So, several days into my first cruise, I have a correction to make. It’s not like being stuck in a hotel, it’s like being stuck in an airport. Albeit, with a drink package and food package that covers quite a bit. I have introduced many people to Aperol Spritzes and Aperol and soda (I can’t help you if you need a recipe for this). Thankfully, I haven’t met too many monsters.
I was unaware that the Swiss ran China.
The fraternal organizations have really changed since the time of the water buffaloes.
*knock* *knock* *knock* Land Whale!
A cracker by any other name…
Who’s going to write the pitch?
i was one of the people cheering, and I’m not sorry. Hell, I was wearing a Flacco jersey while doing it.
Commies get the rope. This law was not sold for dealing with a ten mile move.
I gave the girlfriend the choice for which of several drinks I was dithering between for this post, and here it is:
The Corpse Reviver Number Blue
- 1 part London dry gin (0.75 ounces)
- 1 part blue curaco (0.75 ounces)
- 1 part Lillet Blanc (0.75 ounces)
- 1 part lemon juice (0.75 ounces)
- Dash of absinthe
To start with, I’m cheating a bit. Traditionally, this drink calls for an absinthe rinse, but as someone who hates alcohol waste, I prefer to include it in the drink. This drink was also started as a joke drink, but managed to hang on for a while. Pretty easy to make, just add everything to a shaker with ice, shake until chilled, and strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with a lemon twist. If you want to be more traditional, you can put Cointreau back in instead of the curacao, but it won’t be blue.
So get ready to dance your way into the last weekend before Halloween.
[Late addition, I’ve been asked to add this]
whaddup doh’
Aperol and soda and a potential sunburn.
Do you have a fez ring on your head where the sunburn stops? That would be dedication.
The fez has been worn for the dress up nights. Otherwise, I’ve been flipping between my standard flat cap or a pork pie. Got a bit of sun today, so I’m more rocking the farmer’s tan.
It is Friday afternoon — so probably some folks are ready to play – doh’.
His BAC, I’d wager.
Just watch out for used car salesmen boffing the singers, based on the Historical Records (those poor people…).
I’m curious on the difference between being stuck in a hotel vs. stuck in an airport — is it that you rarely can leave the premises (where in a hotel you typically can go wander around the immediate environs?) Some other nuance I’m missing.
On to the links — and thanks (of course) for your dedication.
This is close, only a while you’re allowed to get off, you have to go through security checkpoints to get back on board, and there’s duty free shops on board.
“I was unaware Swiss ran China”
That would explain the narrow gaze.
*applause*
A cracker by any other name…
Still sucks?
I’m glad y’all are having fun! Anyone hurl?
That’s….. got to be one of the damn stupidest marketing gimmicks I’ve seen in a while.
1) Do they really think adults don’t know about them? (Especially after their being around long enough for generations to grow up with them, besides the “send your kids to school / car trips” with them effect.)
2) “Chilean sea bass” screams “Rename a fish that looks like something found in a toxic dump to a fish everyone likes so we can mark up the filets” anyway… isn’t it a flounder relative? Something that no one would have touched if they didn’t mask it like they do… which means adults are more likely to look askance at you for doing this anyway.
3) Doing it for a short time just looks like a cheap attention getter… oh, wait…. it is.
It might help if they toned back all the EXTREME! flavor versions and got stores to stock more normal versions. This isn’t the ’90s, we aren’t all running around with belts of pockets on our thighs, after all.
Now get off my damned lawn, apparently.
Cheezits are better. Whisps are even better. The actual Italian parmesan fricchi (sp? from TJ’s) are the best.
It’s dumb but c’mon, not Gillette , Target, Budlight dumb.
Really guys…everyone loves Goldfish. You just ran out of people to market to because everyone is already in the bag.
Cheezits are better
Cheez-It Extra Toasty are like crack.
Pepperidge Farm anything was too expensive when I was young so I never had them until I was an adult. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Duly noted, Grummun.
+1 tilapia on sale today!
Sorry, Gustave, I’m not in the market for Sewerfish today.
It actually is a sea bass, apparently. The original name was Patagonian Toothfish. Looks like a pretty normal fish to me. Damn tasty, too.
I’m sure someone has, but I don’t think anyone in our group has fouled out yet.
Well, you are with a group of seasoned veterans.
I remember feeling a little queasy on the one cruise we went on. I slapped on a patch and all was well.
