Give the color red the blues afternoon links of rando

by | Apr 3, 2020 | Daily Links, Musings | 408 comments

Yet another installment of links that require a lot of time, a lot of effort, and an advanced degree in astrophysics to read. Kidding. I’m not that smart, just interested in weird-ass things (like Digby). No, HM, that is not an invitation to eat my ass.

One of my pet interests is Pripyat, Ukraine aka Chernobyl. I do not know why. I barely remember the day it happened because I was a senior in high school doing what seniors in high school do in April, which is fuck around and not pay attention to anything. The shuttle exploding in January of that year was far more impactful, but I have no obsession with it. But Pripyat? Pripyat is on my extremely short bucket list.

In keeping with last week’s topic of how to make a gazillion bucks but lose money, brought to you by Left-Eye Lopes: I’ve linked these before in comments, but in case you nerds missed it: “The Walmart you don’t know” and “The man who said no to Walmart.”

I may be on the hunt for an alternative office space if we end up moving somewhere I can’t work in the house (especially if my husband’s company sends everybody home to work). In my lookings, I found this. How precious is that?

Candy. No, really. Just candy: maple nut goodies (used to get these in little pink-and-white striped bags at the Sears candy counter), Bit O’ Honey, fruit Tootsie Rolls, strawberry Laffy Taffy, and lastly, because they ruined my life, Skittles, which are dead to me, owing to the toxin that is green apple, which replaced the sublime.

I would like to worship at the feet of whichever songwriter came up with the lyric “known to give the color red the blues.”

About The Author

Mojeaux

Mojeaux

Aspiring odalisque.

408 Comments

  1. Count Potato

    “weird-ass things (like Digby). No, HM, that is not an invitation to eat my ass.”

    That would be “weird ass-things”.

    • Pope Jimbo

      No, HM, that is not an invitation to eat my ass

      The things you learn. I had no idea that you owned a donkey. I also had no idea that HM’s culinary desires would include donkeys.

      I can’t even begin to tell you how concerned this news makes me. The last time a young girl traveled around a desert with her (((paramour))) on a donkey, all sorts of troubles got started. It almost makes me want to voluntarily send you a new bike just so we can avoid another round of unpleasantness.

      • Fourscore

        Beware of gifts of bikes, you never know where they’ve been.

      • Pope Jimbo

        TRUTH!

        Fourscore has spoke!

      • Pope Jimbo

        Anyone who gainsays him is pedaling utter bullshit

      • Mojeaux

        You spoke truth, but you’re both going around in circles.

  2. Slammer

    Check out bald and bankrupt on YouTube for interesting Russian, Chernobyl, and backwater regions of the former USSR videos. Especially look for the old man Kolya who lives in the woods of the radiation zones. He also has a ton of vids from India. He’s an Englishman who speaks Russian and Hindi, I think

    • Mojeaux

      Will do, thanks!

  3. UnCivilServant

    Hey! I like the green apple.

    But we should also have the lime.

    • Mojeaux

      With lime you could pop a handful in your mouth and the flavors complemented each other. Green apple creates cognitive dissonance in your tongue.

      • UnCivilServant

        What?

        You’re supposed to separate them out and eat one color at a time.

      • Mojeaux

        That too.

        So basically green apple is just gross.

      • Shirley Knott

        Amen.

      • Shirley Knott

        How is it possible to be wrong on a matter of one’s own personal taste?

      • AlexinCT

        Take it back! Green apple is tasty!

      • Jarflax

        Skittles are nasty.

      • Naptown Bill

        The existence of chocolate renders fruit-flavored candies totally obsolete. My grandmother, who grew up in the 30s, to this very day puts shit like walnuts and nectarines in Christmas stockings, because in the old days there wasn’t candy and small children who would be described as “scamps” or perhaps “rascals” got real excited about crap like oranges and Brazil nuts because it was a change of pace from boiled shoe leather and bark.

      • UnCivilServant

        An increase in real fruit in my diet during the panic has reduced, nay, eliminated any cravings for chocolate.

        I’m still runinating on why.

      • Spudalicious

        And also because the orange took up so much space in the stocking.

    • Pope Jimbo

      The Green Apple was a small boutique for women’s clothing that was owned/run by one of my good friend’s mom. It was tres chich for NW Minnesoda in the ’80s.

      I remember one time she put on a quasi-fashion show at a local restaurant/bar and she hired my buddy and a bunch of us to help out. The hit of the night was a pair of jeans made out of clear plastic. Of course being decent people, the model wore long johns underneath (kidding, but not by much).

  4. Shpip

    FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF years, a young woman known only as “Bionerd23” has been making strange, dangerous videos in and around one of the most infamous nuclear zones on Earth—the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

    Probably gave her immunity to THD.

  5. Count Potato

    “Nothing is too radioactive or risky for her. She has shown herself getting injected with the radionuclide technetium, eating radioactive apples from a tree in Chernobyl, being chased by a possibly rabid fox, and picking up fragments of the nuclear plant’s reactor fuel with her bare hands.”

    That doesn’t sound too bright.

    • Shpip

      That doesn’t sound too bright.

      Maybe not bright, but if you turn off the lights, you can see a faint glow coming off her.

    • Not Adahn

      I’m not believing that a human can outrun a fox. If she was being chased, she would have been caught.

      • UnCivilServant

        If I believe video games, chasing foxes and coyotes on foot is a fool’s errand.

      • Shirley Knott

        Darn, I was hoping for this one.

    • Trigger Hippie

      ‘Her speciality is unearthing bits and pieces of Chernobyl that would normally go unseen. A video titled “chernobyl 2013: radioactive ant bites & 115 mSv/h of pure gamma radiation” begins with this quote: “Oh, shit, yeah. This is hot.” She finds a fragment of uranium sitting in the grass a few kilometers from the reactor, “guarded by radioactive ants.” Dressed in military hues and armed with an array of blocky handheld sensors, she squats down, where ants promptly crawl into her (rarely wielded) gloves and bite her. The fragment of uranium immediately maxes out all of her sensors; she is not scared, but excited. She actually says, “Yay!”’

      I think I’m in love.

      • Not Adahn

        You find “makes terrible decisions” an attractive quality too?

      • Trigger Hippie

        *thinks on dating history*

        Absolutely.

      • DEG

        #metoo

      • AlexinCT

        #Methree…

      • Mojeaux

        So did Marie Curie.

      • Enough About Palin

        As did my great uncle back in the 1920’s.

    • Sandi

      I took a shit in Chernobyl once.

      • egould310

        Hey-o! There she is!

      • AlexinCT

        Corn speckled brown trout?

  6. Q Continuum

    “Wal-Mart wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers.”

    Heaven’s me, where’s my fainting couch!

    • UnCivilServant

      One of the factors which made me stop shopping there was when their attempts to lower prices resulted in such lowered quality that it was more expensive than just buying quality.

      • cyto

        Depends on what you are buying.

        Their store-brand groceries are pretty darned good in many cases (but only pennies cheaper than the name brand in many cases when the quality is very high). I still get the bulk of my groceries at Publix, because their prices are not that much higher overall, and Publix has better meat, produce and iced cream. Well, there’s Aldi’s too….. they kinda kick everyone’s butt on the things that they do well.

        But Walmart is hurting too… remember when the electronics section at Walmart had loads of supplies for your computer and TV/Video collection? Now that stuff comes from Amazon, so they don’t stock nearly the selection they once did.

        Everyone is under pressure to deliver… all the time.

        And the US low-skill labor market is too expensive to compete. It really is that simple.

      • mock-star

        Before my current job, I worked for Walmart’s grocery logistics for 16 years. I will confirm that their store brand groceries are just the same as the name brand. Great Value brand pickles are made by Vlasic. Great Value brand mayo is made by either Kraft or Hellman’s (I cant remember). Great Value canned goods are made by Dole and Del Monte, etc. etc.

    • Slammer

      Walmart is a great pickup spot. I love the Women of Walmart

      • AlexinCT

        Tootless fat hos FTW!

    • Ted S.

      When the government does that, however, it suddenly magically becomes virtuous.

    • Drake

      Nope. That’s just the method of achieving their one purpose – shareholder return.

    • Sandi

      All of your women look like cheap whores.

  7. Q Continuum

    Rule 34 salivates in anticipation of HM vs. Mojeaux analingus.

    • Heroic Mulatto

      ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

      • bacon-magic

        I see no tongue.

      • Slammer

        ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (_!_)

      • Trigger Hippie

        *standing ovation, tosses garlands*

      • bacon-magic

        ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)=> (_!_)

      • Mojeaux

        Don’t tell my husband.

  8. grrizzly

    My dad departed for a several-week stay in a sanatorium near Kiev at the end of April 1986. Several days after the disaster. He was lucky the wind was blowing in the other direction.

    • Mojeaux

      Whoa, that’s a little too close for comfort.

    • JaimeRoberto Delecto

      During my early travels in Eastern Europe I stayed with a family in Brno, Czech Republic. They heard about Chernobyl from Austrian radio. They got everyone in the house once they heard that.

      My wife had to march in the Mayday parade in the rain as the radiation cloud was coming back over her country.

      For a while my wife was trusting the WuFlu numbers from China until I asked, “When did you find out about Chernobyl? Of course they are lying.”

      • Don Escaped Texas

        Brno!

