The regulars are off doing non-regular things, which leaves the morning links open and barren. So I offered to fill in to supply some links for this glorious St. Practice Day. There’s some basketball stuff going on, Lamar Jackson is entertaining me in his brain damaged way, and I’m sure there’s some footie stuff going on too that I don’t care about. So with sports out of the way, let’s get some news out of the way.
I’m actually interested in this documentary.
Someone may have found the Old Man’s original home.
Why are all the strange alcohol related stories from Nepal and India?
Surprising everyone, Gen Z has invented, dating. This is a new development that has never been done before, it’s a good thing that the kids came up with this idea.
We must get new industries to support old failing ones, part something.
Can we say that you probably shouldn’t be recording TikTok’s at work, regardless of your profession?
In local to me news, we still can make someone a slave if they’re duly convicted, and it may be appropriate in this case.
Have I recently mentioned that Skyline chili is an abomination?
In geeky things that are of interest to me, I went down a games from my younger days rabbit hole, and stumbled upon this. A full implementation of turn based BattleTech rules. I’m still not sure if it’s worth installing Java on my machine to try it out. Any of you lot play it?
I would of course, recommend an Irish coffee, but tomorrow isn’t the day to try to order one. Or any cocktail really, be kind people. Stick to beers, shots, and two part drinks. Ok, maybe try this one at home, not at a bar (it requires a blender).
12 ounce Guinness
2 ounces rum
1 cup vanilla ice cream
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp allspice
Put into blender, blend until smooth, serve in a glass.
Well, time for some music, here’s one that fits the day, and one for tomorrow..
I thought that was tomorrow?
pssst… today is practice for tomorrow… get it?
I can’t seem to find a copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special that doesn’t look like a VHS tape copied 37 times.
I fortunately have never bothered to try.
It might be a decent albeit actually awful Thursday night movie if there was a decent stream out there.
No decent stream. I tried last year for Christmas. Might look again soon, that documentary could change things.
Don’t lie, you just wanna watch Granpa Wookie get virtually jacked off for 20 minutes.
TO EARLY GODDAMNIT
That’s what she said.
“You probably shouldn’t be….”
Hey wait! You’re not our supervisor! 😉
What if you are a professional tik toker huh smart guy?
Then you Really shouldn’t be recording videos for the CCP Spyware du jour and need to get a real job.
whaddup doh’
Pie and the links, though apparently that upsets him for some reason. Maybe the crypt is letting in too much sunlight or something.
The links are fine. The hour is wrong.
I can see why vampires hate daylight saving time.
daylight saving time is in the last Sunday of March.
Re: Megamek — sorry, they lost me at online multiplayer. I just don’t have the time or inclination to do anything but single player games.
Fastest way to lose my interest is start talking multiplayer.
Pretty much the only games I play these day are https://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/ games.
Even when I play Madden I play offline as both offenses.
I can see it for setting up campaigns or tournaments between different people. I remember using some (much more basic) applications 10-15 years back to play online Warmachine/Hordes games (those didn’t enforce rules or measurements).
Re: Gen Z dating — if they’ve discovered that having something in common and knowing the person before dating actually helps (hence dating within their circle of friends), maybe next they’ll expand that circle to social clubs or a church or something. Completely unprecedented, that. Pioneering ideas. No one has ever, ever considered such things!
Or maybe they’ll just completely regress and we’ll have to arrange their marriages. What the hell am I going to do with a cow or two as the dowry for my son’s prospective wife? (Still some dairies around these parts).
Once again, younger generations start to learn that things that have been cultural traditions for centuries became that way for a reason.
1) That gives my black pilled heart just a glimmer of hope that sanity will return (and hopefully without destroying Western Civilization first).
2) Isn’t it amazing that the modern world (since probably the ’60s and their whole fanatical focus on youth culture) has collectively decided that the 10000+ years of human society that came before and built all they enjoy were all morons who should have known better… but this time, they have all the right answers.
Insert Star Trek: Picard “Sheer fucking hubris” meme video here.
Well, there is also this…
https://nypost.com/2023/03/15/gen-z-and-millennial-drivers-rewriting-rules-of-road-rage/
(via Sean on the previous thread)
Too ridiculous for words.
*eyeroll*
👌
I liked this part:
“Gabrielle Deleon may only be 4 feet 6 — yet the 28-year-old social media manager can be an absolute lion in rush-hour traffic.”
“In recent months, she’s been expressing her anger from behind the wheel with a thumbs-down. “
I think they should wag their index finger at the offending driver (the “No no! Don’t do that! Shame on you!” gesture, a la some African NBA player?) That would be utterly DEVASTATING!
And right about now some joker is patenting a quick select of meme pictures with voice-to-text captioning to be sent over bluetooth to the oversized touchscreen of the idiot who cut you off.
Because we’re not far enough into the depths of Hell.
Dikembe Mutumbo. “No, no. Not in my house!”
“By analysing the DNA sequences of 3,525 cultivated and wild samples of Vitis vinifera (and the sylvestris subspecies), they were able to determine when and where a split, indicative of our ancient ancestors selecting vines for the qualities of their fruit ( palatability, colour and hermaphroditism being some key considerations), occurred.”
I’m not buying it. Grape cultivation is a huge PITA and relatively high tech. Neither worth it nor possible 11,000 years ago.
Seems like the same timeframe we started selectively breeding livestock for traits we considered beneficial. Why not sticking grape seeds in the ground from the best yielding vines?