Tundra:
Me and my family have never been ones to get motion sickness. I did get a bit of vertigo when we were being towed by a tug, and the boat was going sideways, and there at least one bar where the windows by it create a curved horizon which my brain does not like.
I really don’t need to know about the moose knuckles of a Land Whale, thanks.
Maybe I do…..
You’ve outed me, Neph. That’s me leaping on the cover photo. I have been faking this whole time.
I knew it!!!
I don’t see the well dressed young man with the white goatee?
I’m trying to put handles on this crowd. I know a couple but most are strangers in a strange setting.
Good looking strangers, I might add.
Check at the end of Neph’s post. Couple of goatees and a babyfaced evil man.
Ahh, and more new friends. Thanks Neph
Not a problem at all Fourscore.
I just figured Hayek used her engineering-fu to put a steam catapult under your seat TOK. Wasn’t so much a leap as a launch.
Oh those fucking people.
Yeah, it is a lot better than it used to be — but there are still horror stories because these jackholes insert themselves at the driver level in the kernel and all.
And yeah — given the cracks continue to be out there at the time of release for those who want them and most people will actually pay for the product if it is properly available and reasonably priced, it still seems like a solution in search of a problem to me.
But I am puzzled as to why they give a shit — gamers hate them, gamers have always hated them — but their actual customers are the publishers anyway. And as long as enough publishers keep using it and the gamers buy anyway (which is what has historically always happened), the gamers opinions don’t matter. Meh.
I don’t get the hate for companies trying to protect their investments, myself. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If I was throwing 20% of my profit out the window I’d be pissed too.
Because the rest of my computer isn’t fucking theirs to screw with?
If they could legitimately secure just the program they’re affiliated with, I’d honestly not care — but all the “install kernel level drivers”, “screw with optical drives”, “slow down the system because we check random crap” stuff over the years has soured me on their business practices.
Fair enough. In that case I would not purchase.
Problem solved.
IF, big IF.
That number comes from a maker of DRM. So I find a conflict of interest there.
Other studies of DRM free games has shown that Pirates do not cause revenue loss because they were never going to buy your game to begin with.
They aren’t always up front about it — it can just be buried in the EULA or not specific.
As mentioned — all this seems to have been gotten better over the last few years… at least on Steam. Typically, it is more known what DRM is included and what it does – and for the most part from what I can tell, it is less invasive (Windows is probably letting them in in a more structured fashion, I expect).
just saying why there’s the lingering hatred for them.
When your sector of the industry has released rootkits that reduced the security of the entire box as part of your DRM, you don’t live that sort of thing down easily.
DRM is closer to malware than useful.
The gamers express their opinions when they open their wallets.
I read that as “Commies get the pope” at first… and thought “No shit…” — but that just says more about me than the rest of y’all.
Well, and something about Francis…..
A cracker by any other name…
is a honky?
“A cracker by any other name…”
is a ___________.
Dead honky?
Brilliant fucking sketch that actually got aired on TV
So long ago…
gringo?
Peckerwood
“Ofay” is also one of my favorites lesser used derogatory descriptors
+5 American History X
@Moj: No, I’m afraid I didn’t see it, despite trying to catch up after being offline for a bit. Are you OK naming the rX?
I don’t take any prescriptions. Perhaps I should.
Abilify.
Had to choose between dealing with anxiety or going into old age fat.
Isn’t that for psychosis or at least severe bipolarity?
Sounds like you decided correctly.
Double-edged, “off-label”, I guess.
All the rest of my head meds are off label, too.
All the rest of my head meds are off label, too.
Be careful with that. My mom spent a decade in full-blown, voices-in-head paranoid schizophrenia because she convinced a doc to prescribe her an acute anxiety med at a low dose for chronic anxiety. 10 years, a gazillion psych pills, and a handful of mental institutions later, she read an article saying other people experienced serious psychiatric reactions when taking the med for an extended period of time. She weaned off the med and the voices and paranoia went away.
I have a good combo. Keeps me relatively functional, retains my creativity, and doesn’t completely dull senses I don’t want dulled. I can tell the anxiety is coming back (e.g., worried my loved ones will die if they leave the house, intrusive doom thoughts), but the weight gain was getting to intolerable proportions.
Had to choose between my heart and bones when I went off estrogen after surgical menopause.
Now choosing my bones versus anxiety.
Bones, I’d guess.
My anxiety everyone expects me to rub some dirt on it and get over it.
“But you’re inconveniencing me!”