        * cold shiver *

        That was one word I was sure I could work into the GunNut Crossword but couldn’t * sad trombone *

    • AlexinCT

      I work with a lady whose entire family was “evacuated” to Siberia when the U.S.S.R. could no longer hide the fact the place had gone bad…. The storeis….

  9. Not Adahn

    Re: maple candy,

    These guys had the absolute all time best cookies ever, a maple shortbread. I used to send them as gifts to people and they would name their children after me and/or offer me sexual favors. I don’t know why they are no longer sold.

    • C. Anacreon

      used to get these in little pink-and-white striped bags at the Sears candy counter

      What a fond memory, the Sears candy counter, with all kinds of nuts and sweets under heat lamps and behind glass, served into one of those bags with a deep metal shovel by a well-scrubbed and smiling young girl in a candy-stripe uniform.

      The absolute best thing they had — “Peanut Clusters”. A palmful of peanuts completely covered in milk chocolate, with none of that unnecessary caramel getting in the way, just chocolate and nuts looking like a big lumpy chocolate cookie. Each one probably would have more than your daily limit of carbs, but my Dad would get a good-sized bag of them to bring home during a trip to get some Craftsman tool or Diehard battery. Come to think of it, that’s about the time he started to get overweight.

    • Mojeaux

      Challenge for Neph to recreate.

      • Nephilium

        Difficult to recreate something I’ve never had. But maple sugar is a staple in my fridge, and there are several maple syrup/sugar producers in the area.

        And for C. Anacreon, something like this?

      • C. Anacreon

        Yes, those look about right.

        Mmmm… makes my clothes feel too tight from gaining weight just looking at them.

      • Nephilium

        They’re the local chocolate company. If it exists, they’ll dip it in chocolate and sell it. Certain items are released rarely and with great lines and expectations (grapes, strawberries, bacon, and potato chips). I used to live around the corner from one of their shops with an ice cream parlor. My weakness was their pretzel babies. Small round pretzels, dipped in dark chocolate. They also sell their hot fudge in quart jars.

      • Shirley Knott

        So, the single serving size.

  10. Q Continuum

    BioNerd23: would.

    • Not Adahn

      …take a few iodide tablets?

      • AlexinCT

        Like 20K of them?

  11. AlmightyJB

    Like HM needs an invitation. Lol.

    • Heroic Mulatto

      ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

    • Not Adahn

      “The question about how this virus appeared has not been settled yet. As of now, there is no ‘patient zero’ in China, and therefore, we do not talk here about a conspiracy as much as we talk about the leaking of the viruses from a laboratory at Fort Detrick in the United States,” the professor said. “Perhaps this leaking was not deliberate. We are not talking here about a conspiracy, even though the U.S. annihilated two whole cities in Japan during WWII, despite this being unnecessary. They were already winning the war, but they still used the nuclear bombs.”

      Da’na is the associate dean of the College of Social Studies and Professional Sciences at UW-Parkside and the department chair of the school’s Institute of Professional Educator Development. According to the school’s website, he teaches a broad range of classes, including ETHN 206 — race/ethnic relations in the U.S., MAPS 710 — the global city, SOCA 301 — introduction to sociological theory, and more.

      A loon with authority. But a loon with the correct politics.

      • cyto

        Holy crap… that’s straight up “flat-earth” level conspiracy thinking right there. I’m sure the Chancellor of the UW system is proud.

      • C. Anacreon

        So much hatred for a country that provides him with a cushy job and the ability to say whatever he likes without fear.
        Now try for the same trick in any Arab land, Mr. Palestinian-American Sociology professor, or perhaps China.

      • AlexinCT

        That’s how he earns his woke creds.

        RESIST!

        Of course the fact that they claim they are fighting the man when there is no man escapes these morons…

      • leon

        Conspiracy? He clearly states that he’s not talking conspiracy.

      • Slammer

        “even though the U.S. annihilated two whole cities in Japan during WWII, despite this being unnecessary. They were already winning the war, but they still used the nuclear bombs.”

        Least bad of a bunch of bad choices.

      • bacon-magic

        They got Godzilla out of it. #winning

      • Gojira

        Leave me out of this!

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        I wonder if her opinion would change if she had been a GI in a transport on the way over there right before the bombs dropped.

      • cyto

        Alternate answer – You don’t want to get blown to hell, don’t attack the US.

  12. The Late P Brooks

    There’s always room for Jello outrage
    TW: Vox

    It is difficult to focus on anything other than Covid-19 in our current news environment, but spare a moment for President Trump’s new fuel economy standards, announced in final form on Tuesday.

    They replace the Obama administration’s standards, which would have pushed the US auto fleet to an average efficiency of 54.5 mpg by 2025, with standards that would reach only 40 mpg (a goal the industry expects to exceed even without a rule). By the Trump administration’s calculations, the change will result in almost a billion more tons of greenhouse gases emitted over the next five years. In one stroke, the best thing Obama ever did for climate change —addressing the most carbon-intensive sector of the US economy — has become the worst thing Trump has done for climate change.

    The public overwhelmingly opposes the change. Consumer groups, environmental groups, business groups, and conservative groups oppose it. Even the auto industry is tepid. To a first approximation, the only people truly happy with the change are oil company executives, who will now be able to sell more gasoline.

    ——-

    I’m not going to get into a technical analysis of why this rule is a bad idea (though I’ll link to a few). Instead, I want to tell the story of how these standards came to be, because it is a quintessentially Trumpian tale, capturing his administration’s unique blend of malice and incompetence better than almost anything else that’s happened over these past three years.

    ——-

    Obama famously bailed out the auto companies during the 2008 recession, saving them from almost certain bankruptcy. He used that leverage to force them to the table to collaborate with the federal government (and California, which maintains its own standards) to develop updated national fuel economy standards. Published in 2012, those standards would have had efficiency rise each year through 2025, eventually reaching 54.5 mpg. It was a historic breakthrough for standards that had lagged for decades.

    Obama’s corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards would have reduced emissions from cars and light trucks by 6 billion tons (cutting their emissions by half), reduced oil consumption by 2 million barrels a day, and saved Americans a cumulative $1.7 trillion in fuel costs.

    Long spittle-flecked rant about how Trump, out of sheer spite and animus toward his Most Holiest Predecessor, personally rewrote the CAFE regs in such a manner that we will all die just as surely as if we were hapless extras in Death Race 2000.

    tl;dr- All of Obama’s numbers and assumptions were unassailably correct, while all of Trump’s numbers and projections were malicious and intentional falsehoods in the service of Big Pollution.

    • Q Continuum

      Trump ascended to power for the sole purpose of exterminating the American people.

    • Slammer

      “billion more tons of greenhouse gases emitted over the next five years”

      Is that a lot?

      • leon

        IT’S BILLIONS, WITH A B

      • Drake

        I put a bunch of gasses on a scale and they didn’t weight anything!

    • Rhywun

      The public overwhelmingly opposes the change.

      Uh huh.

      • cyto

        That was my pull quote as well.

        I’d bet that absent a “who is on which side” label for this, you couldn’t find 50 people who would have their own opinion on the topic.

        Present it as “killing the environment” and you’d get one answer. Present it as “running the US auto manufacturers out of business” and you’d get a different answer.

    • Gojira

      All of Obama’s numbers and assumptions were unassailably correct, while all of Trump’s numbers and projections were malicious and intentional falsehoods in the service of Big Pollution.

    • Mad Scientist

      The public overwhelmingly opposes the change. Consumer groups, environmental groups, business groups, and conservative groups oppose it. Even the auto industry is tepid.

      So, the automakers are going to exceed the goal, and everyone is going to be happy about it, but we desperately need a rule anyway because……

      • cyto

        I drive a car rated at 59 mpg. (Hyundai Ioniq) Mostly I can get about 55mpg if I drive carefully. (the wife comes in closer to 40 mpg).

        Absent moving to an all-electric fleet, nobody is going to get to 54mpg *average* for their fleet. That’s insane.

        Now, the world does seem to be headed toward electric vehicles. But I don’t really think a mandate like this is going to get you there any quicker. If Ford makes crap electric cars that nobody wants, and really nice SUV’s that everyone does want ….. guess which vehicles are going to be on the road.

      • Mad Scientist

        The world is headed toward electric vehicles as a direct result of emissions mandates.

      • Tundra

        This.

        My old CRX got 55mpg. Bring back light cars without all the “safety” shit and we can have it again!

      • cyto

        That was a really cool car.

        My Ioniq is a great little car, actually. The hybrid engine with the electric can really get it moving rather quickly for an econo-box. And the features are pretty great too. I wanted the Nero (mini-SUV format from Kia) but the wife didn’t like it.

        I highly recommend those two for commuting or running errands around town. And for a trip? I drove from Ft. Lauderdale to Charlotte and back and only filled up the 11 gallon tank twice. Drove around Charlotte for 5 days and had a half-tank when I got home. Nice ride.

        Changes my thought process on some trips too…. running to Naples or Key Largo used to be a $50-$100 gas decision. Now it is $10-$15. So if we have the time, I’ll boogie down to go snorkeling with the wife and/or kids on a day trip without a second thought. At $50 to fill up the van and a 330 mile range, even a 20 mile drive makes you say “is this really worth it?” At $25 for 550-650 miles, the hybrid completely erases that thought process.