‘relatively high tech’
Eh.
I am more skeptical of the methods they used to come up with the date than anything else. Seems highly susceptible to what assumptions go into your calculations.
I… wut?
Short Intestine Span Theater?
I got nothing beyond “Maybe they just meant abdomen?”
Yeah, I don’t think so. Navigating the entire colon and intestines to get there seems a bit far-fetched.
Hypothesis – Rather than actively planting vines in organized agriculture, the people at the time simply destroyed those vines growing wild that produced unpleasant fruits, leaving the preferred vines to grow better in the habitat they naturally chose. Thus beginning the process of natural selection without active direct cultivation.
*process of selective breeding.
Dammit, I knew what I meant.
The vines ate up the man’s colon and small intestine?
???
I’m assuming you misthreaded your reply (meant for our good Count Potato’s comment) since if there were grape vines and a bottle forcing through this turkey’s rectum it would be a much weirder story and all…
/look at the thread you replied too, then potentially have some more caffeine.
I was trying to answer the ancient grape vines genetic divergance question.
That’s more plausible, considering even gorillas pull weeds.
“I would of course, recommend an Irish coffee”
Sugar cubes, less than a jigger of whiskey, and no salt? Pass.
Can I have an Irish coffee without the coffee?
Salt? What new level of hell is this? I’ve heard of the blasphemy of whipped cream, creme de menthe (BECAUSE IT’S GREEN!!!!), and even a gods damned maraschino cherry, but never salt.
Yes, a dash of salt.
Salt is only needed in coffee if you’re using a poor roast or poor brewing technique, it can be used to cut the perceived acidity of coffee though.
I’m not saying you put salt in regular coffee.
Why so many alcohol-based stories? Alcohol websites are blocked from the office. I feel othered by these lynx.
You think these are specifically written to exclude you? I don’t think you have any proof.
Actually I think UCS provides very good content by volume.
Jigger, please.
I can see this thread becoming muddled very quickly.
That’s the spirit!
Swiss’s gaze will hang over you all.
Do you work in Utah …
or Mecca?
So that short-timer syndrome progressed really fast, jumping in to morning links and all.
Just wait until his work email is actually up and running again.
They got it back up last night, well after my shift ended. However, it still looks like the company lost ~12 hours of inbound customer e-mails, which I’m sure will go over well.
Deadlines were met, bonuses will be issues, all hands meetings will be held to discuss how to avoid these issues in the future instead of dealing with the teams that done shit the bed.
Corporations are becoming completely indistinguishable from government bureaucracies.
Nothing some tight money can’t fix.
I’m not sure it will be that simple.
As hire As, Bs hire Cs.
If nobody hires B’s how can they hire anyone else? Or are all B’s entrepreneurs?
Fair.
Legislation recommending Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver program, on US Senate’s agenda
https://www.romania-insider.com/us-senate-legislation-romania-visa-waiver-2023
US Senate majority whip Richard Durbin and US senator Jeanne Shaheen, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, introduced legislation recommending Romania’s inclusion in the Visa Waiver program, the Romanian Embassy to the US announced. The legislative initiative follows a visit that the two senators made to Romania last month.
So… will you visit if that goes through?
Dunno… I need to convince myself to spend the money. Traveling alone is pricey. I am thinking 5-7k $ for a two week trip… And it needs to be a fairly long trip to be worth the plane and jet lag I can;t do a city break like I do in Europe.
If you came to the US, what would you most like to see or do?
The stereotypical answer is the grand canon cause it is said that pictures never do it justice…
I dunno get a fewl for the place, eat decent food if it is to be found, get an idea of both urban and rural, drink some good booze…
I would like to eat lobster in Maine for example or visit distilleries in Kentucky but I do not think those would be places I get to on my first visit.
See Maybe some Texas, New Orleans or something, Maybe a bit of New York cause I am curious what it is like. Something more rural here and there…
I dunno it would be very expensive so I need to give it a good thought.
The only flight from Bucharest by the Romanian national airline is to Detroit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ny4a-oxOndo
Detroit is not our best city.
Unless you’re interested in human excrement and murder, skip New Orleans.
I think it would also be interesting n the right weather too see some Minnesota / Montana / Wyoming.
Minnesota in mid-summer is lovely. It makes up for the 10 feet of snow in the winter.
Well, you could always make the jump to Cleveland from there. It’s not so bad, here have a beer!
If you’d have to fly into Detroit, the best thing to do might be to head straight north to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and see Lake Superior. And if you came in September, you could head west and attend Honey Harvest! 😃🐝🍯
I woild probably fly to amsterdam stay a few days with friends and find a flight from there new york atlanta l.a. probably others
The weird thing about the Grand Canyon is that even in person, it’s so big it’s difficult to comprehend and/or appreciate. I actually thought the drive from the Grand Canyon through Oak Creek Canyon to Sedona was more interesting.
Granted, I didn’t do any kayaking or rafting or any hikes down in the canyon.
(Also, Bryce Canyon is quite wild to see)
I love Bryce Canyon. Zion is probably my favorite in Utah, though.
We did the North Rim of the GC and I thought it was amazing. We rode mules down into the canyon which was really fun. After you got over the “holy shit that’s a long drop!” thing.
The under-appreciated gem of that area is a Utah State Park – Coral Pink Sand Dunes.
Agree with you that Grand Canyon is hard to take in, I think that is what makes it so great.
