherwise a beautiful day. Lots of volleyball, food, drinks, a few puffs of smoke, and about 40 pounds of sausage (not counting the vegan sausage someone brought – yuck). Our playset and sandbox were terrorized by at least a dozen kids. The best party of the year, but still the easiest one to host.

    Hope the rest of you had a great weekend!

    • PieInTheSky

      we had a good 100 people in my yard – did you have a permit for that? There ought to be a law about having more than 10 people over without a permit, after a government safety inspection, and an FDA check of all the sausage.

      • The Other Kevin

        This is Indiana, Pie. The land of guns and fireworks. It’s like Somalia but our roads are sometimes ok.

      • juris imprudent

        I-70 from the Ohio line to Indianapolis is about the quality of a Somali road. I’m so happy not to have to go to Missouri on our way to Nevada these days.

      • trshmnstr

        I’m so happy not to have to go to Missouri

        And we’re thankful for the decent roads here in MO compared to TX and OK.

      • Ted S.

        I thought Nevada was in Missouri.

      • juris imprudent

        Oh Missouri was fine, even Illinois’s stretch of I-70 wasn’t bad. I’m sure Indiana’s is so bad because of Big Towing and Auto Repair.

    • EvilSheldon

      I hope you managed to identify the vegan sausage peddler, and took appropriate measures…

      • The Other Kevin

        They just asked me to grill them, and they weren’t jerks about it so they had no problem with me using the same grill grates and tongs I used on the real sausages. Those things are just gross to handle.

    • trshmnstr

      We had some folks over, too. Around 30 overall, and our playset and mulberry trees were likewise terrorized. Not too bad for only being here 9 months.

      We did burgers (half from a church acquaintance’s cow and half from the meat market in town), turkey dogs (meh), and plain and cheddar brats.

      • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

        Smash burgers, Eye-talian pasta salad, smoked mac-n-cheese, with strawberries.

        Only 8 of us. Good times.

        I got to hold the 3 week old baby. She sharted. I have that effect on most of the women I meet…

      • pistoffnick (370HSSV)

        My girlfriend’s first granddaughter.

      • juris imprudent

        Give her my congrats! I know what it means to me.

  24. Sensei

    “I didn’t think it would be so hard to even get a screening interview,” said Daniel Cooper, a computer-engineering major who graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology this month. The 22-year-old accepted a software-engineering job earlier this spring, but the offer was rescinded after the company announced layoffs.

    In a more certain economic times firms would be fighting over a candidate with this background. But I’ve been assured the economy is humming away.

    https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/jobs-ai-disruption-2024-college-graduates-f72247ab?st=z4drlxf72en3ms0&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • PieInTheSky

      there is a general downtrend in IT, programming reddit has been bitching about it all year. Including in Romania.

      • UnCivilServant

        Developers are a dime a dozen, especially those that use Reddit.

        What I have a hard time finding are people able to articulate a thought process.

      • PieInTheSky

        Romania had an outsourcing boom and now there is a bit of a bust. Funny part is none of the complainers are anything but supercompetent and just the corporations are evil and firing them.

      • PieInTheSky

        A lot of people complaining worked as contractors because they payed a lot less in tax and got more money. Now they are upset, but this is the whole thing about being a contractor. You are the first to go. This is the tradeoff for getting more money. The problem is mos of them lived it up and saved almost no money, considering the 2021 2022 boom to be the new normal. Now they are in trouble. If you are a contractor in boom times you need to save a lot. They were also mostly remote and remote jobs are drying up, and none of them want to go to an office.

      • Rat on a train

        Pie, independent contractor or contracting company? Both have risks but the former is very risky. I haven’t had problems finding new positions as a contracting company employee. Some independent contractor coworkers had to scramble.

      • PieInTheSky

        independent contractor or contracting company – often both. there are large outsourcing companies that hire Romanians and get projects from other companies, e.g. luxoft, endava, cognizant etc. Some romanian contractors work like this: they have a llc with one employee -themselves – making minimum wage and the get a contract for software which they pay the minimum wage payroll taxes and a small profit tax, keeping most of the money. With these companies they either get a contractor gig directly for a company hiring contractors for themselves, or they get a subcontractor gig for one of the big outsourcing companies. This was not imo a pure contractor way of working rather than avoiding taxes (not that there’s anything wrong with that) e.g. some were contractors 4-5-6 years for the same company without having any other customer.