        And it is nice and safe, too. Well, if the experts are to be believed. Still, I’d rather be driving in a hybrid version of a Navigator that gets 30mpg around town. Too bad they don’t make that…..

      • Tundra

        That sounds groovy!

        I think the hybrid systems have a lot going for them. It’s just that when you sit down and calculate your true cost per mile of owning a car, gas mileage isn’t always that important.

        I actually think you will see more and more hybrid SUVs as it becomes obvious that people dig bigger vehicles.

      • cyto

        The pickup on my little hybrid is surprising. It is pretty zippy, particularly in that “in between” band that you use in city driving – kinda 5mph-45mph.

        Porsche made hybrids cool with the 918… now all the supercars are going hybrid. Someone is going to make a zippy SUV hybrid that gets good but not great MPG and is reasonable in price… and they are going to shift the paradigm.

        Maybe even do the same with a mini-van. Putting a 200hp super-efficient turbo diesel plus a 250hp electric motor in a high-end mini-van would be epic! And with 450 hp and a metric crap-ton of torque off the line, that thing would go like stink around town.

    • JaimeRoberto Delecto

      “The public overwhelmingly opposes the change…” until they spend their own money.

  13. Gojira

    Does that chick now have the proportional strength, speed, and agility of an apple?

    • UnCivilServant

      No, that only happens if the apple bites her.

      • Gojira

        It’s an apple from Chernobyl, so I wouldn’t be too certain that it didn’t.

        Really though someone commented up above that she was bitten by a radioactive ant, so if she doesn’t have superpowers by now I’m pretty fucking disappointed.

      • Not Adahn

        I’m pretty sure if she did, she’d be in violation of Marvel’s IP.

      • JaimeRoberto Delecto

        Now that would make a funny superhero story.

  14. Tonio

    Mojeaux: Thanks for the shoutout in the links the other day. Sorry it’s taken me so long to respond.

    • Mojeaux

      np! Thank you for the entertainment!

  15. Tres Cool

    Fuck DeWine, Amy Acton, Jeff Cooper (mont. co. health director), and sheriff Rob Streck.

    Doing some odds & ends vehicle maintenance since the weather is nice. I just got back from possibly the white-trashiest junkyard north of 35. On Infirmary Rd (for GT’s benefit)
    Those hillbillys had cones out marking 6′ intervals for the line to the counter. They dont even have a paved lot- it was mostly mud. But by golly, they’re complying.

    • Nephilium

      Just got back from a bike ride (a bit chilly and windy, but I needed out) which went through the Metroparks. The parks are open, but they’ve shut down the shelters, restrooms, and fitness trail. The fitness trail has signs on every station saying it’s closed (not the trail itself, just the fitness portion of it) with yellow warning tape around some of the stations. This includes the stations where you’re supposed to do jumping jacks, knee lifts, or lunges.

      Quarantine theater.

  16. Count Potato

    “In my lookings, I found this. How precious is that?”

    I wonder how much it costs.

  17. peachy rex

    For those with nothing else to do… Dice Baseball. This is the version I was taught as a wee lad, but it’s easy enough to fiddle the details as desired – even if the distribution of results was accurate in the 80s (not guaranteed at all), things have changed since.

    Roll 2 D6

    1-1 Single, runners advance 1 base
    1-2 Out
    1-3 Out
    1-4 Out
    1-5 Out
    1-6 Single, runners advance 2 bases
    2-1 Out
    2-2 Double, runner on first advances to third
    2-3 GIDP
    2-4 Out
    2-5 Single
    2-6 Out
    3-3 Triple
    3-4 Out
    3-5 Out
    3-6 Out
    4-4 Home run
    4-5 Walk
    5-5 Double, all baserunners score
    5-6 Sac fly, runners advance 1 base
    6-6 Home run

    • Trigger Hippie

      Thanks! I posted a silly football card game on the last article if you wanna check it out.

  18. Q Continuum

    Friday Funbags 10 min early because I have a meeting that I shant be returning from for a while.

    http://archive.is/GpQzT

    Disclaimer: this in no way reflects sexism against the (extraordinarily rare) female generated links.

    • DEG

      I think #4 needs to eat something and hopefully not bat soup.

  19. Gender Traitor

    …weird-ass things (like Digby).

    So… Digby has a weird ass??

    I do not want to know how you know this.

    • Not Adahn

      Three buttcheeks.

      • Gender Traitor

        “And now for something completely different…”

      • Trigger Hippie

        He has tape recorders up there?

      • C. Anacreon

        Up his brother’s nose.

    • Gojira

      I didn’t see anything particularly unusual about it, but I wasn’t giving it a close inspection or anything.

      There was a tail, but that isn’t part of the ass technically.

      • Enough About Palin

        Than why is it called a tailbone?

  20. The Late P Brooks

    We didn’t mean for THAT to happen

    In recent days, top U.S. government officials have moved to assure Americans that they won’t lack for food, despite the coronavirus.

    As he toured a Walmart distribution center, Vice President Pence announced that “America’s food supply is strong.” The Food and Drug Administration’s deputy commissioner for food, Frank Yiannas (a former Walmart executive) told reporters during a teleconference that “there are no widespread or nationwide shortages of food, despite local reports of outages.”

    “There is no need to hoard,” Yiannas said.

    In fact, the pandemic has caused entirely different problems: a spike in the number of people who can’t afford groceries and a glut of food where it’s not needed.

    Dairy farmers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Georgia have been forced to dump thousands of gallons of milk that no one will buy. In Florida, vegetable growers are abandoning harvest-ready fields of tomatoes, yellow squash and cucumbers for the same reason.

    ——-

    Kim Jamerson thinks “it’s just a shame” to have enough food, but not be able to get it to the people in need. “A woman who’s got two kids how can she live on unemployment, go into a grocery store and pay 90 cents for a cucumber? She just can’t do that.”

    Part of the problem is that it takes labor to move produce from one place to another, and people are still figuring out who will pay for that. Jamerson says she can’t afford to pay workers to pick a crop that will be donated. She wants the government to step in, provide workers or the money to pay them, and make sure food gets to where it’s needed. “The government could send the food to the hospitals, the rest homes, to the food banks, to the churches,” she says.

    Going down. Hold on to your hats.

    • RAHeinlein

      Sure, back of the tanker of fluid milk to the nursing home. “Thousands of gallons of milk” – BFD.

      • Not Adahn

        There’s really no cheesemaker around there?

      • Mad Scientist

        Malk!?

    • Semi-Spartan Dad

      “A woman who’s got two kids how can she live on unemployment, go into a grocery store and pay 90 cents for a cucumber? She just can’t do that.”

      Coincidence they went with the cucumber example for the single woman?

      • Heroic Mulatto

        ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

    • Count Potato

      “Part of the problem is that it takes labor to move produce from one place to another, and people are still figuring out who will pay for that. ”

      I don’t get it. Why not do it the same way as before?

    • Ownbestenemy

      I see they keep bringing the dumping of milk…except it happens all the time, year after year.

    • cyto

      They ran a story about the produce problem down here last week. Apparently there is a big direct to restaurant market for produce. One of the local producers had to plow under 10 million pounds of sugar snap peas because they had no market at the restaurants. Food banks have more than they can use too. They said that it costs 10x as much to harvest the vegetables as it does to grow them.

      So that explains “can’t afford to transport it and then donate it”. Picking and shipping is almost all of the costs.

    • Count Potato

      Are you one of those paracord shoelace people?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        God no!, I use it for kites, and now masks, a few people asked at the park this morning, so I’m doing a running design/fab thing, learning as I go,

    • Tonio

      You sew? Like with a machine? Awesome.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I do now, I just watched some YT, Mom never taught me, That little machine was around 30$ and works great for me.

      • cyto

        For those considering picking one up – go for a used heavy duty machine with a metal frame. An old Singer is the jam!

        I made the mistake of buying the wife a nice, new embroidering Brother. It is awesome with all of the features. But it breaks down all the time and can’t handle anything too tough.

        I inherited my mom’s old singer from the early 70’s. It has some stitches and button settings, but basically it is just a sewing machine. The wife loves it. It just powers through everything, no adjustments or repairs needed. She enjoys sewing again, because it isn’t such a battle.

        If you have the money, a nice, new pro model is also awesome – but it will set you back a grand or two more.

      • UnCivilServant

        So, what you’re saying is “They don’t make them like they used to”?

      • Not Adahn

        Maybe, except wasn’t the ’70s the nadir of American manufacturing quality?

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m still looking for an opportunity to use the exchange:

        “They don’t make them like they used to.”

        “-And it’s a good thing too.”

      • Mojeaux

        I had a very old Brother, 1950s era, metal with plastic base carrying case. I could never get the tensioner to work properly. It was an embroidery machine, too with a drop-feed dog and an embroidery foot whicj was basically a target range for where to turn the fabric. I presume it could be a killer quilter.

        Anyway, I gave it to a friend and bought a basic Singer new for $100 or something ridiculous. I like it. I can find YouTube vids for it. All these years sewing (well) and I never really understood how the machine worked. Made things more difficult for myself than they had to be.

        As usual.

      • Tulip

        I used to have an old, 1960s singer. I bought it for$25 at a yard sale, but after about 5 years the timing went out and I kept having to get it fixed. I didn’t use half the features so I bought a cheap brother for less than $100 that 15 years later still works great.

    • Shpip

      I may add some trim to the lower part

      Like a merkin?