The Grand Canyon looks fake in person. It’s surreal.
it’s so big it’s difficult to comprehend
This was my experience as well. When you’re standing on the lip, the canyon is all you can see, foreground to horizon. Forget about trying to photograph it and get any sense of scale.
I’ve gone the other way for stereotypical yuppie “weekend in Europe” trips several times. Leave Wednesday night around 11pm, land in Europe around 8am. Stay Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. Fly back Sunday. They’re great.
So, they are looking to deliver the goods in return for their lavish junket to Bucharest.
Sounds about right. Taste, the local fare, decide it isn’t too bad and let them be imported.
Neph!
Thanks for pinch-hitting, brother! And Happy Drunk is a great way to usher in what promises to be another shit storm of a day.
You forgot to add the Wild/Blues game in the sports wrap. Bennington went full bitch and got thrown out. Flower was lucky that his boys lit up the Blues 5 times in the second, because he apparently didn’t feel like stopping anything. Final 8-5 Wild.
Do people actually drink those cocktails? The closest I’ve ever tried is an Irish Car Bomb.
I’ve heard of the Black Velvet before, which is why I used that for my two part (and it’s simpler than the Black and Tan, Half and Half, and all the other layered two beer drinks). I showed the girlfriend the Sanka, Ya Dead recipe, and I may have relegated myself to picking up vanilla ice cream while I’m out tonight.
The Irish Car Bomb is the deadname for that drink, it’s now referred to as a handful of other things (Irish Slammer, Dublin Drop, other terrible names) to avoid othering those angry micks. Back in the halcyon days of the late 90’s, I was in a local Irish pub (with an off the boat Irishman behind the bar, naturally) when some frat boy looking guys came in and ordered Irish Car Bombs. The bartender gave them a dead eyed look and said, “We don’t fooking serve those here.”
Frat boy guys respond with, “Do you not know how to make them, we can teach you.”
Bartender shoots back with, “I know how to make it. It’s a fooking bullshit shot.”
Frat boy guys push on, “Three of them anyways please.”
Bartender looks at them, proceeds to ring up a full shot pour for each ingredient for each drink. Turns around, sets them on the bar, and says, “That’ll be $60.”
It’s a car bomb. If you don’t like it, I’ll plant a surprise under your engine.
Have Irish Trash Cans been deadnamed too?
Irish Trash Can
Never even heard of that before, and I’m not sure I’m a better person for having learned of it.
I was sitting at the bar in a bowling alley in Hutchinson, MN when I saw the bartender making these. I was intrigued so I asked the bartender what is was and then ordered one. Pretty good and potent.
Pass
Ewwww.
“No Irish Car Bombs? Okay, we’ll have a round of Black and Tans.”
Dude…
Of course, the Irish are on top in a Black and Tan.
I personally prefer the Half and Half.
“Bartender shoots back with, “I know how to make it. It’s a fooking bullshit shot.”
What a pussy.
A 17th-century painting dismissed by its owners as a worthless copy has been estimated to be worth €800,000 after experts discovered it was by a Flemish master
https://twitter.com/thetimes/status/1636091496574197761
Who coughs up that much for a Flemish painting?
booooo
Some folks will pay through the nose for them.
*narrows gaze*
Thought on this one you might have narrowed your nasal passages.
Morning Neph,
Thanks for taking one for the team.
Irish coffee is a great drink to start out your night, like a refined redbull and vodka. Mrs. Time has making them down pat. She uses brown sugar and a small amount of hot water instead of the sugar cube. The whipped cream consistency is really the critical item along with pouring it over the back of a spoon into the glass to ensure it doesn’t mix with the coffee and booze.
Irish coffee is a great drink – it ruins both coffee and whisky.
One of the few places I trust to order them while out uses brown sugar as well, I personally use demerara sugar (but then again, I use that in most cocktails and syrups I make). There was a time in my life when I could hand pour the cream onto the coffee with minimal blending, and could even hand pour a Half and Half from the bottles/cans. I’m not sure I should be working on reacquiring those skills.
I almost don’t want to read the piece. How can it live up to this?
https://twitter.com/BDSixsmith/status/1636291314961530882
This is an absolutely terrible piece but a kind editor would not have published it for hate clicks.
https://twitter.com/BDSixsmith/status/1636114634615795726
Whether it’s a meetup at a dimly lit bar, an awkward blind date, a speed-dating event, or even an answer to a classified ad in the newspaper, American dating has long been an experiment of throwing strangers together and hoping for the best.
Uh, no. Speed dating and apps are relatively recent phenomena. Getting up the courage to say “hi” to that pretty young thing from your
Calc IIAmerican Lit class, or church, or the little sister of your buddy on the beer league softball team has been around a long time.Presenting Gen Z dating (or whatever the hell it is that they’re doing) as “getting thrown together with God-knows-who” vs “moving a dude from friendzone to friend-with-benefits to spouse” is waaaaay oversimplifying things. But then it’s Insider, the webmag by and for Basic College Girls.
“Getting up the courage to say “hi” to that pretty young thing from your Calc II American Lit class, or church, or the little sister of your buddy on the beer league softball team has been around a long time.”
And those aren’t complete strangers, the way people on apps or dating events are. Hell, even meeting in a bar was often friend-of-a-friend, unless you really were just looking for meaningless sex.
