Saturday Morning Celebration Links

by | Jun 8, 2024 | Daily Links | 119 comments

It’s a big weekend here in our village. The traffic light was down for a few months for some construction work at that intersection, which transformed us from a one horse town to a zero horse town. People were distraught and a major topic of conversation was, “Is it coming back?” and we all knew which “it” was meant. But it did, and we can all breathe a sigh of relief and celebrate the one piece of technology that separates us from the lower animals.

We’re also having Alumni Weekend where hundreds of superannuated graduates descend and remark about how little has changed. The bars are doing great business. Our one non-fleabag hotel, the Saxon Inn (of blessed memories for me) is stuffed, as is the local fleabag spot, run (of course) by Patels. Things are lively here for a few days, but after the weekend, we revert to our summer mode, with empty streets and tumbleweeds until the students return.

Birthdays today include a guy who could give you some pointers; a guy who apparently loved short doorways; a guy who dug up and polished some of my favorite writers; a guy whose career was intertwined with Watson; a guy whose voice was my nightmare in elementary school gym class; the only woman to appear on the one dollar bill; yesterday’s image; a woman who was happy to tell you to grow up; a guy who didn’t let anything phase him; one of the heroes of the Vietnam War; and the guy who’s the reason we’re all here.

The other thing returning is Links.

“Durham University robustly upholds freedom of speech.”

“[T]here’s no evidence to support the fact that anything about the Manhattan DA’s verdict or special counsel Jack Smith is politically motivated at all,” then added, “…and Santa Claus is real.”

No perp name given- so I think we can guess that Mohammed is part of it.

“It may not be as bad as it sounds.” Well, yes, it actually is.

I can’t keep track- is this the one that Joe soaped up naked?

It’s racism. It’s always racism.

JFC, are they still on about this?

Campus protesters haz a sad.

I remember a story from the book Ball Four where a baseball expert was asked, “Who was the greatest player in baseball history” He looked puzzled for a moment, then responded with, “Oh, you mean besides Willie Mays!” This is the piano equivalent. There’s Art Tatum, then everyone else.

About The Author

Old Man With Candy

Old Man With Candy

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

119 Comments

  1. cavalier973

    I thought Al Gore invented the Internet.

  2. Common Tater

    Mom is very sick in the hospital.

    Thoughts and prayers much appreciated.

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

      Good thoughts inbound.

      • Sensei

        +1

    • mindyourbusiness

      With you in spirit.

    • Sean

      😇🙏

    • slumbrew

      Sorry to hear, Tater. Our thoughts are with you and her.

    • The Other Kevin

      Sent. Threw one in for you too.

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      Hoping best for your mom

    • R.J.

      Praying now. Only good thoughts for you both.

  3. cavalier973

    In my day, a person’s parents *were* his employers.

    • Ted S.

      It’s worse than it sounds.

    • Nephilium

      That’s the other side of that. What kind of shitty parent thinks it’s appropriate to be babying their adult children to this level? Fuck… if I had found out that my parents had talked to any of my bosses about something related to my work, I’d be pissed.

  4. Gender Traitor

    Every village and small town needs an annual festival, no matter how lame the theme! 😉

    • cavalier973

      Melbourne, AR has “Pioneer Day”.

      Or, they did at one time.

      Tupelo, MS has the Dudee festival, with civil war reenactirs, and the old Dudee Diner reopened to make “Dudee Burgers”, which is a version of the North Mississippi squish burger.

      • cavalier973

        They play a song on repeat, that begins: “Dudee was a Christian, well, that was his family name….”

      • Gender Traitor

        Your comment reminded me – you were looking for a Glibs coffee mug the other day. I had ordered (and am at this very minute using) a Glibs latte mug (taller and narrower than a conventional mug) right around the time that an appeal went out for donations to the site a few short weeks ago. Now I can only find very limited swag options, and links to the Glibs CafePress page give 404 errors. Anybody know what happened? Did we discontinue or maybe switch to another swag site?