  21. The Late P Brooks

    “a glut of food where it’s not needed.”

    That’s one way to look at it.

  22. Count Potato

    Anyone have any toaster oven recommendations? I don’t need one of those fancy air fryer things. I just want one that’s good. Not too big — fits four slices of bread. The one I have now the door keeps flopping open. I had a cheap Black & Decker I threw out because it toasted so uneven. So multiple elements would be good. Passive convection is fine. Active convection seems like overkill.

    • Rhywun

      Not this one – it’s terribly uneven.

      • Count Potato

        Expensive too.

      • Rhywun

        Yikes – that’s almost 2x what I paid for it. Still not worth it.

    • Tonio

      My cheap B&D, which I’ve had forever, does a good job; it’s got top and bottom elements.

      “Passive convection” is bullshit, fans or gtfo. Srsly, makes a huge difference for reheating and baking.

      I like Oster, but I’m also driven by aesthetics. Stainless steel all the way.

      • Count Potato

        The ones with fans are way more expensive though.

      • RAHeinlein

        Seconded.

      • Count Potato

        Thanks, a bit pricey though. Not sure if I like the controls…

      • Count Potato

        Thanks. Convection for $70 is a good deal. I wonder if they make a 4-slice version?

  23. Enough About Palin

    “I would like to worship at the feet of whichever songwriter came up with the lyric “known to give the color red the blues.””

    Far too much Auto-Tune.

  24. Drake

    So many kids (young adults) from around here we know went off to live in or near NYC. I suppose I wasn’t much different in my early 20’s (lived in Boston and LA for a few years each). I always knew city living wasn’t for me long-term be that’s where the chicks were.

    Pictures like this now give me the creeps and explain the infection rate in NY. I wonder if the city starts to draw fewer youngsters?

    • Sean

      Nope. Nope. Nope.
      Even with out the Kung Flu.

    • Slammer

      Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
      @AOC
      ·
      5h
      COVID deaths are disproportionately spiking in Black + Brown communities.

      Why? Because the chronic toll of redlining, environmental racism, wealth gap, etc. ARE underlying health conditions.

      Inequality is a comorbidity. COVID relief should be drafted with a lens of reparations.

      • cyto

        Redlining 35 years ago causes COVID-19 deaths?

      • Enough About Palin

        Whores gonna whore.

    • Ted S.

      Maybe Trump’s suggestion to quarantine the NYC metropolitan area and let the rest of us go on about our lives wasn’t so bad at all.

      (Sorry, Rhywun.)

    • Count Potato

      Yikes!

    • dorvinion

      If its that full when a lot of folks are supposedly staying home, I can’t imagine what it would look like on a supposedly ‘normal’ day.

      • Rhywun

        Ridership is down like 90%. That’s worse than my worst commute. I dunno what’s going on but I suspect big service cuts and lots of sick calls.

      • dorvinion

        I wonder how many of the sicks are just operators who because of their sweet sweet transit union, have 20 weeks vacation to use

  25. DEG

    Bionerd23’s risky ways have not gone unnoticed by YouTube commenters, who often ask why she risks her life to go tromping through a crumbling basement in the Zone. Frequently, she replies with a Marie Curie quote: “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.”

    Not bad.

    For Vlasic, the gallon jar of pickles became what might be called a devastating success. “Quickly, it started cannibalizing our non-Wal-Mart business,” says Young. “We saw consumers who used to buy the spears and the chips in supermarkets buying the Wal-Mart gallons. They’d eat a quarter of a jar and throw the thing away when they got moldy. A family can’t eat them fast enough.”

    Wow. I hate it when I have to toss food because it goes moldy faster than I expected. I can’t wrap my head around people doing this regularly, even if it is cheaper than buying only what they can use before it goes moldy.

    No lightning bolt struck. Except that Snapper instantly gave up almost 20% of its business. “But when we told the dealers that they would no longer find Snapper in Wal-Mart, they were very pleased with that decision. And I think we got most of that business back by winning the hearts of the dealers.”

    Not bad.

    And not bad links either. I like have seeing the link rotation change up.

    • Fourscore

      I eat a quart of pickles a week, I grow ’em, Mrs Fourscore makes the pickles. Beats 90 cent cucumbers in the winter. A gallon would last a month but wouldn’t be the same.

  26. Yusef drives a Kia

    The Food Bank was drive through today, there were thousands of cars, sitting for hours to get some food, more people than I have ever seen, 4 hours,
    but Yusef got some Beans, Rice, Oranges, apples, various cracker items and 2 rolls of TP, it’s getting hard when I see the volume of people waiting when they should be working,

  27. B.P.

    The governor of my state just announced that everyone should wear masks when out in public. I can’t wait to be publicly shamed for not doing so.

    • Drake

      Are they supplying masks or should I just use my kid’s old Halloween mask?

      • B.P.

        We’re supposed to make our own, including using an old T shirt. Also, don’t use the N95 masks, as those are needed by professionals. The governor says it is not a requirement, but “this is not a contest to see how far against the line you can get,”.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Hey, we’ve all got our lines. I think most of ours have just gotten uncomfortably closer over the past couple weeks.

        At least the blue state governors have held off so far on attempting door to door firearm confiscations like New Orleans did during Katrina.

      • Drake

        What line? WTF does that mean?

      • Jarflax

        The line between liberty and fascism. It’s somewhere way back there behind us. Please someone convince me I am wrong. I mean that, I am seriously struggling with a belief that we have crossed over into a world I cannot live in.

      • Trigger Hippie

        I have a few exit strategies in the works if need be. You can tag along. I bet a lawyer could be handy. 😉

      • DEG

        You’re not wrong.

      • Tres Cool

        Well, starting Monday when stores are required to limit how many people are inside at at time, you’ll see lines for food.
        Right to assembly has already been shat upon (cept the Solid (crack) Rock Church is still holding services).
        With the national guard in the 3-C’s and poking around “looking for potential hospital space” you’re seeing troops in public and on the street.
        And every petty tyrant from Governor down to mayors and city commissioners are granting themselves unprecedented powers in the name of “emergency action”.

        But this is to keep us all safe. Im betting its in a playbook someplace.

      • Tonio

        ^This. I have a couple of bandannas.

      • Certified Public Asshat

        Wrap your head in toilet paper.

      • Enough About Palin

        It dawned on me yesterday that I have masks for home renovation projects involving dust. So I looked today and it turns out that I have two three-packs of N95 masks. Could have more elsewhere.

        Informal poll:

        A: I should keep them

        B: I should donate them

      • Mad Scientist

        Keep

      • Tundra

        Keep until need is determined.

      • bacon-magic

        Solomon says keep 1 and donate the other.

      • UnCivilServant

        No, that you should cut all the masks in half, keeping one half and giving the other half away.

      • Enough About Palin

        I like the way you think.

      • westernsloper

        I gave mine to my parents.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    So, the automakers are going to exceed the goal, and everyone is going to be happy about it, but we desperately need a rule anyway because……

    Don’t you get it?

    TRUMP HAS MADE IT ILLEGAL TO BUILD CARS THAT GET GOOD MILEAGE!!!11!!

  29. Count Potato

    “China is stockpiling masks and ventilators.

    And there’s more good news! China makes more than 90% of our antibiotics, vitamin C, ibuprofen and hydrocortisone, 70% of acetaminophen, and 40% to 45% of heparin, according to The New York Times. The last American penicillin plant closed more than 15 years ago.

    In early March, the Chinese government ominously warned that if China stopped exporting drugs, “the United States would sink into the hell of a novel coronavirus epidemic.””

    http://www.anncoulter.com/columns/2020-04-01.html

    • Heroic Mulatto

      Shut up, Ann.

      When the factories re-domicile, they will be staffed with robots – because robots neither get sick nor join unions.

      • Count Potato

        That might be better.

      • grrizzly

        Robots break down and stay that way until the get fixed. Humans, on the other hand, recover from a cold by themselves in a few days.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        Humans, on the other hand, recover from a cold by themselves in a few days

        Pre-Millennial humans, anyway.

      • AlexinCT

        That’s gonna leave a mark HM….

      • Gojira

        My favorite one of hers was a wildly incoherent rant against soccer. Among the reasons it must be detested: real AMERICAN sports must have a point at which a singular individual wills the team to win. The superstar basketball player, at bat in the bottom of the 9th, the QB making the incredible throw. The absence of a transcendent Randian ubermensch = communism.

        Another one of her points against, and I shit you not, was that the French enjoy it, therefore it must be treated with disdain.

        I hope she never eats crepes.

      • Tonio

        a singular individual wills the team to win

        You know who else believed in a triumph of the will?

      • Tundra

        Herb Brooks?

      • Gojira

        If I wasn’t so sure that 90% of this is just shtick for the slavering idiots who take her seriously, I’d be worried about her grip on reality.

      • bacon-magic

        Will Ferrell?

      • Drake

        Will Smith?

      • Tres Cool

        Estate lawyers ?

      • Heroic Mulatto

        And in the end, the Falklands are still part of the UK.

      • Gustave Lytton

        If you don’t call them the Malvinas, you’re a racist.

        /CCP inspired talking points

    • ruodberht

      You can get like 2000% of your RDV of vitamin C by drinking a glass of orange juice.

      lol vitamin C

      A CRISIS TO BE SURE

      • Count Potato

        I don’t think it’s that high. A gram of vitamin C is around 1000% RDV.