‘Orning ‘ordles — I don’t drink, so no real excuse for this mediocrity…
Daily Duotrigordle #379
Guesses: 36/37
Time: 04:04.95
https://duotrigordle.com/
Daily Quordle 416
6️⃣7️⃣
8️⃣3️⃣
m-w.com/games/quordle
Daily Quordle 416
3️⃣6️⃣
4️⃣5️⃣
m-w.com/games/quordle
Blossom Puzzle, March 16
Letters: A E G L I N P
My score: 173 points
My longest word: 9 letters
🌼 🌸 🏵 💮 🌻 🌹 💐 🌷 🌺
Play Blossom:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/games/blossom-word-game
Blossom Puzzle, March 16
Letters: A E G L I N P
My score: 257 points
My longest word: 9 letters
🌷 🏵 🌹 🌼 💮 🌻 💐 🌺 🌸
Play Blossom:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/games/blossom-word-game
I can beat that:
Daily Quordle 416
5️⃣🟥
8️⃣6️⃣
Fucked myself on TR and BL can suck an egg.
Daily Quordle 416
4️⃣9️⃣
7️⃣2️⃣
Blossom Puzzle, March 16
Letters: A E G L I N P
My score: 105 points
My longest word: 7 letters
💐 💮 🌹 🌻 🌼 🌸 🌷
🙄
🙂
At least I found the help button about half-way through.
Bah.
Daily Quordle 416
6️⃣9️⃣
7️⃣3️⃣
m-w.com/games/quordle
MN Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan on sex changes for minors: “When our children tell us who they are, it is our job as grown-ups to listen and to believe them. That’s what it means to be a good parent.”
https://twitter.com/AlphaNewsMN/status/1636146393130627079
huh. and here I though the parents job is to form children to be good adults, not to listen and believe. Learn something new every day. If a 10 year old want to smoke drink and skip school he is telling parents he is a degenerate alcoholic and needs to be believed.
And if a child says they want to be a dog we should sew on floppy ears and a tail and feed them kibbles.
These people are both stupid and evil.
Nope… just get them into Army ROTC apparently.
I thought the MN governor was nutty, he must have been listening to Peggy.
There’s 10K lakes full of water plus a big ol’ river and these two drink the imported stuff from CA. They need to leave the metro area on occasion.
Was, was she wearing a shirt with a picture of, A KNIFE???
You’re gonna need something to cut the balls off with.
Parents are just the tallest people in the house.
I’m stealing that
I can hardly wait until our new Somali neighbors start to demand that female genital mutilation become legal. After all if our children tell us that they want to be chaste, good Islamic women, we need to listen?
Am I wrong for thinking that this is the culmination of a generation and a half being raised on TV shows and movies where the kids are always right and the adults are either buzz kills or idiots?
Partly right, but it’s primarily the result of letting the schools of education run amok with communists and other assorted psychopaths. The Right ceded that ground and now there’s a price to pay.
The Long March through the institutions is an actual thing.
My best friend’s six year old daughter had Downs and loves to run up to strangers and scream “I’m an old lady!”. He and his wife should pony up the dough needed for her to get skin loosening surgery, a hysterectomy, and demand that she receive the Senior Discount from all their favorite retail and food chains, post haste.
*has
…there’s no fixing that.
Well, to generalize (but only a little bit) – those same proggies who are all in favor of sexually mutilating children and encouraging any and all delusions are also pretty reliably consistent with the notion that your friend should have “fixed” that by murdering her before she was born. Sorry – in a mood this am. But it’s true.
The idea that a child knows their own mind more accurately than that child’s parents, doesn’t stand up to even casual analysis.
Having been a child, I know that children’s minds change constantly, and you cannot rely on what they say to be accurate.
It’s a fact that children’s brains are undeveloped and they don’t fully understand actions and consequences and future effects.
Yup. You’ve been a child, and you’re not anymore. For a lot of so-called adults, that’s not the case.
Holy shit.
Biggest Great White ever recorded
Reaction
You realize OMWC isn’t going to like your reaction link — he’s been through that before…..
Thatsa big fish
Very impressive until a Killer Whale shows up and eats its liver.
Another TV show ala My Fat Bride? Minorities hardest hit
The dude outside the cage is nuts. I would have been dubbed “Squidman” if that was me because of the cloud of -um- “ink” that squirted out of me when it cruised by.
Who is running the camera? How do they not just sink to the bottom, dragged down by their enormous balls?
Rate My Plate
@ratemyplatenow
Bacon Croissant by Calum
https://twitter.com/ratemyplatenow/status/1636032944312655874
fucked up looking food
@fuckedupfoods
https://twitter.com/fuckedupfoods/status/1636162528798539779
Dear god.
‘Hmm…this page doesn’t exist. Try searching for something else.’
Thats not the only thing fucked up.
Not bad… could use an egg and some cheese as well, but I’d nom nom nom on it.
The undercooked bacon is off-putting.
A little less crisp than I go for, but I think I could live with it…
Looks somewhat anatomical, that might be the real problem for you. 😛
Yikes.
Right after the personal finance and other “basic adulting” curriculum they should get back in high schools should be a mandatory physics class with a large section (with lab work) on potential energy, emphasis on springs and capacitors.
*boing*
Thank you for putting that in my head this morning.
At least he was off to the side and knew what was going to happen.
Berry Beachy and Papi Swim at Miami Swim Week powered by Art Hearts Fashion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es-n5fMoYkY
*boing*
agreed.
Answering the question “where can I go to get married in a rural Jiffy Lube?”
https://twitter.com/MorlockP/status/1636165391666774020
Well at least she’d be ready for the wedding night….
I’ve seen worse places people get married, like government buildings.