    • Fourscore

      Emily Day, not to be confused with Fishing Opener or 13th Weekend

      With only 1 bar and 1 restaurant (and a breakfast shop) it’s easy to see who benefits the most

  5. rhywun

    Alumni Weekend

    I was passing through a campus the other day and wondering what was up… with… all… the… tents.

    People actually go to these things? I can’t imagine going to mine.

    • R C Dean

      Never been to a class reunion or alumni weekend, either. The thought of seeing how old and fat everyone has gotten just doesn’t appeal.

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

        Yeah, I always imagine it is something like this
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PdYJoKT6Og

      • trshmnstr

        This. I’ve been back to my undergrad campus once. We were passing through the area and I wanted to show my wife the campus.

        I have gone back to my law school a few times. They invited me to speak at conferences.

        I can’t imagine going back to either school with the purpose of meeting up with people I haven’t talked to in a decade.

      • juris imprudent

        Almost like a common thread amongst the Glibertariat…

        No old friends from college or grad school. Used to keep in touch with some close friends from HS, but we’ve mostly drifted apart too.

      • Fourscore

        There would be no alcohol (or dancing) at my class reunion but still some people show up apparently. Check books are welcome though.

      • Sean

        I’m still very good friends with a woman I went to HS with. Though we weren’t friends until a couple years after graduation.

        Neither one of us is fat. 😂

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

        I have two old friends from HS I keep in touch with, but the rest… Facebook showed me how little I gave a shit. As far as school, I was a townie, and my son went there. So I took the wife to show her a town that is pretty well loved by many, and she hated it, having grown up in a much poorer area of the state, and I hated it as it was no longer the magical town of my youth.

      • Suthenboy

        JI: Almost like? This is less of an echo chamber than It is a gathering of the like minded. There is a big difference.

      • slumbrew

        I went to a co-op school (6 mos schooling, 6 mos working) which doesn’t lend itself to deep relationships, since people were always heading off somewhere for a co-op job.

        So no real college friends. High school friends were ne’er-do-wells, so no contact either, which is probably just as well.

        But I’m still friends with people from my first job, 30ish years later.

      • juris imprudent

        There is a big difference.

        Yes and no, Suthen. It is easy to slide from the latter into the former. The day we actually do, I will be out of here.

  6. rhywun

    It’s racism. It’s always racism.

    Shame on you for linking that pile of shit. Where to even begin with the stupidity?

      • Bob Boberson

        “To Cotton, Black lives mattered even if a Black person had done something reprehensible, like shooting into a peaceful crowd, because, she later told me, “racism can kill Black people even when a Black finger pulls the trigger.” The gunman seen firing into the crowd in the Mother’s Day video “clearly made horrible choices that have ruined his life,” she continued. “But he didn’t do that in a vacuum. This city and this country created that vacuum.”

        I don’t even know where to begin…..

      • mindyourbusiness

        “To someone whose only tool is a hammer”…

      • Ted S.

        [Holds up wrench]

        Someone whose only tool is a hammer can’t touch this.

      • R C Dean

        “But he didn’t do that in a vacuum. This city and this country created that vacuum.”

        Well, is there a vacuum or not?

      • PutridMeat

        “clearly made horrible choices that have ruined his life,” she continued. “But he didn’t do that in a vacuum. This city and this country created that vacuum.”

        The thing is, she isn’t wrong. We’ve spent 50-60 years normalizing and forgiving bad behavior. Deflecting blame and not expecting/demanding responsible behavior. Destroying and denigrating institutions that foster independence. Yes, he didn’t get to be a putz in a vacuum – but the horrible choices he made were not because of racism, systemic or otherwise, but because people like her have normalized and incentivized them.

      • Suthenboy

        Vacuum or no vacuum….
        I think Bob alluded to that with ‘…I dont even know where to begin…’

        The vast majority of the human race are of average intelligence, i.e. idiots.