  30. DEG

    NH Government fucking with the economy affecting tax revenues

    While the more devastating effects of the coronavirus lie ahead for New Hampshire, its impact is already felt in its coffers as state revenues, particularly businesses taxes, which are less than anticipated. The closing of most non-essential businesses because of the virus means owners are reassessing their financial outlooks for the remainder of the year and lowering their estimated state tax liabilities for the business enterprise and business profits taxes. In figures released Thursday by the Department of Administrative Services, business tax returns for March are $17.5 million below what budget writers had projected.

    Combined, the two taxes produced $98 million for March, while budget writers estimated the state would need $115.5 million to balance the budget. However, the $98 million is more than the $85 million business taxes produced in March a year ago.

    • Drake

      Inconceivable!

  31. DEG

    NH closing rest stops

    The state is closing highway rest stops Sunday afternoon.

    Only the Hooksett rest stops on Interstate 93 will stay open, because they are operated by a private company. The rest will close after 4 p.m. Sunday.

    At the closed rest stops, drivers will still be able to use portable toilets outside the rest stops. The state Department of Business and Economic Affairs promises the toilets will be cleaned regularly.

  32. Tundra

    Hiya, Mo!

    Thanks for the fun links.

    Contrary to the Fast Company dude, lots of manufacturers say no to Wal Mart. As it turns out, you can’t make it up in volume! My FIL did the exact same thing and it was a real battle with some of the partners. Everyone sees the numbers, but they don’t see the constant price crunch.

    Selling on price sucks, sucks, sucks.

    A song for you.

    Anyway, your office space, while cute, gave me kind of a headache with all the angles.

    I don’t eat candy much anymore, but the correct answer is, of course, Bit ‘O Honey!

    • Mojeaux

      Hiya, Mo!

      Hi! *waves wildly*

      Thanks for the fun links.

      There’s a whole lot of fun under this thick layer of bitter rage.

      Anyway, your office space, while cute, gave me kind of a headache with all the angles.

      If I had to figure them all, I’d have a headache, too! Anyway, if we end up in a house that can’t support an office or possibly 2 (with Mr. Mojeaux working from home now, it wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up at home permanenenenenenenenently), I’m pretty much dead set on a fifth wheel trailer.

      A song for you. […] I don’t eat candy much anymore, but the correct answer is, of course, Bit ‘O Honey!

      Such a cute song. Love it!

      I kinda ate myself sick of Bit o’ Honeys at least for a while. It turns out, eating those without some intervening protein makes me very dizzy.

  33. DEG

    More residential waste and a temporary end to recycling in some communities

    “Commercial has dropped off the face of the earth,” said Roy, and activity at the landfill, too, has decreased, some intentionally, some by happenstance.

    The landfill has shut down its swap shop to prevent social interaction that could spread the coronavirus, he said, and while keeping its weigh station open, has eliminated contact between haulers and landfill employees, the latter now recording billing information electronically from a safe distance.

    The operation of the landfill and of the third-party contractors who deliver waste to and maintain equipment there has been deemed an “essential” business by the federal government, which means the facility will stay open, said Roy.

    The landfill is not, however, increasing its number of employees, something that it would normally do at this time of year.

    Asked about the effect of the coronavirus, Roy said he expects that one consequence is that “recycling will suffer,” due to concerns about spreading the disease.

    As of Wednesday, for instance, the Town of Littleton, whose solid waste ends up at the NCES landfill, announced that its transfer station was “…temporarily ending community recycling, except for glass and commercial pickup agreements, during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

    Littleton Town Manager Andrew Dorsett said in a prepared statement that “The public’s inability to consistently sort recycling requires staff to directly interact with the public’s potentially contagious waste. The transfer station is taking this measure to proactively act to protect the staff’s health. If a staff infection occurs it threatens a reduced ability to receive all solid waste, which could result in a community wide public health issue.”

  34. Derpetologist

    random thought

    Nancy Pelosi looks a lot like Jerri Blank from Strangers with Candy:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mprjD74T90

    Pilosi means hairy ones in Latin. I’m pretty sure Pelosi means barber in Italian. Pesci means fisherman in Italian.

    • bacon-magic

      Is that funny he he or ha ha?

      • Derpetologist

        Let me remind you that the immortal words about retards wanting cake came from that show.

        ***
        Wilford Brimley: [on tape] Hi. This is Wilford Brimley. Welcome to Retardation: A Celebration. Now, hopefully with this book, I’m gonna dispel a few myths, a few rumors. First off, the retarded don’t rule the night. They don’t rule it. Nobody does. And they don’t run in packs. And while they may not be as strong as apes, don’t lock eyes with ’em, don’t do it. Puts ’em on edge. They might go into berzerker mode; come at you like a whirling dervish, all fists and elbows. You might be screaming “No, no, no” and all they hear is “Who wants cake?” Let me tell you something: They all do. They all want cake.
        ***

      • bacon-magic

        Classic.

      • Tundra

        ho ho

  35. Tundra

    Costco update:

    Looked slightly busier than a normal Friday. Masks were evident, but certainly not a large percentage of the shoppers.

    More toilet paper than I think I’ve ever seen in one place. And when I went by I only saw one person grab a bundle. Apparently that foolishness is done for a bit.

    Limiting chicken, but not eggs. Good meat and fish selection. Produce selection was good (except my big bag ‘o broccoli is still out).

    People were generally smiling and pleasant. Checkout chick was behind plexiglass, so of course I made a penalty box joke. She laughed politely.

    All in all, an encouraging visit. I’ll give it a 7.

    • bacon-magic

      What are you in for. “High stickering”

    • DEG

      I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things.

      They have lines to get in. They’re restricting numbers of shoppers in the store. Though I will say the line moved pretty quickly while I was there.

      I’d say about a quarter of the people were wearing masks. Most people keeping Leper Length but that’s easy when the store isn’t crowded.

      Toilet paper aisle picked clean. I noted more paper towels and tissues than last week.

      Flour picked clean. I didn’t check rice or beans.

      Decent selection of produce except for bell peppers. They only had green bell peppers and a handful of pre-bagged red/yellow peppers.

      Low on eggs.

  36. The Late P Brooks

    Now, the world does seem to be headed toward electric vehicles. But I don’t really think a mandate like this is going to get you there any quicker. If Ford makes crap electric cars that nobody wants, and really nice SUV’s that everyone does want ….. guess which vehicles are going to be on the road.

    *thinks back to ’70s, when GM killed off the market for diesel passenger cars for twenty five years*

    • cyto

      Great point! I had forgotten about that!

      And when did we put in the sulfur limits on diesel that pretty much killed the whole thing? Wasn’t it right after that moment?

      • Don Escaped Texas

        Like the diesel emissions levels, I think sulfur content has been a moving target over the years.

      • cyto

        As I understand it, that rule is why we can’t have the good stuff from Europe. The Ford Focus 1.5 TDCi supposedly gets up to 80mpg. That would be a great car for my teenage son when he comes of age. Cheap, and not too fast.

    • bacon-magic

      You’d have rich people do that too but you took all their money Frenchie.

  37. AlmightyJB

    Pulled into late Friday “crisis” conference call that I didn’t need to attend. Totally didn’t pour a glass of Elijah Craig halfway through and a glass of Founder’s Underground Mountain Brown as it was winding down.

    • Nephilium

      I logged off a bit early and went for a bike ride. I’ve now got a Great Lakes Elliot Ness in front of me, as I wait for my Fat Heads delivery.

  38. Derpetologist

    Today’s brew – Vacanza coconut cream pie with pineapple ale by Wild Leap. Death by Coconut is still my favorite coconut beer.

    I read that 95% of the kung flu deaths are people over 60. Now ask yourself – who has most of the money and power in the world? People over 60. Seems like they’re hellbent on turning everything upside down for their own sake and screw everyone else.

    At the intersection of libertarianism and paleontology, we have this:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_(dinosaur)

    ***
    Soon after the fossils were found, a dispute arose over their legal ownership. The Black Hills Institute had obtained permission from the owner of the land, Maurice Williams, to excavate and remove the skeleton, and had, according to Larson, paid Williams US$5,000 for the remains.[12] Williams later claimed that the money had not been for the sale of the fossil and that he had only allowed Larson to remove and clean the fossil for a later sale.[8] Williams was a member of the Sioux tribe, and the tribe claimed the bones belonged to them. However, the property that the fossil had been found within land that was held in trust by the United States Department of the Interior.

    In 1992, the FBI and the South Dakota National Guard raided the site where The Black Hills Institute had been cleaning the bones and seized the fossil,[13] charging Larson on 158 points. The government transferred the remains to the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, where the skeleton was stored until the penal and civil legal disputes were settled. The United States Senate voted to not confirm the appointment of Kevin Schieffer as United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota after his controversial handling of the penal case. In 1996, Larson was sentenced to a two-year prison sentence after being convicted on charges not directly related to Sue. After a lengthy civil case, the court decreed that Maurice Williams retained ownership, because as a beneficiary he was protected by the law against an impulsive selling of real property, and the remains were returned in 1995.