Daily Ray of Sunshine
Way to start out my morning. I was pissed off after the Peggy Flanagan link and now you’ve ruined it, Jimbo.
Thanks a lot.
Read my link below about the Met Council and their new choo-choo. That will put you back in your grumpy mood.
Wow.
Thanks, Holiness.
Everything is fine.
We’re putting it all in dog money~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbI31x3FpS0
Fine line between a bank panic and an execution.
The Bad People learned a lot from Covid.
Nah, it’ll be fine….
Any post on crypto that does not distinguish between proof of work coins, stable coins, and shitcoins is being disingenuous at best.
Great cover image, Neph.
Though I am annoyed that my brain went straight to Metallica instead of traditional.
Thanks. If I had more time (and had paid attention to Richard) more people may have caught the joke. Perhaps this will help to calm your fevered mind (one of my favorite songs by this band).
That is excellent, Neph, thanks.
Too early for some Redbreast?
*checks clock*
Sadly, yes. Maybe I’ll just watch Ciara drink other people under the table for a bit.
It’s after 2 p.m. in Dublin.
Just sayin’.
What can we do? How do we get out of this box? Tundra pr0n.
The Met Council is an abomination that has been bilking tax payers in Minnesoda for generations. No one on the council is elected, they are all appointed. So they are safe to squander money on all sorts of things without worrying about losing their phony baloney jobs. The pols love it because they get to blame the Council for all the wasted money without having to take any responsibility.
“It seems that nobody’s at fault, or everybody’s at fault,” said Rep. Rick Hansen, a South St. Paul DFLer who chairs the audit commission.
It’s the bank’s fault that my checks bounce. They have lots of money to cash it.
/Me
You can’t make it up. Minne wants to be Cali so, so badly.
‘• The pre-construction engineering and analysis of underground conditions in the narrow — and troubled — Kenilworth Corridor where a shallow tunnel is being built did not identify soil conditions blamed on expensive changes and long delays.’
lol, classic mistake. Always do the geotech in feasibility, it will bite you in the ass.
Hell, do it in design- who waits to find out what they’re gonna dig when they get to construction? Fire those engineers, stat!
Almost $200Million a mile?
The levels of graft and corruption are breathtaking.
The best part will be when they realize that Downtown Minneapolis is dead and there is absolutely no need for any mass transit to shuttle in office drones. They are all working from home.
see Bakersfield to Merced high-speed rail
Apparently the tax payers of Minnesoda like this nice arrangement. They’re getting it good and hard for being so nice about it.
You know, that used to piss me off when people would say “well, you voted for it.” But after Walz got easily re-elected I can’t argue.
Take out just Mpls and St. Paul and King Walz would have lost.
Maybe. I think MN is the same it’s always been. The DFL is the thing that changed, but the people don’t see it.
Maybe child mutilations will do it.
It filters down to the lower levels as well. Those that run (get elected) are those that want the power ’cause they’re smarter than we are. I’ve sat in on County commissioner meetings. Township meetings are not as bad because the people on the board are neighbors but still not good.
Lots of zoning laws out in the rural areas as well.
“We’re still stuck here in a corner where we can’t stop”
Sure you can.
That is the quote that killed me. Yes, you can easily stop.
When the 2008 real estate disaster happened you could drive into new developments out in the suburbs where builders had just stopped and walked away. They didn’t say “we just can’t stop wasting money”.
Speaking of Minnesoda
“The 14.5-mile project from Target Field to Eden Prairie was supposed to cost $2 billion and carry its first passengers in 2023 when it was approved by the federal government in 2018. It is now set to open in 2027 and cost $2.767 billion with the council not sure where all of the money is going to come from. Audit project manager David Kirshner described that 38% cost increase as “quite unusual” when compared to light rail projects across the U.S.”
There are a few key things in this statement.
1. ion 2018 prices for construction (especially materials) were probably 50% lower than they turned out to be now.
2. Is the 38% increase lower than expected, because rail projects always seem to go over their estimates.
3. You did a change order, never do a change order
They pulled similar shit in Seattle. Promised a train network, spent all the original money on a train that went from almost the airport to almost downtown, then went back to the public and needed money to finish the train. 3 million Puget Sounders never heard of the sunk cost fallacy, so they gave a blank checkbook to keep the project going indefinitely.
I have a better idea – Contractor is responsible for buying the land, building the rail, and gets to operate it and retain the revenues generated from ridership. Only taxpayer involvement is the government not interfering.
“Doctors Remove Vodka Bottle From Man’s Stomach In Nepal”
One in a million shot doc!
I think it was the millionth shot that caused that accident.
If it turns out to be an airplane shooter, I’m gonna be really disappointed…
THICC Thursday giving more cushion for the pushin’.
https://archive.ph/2FQtT
A friend of mine was supposed to be born on 3/17. His family is Catholic so he was going to be named Patrick.
He was born a day early, so, of course, he was named John instead.
Happy birthday John!
Here it comes.
https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1636355795515260929
So we won?
What craters first, do you think?
European banks, they’re fucked. When the realization sets in over there, the political turmoil is going to be spectacular.
The Fed is cutting off backdoors to the eurodollar market by obliterating FTX, SVB, and Signature, so liquidity provided to the US banking system can’t as easily escape to Europe.
What do you think the real-world ramifications of winning for the Fed and losing for the ECB look like?