…Soary.
I recognize one of those smiling faces.
I like the keep off the wall sign
I recognize two. Who’s the dude on the right?
And that sign is just perfect.
Dont let them fool you. They are disguised as normals.
Definitely not normal…
“A cracker by any other name…”
You calling me a cracker?
It’s OK if you are. I am a cracker.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094746/quotes/?item=qt0287751
Leap in the name of Beryl 🎶
Oh, nobody but the Teds will get the reference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK9kg-Ngz0Q
Land whale is one of the most intelligent creatures in the universe. Incredibly, he is the only animal other than man who kills for revenge. He has one mate, and if she is harmed by man, he will hunt down that person with a relentless, terrible vengeance – across seas, across time, across all obstacles.
The most gender-swapping sentence of the year goes to Hype!
Okay…making a game with a 21 year old ‘world builder’, a 19 year old ‘I just got a full time job and you want me to do what dad?’ and another 19 year old ‘*hits bong* looks good’ is some fun shit.
I’m glad those days are over for me. My daughter got payback time from her 3 kids. They all turned out well though, in spite of their parents
Tell the 19 y.o. that nobody looks dignified using a bong.
At least that sin was visible to all. Maybe the fans, unlike the writer of that article, weren’t having it with the unproven accusations.
As one of our local comedians said “We sold our souls for Watson, and we never got the payout that was promised. At least the devil honored his deals.”
Their habitats collide in the coastal waters of the Pacific Northwest, where moose go swimming in search of food when it is hot. During these swims, they sometimes venture into deeper waters, where they are seen as prey by opportunistic orcas.
Queue “Jaws” music.
Suthen & Beau, Plato is indeed a common point, as is the Enlightenment. Suthen, it is very common to think that the Enlightenment had one single course in the evolution of Western thought and culture. It is an error. Marx is as much a product of Enlightenment influence as Mill; we don’t get to pretend that only one is. Even Rousseau as a critic of the Enlightenment was a product of it.
The roots of the enlightenment go back to the ancient Greeks (they tried outlawing slavery a few times…it didnt last long and was overall a failure) even though they themselves were not ‘enlightened’. Also, Christianity gave birth to the enlightenment even if inadvertently.
We should define terms here: I see the heart of the enlightenment as the notion that individuals have inherent, inalienable rights and their interests are the prime aim of institutions. That those institutions serve the individuals in society, not the other way about.
I see Marx as a rebellion against the enlightenment as he saw the value of individuals only as far as they served the institutions. Dignity cultures are the result of ‘the enlightenment’ yet they often seem to regress into ‘liberty for me not for thee’ for a lot of people. That is how I see the current Progressive mentality – skin suiting the enlightenment like they do everything. “I get what I want and you have to pay for it.”
I am not sure I would point out very decidedly not enlightened ideologies rebelling against it as products of. True, they would not exist in their current form but for it, still they just look like people grabbing the helm and attempting to force the ship around back to institutionalized slavery to me.
Yeah. That is exactly the monocular viewpoint that is wrong. The Enlightenment also spawned equality as a driving social value; and not just the limited view of equality as existed at the time of the constitution, but also as the French were about to pursue with their revolution. I’m rereading Nisbet on this and I plan on going back to de Toqueville, as he is referenced liberally in Twilight of Authority.
Nisbet argues that as equality expands, individualism is pushed down. Without some equality though, individualism has no traction. That’s why you can’t ignore how the two are in tension.
In fairness to Marx, he saw the suffering of individuals. You can read Dickens if you want independent confirmation of the social conditions of the era.
A brief YT suggestion. ‘Kamala Comparing President Trump to Hitler “Worst Thing I Ever Heard In U.S.”‘
Auschwitz survivor replied upon being asked, “Why should the Jewish people support Pres. Trump?”
“Because he’s a mensch.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QswT4pC0ao
Really guys…everyone loves Goldfish.
Not everyone.
*grimaces*
And to think I respected you….
I remember getting them at Halloween time, wrapped up in a napkin, tied with a rubber band. I wasn’t impressed. Never shoped for them, that’s for sure.
Agreed. Gross. Don’t like Cheezits, either.
My kids did, tho.
Fist bump.
Insert Ron Paul “it’s happening” gif here
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87821224358?pwd=eW55MTRDbDNtQkh2aHd3M1Nmenlzdz09
Weekend is here folks, let’s gas it up!