    Williams then decided to sell the remains, and contracted with Sotheby’s to auction the property. Many were then worried that the fossil would end up in a private collection where people would not be able to observe it.[14][15] The Field Museum in Chicago was also concerned about this possibility, and decided to attempt to purchase Sue. However, the organization realized that they might have had difficulty securing funding and requested that companies and private citizens provide financial support. The California State University system, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, McDonald’s, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and individual donors agreed to assist in purchasing Sue for The Field Museum. On October 4, 1997, the auction began at US$500,000; less than ten minutes later, The Field Museum had purchased the remains with the highest bid of US$7.6 million. The final cost was US$8,362,500.[16][17][18] This was the highest amount ever paid for a dinosaur fossil.
    ***

    • Lackadaisical

      “Seems like they’re hellbent on turning everything upside down for their own sake and screw everyone else.”

      yup. 100% agree, that’s why I’m coughing on every oldie I see. gotta keep ss solvent.

      • Derpetologist

        THIN THE HERD!

        /edgelord t-shirt with AK-47, circa 2010

    • AlmightyJB

      I’m not blaming the old folks. I’m blaming the politicians playing either CYA or Dictator.

    • KSuellington

      I would highly recommend the doc on that, Dinosaur 13. Very well done and infuriating.

      I saw some graffiti and a sticker ar the beach sea wall the other day, “Boomer Flu”.

  39. Lackadaisical

    “No, HM, that is not an invitation to eat my ass.”

    I feel like it kind of is now, why else mention it, you know?

    • Mojeaux

      With HM you can never be too careful and you must make things very clear up front.

      • AlmightyJB

        Up front. And behind. Lol.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

    • Tundra

      “Please don’t throw me in that briar patch!”

    • Mad Scientist

      I’m surprised that went for just $15k.

      • Tundra

        That’s what I mean. I really like the old ones. Dude near me has several and says their dead simple to care for.

        Well, as dead simple as a Britmobile can be! 😉

      • Tundra

        Lol. Their, they’re, Tundra. Someday you’ll learn grammar…

      • Mad Scientist

        So simple, even a Brit can do it.

      • Count Potato

        It has a Chevy engine.

      • UnCivilServant

        And it still starts?

        It is a miraculous machine.

      • Count Potato

        The old Chevy 350 V8 was a great engine.

      • Gustave Lytton

        Love the MoD diesel Defenders. I’d take one in a heartbeat.

      • pistoffnick

        Ah, ma’am, can I drive your Snatch?

  40. Ownbestenemy

    Still bullshot bit looks like the school district revised their grading policy…

    Looks like my boys can raise their Bs to As now.

    Okay, if you made an F, D, C, or B from Quarter 3, you have the opportunity to bump that grade by 1 (one) grade. For example, if you earned a D and would like to do some work to change that grade to a C, you may.”

    Prior to that, you were only “allowed” to raise Ds and Fs and were stuck with whatever your grade was if it were C or better.

    • RAHeinlein

      Behold the power of complaining – good for you!

      • Ownbestenemy

        The rest of school year however is now “if you want to do the work but you wont get graded….”

  41. Derpetologist

    California Bans Trash Bags to Promote Eco-Friendly Rats

    SAN FRANCISCO – According to State Climate Change Coordinator Staycee Wintergreen Aurora Borealis Dingleberry-Kaufman, PhD, the new policy brings numerous benefits. The rodents will dispose of refuse naturally, without any need for pollution-belching trucks or landfills. “I project the state will save billions of dollars annually”, said Dingleberry-Kaufman, adding that “these lovable, intelligent creatures will also provide companionship to the unsheltered, as well as be a valuable source of organic protein to endangered condors.” Critics, however, have warned of lack of diversity among the rats, who are predominantly black and brown. “We’ve tried introducing white rats, but they interbreed so quickly that in a few months, there aren’t any left”, explained Dingleberry-Kaufman. The situation in Chinatown is particularly sensitive, where thousands of rats vanished almost quickly as they were introduced. Locals denied racist rumors that they harmed the rats and theorized that maybe the US Army ate them.

    • mock-star

      A++

  42. Gustave Lytton

    Back from weekly shopping trip. Taking longer because of lines. Some places to get in even. Skipped Trader Joe’s because of that.

    Starting to see more paper products and sanitizing wipes(!). Safeway has a 1 per customer for paper products. Not 1 per SKU, 1 per all paper towels so I got in trouble at the register because I had one of two different brands. Rice and beans are still sold out. Scattered empty shelves in places like hamburger buns. Cleaning supplies in general still hard hit.

    They’ve replaced the initial tape with squares done in the same way as walk over advertising. Unfortunately it blends in far too much and doesn’t stand out like the tape did. Noticing that the plexiglass sheets are stupidly placed in front of the check writing shelf, but nothing in front of the POS/PIN device where most people stand these days. Store employees, like most customer facing jobs in the US, still act like the store is there for their convenience.

    Butcher shop seems to be doing well with inventory but there are some gaps in the cases and the freezer inventory hasn’t restocked (frozen broths, specialty meats are the usual for that).

    Sporting goods department is sold out of popular calibers. Except for Frontier 5.56. I guess that says something about the reputation. Still have .25ACP Critical Defense! And .22LR by the case.

  43. Not Adahn

    The grocery store had distilled water again. I didn’t check on other items.

    AAaaannd… they were giving out those plastic bags that kill turtles.

    • UnCivilServant

      I thought it was the straws that were turtle-seeking missiles.

      • Derpetologist

        The Chelonian Empire will have its revenge one day, human. We have a saying- if you take revenge in less than a 100 years, you are moving too fast.

      • Not Adahn

        Well what animal was Caesar saving by banning bags then?

      • UnCivilServant

        The E. Coli that lives on reusable bags?

        I donno.

      • Derpetologist

        Human, can you not hear the loudest clicks? The Cetacean Commonwealth has had it up to *here* [spouts from blowhole] with your cursed plastic!

      • UnCivilServant

        So, the ban on whaling was a mistake. Got it.

      • Derpetologist

        RELEASE THE MONSTRO!

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh1sCdcSDi0

        fun fact: the words monster and demonstrate both come from the Latin word for show/spectacle

        In French, montrez-moi means show me.

      • Heroic Mulatto

        Damn straight!

    • Tundra

      Worst take ever.

      Worst.

    • commodious spittoon

      His Majesty

      No homo, but the blonde dude in the back is kinda hot

    • leon

      I’m not gonna listen to a guy who cant maintain a beard.

      /And the cycle continues

      • UnCivilServant

        You’re not going to list to us hirsuite beardos either.

      • Nephilium

        /brushes his beard

        I’m sorry, what was that?

      • UnCivilServant

        I’m going to end up looking like and overtall dwarf by the time this is over.

    • Spudalicious

      ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

  44. Count Potato

    “BREAKING: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules any individual who is not being held without bail, and who has not been charged with a “violent or serious offense,” shall be released from jail.”

    https://twitter.com/LiamWBZ/status/1246167526066868224

    • cyto

      Uh…. why don’t we… uh… you know….. not, like, ever keep people in jail who have not been charged with a violent or serious offense and are not being held without bail. I mean…. uh.. doesn’t it concern us that there were actually people who were in jail that didn’t meet those criteria?

      • Not Adahn

        If you don’t jail people for having wrongfun, how can you prove your Puritan bonafides?

  45. Derpetologist

    When sloths lived underwater:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalassocnus

    ***
    Thalassocnus probably walked across the seafloor and dug up food with its claws. They probably could not do high-powered swimming, relying on paddling if necessary. Early Thalassocnus were probably generalist grazers eating seaweed and seagrasses close to shore, whereas later species specialized on seagrasses farther off the coast. They were probably preyed upon by sharks and macroraptorial sperm whales such as Acrophyseter. Thalassocnus were found in formations with large marine mammal and shark assemblages.
    ***

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      And got their asses eaten By Giant Dino Sharks!

  46. AlexinCT

    Kidding. I’m not that smart, just interested in weird-ass things (like Digby). No, HM, that is not an invitation to eat my ass.

    Why not? This is an e vent I would pay big bucks to watch…

  47. Don Escaped Texas

    is Zoom super slow because the whole world is doing happy hour online ?

    • Nephilium

      Hasn’t started yet man… but they just pushed an update out today (big bug fixed is the UNC issue that could be used to snag someone’s user credentials to their machine). And yes, lots of people are doing online stuff on Zoom now.

      • Don Escaped Texas

        I did the test drive and got set up (no account), checked the cam, and now I’m dead.

        The window that said meeting hasn’t started yet disappeared.

      • Jarflax

        Is there a link for the meet up?

      • UnCivilServant

        There was, but it was designed to steal your windows credentials and the patch broke it.

      • Nephilium

        Glibs Virtual Happy Hour.

        Starting in about 35 minutes.

        Don: The window management for Zoom is… sketchy at best.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Ill drop by for a minute or two til the wifey gets home.

      • Don Escaped Texas

        I’m set up; got the wait on meeting window back

        but UCS notion of broken link makes sense

        standing by, touching up my makeup for Festus

      • UnCivilServant

        I was snarking at Mr Flax.

      • Don Escaped Texas

        * doesn’t get cool IT jokes *

        * kicks dirt *

      • Jarflax

        And quite a snark it was, almost as tastyas the one I caught as a new boyscout.

      • Raven Nation

        So, I assume our actual names show up on Zoom? Does this mean we’re trusting drunk Glibs to not dox us?

      • UnCivilServant

        I think you get to set the display name.