I think I’m following the monetary fight but am still unclear of what the outcomes mean. Does the Fed winning mean our economy will crash at a slower rate and Europe will more quickly undergo a Great Depression type event?
That would be my guess. There will be a huge problem since the banks won’t be able to lend.
At some point, cutting off the availability of dollars to foreign central banks is going to mean the dollar isn’t working as the reserve currency any more. I think. Finance at this level baffles me.
And there’s a good chance Powell double taps the ECB’s corpse by raising rates again.
He has to keep raising, IMO.
I keep picturing some kind of Texas Hold Em game, with Powell wearing a hoodie, earbuds, and Oakley Blades.
Doesn’t help that the money printer is still going brrrrr. Like bailing out water when there’s a gaping hole in the side of the boat.
Costs the same to print 1000 $ bills as a 1$ bill. That’s always worked before.
The Truth about Hunter-Gatherers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa6fok_GQJU
Teeling is an excellent whiskey.
Thank you, I enjoy it. The Irish whiskey with my favorite name however, remains Writers’ Tears.
I like the name but thought the whiskey was a B+.
For everyday drinking my standard is Tullamore Dew
Tully is my go to as well.
Slainte.
Tullamore Dew sucks. There. I said it.
Do you prefer Jamesons or Bushmills? Staying at the same shelf level of course.
Jamesons, mostly.
Fair enough, at least it’s not that Protestant shite!
/of course, Bushmills and Jamesons are both owned by the same French company at this point.
I like Jameson’s but prefer TD.
Someone above mentioned Red Breast: definitely superior but, at least in my neck of the woods, twice the price.
I like Paddy’s as well.
Their distillery is also a good tour. More like a micro brewery. I was able to talk to the master distiller as well as the process control and facilities engineer.
I didn’t get to talk to any of the deep knowledge people, but I did stump the poor tour guide when I asked the reason for the extended mash time (from memory they were doing an 8 hour mash at the time, which is extremely long in the brewing world).
Did they still offer the Red Legged Rebellion as a cocktail choice at the end of the tour?
I don’t remember the cocktails I had at the end. I do remember buying a single barrel and single malt from the giant barrel in the gift shop. That was one of the best whiskeys I ever had but it was a 120 EU.
Seconded.
I heard about them here. I forget who mentioned it.
Timeloose mentions below about their distillery tour. It is worth it. You get to see all the steps of the operation, unlike say the Jameson’s tour which is really just a fancy lecture.
JUST IN – European Central Bank raises interest rates by 0.50% to 3.50%.
Is the Euro rising in the currency exchange market?
Treading water
It’s a liquidity fight between the ECB and the Fed now.
One of them will fall.
I know every generation thinks they’re smarter than all the previous ones, but Gen Z has elevated it to an art form. They are just the worst. (No offense to any younger Glibs out there).
Until you ask them to troubleshoot basic things on their computers, which they have grown up with.
I have a hankering to watch Cool Runnings now.
In other news
Argentina’s annual inflation rate tore past 100% in February, the country’s statistics agency announced, the first time it has hit triple figures since a period of hyperinflation in 1991, over three decades ago.
Inflation over 12 months clocked in at 102.5% in the second month of the year, according to government data released on Tuesday, with a higher-than-expected 6.6% monthly rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and a 13.1% year-to-date increase.
In Argentina’s markets, shops and homes, the impact of rising prices is being felt keenly as one of the highest inflation rates in the world stretches people’s wallets.
“There’s just nothing left, there’s no money, people don’t have anything, so how do they buy?” said retiree Irene Devita, 74, as she checked grocery prices in a market fair in San Fernando on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.
I bet it’s Trump’s fault.
How many times has Argentina gone into hyperinflation?
You’d think that eventually they’d figure it out and get rid of the commies.
Too dumb to learn from their own history- they’d rather believe in unicorns.
To be fair, we still haven’t learned not to give the commies power.
But we don’t have too much of a history of that, outside of FDR (?).
Er… what?
Our lefties have usually not been full on commies who want to renege on our debts and completely take over industry.
Yes, they’ve been slowly and surely moving in this direction, but the shear scale of both their ambitions and failures is not the same.
Well the problem is you can get rid of some humans, but you can never get rid of all human stupidity.
On the streets, inflation is all many people can talk about. It seeds frustration and anger as salaries often fall behind the cost of goods despite government schemes to cap prices and limit grain exports to boost domestic supply.
No kidding.
“In the money! Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively seen out together in NYC after actor’s $300M windfall from T-Mobile’s $1.35 BILLION acquisition of Mint Mobile”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11863477/T-Mobile-buying-Mint-deal-worth-1-35B.html
Deadpool got bank.
No doubt Wrexham fans will demand he spend most of it on their team.
They are getting promoted this year.
yeah, disappointed by this- assuming it will lead to higher prices soon. 🙁
Hello fellow MM user.
Guessing they realized Mint was going to eat their lunch eventually.
So freaky that the bottom half of that article is dedicated to analyzing everything he and his wife are wearing in the photo. I am so separated from that world. For me, it would be:
“R.J. is wearing an ensemble from Duluth Trading Co. and a T shirt with a Sasquatch on it from a Alvin’s Island of Florida. He is wearing what were once shoes.”
If I were a rich Canadian, I’d probably own a nice down jacket.
No doubt. But who makes a living analyzing everything you wear?
Influencers?
The guy lives a charmed life: gets to bang Blake Lively and 300M richer.
…and that’s after he got to bang Scarlett Johansson.
