This brick was hurled at me hard enough I considered just writing a stand alone article rather than a beer review. Sorry.
This is my review of Flying Bassett Brewing Top Dog:
This began when I came across an article denying the Veteran’s Administration removed the iconic photo of VJ Day in Times Square from its facilities. To the point where they had to state it was an internal communication not intended for public distribution. You know the photo, it captures the moment news broke the Empire of Japan unconditionally surrendered to the Allies on the deck of the USS Missouri in the manner perfectly encapsulating what everyone in America was feeling at that exact moment. The guy saw his chance, and took it. Quite frankly, this kind of gumption is why we won the war.
Same old VA I thought. I saw the name of the official and asked myself, “why does that ring a bell?” Then it I saw this one: Woke VA official who pushed to remove WWII kiss photo ‘mismanaged’ St. Louis hospital where Vets were reportedly exposed to HIV.
At that point I figured it out. I used to work for this idiot while she was director at the Phoenix VA.
For context, she came in after the incident involving “secret wait lists”*—that director was named Sharon Helman who was eventually fired but not for the incident in question. I should not say anything further about her since I was involved in a related FOIA request.
Here is where I want to clear up some of the Gell-Mann Amnesia. I define woke as a contemporary version of Marxist Critical Theory that intends to highlight class and social distinctions between people of differing race/ethnicity and even between men and women, with the intention to eliminate them in spite of the detriment to society this will cause. This detriment is the intended effect.
Now the position I was in the org chart has the facility director as the only person my supervisor answered to. So when I say I worked with her, I do mean it was very often personally. By the above definition, this woman is not “woke”. She’s not a communist, she’s a fucking idiot.
The biggest reason I left the VA in 2017 and took a job with a commercial insurance company for a 15% pay cut was there was no way I was going to get promoted in that outfit. Indeed, she is exactly the type of person that gets promoted in spite of previous failure. Perhaps what I am trying to say, is we aren’t necessarily trying to defeat a strain of cultural Marxism that somehow gained favor with people in power. They aren’t brainwashed, they’re too dumb for it to make a difference.
In the midst of the insane rat race for the limited space on the local booze merchant’s shelves you find something you thought didn’t exist anymore. Its an amber lager! I thought this style died after Sam Adams cornered the market and decided they’re never going to let their flagship beer die despite waning consumer demand correlating to Gen Xers discovering they’re old enough to have fatty liver disease. Its a nice take on Boston Lager, a tad bit hoppier but nonetheless enjoyable. Flying Bassett Brewing Top Dog: 3.7/5
*I used scare quotes because there was no real secret. Nobody in charge at the time seemed to know how the system was supposed to work.
“She’s not a communist, she’s a fucking idiot.”
Hardly mutually exclusive though.
Quite a bit of overlap on the Venn diagram.
Useful idiots feature prominently in Marxist organizing and proselytizing strategies.
They, too, are true believers, or function as such. When the Burning Times come, I will not object to them decorating lampposts.
Perhaps I should elaborate: she wasn’t even useful.
Not to you, or the patients. That’s not what “useful” refers to.
But to the Movement? Sounds like she was quite useful indeed. Destruction of existing institutions and proselytizing the Current Day shibboleths is what “useful” means to Movementarians.
You sure? Her policy was shot down after enough people said it was stupid.
I suppose she is useful in finding the bridge too far.
It is disconcerting to hear a younger version of the daffy mom from Better Off Dead murmuring that she believes in The Movement.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066415
” Its a nice take on Boston Lager, a tad bit hoppier but nonetheless enjoyable. ”
That sounds OK. At least it doesn’t have any crazy ingredients. I don’t want blue cheese and buffalo chicken in my beer.
But it all comes out the same pipe.
/most of us, around the age of 5
Quite frankly, this kind of gumption is why we won the war.
Just wait ’til Our Boys are on Ukrainian turf playing “Mother, may I?” with the Russians.
They aren’t brainwashed, they’re too dumb for it to make a difference.
There must be fertile soil for a seed to take root.
US combat deaths in WWII were nearly 300,000. A modern American can’t possibly comprehend the extent of relief and euphoria that must have struck when we learned it was finally all over. But by all means, let’s judge an 80 year old photo through our modern lens as opposed to the feelings of that time.
“But by all means, let’s judge an 80 year old photo through our modern lens as opposed to the feelings of that time.”