      • The Hyperbole

        It’s amazing how many glibs are named Mike Hunt.

      • Nephilium

        You can put whatever name you wish to show up on Zoom.

        There’s a reason I was double checking what was showing up for every work meeting this week.

      • Tundra

        I think you can change the screen display. Use your burner email to sign in.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I figured use my .gov email address for the funsies

      • UnCivilServant

        They hand those out like candy these days. I mean, even us lowly state employees get .gov addresses.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I was thinking of jumping on a peers laptop that they left unlocked.

      • Don Escaped Texas

        it let me set up without a profile or account . . . methinks

      • Rhywun

        Yeah, I didn’t need an email last time.

      • UnCivilServant

        No email needed this time either.

        And it’s started.

      • Rhywun

        I might join later. I need to tie one on a bit first.

      • Raven Nation

        Thanks all.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Is this like a party where you dont wanna be the first to be there? Party is at 10, we leave at 11 and get there at midnight?

    • Don Escaped Texas

      looks like you can save $0.51 off list if you order now !

    • westernsloper

      That is at least one thing the idiots pulling the strings in CO got right. They did not close areas but rather are telling people to avoid places with full parking lots and go to a less crowded place. They are encouraging people to recreate outside but maintain Leper Length yada yada yada.

  48. The Late P Brooks

    *wanders back, sees Tundra’s Land Rover comment*

    That looks like a good deal, particularly when you see what Defenders go for. I’d drive it if somebody gave it to me.

  49. The Late P Brooks

    ‘“Don’t use the word ‘seize.’ I didn’t use that word. It’s a harsh kind of word,” Cuomo told a reporter at the Capitol.’

    How about “steal”?

    • leon

      Don’t use that word that explains exactly what I am doing.

      • Donation Not Taxation

        Attempted theft if the hospitals succeed in persuading the National Guard that there are none to ‘share’.

    • Ownbestenemy

      ransack or pilliage are also acceptable

  50. Not Adahn

    So my employer has realized that WFH is so much nicer than working from work that they have decided to give a bonus for the employees still having to come in.

    I don’t know if I qualify for it since I do WFH half the week, but for the employees that are there every day, they get $1000.

    • Q Continuum

      The fact that this even needs to be said at all shows how pathetic our society has become.

  51. Derpetologist

    The dinosaur discovered by a teenager:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bambiraptor

    (yes, the name means Bambi thief; it’s a little guy)

    ***
    The Bambiraptor skeleton was discovered in 1993 by 14-year-old fossil hunter Wes Linster, who was looking for dinosaur bones with his parents near Glacier National Park in Montana, United States. Linster told Time Magazine that he uncovered the skeleton on a tall hill and was amazed at his discovery. “I bolted down the hill to get my mom because I knew I shouldn’t be messing with it”, he said. The bones that Linster discovered on that hilltop led to the excavation of a skeleton that was approximately 95 percent complete. Because of its completeness Florida Paleontology Institute Director Martin Shugar compared it to the ‘Rosetta Stone’ that enabled archaeologists to translate Egyptian hieroglyphics. Yale paleontologist John Ostrom, who reintroduced the theory of bird evolution from dinosaurs after his 1964 discovery of Deinonychus in Wyoming, agreed, calling the specimen a “jewel”, and telling reporters that the completeness and undistorted qualities of the bones should help scientists further understand the dinosaur-bird link.
    ***

    Oh, so jelly….

    • Tundra

      Cunts.

  52. The Late P Brooks

    Now extended this to all businesses that rely on people visiting and spending time there:

    If it saves one political career!

    • Tundra

      If this turns out to be a big meh, I’m gonna get involved in a recall for our fuckhead governor.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I think a lot of govs are facing that possibility but they have insultated themselves so well by passing the buck to executive teams that it probably wont amount to anything.

      • Tundra

        Of course, I know it won’t ultimately be successful.

        (I am a libertarian after all!)

        Gotta do it anyway. For the principle.

      • Nephilium

        We can’t recall our governor here in Ohio, only impeach him.

      • UnCivilServant

        You just need to outnumber his bodyguard by a sufficient number that they abandon him to public justice.

      • Pope Jimbo

        I bet we can talk my buddy into spear heading our coup. Sadly, if he had won, I doubt he’d be any more immune to panic-shutting everything.

        But at least you and I would have been in the inner circle and gotten a Wonka-Golden-Super-Essential ticket.

  53. Not Adahn

    Who was it that had a friend sewing & selling plague doctor masks on etsy?

    • UnCivilServant

      Thinking of picking one up?

      • Not Adahn

        Absolutely. If Caesar doesn’t want to be out-hystericed, he’ll make wearing a mask mandatory, and I want to comply in the most spectacularly snarky way possible.

        I’ll even get the hat that goes with it.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I’m making some right this moment, what would you like?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I want to make one that says “Carrier” across the face, red letters on Black,

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I can do AntiFa style, or Chinee style in 6 colors,
        Seriously

      • Mojeaux

        Yusef, what a GREAT thing to do! Do you have an Etsy account? Do you want me to help you set one up?

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I was thinking of giving them away at cost of shipping, which would be almost nothing, I only have 6 yards of Kite cloth, so it wouldn’t last that long, but, hmmmmm. Let me work on them tonight and see about production times, inventory, and design, and we can proceed tomorrow after I take G-son golfing,

      • Mojeaux

        Resources are scarce. If you give them away, you can’t buy more fabric.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        That’s where Hmm came in, Money= more resources, you are right, lemme do some work and I’ll definitely work with you on this,

      • Mojeaux

        Anyway I can help. 🙂

  54. Derpetologist

    My 2 cents – all the bans should be lifted after Easter Sunday. Everyone at risk knows what they should do by now.

    As for red China, they should be fined for all the deaths. The money will be used to fund Taiwan’s military.

    • Tundra

      Midnight on Easter, but yes.

      • Count Potato

        I’ll still be under quarantine.

      • Count Potato

        Not tested yet, but apparently the false negative rate is high, so I should act as though I have it for two weeks.

      • Tundra

        How are you felling today? How’s the fever?

      • Count Potato

        No fever anymore. I’ll checked it aain now. Thanks for reminder. Stayed in bed around 12 hours last night. Still feel weak. And my ribs hurt. No idea why because I’ve barely coughed.

    • Ownbestenemy

      You dont get to sacrafice my grandma! **walks back into the hospice room**

      • Tundra

        LOL.

    • Derpetologist

      Viruses mutate. Like my favorite killer robot, this one will be back. Next year or even sooner. Are we going to shut down the country every year?

      I think the measures have helped keep the death toll down. The best case scenario, which I think we will get, is that this won’t be worse than a bad flu season.

      I suggest we send deep fryers to red China, so all their bats will be cooked well-done.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Yes…and I am guessing anytime WHO or CDC declares a bad flu season also from here on out

      • Q Continuum

        Just make cower in place permanent. If it saves just one life… for the children.

  55. Ownbestenemy

    It takes this virus for Nevada to make budget cuts…

    “With the near total shutdown of businesses during the COVID-19 response, including the gaming industry that makes up the lifeblood of our State’s economy, it is inevitable that this unexpected drop in revenue will force the State of Nevada to make tough budget choices in order to continue protecting the health and safety of our citizens,”

    His reasoning is shit but Ill take it!

  56. Pope Jimbo

    So this week, I had an entire afternoon of meetings scheduled. Instead of taking them in my basement office, I went out and sat on my deck in the sun.

    At the start of one meeting, the local crows were going crazy and a few of the early joiners were giving me a hard time about the caws in the background. I told them about how they were mad because I was on the deck and had run them off one of their favorite roost trees (in my back yard). Which led to me explaining that the local flock has learned (the hard way) that if I or one of my boys is on the deck, we may have the pellet gun and it is unwise to bask on one of the branches. If my wife or daughter goes out, they don’t bother because they know neither of them will shoot at them.

    That led to me showing my apple tree in the back yard and explaining that the squirrels know that sitting in it is bad news. You run in get the apple and run off 20 feet to another tree and eat it at your leisure. (I have clean fire lanes to the apple tree, the other tree is back stopped by a neighbor’s house). Someone asked me about why I would be shooting squirrels and I explained that they are delicious. Another person asked if there was a chance I’d shoot one during the meeting. I had to patiently explain that a) there is a squirrel season and I couldn’t legally shoot one now, b) there are no apples in March in Minnesoda and c) this is when they are having their babies and I want them to have a lot so next fall (during the season) there will be lots of tender, dumb squirrels running around.

    By the end, we all realized that a lot more people had joined and I now have a semi-legendary status of being a real-life Jethro Bodine. But it is all good because they all realized that I also have lots of guns and no compunction about shooting cute woodland animals (so what do you think I would do to some asshole).

    • cyto

      I had a similar problem with my pecan trees and the squirrels. They could strip them bare the day they were ready to harvest. Pellet guns didn’t fix my problem. But a redtail hawk making a nest in my back yard did the trick. Plenty of pecans to go around the next 2 years…. not a single one the 5 years before that.

  57. The Late P Brooks

    If this turns out to be a big meh, I’m gonna get involved in a recall for our fuckhead governor.

    I’m trying to pretend this lockdown idiocy will bite Governor Bullock in the ass in his U s Senate campaign, but I’m just kidding myself.