      • rhywun

        “The companies typically tell her they want three to five years of experience, even for jobs listed as entry-level positions. ”

        Herp derp

  25. Certified Public Asshat

    George Floyd was obviously murdered by a racist cop.

    How much money would you need in order to take the same amount of fentanyl? In the comfort of your own home of course.

  26. The Late P Brooks

    Whatever it takes

    Former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb said Tuesday that he believes former President Trump is likely to be found guilty in his criminal hush money trial this week.

    “I expect a ‘GUILTY’ verdict, but only because the jury instructions as urged by the [district attorney] and adopted by the judge, over strenuous and well-founded defense objections, virtually require conviction,” Cobb told Axios.

    “I reach this legal conclusion because of my long expertise as a federal prosecutor and white-collar defense lawyer,” he continued, “my reference for the rule of law, and despite my view that Trump remains the greatest threat to Democracy in our nation’s history.”

    By hook or by crook.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      But persecuting your political rivals isn’t the greatest threat? Suck my knob Cobb.

    • Gustave Lytton

      Greatest threat to Democratcy? Low bar if so.

  27. Sean

    Anyone else having trouble with Comcast email this morning?

    • R.J.

      Major storm in DFW, there are a lot of tech nodes there. Expect issues with lots of things throughout the day.

      • Sean

        Thank you.

      • Gender Traitor

        How’s your roof, R.J.?

      • R.J.

        Don’t know yet. The big tree somehow missed my house and my neighbor’s house, I can see that. Thankful for small miracles. It took down part of their magnolia tree on the way down. It is still raining hard. My window “viewport” where I can see part of the roof indicates no significant damage. Insurance was been called. Heck of a morning.
        As I mentioned to Sean, internet/cell phone/etc… is intermittent, apparently it was an 80 MPH windstorm. The whole neighborhood is plastered in oak tree leaves.

  28. Sensei

    The voting will continue until we get the results we want. After that there will be no more voting.

    The UAW objected to a failed unionization vote at an Alabama Mercedes-Benz plant, pushing for a fresh vote and alleging the automaker had interfered with the election.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Does this give them the opportunity to threaten to break the antiunionists legs or is that a relic of the past?

      • R C Dean

        It will be a mostly peaceful election.

    • ZWAK came for the two-fisted tentacle-fighting, stayed for the crushing existential nihilism.

      Yeah, about that “infill” bullshit. No one wants that on their property, they already have an illegal mother in law unit if they do.

    • juris imprudent

      It was supposed to get all my neighbors to do it – for the good of the community ya’ know.

  29. The Late P Brooks

    Cash burn

    Melinda French Gates will donate $1 billion over the next two years to women and family rights around the globe, including reproductive rights in the post-Dobbs era.

    “As shocking as it is to contemplate, my 1-year-old granddaughter may grow up with fewer rights than I had,” French Gates wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Tuesday.

    ——-

    “We remain the only advanced economy without any form of national paid family leave. And the number of teenage girls experiencing suicidal thoughts and persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness is at a decade high,” she wrote.

    “Despite the pressing need, only about 2% of charitable giving in the United States goes to organizations focused on women and girls, and only about half a percentage point goes to organizations focused on women of color specifically,” she added.

    Tickets to Heaven aren’t cheap

    • Gustave Lytton

      my 1-year-old granddaughter may grow up with fewer rights than I had

      Yeah, because that is your stated leftist intention, you mendacious cunte.

    • rhywun

      Racist claptrap is….

    • creech

      “As shocking as it is to contemplate, my 1-year-old granddaughter may grow up with fewer rights than I had,”
      If she believed that shit, then she would be giving her $1 billion to libertarian causes, or bankrolling Rand Paul on a run for president

  30. Gustave Lytton

    Well, here’s what all climate scientists actually agree on:

    The average global surface temperature has increased over the last 150 years.
    Humans are adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.
    And carbon dioxide emissions have a warming effect on the planet.

    And 50 years ago, they were all in on global cooling. Never mind the case after case of data manipulation, models with assumptions that only koolaid drinkers would ignore, the even the laughable accuracy and minimal datasets all of it is based upon, or the religious you must believe this mindset.