Sounds like that would take actual empathy instead of self-centered narcissism. Not likely.
And in later interviews, the women in the photo seemed absolutely unbothered. So let’s retroactively white knight the poor helpless creature?
A victim of brainwashing by the patriarchy no doubt.
I find that with my historical books sometimes, and Romancelandia in general, which wants to shame readers who like titles and tropes that are “problematic.” Hello, forced seduction and May-December romances.
McD’s has a global POS system? What could go wrong?
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/mcdonalds-global-outage-was-caused-by-configuration-change/
‘How many times have I told you not to test in production?’
but that’s where all the data is
Super Pedant Mode Activated!
data
isare::backs out of room::
“be at”
That’s where the data be at.
Solid.
Cash registers with a crank and pop up numbers do not have a planet-wide single point of failure.
It’s amazing that most of us can even tie our own shoes.
Which generation will sue the makers of Velcro for setting back their fine motor skill development?
Gotta be Gen X cuz Velcro was already out of fashion by the time the millennials came around.
/With some recent back/chest pains was really wishing for some Velcro.
Why do you think I wear boots?
Okay, but is the ice cream machine working?
Is that pic out front Chris Beck? Looks like he recently detransitioned. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Beck_(Navy_SEAL)
That doesn’t look like Chris (who will be subject of a soon-to-appear-here interview).
Oh, and you’re likely aware of this, he was the source of Kaiser, my monster-in-residence puppy.
Don’t recall hearing that, but interesting connection.
https://nypost.com/2023/05/03/us-navy-appointed-active-duty-drag-queen-as-ambassador/
I believe
Yeah…pic matches. Kinda looked like a special warfare pin on the homepage pic size.
Top Men
Starship launched for the third time ever on Thursday (March 14), roaring into the skies from SpaceX’s Starbase site in South Texas. The company aimed to bring both of Starship’s elements — its first-stage Super Heavy booster and its Starship upper stage — down to Earth for ocean landings, but both vehicles ended up breaking apart in the atmosphere.
The test flight therefore qualifies as a mishap, and the FAA wants to know what happened. The agency announced this morning (March 15) that it will oversee a SpaceX-led investigation into Thursday’s events.
There is no way SpaceX is capable of independently analyzing their test data and improving the process.
Thank goodness for the FAA and their expert oversight.
i assume it is just standard procedure they may not even have a choice but i am no expert in US law
Yet everyone else regards the test flight as a success.
Meant to add that , at some point the DOD, which is planning to make serious use of SpaceX, needs to Bigfoot these nattering agencies out of the scene.
It was an effing test flight. It’s not a mishap when a test flight doesn’t go perfectly.
About 25 years ago, a philanthropist commissioned a larger-than-life reproduction of the smooch in question. The original is still standing in Sarasota, Florida, with copies in San Diego, New York City, Pearl Harbor, and Omaha Beach. The Sarasota one was moved a few years back to make way for road improvements, and the city is considering moving it again as the present location has the statue hidden from the road by trees. Local feminists want the statue removed entirely because it glamorizes a “non-consensual encounter.” Nobody listens to the feminists.
Minor quibble: the photo was taken on August 14th, when Japan *announced* that it would accept the Allies’ terms of unconditional surrender. The documents were signed on the deck of the Missouri on September 2nd.
+ 1 Ackshually
Thank you
It’s unclear when the fourth Starship test flight will take place; the FAA will not consider granting a launch license until the current mishap investigation is over and SpaceX has implemented the required corrective actions, whatever those end up being. But it’s safe to assume that SpaceX will be ready to fly when it gets the green light.
Maybe we should just turn the program over to NASA. They know how to get things done.
NASA now or 50 years ago?
I’ve been looking for an amber lager or amber ale since they changed Boston Lager and Fat Tire. But I doubt I’ll be able to find this one on my local grocery store shelf, and I’m not going to Total Wine – that neighborhood gives me Northern Virginia flashbacks
Where are you currently located? Any good local options? I’m hitting Ice House again tomorrow for their St Patrick’s day special. They’ll have a new Irish red ale and Irish Stout! Looking forward to it.
I just hit up a local brewery that’s celebrating their fourth anniversary. They did four Belgians to celebrate (a Saison, an IPA, a triple, and a quad), and sold them in a flight.