I am more jealous of his run at Rachel Leigh Cook
Some guys have all the luck.
Be attractive. Don’t be unattractive.
Do they think he’s sexy?
Funny, good looking, and rich is a running start, that’s for sure.
“There are no ugly rich men”
Sophia Loren
More fun in Euro land
Clashes broke out in Athens Thursday during a general strike in Greece that was called in response to a rail disaster last month.
Protesters hurled gasoline bombs at a police cordon near parliament. Riot police responded with tear gas and sound grenades, during the brief flare-up of violence that disrupted large, peaceful demonstrations. There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests.
The strike grounded flights and extensively disrupted services, while large protests were also held in other cities across the country. Clashes between youths and police also erupted in the southern port city of Patras.
The strike also kept ferries to the Greek islands at port, left public hospitals running with emergency staff, halted public transport services and led to class cancellations at state-run schools.
Unions have rallied behind railway workers’ associations that have staged rolling walkouts since the head-on train collision in northern Greece on Feb. 28 that left 57 people dead and dozens injured.
It’s a great time to be alive.
‘It’s a great time to be alive.’
If a little domestic disturbance in Greece makes the headline news, it sure is. Could be a lot worse.
“2½ tons of uranium goes missing in war-torn Libya, prompting nuclear security fears”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11867017/Libya-2-tons-uranium-goes-missing-war-torn-country-prompting-nuclear-security-fears.html
Woopsie!
Did they suddenly acquire a bunch of used pinball machine parts?
“California could BAN Skittles, Sour Patch Kids and Campbell’s soup under radical new crackdown on food with cancer-linked additives”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11864995/California-BAN-Skittles-Sour-Patch-Kids-Campells-soup.html
Focusing on the big stuff.
Everything in California is linked to cancer.
I’m pretty sure California causes cancer.
California is a cancer.
^^^ This
When they leave and bring their BS elsewhere it definitely seems like a metastasis.
Fun fact. California’s state rock is serpentine, aka asbestos.
Relevant to THICC Thursday.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/dear-deidre/21681509/partner-affair-sex-lover-weight/
‘Now I feel worthless and disgusted at what I have done.’
Well, you are worthless and disgusting so your feelings match reality.
Wow.
Farmers’ protest party win shock Dutch vote victory
The Dutch establishment will fortify the shit out of the next election.
Still, I’ll take the good news.
After the ECB collapses, it’s going to be more difficult to fortify European elections, particularly if the ECB takes the EU with it.
We’re watching history.
I believe so as well. The leftists are terribly violent though so I hope they don’t start assassinating the new party leaders.
Peter Zeihan predicted most of this. The only area where I think he’s wrong: he overestimates the intelligence of the US voter and politician. He outlines how North America is poised to dominate a post-globalist world due to its climate, agriculture and natural resources. What he doesn’t account for are suicidal enviro-Nazis taking over government to prevent the US from utilizing any of those resources.
However, I agree that we’re watching the death throes of the WEF’s totalitarian plots. Their boldness of late is not borne of confidence but of desperation.
I pray you’re right but I think we’re only a decade behind Europe.
I guess Zeihan thinks we’ll have some better informed/behaved elite come along?
3. PROFIT!
OK, so it can happen.
It’s impossible to tell what the party stands for when it is just described as “far right.” That point really bugs me. What about that coalition caused the loss? If they were far right and had a huge coalition, how did this environmental voodoo shit get so big anyway? Not that BBC would be honest about politics…
THEY OPPOSE OUR HOLY GOODNESS!
What more do you need to know? Or do you oppose it too?
“Although their policies are very much focused on opposing the government’s environmental policies[…]”
…ummmm… no shit?
“he told the BBC most people would characterise them as a right-wing, populist party that was quite anti-EU, anti-immigration and in favour of banning burkas for Muslims.”
There it is.
Because they’re concerned about globalist elites trying to destroy their lives, they absolutely *must* be Nazis.
I can’t stand the BBC. Such a government shill. I’d rather read about it on Al-Jazeera. At least the party platforms would be described properly.
BBC: Ewwwww
‘A farmers’ party has stunned Dutch politics, and is set to be the biggest party in the upper house of parliament after provincial elections.
The Farmer-citizen movement (BBB) was only set up in 2019 in the wake of widespread farmers’ protests.
But with most votes counted they are due to win 15 of the Senate’s seats with almost 20% of the vote.’
So… can they actually affect anything? The article was scant on how this will really play out. BBC is dumb.
In a multiparty system I’m sure they can. This is great.
Maybe?
They could also get frozen out by the other major parties, right?
FinDom and humiliation is such a weird world to me.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/real-life/men-pay-humiliate–love-29322411
I mean, whatever floats your boat, but I fail to see how this is erotic or stimulating.
Further: “Gigi has found creative ways to make her explicit content stand out from the rest. One way she’s done that is by being paid to send a man videos of her eating – and he’s particularly turned on by noodles.”
Unless she’s eating them naked, can you really call that sex work?
it’s men internalizing female sexism
I had a romantic partner once who wanted to play master/slave. So not into that stuff. Poor guy.
Sounds like you missed out on never having to do laundry/dishes/etc. again.
lolright
black dude? 🙂
the thing about kink is that you never understand if it is not one you have. Why would I want a chick to piss in my mouth?
To get rid of the taste of her boyfriend’s cock?
FinDom
Millions of kinky Swedes and Norwegians can’t be wrong can they?