    However, climate scientists disagree about:

    How much warming is associated with our emissions
    Whether this warming is larger than natural climate variability.
    And how much the climate will change in the future.

    Missing “how much warming is actually occuring” in there, along with “are the costs for doing something more/worse than not?”

    • juris imprudent

      Whether this warming is larger than natural climate variability.

      Not like that is significant or anything.

  31. The Late P Brooks

    The voting will continue until we get the results we want. After that there will be no more voting.

    The vote was obviously rigged. Otherwise, the union would have won.

  32. The Late P Brooks

    French Gates also recently offered 12 people — including former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, athlete and maternal health advocate Allyson Felix, and Afghan educator and women’s rights advocate Shabana Basij-Rasikh — their own $20 million grant-making fund to distribute as they see fit.

    “I’m eager to see the landscape of funding opportunities through their eyes, and the results their approaches unlock,” French Gates said.

    Just put it in a pile and burn it.

    • trshmnstr

      athlete and maternal health advocate Allyson Felix

      It’s interesting that she’s getting supported. As far as I know, she gained “maternal health” notoriety by not aborting her baby (as happens sometimes in professional track and field) and telling her sponsor to shove it when they started making noise about her personal choices. She then spun up her own athletic company that takes a more supportive approach to athletes who want to be mothers. Seems like the opposite message to what the she-Gates wants.

    • Raven Nation

      ” including former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern”

      It says it was a recent offer. I wonder if the two of them were talking about 18 months ago and that’s what precipitated Arden’s retirement from politics.

    • slumbrew

      The problem with bears is that they’re so derpy and cute, right until they start tearing you to bits.

      They look insufficiently scary until it’s go time.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    Freaking out

    “You don’t want to be that guy who is on the record saying we’re doomed, or the campaign’s bad or Biden’s making mistakes. Nobody wants to be that guy,” said a Democratic operative in close touch with the White House and granted anonymity to speak freely.

    But Biden’s stubbornly poor polling and the stakes of the election “are creating the freakout,” he said.

    “This isn’t, ‘Oh my God, Mitt Romney might become president.’ It’s ‘Oh my God, the democracy might end.’”

    ——-

    Biden supporters who remain optimistic say they’d rather be him than Trump, before rallying around abortion and issues of reproductive rights, which Rep. Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat, called “a fundamental game-changer.”

    “We have to run a campaign, where honestly, we drive home the message that Donald Trump takes us back to the 19th century. Biden takes us further into the 21st century,” Kildee said.

    That’s the winning strategy. Go with that.

    • juris imprudent

      Dammit, I was just going to post this under the link heading of “st, sto, stop I can only get so hard”.

  34. Sensei

    Some interesting exhibits. Nothing surprising. People don’t like forced choice and they don’t overt government subsidies. And now everything is political.

    Another Roadblock to the EV Transition: Personal Politics
    As automakers look to push their electric vehicles, some consumers are resisting for political reasons

    https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/another-roadblock-to-the-ev-transition-personal-politics-ab4e311b?st=g85edtel0v9cxvw&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • juris imprudent

      I suppose my opposition to automatic transmissions is political as well? [sigh] Fucking morons.

  35. Common Tater

    “NYC judge in Trump trial says jury doesn’t have to agree on what crime was committed to convict

    Emil Bove, a defense attorney for Trump, argued that the jurors should have to agree on a single predicate crime to issue a guilty verdict in the trial. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said that the law does not require jurors to do that

    Judge Juan Merchan ruled during the final week of hearing from witnesses in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s falsified business records trial that the jury does not have to agree on what the second crime was that the prosecution alleges Trump did to find him guilty.

    Trump’s defense team argued during a May 21 hearing that the jury should be required to agree on a “predicate” crime to find Trump guilty of the felony charges. Falsifying business records is typically a misdemeanor, but Bragg raised the 34 counts to felonies, alleging that a second crime was committed in conjunction with the business record charges….

    Even if some jurors believe Trump falsified the records to cover up a tax crime while others believe he did so to cover up an election crime, the jury can still find Trump guilty of felony-level falsifying business records charges.”

    https://thepostmillennial.com/nyc-judge-in-trump-trial-says-jury-doesnt-have-to-agree-on-what-crime-was-committed-to-convict

    WTF??