In honor of Halloween being only a week away, I give the gift of…
ALL THEM WITCHES.
For what it’s worth, I consider the Enlightenment to be the end of the church’s monopoly on knowledge.
Monopoly on knowledge is a fine tradition that goes back long before the CC. Good riddance to it.
Blame the Reformation.
Our Proggie friends want to bring it back.
As facilitated by the printing press. We are experiencing something similar via the internet and the cultural elites are reacting in a similar manner. Hopefully we can avoid the nuclear Thirty Years War analog that The Cathedral seems dead set on.
There is an interesting contrast in the printing press in the East (where it supported the narrative control of the potentates) against the West where it faciltated wild competition for authority.
That does seem to be repeating itself this iteration, what with the Great Firewall and similar apparatus in Islamic nations.
Omnipotent bureaucracies</a.
Today, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued guidance to protect workers from unchecked digital tracking and opaque decision-making systems. The guidance warns that companies using third-party consumer reports — including background dossiers and surveillance-based, “black box” AI or algorithmic scores about their workers — must follow Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) rules. This means employers must obtain worker consent, provide transparency about data used in adverse decisions, and allow workers to dispute inaccurate information. As companies increasingly deploy invasive tools to assess workers, this ensures workers have rights over the data influencing their livelihoods and careers.
“Workers shouldn’t be subject to unchecked surveillance or have their careers determined by opaque third-party reports without basic protections,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “The kind of scoring and profiling we’ve long seen in credit markets is now creeping into employment and other aspects of our lives. Our action today makes clear that longstanding consumer protections apply to these new domains just as they do to traditional credit reports.”
They succeeded in banning subjective judgement in favor of “hard data” It just needs a little fine tuning.
Somehow I doubt this bans government from using the same tools….
Alleged pickleball masturbator arrested again, for indecent exposure near playground
You’re only allowed to play with your pickle and balls on the court.
When I become an infamous criminal, I hope the press pins me with a cool nickname like The Jackal or Ice Pick Willie and not The Pickleball Masturbator. The crimes involved may have something to do with that, though.
Oh, I’m sorry! I thought this was America!
Sorry dude, not even at Burning Man.
Wait, I thought Pickleball was masterbation.
“Alleged Pickleball Masturbator” was one of Zappa’s best albums.
That is a dilly of an accusation to make.
Gee whiz, it’s getting harder and harder to keep up the narrative that there’s no Venezuelan gang problem in the Denver metro area, so just shut up racist…
https://www.denver7.com/news/front-range/aurora/aurora-police-were-aware-of-tren-de-aragua-operations-in-the-city-last-fall-emails-appear-to-show
Aurora Police Department email: Hey, when you guys have to respond to calls at those apartment complexes that totally haven’t been taken over by a Venezuelan gang, be sure to take an armored vehicle.
Yeah, but they didn’t take over the whole city, so it’s been totally debunked.
I see you’ve been keeping up with this disingenuous crock of shit.
“So tell me, narrative apologist, what is the acceptable number of apartment buildings for a transnational criminal organization to take over?”
Wow. WaPo Editor Quits, Staff Has Total Meltdown After Non-Endorsement Of Kamala Harris
Delicious.
Please Taylor, please resign in disgust.
I think Taylor Lorenz is, err, no longer with the WaPo.
Huh:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/taylor-lorenz/
but also:
https://www.npr.org/2024/10/10/g-s1-27366/taylor-lorenz-leaves-washington-post-after-rift-with-editors
Seen elsewhere…
https://x.com/Heminator/status/1849860436218593695
http://www.quickmeme.com/img/90/90c12df3645aee61e4a548013189b230fa8a7cf062a939fb05d74925addbbe44.jpg
And staff are seething and not coping…
So Thursday?
*breaks out the popcorn*
Heh, just popped over to the site I used to write for, now taken over by TDS, and holy gobsmaks Batman, there is seething with a side of cope.
Who we rooting for in World Series? Couldn’t stand either Yanks or Dodgers except I liked Yogi and Campy. Played ball in high school against Mr. October – our pitcher struck him out.
::begins extensive online research looking for MLB rule that would allow both teams to lose::
Series tied at 3.5 – 3.5
Meteor.
https://babylonbee.com/news/satan-not-sure-which-of-his-two-favorite-teams-to-root-for-in-world-series
https://babylonbee.com/news/millions-lose-faith-in-god-as-dodgers-yankees-move-on-to-world-series
Dodgers. Fuck the Yankees! Never forget.