    I will say, however, that there is very little evidence, where I live, that anybody is taking IT very seriously. Traffic seems about normal, people in the grocery stores, et c… Bars and restaurants are shut down, though. Goddammit.

    • Rhywun

      there is very little evidence […] that anybody is taking IT very seriously

      Tell me about it.

  58. The Late P Brooks

    IT

    it

    Fucking caps lock.

  59. Pope Jimbo

    SP: You know just because you ate a green skittle and woke up in the back of a van all tied up…..

  60. Count Potato

    I wonder if I could drink a little. I feel better than yesterday, and way better than Wednesday night.

    • hayeksplosives

      Good luck. The last night I thought “I Feel better now. I think I could drink” ended up being the last drink of my life (Feb 26).

      It wasn’t that hard; occasionally I think a nice wine would be lovely and then I go “oh yeah! You quit that, self!”

      • Count Potato

        Why, what happened?

      • Q Continuum

        Do you feel a lot better? I was off the sauce for about six months when I was recovering from C diff. and I lost like 15 pounds.

      • Count Potato

        I heard cdiff sucks. Glad you are feeling better.

    • Tundra

      None of my business, but give your body a break.

  61. Donation Not Taxation

    ‘192,000 N95 respirator masks’ and ‘598,000 medical-grade gloves, 130,000 surgical and other masks, surgical gowns, disinfectant towels, particulate filters and bottles of hand sanitizer and spray disinfectants’ taken without compensation and the person who had legally purchased them arrested.

    ‘Baruch Feldheim, 43, was arrested Monday after he allegedly coughed on FBI agents and told them he had the coronavirus’ and for attempting to sell ‘at inflated prices; in one instance at as much as a 700% markup’

    https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/brooklyn-man-arrested-after-allegedly-hoarding-n95-masks-selling-them-at-inflated-prices/

    Posted: Apr 3, 2020 / 11:25 AM PDT / Updated: Apr 3, 2020 / 11:25 AM PDT

    • Donation Not Taxation

      This is HHS, DHS, DOJ, and FBI, not NYS

    • Rhywun

      He seems nice.

    • Count Potato

      I wonder how he got them in the first place. I’m guessing he bought them months ago.

      • Donation Not Taxation

        According to the article, they are not disputing that he legally obtained them. ‘HHS said it used its Defense Production Act authority to take possession of the items for the US government and will pay Feldheim the market value. ‘

        Unlike NY’s Cuomo…

      • Gustave Lytton

        Market value is what a buyer says it is, not what both agree on.

    • Mad Scientist

      I’m so glad that the state is teaching hoarders to keep their mouths shut about their hoards, resulting in no one ever being able to use their materials at any price.

      • Donation Not Taxation

        Is this Donald J. Trump winning against the Left or is this THE Libertarian Moment often prophesized by Nick Gillespie?

  62. The Late P Brooks

    The news is on. Murderous Cartoon Villain says, “Wear a mask, don’t wear a mask; It’s up to you.”

    Heartless. Shocking.

  63. hayeksplosives

    Got sufficiently stir crazy that I hopped in the car and drove around the larger neighborhood to check out the views.

    I don’t know how much I can take of this cower in place crap.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      No parks? Exercise is Verboten? This is Crap, People!
      Defy Authoritah, Hayek! sit on your Porch without a mask

  64. Mojeaux

    @Pontiff

    It almost makes me want to voluntarily send you a new bike just so we can avoid another round of

    unpleasantness.

    No need. I’m going to expropriate XX’s $650 bike we paid half of that she doesn’t use.

    ===========

    @Naptown Bill

    The existence of chocolate renders fruit-flavored candies totally obsolete.

    Unless peppermint is involved, chocolate is way way way down on my list of goodies. I like peanut brittle better

    than chocolate.

    ===========

    @Count Potato

    That doesn’t sound too bright.

    The pioneers take the arrows, dude. Some more voluntarily than others.

    ===========

    I am afraid I have not made the acquaintance of @Sandi, but clearly not a Tulpa. If I have, I don’t remember.

    Many apologies.

    ===========

    @C. Anacreon

    “Peanut Clusters

    I remember those! We’d get those too. My mom loves chocolate-covered nuts.

    Out in front of our Sears building there would be a tamale vendor. Best tamales ever. He’s not there anymore, but

    I don’t even bother with anybody else’s. I’d just rather go without.

    ===========

    @Tundra

    My old CRX

    @cyto

    That was a really cool car.

    *weeps with grief over lost CRX*

    ===========

    @Not Adahn

    Three buttcheeks.

    Rule of threes.

    ===========

    @DEG

    I like seeing the link rotation change up.

    This was just me nosing my way into places where I have no business.

    ===========

    Re masks: I have bandannas to hold my hair back rockabilly style when I’m DIYing, so I could use those if I felt

    like it. Also, I had bought a shit-ton of masks a long time ago for DIYing. I also apparently had the foresight

    to put a bunch of them in our 72-hour kits. I’m mask central.

    ===========

    @HM

    When the factories re-domicile, they will be staffed with robots – because robots neither get sick

    nor join unions.

    @grrizzly

    Robots break down and stay that way until the get fixed.

    L E A R N T O C O D E

    ===========

    Re empty shelves

    Yesterday I went to Walmart and Aldi’s. WM was out of corned beef for my Reubens (still on that kick). They had

    lots of beef and chicken, which I had budgeted for. Alas, I have ZERO room in my freezers for any more. They had

    it. I had the money. I don’t have a place to put it. This is the bad thing about low-carbing. Your storage

    space/time continuum is fucked up because it’s all perishable. Except Spam and Vienna sausages. No paper

    products, but we’re well stocked. Aldi’s was limiting evaporated milk (which is the only milk I buy), and there

    was no soup to be had. Bread was plentiful and cheap. Today, Price Chopper. They had corned beef and fruit

    Tootsie rolls, but no paper products.

    I am now in the market for another freezer.

    Baking things in relatively good supply, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to bake bread unless or until all the

    stores are out with no more in sight.

    ===========

    @AlexinCT

    Kidding. I’m not that smart, just interested in weird-ass things (like Digby). No, HM,

    that is not an invitation to eat my ass.

    Why not? This is an event I would pay big bucks to watch…

    I may be easy, honey, but you can’t afford how not-cheap I am.

  65. LCDR_Fish

    This would have been more relevant to el espanol links this morning but Juan Gimenez (master artist of Metabarons, etc) passed away yesterday RIP. (and apparently due to Wu Flu as well)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Gimenez

  66. LCDR_Fish

    Oh yeah, thankfully first week of the new job turned out really well – esp with the 2 hr commute. Can’t wait to close on my place. I’m sick of the moving mindset and I *need* to unpack for good.

    • Mojeaux

      first week of the new job turned out really well

      Yay!!!

      • Jarflax

        Join zoom

      • Mojeaux

        Getting there!

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      God Speed, it’s nice to unpack, for real, been there….

    • Mojeaux

      the moving mindset

      It sucks. I’ve got boxes everywhere and now I don’t know if we’ll be moving at all ever if the bank doesn’t actually get around to saying, “Yeah, hey, about that house…”

    • westernsloper

      2 hr commute? Damn!

      • LCDR_Fish

        Each way. Just till the end of the month and I close on my new place. Love my audiobooks.

    • DEG

      thankfully first week of the new job turned out really well

      Good news!

  67. SP

    Happy Hour Zoom chat was fun, but I was thwarted by someone’s dog barking in the background. Between that and the Bad Golfers, The Wonder Dog started a loooooooong barking spree. Ah, well.

    • Yusef drives a Kia

      “Bad Golfers,” I wasn’t near your house, I swear……..

    • Mojeaux

      Still going! Come back!

    • Tundra

      Dammit! I’m making dinner for the girls and haven’t made it there yet. You going back?

      • SP

        Why? So you can see me there and disconnect before you have to speak to me???

      • Nephilium

        You just stood SP up again?

    • Rhywun

      Oh my God.

      • Chafed

        And not in a good way.

    • Count Potato

      It takes hours for copper to kill coronavirus.

  68. Derpetologist

    a story to inspire us all:

    ***
    Ernest Richard Kouma (November 23, 1919 – December 19, 1993) was a soldier in the United States Army during World War II and the Korean War. He rose to the rank of master sergeant and received the Medal of Honor for his actions on August 31 and September 1, 1950, during the Second Battle of Naktong Bulge in South Korea.

    Born in Nebraska, Kouma grew up on a family farm before enlisting in the Army in 1940. Kouma served as a tank commander during World War II, seeing combat in Germany with the 9th Armored Division from 1944 to 1945. After that war, Kouma served as part of the occupation force in South Korea and Japan.

    On the outbreak of the Korean War, Kouma commanded an M26 Pershing tank in the 2nd Infantry Division. While fighting during the Battle of Pusan Perimeter along the Naktong River, Kouma commanded his tank as it single-handedly fended off repeated North Korean attempts to cross the river after units around it had withdrawn. Wounded twice, Kouma killed 250 North Korean troops in this action.

    After receiving the medal, Kouma served as a recruiter and remained in the Army for 31 years, retiring in 1971. He lived in Kentucky until his death, and is buried in Fort Knox, Kentucky.
    ***

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_R._Kouma

    He rides eternal, shiny, and chrome.

  69. commodious spittoon

    I feel like such a boomer trying to my mic working 😛 almost like when I have to turn on the TV for any reason.