I’m in upstate SC. We have a wide range of Sierra Nevada and New Belgium products here
No local micro-breweries or taprooms though?
Not really my thing
Dos Equis Amber?
Is Killian’s Irish Red not an option?
NOT FAIR
For some people, the CDC’s announcement effectively marked the end of the pandemic, freeing them from the final vestige of Covid-era restrictions: their obligation to avoid infecting others with Covid or other respiratory viral illnesses. But the millions of Americans living with Long Covid, including myself, don’t have the luxury of being able to move on.
——-
Remarkably, four years later, it can still be difficult to find doctors who have even a basic — let alone comprehensive — understanding of Long Covid and the myriad ways it can affect the body and brain. While there are clinics dedicated to treating Long Covid patients in hospitals across the country, it’s not unusual for it to take several months to get an appointment.
“There are not enough clinics to serve all those in need — especially vulnerable patients,” says Linda Geng, MD, PhD, co-director of the Stanford Post-Acute Covid-19 Syndrome Clinic, and clinical assistant professor of medicine and population health at Stanford University.
While some existing clinics, like the one at Stanford, have partnered with community health initiatives and primary care providers to expand services and support for Long Covid patients, other programs across the country have lost crucial funding, forcing them to place restrictions on the new patients they accept and the services they offer, or shut their doors completely.
According to Geng, another major challenge for providers trying to care for patients with Long Covid is that there still isn’t a single FDA-approved therapy for the constellation of symptoms and conditions. “We are lacking good tools to treat our patients,” Geng tells Rolling Stone. “While research is advancing, there is an urgent need to find effective and safe therapies for Long Covid.”
Hypochondriac “bioethicist” wants special categorization for her unique debilitative obsession. It’s like a rebranded chronic fatigue syndrome, only worser.
https://dailysceptic.org/2024/03/15/there-is-no-such-thing-as-long-covid-say-health-officials
I was just going to go look for that article.
I can attest from recent experience that post-viral syndrome exists (in my case, probably flu).
A slap in the face?
You’re welcome.
Sound like an opportunity to introduce a new vaccine.
In the meantime, doctors have been trying to help people living with Long Covid manage their symptoms using what’s available. “These past four years have been about repurposing all the drugs and treatments we can, from many fields of medicine,” Nordvig tells Rolling Stone.
I thought off label experimentation for plague symptoms was malpractice.
“There’s been so much discussion about supply chains, worker shortages, and defaulting on debts, but no one wants to talk about the fact that a significant portion of the workforce has been killed or disabled by Covid,” says Froglet Taylor, who first contracted Covid in March 2020, and in addition to their job, also lost their home.
Aaaaand done. Fuck you, Rolling Stone. Hunter Thompson would firebomb your editorial offices if he were still alive.
Froglet?
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090106060713/muppet/images/d/dc/Robinkermit.jpg
naughty Kermit
*honk honk*
Shouldn’t that be “them changed them’s first name to Froglet in order to process the way Covid “forever altered” them’s life and identity”? If they didn’t specify them’s pronouns as “they/them/their/theirs”, well, you’re only allowed to use the pronouns they specify, right? So how are Froglet’s pronouns specified today, and why won’t Rolling Stone use them, those bigots?
I remember bodies in the streets, don’t you?
I remember refrigerated trailers and hospital tents set up to treat hordes of victims and store all of the bodies….both of which turned out to be empty when people snuck in and took photos. I do remember that part.
Maybe the cootie bug victims are turned to ash and blow away like movie vampires?
Has anyone looked at funeral prices during those most trying of times? I think I will look right quick…
Pandemic : late 2019 – mid 2023
Funeral prices during that period: rising significantly slower than inflation.
I wonder what the means?
I realized I’m immune to long covid ’cause I never had short covid. They do have to be in the correct order, right? I’ll have to ask my doctor which is the correct vaccine in the correct order to prevent the original covid. Can’t be too careful.
Froglet
What?
When a Frog and a Pig love each other very much, and nine months later…
I am absolutely certain Froglet was a happy stable productive productive member of society prior to them’s tragic contraction of the plague.
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has once again rejected a request by Ukraine’s State Border Guard to register the slogan “Russian warship, go fuck yourself” as a trademark.
https://www.intellinews.com/russian-warship-go-f-k-yourself-eu-rejects-ukrainian-trademark-application-316961/
Happy 40th Anniversary to those who celebrate.