    • rhywun

      ‘We wanted to move to a Conservative state, but we realized what it would mean to fit in,’ it continued.
      ‘It would mean we would need to be judgmental. We would need to gossip about others. Have our kids forget how to say please and thank you. Talk bad about new people moving here for a better life.

      If there’s one thing I love about bluetopia it’s how polite they are with please and thank-you.

      • Ted S.

        Something tells me they were never really conservative.

      • Bob Boberson

        Shorter version:

        “We expected everyone in Idaho to act like this very one in LA. We are aghast that our migration which prices the locals out of their homes and forces their children to move wasn’t celebrated and cheered. We took our ball and went home.”

        Although, to their credit, they did what I wish 90% of the NW transplants would do.

      • Nephilium

        The fuck? Isn’t one of the complaints about us flyover people from NYC dwellers that we’re too nice?

      • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

        People in blue states certainly aren’t judgemental. It is known.

      • Sensei

        Yup. Tapped right out of that.

      • Suthenboy

        “We wanted to move to a Conservative state, but we realized what it would mean to fit in,’ it continued.
        ‘It would mean we would need to be judgmental. We would need to gossip about others. Have our kids forget how to say please and thank you. Talk bad about new people moving here for a better life.”

        And we wonder why the country is so divided culturally and ideologically.
        If ‘conservatives’ are such irredeemable shitheads, why did you want to move among such reprobates?
        Bye….dont let the door hit you….

      • Fourscore

        No gossip about the newcomers here, I don’t know the names of the people, nor what they do, etc, etc, nor do I care. They likewise go their own way. Seems to work out.

        Our whole world is transient, kids grow up, move away.

      • trshmnstr

        Yeah, my experience moving from the big city to backwardslandia is the exact opposite. Here, many kids are actually respectful instead of universally delinquent when given 5 minutes of unstructured time. Here, folks are a helluva lot less judgy of the less fortunate and the different than in the city. Yeah, people are skeptical of newcomers, but for good reason. They don’t want the city life to visit them out here. It makes everything turn expensive, sensitive, and degenerate.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Completely the opposite from how we found Idaho. Manners and politeness were near South level. I would be shocked if Idaho Falls was less.

        The real thing missing from the piece was Mormon domination. Maybe that’s what conservative is supposed to be a code word for.

    • Mojeaux

      That piece sounded like a Bee piece.

      • juris imprudent

        I shared in on FB under “The Bee weeps”.

  7. Ted S.

    a guy who apparently loved short doorways

    Happy birthday Peter Dinklage!

  8. juris imprudent

    The Danes really are great at keeping his name from being pried from their jaws.

    • juris imprudent

      Hmm, no dogged pursuit of justice this morning I guess.

  9. Ted S.

    a guy whose career was intertwined with Watson

    I got this one, but I was hoping it would be Nigel Bruce.

  10. R C Dean

    “a guy who didn’t let anything phase him”

    Oh, well played. One of my pet peeves is people who misuse “phase” for “faze”. Ya got me there.

    I’ve always thought Wright had something of a not-quite-fatal flaw. Bro Dean is an architect, and from him I learned architecture is an alloy of art and engineering. Wright needed more/better engineering in many of his buildings.

    • Ted S.

      I was thinking Gene Roddenberry.

    • mindyourbusiness

      Wright supposedly used his own height as a guage for some of his building dimensions. Been in a couple of his residences and yeah, doorways get a tad smaller than usual.
      Nonetheless, if we had a chance to live in one of Wright’s houses, we’d do it in a heartbeat.

      • rhywun

        Yeah but the upkeep zOMG.

        When I was an architecture student in Buffalo we got an in-depth look at one and it was amazing. At the time it was in danger of, well, falling down or something but apparently it’s safe now.

      • Gender Traitor

        I visited Falling Water many years ago (mid-80s?) and the overwhelming impression I retained was that it was…musty.

      • Sean

        No AC. Nope.