    • R C Dean

      “The jury finds the accused guilty of . . . something. We couldn’t really settle on what, but we did agree he’s guilty, guilty, guilty.”

      That is literally going to be the verdict. Has the prosecution even specified the predicate crime(s)? By chapter and verse citation to the criminal code?

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        The whole point of this bullshit is to stand until after the election so they can call Trump a convicted felon in the meantime, +1 if they can get him locked up.

      • juris imprudent

        No they have not, and any judge on any bench should have benchslapped into next year.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Nope because I believe they cannot. They are invoking a Federal law as the underlying issue aren’t they?

      • Rat on a train

        Has the prosecution even specified the predicate crime(s)?
        Like the Colorado ballot case, they determined he committed a federal crime. They just know.

    • Not Adahn

      NY’s overly-strict laws are tying the hands of their noble public servants. They should rewrite the laws so that prosecutors only need to suggest that criminals are guilty rather than prove it. Or if you’re a bleeding heart, and demand proof, the DA needs the power to establish the elements of a crime by fiat.

      • juris imprudent

        The can call it the Beria Memorial Justice Act.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Crazy innit? Our legal system is a rancid pile of shit at this point.

  36. juris imprudent

    Nothing unusual or improper about this, nothing at all. [It really is a clown world.]

    President Biden made a surprise nighttime visit to the Delaware home of Hallie Biden on Sunday — just before she’s due to serve as one of the most important witnesses at first son Hunter Biden’s federal trial for alleged gun crimes.

    • juris imprudent

      I mean, didn’t the Godfather teach him anything – you send your consigliere to do that business.

      • Common Tater

        It’s Fredos all the way down.

      • juris imprudent

        [congrats CT, that has me laughing almost as much as NA‘s comment]

    • R C Dean

      If I’m the prosecutor, I guess now I’m opening my questioning with “What did you and the accused’s father discuss when he visited you day before yesterday?”

      Meh. She was probably going to dummy up and plead the Fifth anyway.

    • Old Man With Candy

      Is that the one he fucked in the shower?

      • Ownbestenemy

        Thought that was the one that Hunter fucked?

  37. Sensei

    With $14 Billion U.S. Steel Deal in Limbo, Nippon Steel Seeks Community Support
    Japanese steelmaker’s vice chairman visits Pittsburgh area and says company is ready to ‘share all the fruits of our technology’

    I’ve watched “Gung Ho” I know what’s going to happen!

    (Good luck PA Glibs it’s going to be ugly with the election campaigns there.)

    https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/with-14-billion-u-s-steel-deal-in-limbo-nippon-steel-seeks-community-support-76abc6fb?st=3t95giktr4bfwlg&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

  38. The Late P Brooks

    From Sensei’s link:

    “The purpose of SB9 is homeownership but we’re not even allowing that to really bloom,” said Muhammad Alameldin, policy associate at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley. “We wrote the law with too many ways in which local governments could prevent the actual home-building.”

    What’s the point of even having a government if you can’t use it to force people to do what you want?

  39. The Late P Brooks

    President Biden made a surprise nighttime visit to the Delaware home of Hallie Biden on Sunday

    It’s not witness intimidation when the President does it.

  40. The Late P Brooks

    Has the prosecution even specified the predicate crime(s)?

    Is adultery still on the books as a crime in New York?

  41. Sensei

    Where is Neph? Today’s trivia.

    Case in point is “Opus No. 1,” probably the most earworm-y song in the hold-music genre. It was composed in 1989 by a then-teenaged Tim Carleton and recorded on four-track tape by a buddy who later went to work designing telephone systems at Cisco Systems CSCO 0.80%increase; green up pointing triangle. Today, that five minutes of tape is the default hold music for more than 100 million Cisco IP phone systems worldwide.

    https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/telephone-hold-music-annoying-5a4e9205?st=yyjdib4gesihkqy&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

    • slumbrew

      Used to great effect in a Bud Light ad.

      (that’s his IRL wife and dog, btw).

    • Sensei

      Nice. However, “The last time I apologized was in elementary school, in the principal’s office, I was 9 years old.”

      Apparently she has never bumped into anyone, misdirected a letter or an email or asked a person to repeat him or herself.

      With that kind of arrogance it detracts from the the impact for me.

    • rhywun

      Magnificent.