Something I read recently… What if there isn’t one overarching deep state running things? What if its a hodge podge of various groups that have no idea what they’re doing? That might be even scarirer.
Sounds like the runup to WWI.
That’s what I’m thinking, a confederacy of idiocy.
That novel was overrated.
I was thinking more of the quote from Cube:
Just being facetious.
Cube?
Considering I was being flippant, ‘sall good.
Cube was an interesting horror movie from Canada back in the 90’s. Essentially, people wake up in a room with hatches on each surface (walls, floor, and ceiling). Through the hatches are other rooms that appear identical (other than lighting). Some rooms are trapped and will kill people. People meet up, special effect deaths happen, drama ensues, and several barely mediocre sequels were made.
Yeah, that was my best guess from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cube_(disambiguation) .
I gleaned that.
There’s not one overarching deep state. There is what certainly looks like a fairly unified/coordinated intelligence/law enforcement state, but most of the rest of the agencies are just running wild because why the fuck not? Who’s going to do anything about it?
What if its a hodge podge of various groups that have no idea what they’re doing?
There were competing cliques at the VA, I assume this is true everywhere. Another reason I left, I wasn’t accepted into any one clique.
That has been my take on current events for a while. Not having a person in charge, no figure head to lead things and set the right tone, leads to all sorts of tomfuckery.
It was an effing test flight. It’s not a mishap when a test flight doesn’t go perfectly.
It’s called “destructive testing” for a reason.
I hope SpaceX learned their lesson, and their mission objectives for the rest of the test flights is “Doesn’t blow up on the launch pad”.
What if its a hodge podge of various groups that have no idea what they’re doing?
The blind leading the stupid.
I need Hollandaise sauce but I don’t want to make it myself. I also don’t have English muffins or ham.
Well, I’ve got a recipe to help with the English muffins, but not the ham.
/ducks
*gives Neph the side-eye*
What? It’s a good recipe!
Go to Kroger, buy ham and muffins? Send an immediate relative? Assuming you have eggs and butter.
It’s the “go to” part I’m having issues with.
They deliver now, ya know.
Are you planning to just eat it with a spoon?
chug chug chug chug chug
Knorr makes a quick cheap and dirty packaged mix (and Bearnaise as well) that isn’t unpalatable. But that would mean a trip to the store…
That suggestion occurred to me too.
Oh wait! I have some of that! Totally forgot.
I wasn’t sure how fussy you were.
I can’t help you.
That novel was overrated.
I thought it was pretty funny, but not exactly Great Literature.
Funeral prices during that period: rising significantly slower than inflation.
I wonder what the means?
Mass graves = volume discounts. Jeepers, don’t you Econ 101?
Yeah, I remember when we dug the ditch behind the hospital with a backhoe. To be fair, we only needed the front-end loader to dump the bodies in for a couple of weeks. After that, we just used a bobcat a couple of times a day to push them over the edge.
No, snotnoggin; I’m not going to let you sneak into traffic, and I don’t care if you are turning left or right. You know why? Because literally less than ten feet away there is a traffic light that you could have used, but in order to try to save a fraction of a second you are trying to use a semi-controlled exit from the grocery story parking lot. Look there! The light turned green, and cars are making left hand and right hand turns out of the parking lot. You could have been among them, and not be waiting on some sucker to let you inch out into traffic and block everyone while you try to make your left hand turn that you could have already made, at the light.
So sit there, Stupid.
Well, locked into club shows for PRB now.
/grumbles about ~30% fees on top of ticket prices
Of all the modern movies for the Modern Audience that I will not now or ever watch, and they are Legion, The American Society of Magical Negroes is certainly one of them.
That is all.
Is this one of those Harry Potter spinnoffs?
No. It looks shockingly worse.
Judas Priest
No, Ratt.
/grumbles about ~30% fees on top of ticket prices
Junk fees! Joe’s got your back.
Soon those tickets will be a clean 150% of what they are now.
The dumbest of all the fees was the old Ticketmaster fee for printing your tickets at home instead of having them mailed to you. I do prefer the old paper tickets to the needing an app to be scanned at every venue.
Out of all of Joe’s sad attempts at “being one of us” that is one of the most annoying. We’re not stupid, Joe. We know what “junk fees” are for.
Heroin?