      • Shpip

        I took the Bosslady on a tour of my mom’s alma mater, including a Usonian house.

        My whole impression of the Wright stuff was “pretty to look at, but not really made for humans to live or work in.”

      • slumbrew

        That’s pretty sweet. Modern modular home construction would surely help with the quality issues plaguing Wright buildings.

      • Sensei

        Also modified for modern living as was the case with kitchen here.

        He also noted that the design is going to have noise issues.

        I’d deal with noise, however.

      • Mojeaux

        O.M.G. That was beautiful.

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

        I am gonna send that to my brother, an architect.

        The essential problem with FLW homes is that they aren’t really homes, but art installations. So, when a compromise had to be made, he erred on the side of art, and not livability. These homes go the other way, choosing livability over art.

        Not bad, but you still need to make your wife change dresses as she moves about the dwelling. Just for the feels.

      • trshmnstr

        That’s cool, but I have no desire to live in a library

      • Gustave Lytton

        Lloyd’s kit cost just under $300,000 at the end of 2019. (Prices in 2024 are at least 40% higher

        Reminds me. I’m off to the lumberyard to pick up deck board this morning.

    • Suthenboy

      “….architecture is an alloy of art and engineering. Wright needed more/better engineering in many of his buildings.”

      Suthenbro is a top notch structural engineer. Invariably when examining the work of architects he shakes his head and mutters “Faggy assed architects….”
      That seems to be a common view among engineers towards architects and the other way about. Architects generally think of engineers as uncultured apes.

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

        If you leave it up to an engineer, they will build a egg with no windows. Don’t want heat loss, and anything other than that design is structurally unsound.

        This is why we have “Faggy Assed Architects.”

      • trshmnstr

        “Real Civil Engineer”, a gaming youtuber who was once a civil engineer, has a trope around that. “Architect” is his sub-in for any bad guy or idiot.

      • Suthenboy

        I think of it as sibling rivalry.

  11. Shpip

    “The use of our criminal system to prosecute enemies, or political adversaries, is completely counter to the fundamental values and laws and norms that our country is built on,” said Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.).

    And this week’s winner for Most Un-Selfaware Guy in the Country goes to…

    • juris imprudent

      ♪♫ “Progjection, torments my heart. Progjection, tears us apart. Progjection” ♫♪

    • The Other Kevin

      I’ve heard him called “designated liar”. He has zero shame.

      • juris imprudent

        Buried in some closet in his home is a picture that bears all of his corruption, that no one dare gaze upon it.

      • Stinky Wizzleteats

        Yeah, one shouldn’t presume they’re clueless…they’re just lying their asses off.

      • Suthenboy

        “He has zero shame.”

        In the same way that killing someone is a rite of passage to street gangs it appears that lying shamelessly and engaging in some kind of depravity gets one into the inner prog circle.

    • Suthenboy

      I got as far as “…the use of our criminal justice system to prosecute enemies…” and thought ‘here we go, more projection from a leftist. All projection all of the time.’

    • Gender Traitor

      I want to see that next to one of your steaks.

      • Sean

        Lol

    • The Last American Hero

      I wasn’t going to click, but I am supposed to celebrate my sexual preferences this month.

    • slumbrew

      If you can’t believe the Daily Star, who can you believe?

  12. DrOtto

    I admit it, I’m racist against transplant Californians. They will tell you they are conservative and then put a Beto sign in their yard.

    • R.J.

      Hear hear!

      *Bangs Californian on the table

      • Nephilium

        See… live somewhere that Californians don’t want to move to, and you don’t have an influx of Californians.

      • juris imprudent

        Being so close to Pittsburgh no doubt helps.

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

        “*Bangs Californian on the table”

        I think I saw that movie.

      • Gustave Lytton

        The squirrels haven’t left.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Fuck me. Wasn’t supposed to be a reply up here.

    • Sensei

      And wonder why the town with nothing but a 4th of July parade can’t also now have a Pride parade.