Cubs fan, so I get to playfully watch from afar. Nice to get to watch just to watch, friendly change o’ pace (sometimes). I wanted Detroit or Kansas City to advance against all odds. We are, however, met at the pinnacle: I hate both the Yankees and Dodgers, but it’s truly The Best v The Best. Pity Ohtani can’t pitch to Soto, Judge and Scranton. It upsets me Flyover Country is washed aside yet again. Damn. I am sadly ‘rooting’ for the Dodgers.
Truthfully: I’m rooting for Game 7. Hopefully with seven tight, well-played games. I approve of multiple in-game lead and series shifts. I want Rizzo to do well. Playing with two broken fingers, he fuckin’ raked in the ALCS, hitting over .400, though he did have some nasty errors. Mark Leiter Jr was a Cub this year, reliable. Righty nastier on righties. Marcos Stroman as well. (Happy with that trade.) Shotei is a player never-before seen, and I love how scrapper Tommy Edman (whom I’d never heard of) earned his NLCS MVP.
GO GAME 7!
Billy Martin would be the one Yankee who could make me root for them.
Gotta say. Dude was an asshole, but I love his gamesmanship. The George Brett, overturned HR w the pine tar? ‘Reportedly,’ earlier in the season Martin noticed Brett routinely used it above the allowed line. No one cared. Martin kept it his back pocket for a chance to use it. Aaaaand….
*claps* Well-done, sir. All the outrage from Brett et al is deserved, but fuckin’ Martin wasn’t wrong.
Husband had an excellent idea about curbing the student loan problem: Make student loans dischargeable via bankruptcy.
*cue wave of bankruptcies declared a week after graduation*
I’d go with Insty’s suggestion of having the schools have skin in the game – have the loans dischargeable via bankruptcy but the schools are on the hook for 50% of that.
*cue sudden drop in enrollment as schools get much, much more selective in admissions*
Well, if the bankruptcies fuck up their credit score enough that they can’t get credit cards or rent an apartment….
My understanding is they used to be dischargeable with the results I described – a large number of bankruptcies right after graduation and just dealing with the shitty credit for 7 years. Your credit’s often poor in your early 20’s anyway.
I know at least one person who declared bankruptcy in their 20s and they still managed to get an apartment and buy things.
My understanding is they used to be dischargeable with the results I described – a large number of bankruptcies right after graduation and just dealing with the shitty credit for 7 years.
Yes.
People at that time thought I was crazy for paying off my loans. “Just declare bankruptcy!”
I was thinking the shitty credit should last longer than that, especially if bankruptcy is being used to get out of student loans.
I haven’t had to look into it, thankfully, but I believe bankruptcies drop off your credit report after 7 years – could be wrong, though.
Looks like a full 10 years if you flat-out walk-away from your debts:
https://www.creditkarma.com/advice/i/bankruptcy-credit-reports
Still not a terrible deal if you pull the cord at 21 owing hundreds of thousands in student loans.
Let’s add a contract rider is that it’s not dischargeable for X years.
The banks will start asking questions like, “What’s your planned major?”
The banks start loaning money for trade schools.
The universities will scale back on majors that can receive loans.
High schools will start sorting who should and should not go to college.
Anyway, there’s a whole downhill effect of that one thing, but it would take a while to shake out.
That doesn’t leave the colleges holding the bag.
This (and torching federally backed loans) is probably the best answer, there would be a whole lot of short-term pain for lenders but it would normalize after a while.
But our lawmakers, when faced with responsible long-term decisions that are going to cause some pain and kicking the can will kick that tin through the uprights every time.
How about instead of cash loans, the govt gives students vouchers.
Student pays for school with the voucher. After graduation (or when they drop out) they start paying back the “loan”. That cash is then given to the school to pay for the voucher they took. If the student declares bankruptcy, the school is one of the creditors and has to get in line to try to get anything back.
The trick is to make the school have skin in the game. Right now, they are raking in risk free $$$.
I’m FURIOUS I paid off my $20k student loan off and no one (in DC) gives a shit. Only took ~5 years or so. I was so responsible! I saved! But no! Let us continue to encourage recklessness! I see no consequences upcoming! (Where’s my payday?
Narrator: Fuck you, ev.) <— It doesn't shock me, but to piss off large groups of young people with their money, instead rewarding other irresponsible folk.. uh. And my Gen doesn't seem to have any worry. We shall see.