I am going to have Irish coffee with breakfast tomorrow, assuming I can get into the local Irish pub. I’ll switch to Smithwick’s after.
Thanks for the Battletech link, Nephilium. I’ll take a look next week when I have more time.
Slight NSFW gun humor.
My workplace is launching a major policy document that they have been working on for a year.
They emailed our team a timeline of tasks leading up to the launch. Guess how much time they allotted to build a web page and check the document for accessibility (again, this has been in process for a year)?
Ten minutes?
Live and active by Monday?
Oops…misthread
March 22, the policy team finishes the design of the document, checks it for compliance, sends it to web team for final compliance check and building the public web page.
March 23, launch event
So, if we’re lucky, we’ll get, like, 2 hours.
Classic.
Ah, so the same project management team that did our (per the All Hands meeting I dropped several minutes after they said this) e-mail migration, which was a “Major milestone and a huge success”.
I watch Chris Rock’s Netflix show last night, and I have to ask, has anyone seen Heroic Mulatto and Chris Rock in the same room at the same time? Sounds like they have very similar hobbies.
Eating ass?
I didn’t think it was too funny and bailed partway through.
There were parts I liked, parts I didn’t like, and parts that pissed me of. But goes after everyone, so I’m willing to put up with the parts I don’t like.
Same.
It was an epic rant, just not all that funny. Sure, there were funny moments, but mostly it was little more than an occasional chuckle.
I turned it off about 25 minutes in.
March 22, the policy team finishes the design of the document, checks it for compliance, sends it to web team for final compliance check and building the public web page.
March 23, launch event
So, if we’re lucky, we’ll get, like, 2 hours.
The Launch Event
In a multiparty system I’m sure they can. This is great.
Maybe the Farmers will take the Greens out back and beat them to death. You know… negotiate with them.
It is somewhat heartening that people are starting to understand that you can’t negotiate with the greenie terrorists.
Turn them into Soilent! For the good of the land.
You know what annoys the shit out of me? News articles blabbering about a “monetary policy shift” when the Treasury and the Federal Reserve are doing everything they possibly can to prevent a contraction of the money supply.
So I was given a Hewlett-(fudge)Packard laptop, HP 250 G8. Nothing special- core i3 and 8gb of ram. I saw someone on Ebay selling one with 32 gb ram, so even tho the maximum is listed as 16gb, I decided to try it. I pulled 32gb from another laptop, put it in, and success. Windows saw all the memory.
When I put it back to the original configuration- it wont start up. The cooling fan comes on, but no display.
Did I brick it?
We can talk next thread.
Hello. I am back from vacation early.
Never made it to our destination. A woman in Buick Enclave hit the vehicle in front of her and veered right into my truck sending both of us down the embankment. Truck is at a repair shop in Hattiesburg MS and my trailer is deemed a total loss.
There were no injuries.
In three or four weeks, I will get to fly to Hattiesburg, then spend another two days driving my truck home.
Oh shit. Happy to hear you are all well though.
Sorry to hear about the end of the vacation and the accident. Glad to hear there were no injuries.
Oh, no! 😟 So sorry about your ruined trailer and trip, but glad no one was hurt! Will someone’s insurance cover your trailer?
Oh shit, kinnath. I’m glad everyone is ok.
That sucks. Glad y’all are ok.
Thank goodness.
Boy that is terrible. I hope insurance pays for everything, at least.
Oh my! Glad to know there were no injuries but still a lot of annoying problems. Take a longer vacation this fall, enjoy MN colors at the end of September. North Shore is beautiful in the fall.
I will need to spend three or four days recovering my truck when it is done. I am going to have a shortfall on vacation days this year. But we will be at HH.
Sorry… mine was mild compared to that. hope insurance/guilty party covers all the cost at least
Sorry.
It is somewhat heartening that people are starting to understand that you can’t negotiate with the greenie terrorists.
They want to eliminate everything which has produced the wealthiest and most successful civilization in history, and, so far as I can tell, offer nothing in its place to sustain that wealth.
It is utterly baffling to me how the Greens (in any country) can push such plainly destructive policies and not be unceremoniously shown the door.
???Self-hating???
Maoist conditioning for the last 40 years?
Tres bait.
Gross, why are all the chicks fat?!? I was there in 1985 and it was glorious. No fatties, no cops, no curfews.
I miss the ’80s.
There were no injuries.
Upside, limited though it may be.
That really sucks, Kinnath. Was it icy/snowy/shitty road?
Friday before spring break.
I counted three BMWs, two Mercs, and a Range Rover headed south at very high speeds.
As you get close to Hattiesburg, traffic starts to back up. The right lane, where I was, was moving at the speed limit. The left lane was going much faster, and everyone was tailgating the others.
I saw brake lights way up the road which started a cascade of brake lights coming back to us. I was already braking and trying to get the the shoulder when a vehicle behind me decided to pass and didn’t know the left lane was all braking hard. She never had a chance.
Drive pavement and overcast. 3:30ish PM.
Strictly the result of careless driving.
Insurance is totaling the trailer. I will get a check next week.
My insurance will charge everything back to the responsible driver’s insurance.
On the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, allow me to share with you the wisdom of Australian singer/songwriter Jon Schumann (former frontman for the brilliant Oz socialist band Redgum):
“Just don’t sing [or talk] in an Irish accent if you’re not Irish, that’s all we ask.”
a vehicle behind me decided to pass and didn’t know the left lane was all braking hard. She never had a chance.
And all she was looking at was the back of your trailer.