      • Fourscore

        Podunkville’s July parade comes a couple weeks after the 4th. There are only so many fire engines to go around and the bigger towns have first dibs

  13. The Late P Brooks

    A conservative family who moved from California to Idaho have returned due to difficulties ‘fitting in.’

    A “California Conservative” is somebody who thinks a Rockefeller Republican is only slightly to the left of John Birch.

    • juris imprudent

      The Reaganites died with Reagan.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      Cali conservative is often equivalent to Mitt Romney but likes to hang out at the beach, way better than a Cali leftist but it’s all relative.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Fuck the Daily Mail and their fucking shitshow website.

  15. The Late P Brooks

    There was an article a while back about “reformed Floridians”. People who moved to Florida and were shocked at what a terrible place it is and had to move to a more civilized locale. It’s tragic when reality does not conform to fantasy.

    • Stinky Wizzleteats

      If you hate Hispanics and humidity or you love seasons stay the hell clear of Florida.

    • Suthenboy

      I remember in the last few years someone here posted an article written by a prog whose wife got a job in FL. They moved down and the dude was scared shitless of the locals (they have guns!), kept to himself and actively avoided interacting with them.
      His wife, through her job, had to host a party. He couldn’t avoid them any longer. After meeting them and talking to them he was shocked to find out how sensible, polite and good those people are.

      Articles like ‘Cali conservative hates conservative states’ abound. The last one I remember was a Cali prog that moved to Austin, hated it and moved back to CA. On his way out he left a ‘fuck you’ letter in the local rag. The response was overwhelmingly “Bye, dont let the door hit your ass on the way out”

    • rhywun

      My mom used to say she moved us out of Idaho because they didn’t have kindergarten. That and the divorce, I guess.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    They should have replaced the traffic light with a roundabout.

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

      The way round-abouts are going here in the PNW, they will combine the two for extra fun!

  17. The Late P Brooks

    If it’s not a Mustang the odds are good it will be a Charger.

    What about the moron in the truck who doesn’t check his mirrors?

  18. The Late P Brooks

    “*Bangs Californian on the table”

    I think I saw that movie.

    Bull Durham was a pretty good movie, now that you mention it.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Pied piper of the lunatic fringe

    This week, a judge told Bannon he’s going to jail.

    The development could silence someone in the final months of the presidential election who has served as an inspiration for much of the MAGA movement and been one of Trump’s most aggressive zealots — thanks in large part to his “War Room” show, which he has built to lead the grassroots of the Republican Party to the ballot box in November.

    NBC News spent months tracking Bannon’s show, which streams on Rumble, attending tapings and speaking with dozens of Republicans — from the rank and file at rallies to lawmakers in the halls of Congress — about the influence he wields and how he has built an audience he can leverage to influence party disputes and, he hopes, national elections.

    ——-

    Bannon was ordered to report to prison by July 1 and is scheduled to serve a four-month term, which would see him released days before the election.

    “It’s not ideal. He commands a huge audience,” said Charlie Kirk, a Trump ally and right-wing activist who founded a conservative student organization that has built strong ties with the evangelical wing of the party. But he said that Bannon’s absence from the air could “prompt a rallying cry that will turn out to be much larger than even the show,” by driving higher turnout and galvanizing the base.​​

    He’s a threat to democracy who should be silenced.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Bannon is not a household name for most Americans, but among the pundit and governing class — and particularly among die-hard political junkies — he is a behemoth.

    Depicted by critics as a venomous propagandist who helped mastermind the populist uprising that swept Trump into office, Democrats say Bannon helped fuel some of the former president’s most incendiary positions and see his show as the vehicle through which he tries to shape conditions to prop up Trump.

    He bears with him the foul stench of democracy usurped and twisted to evil purpose.

  21. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    NSF just failed to capture the final landing of Virgin Galactic’s space whateverthingie. And Virgin was not livestreaming it for some reason. Oh well.