Fie. That a-hole Bovino is back in town with his goons, taking his "caravan" on a tour, stirring things up, spinning what he's doing to try to make it sound right, and lecturing the mayor of Evanston that he's not allowed to refer to residents as residents if they're "illegal." A news report I read says what he's been doing today appears "made for TV" and I would say that is consistent with what we have seen from him before. One new thing is he is claiming that local law enforcement is on his side now, but that's not what local law enforcement is saying. All I can do is wonder what comeuppance for him will look like when it finally arrives.
"To the Tribune, Bovino called the crowd of protestors a 'mob.' He said he’s here for the 'taxpayer Ma and Pa America' for a “legal, ethical and moral mission.” Yeah right, we should be grateful he's saving us all from the menace of elderly tamale vendors. He knows we locals don't buy his spin for a second. This is all to provide sound bites and images for MAGA media; I guess the order went out to do stunts that will fill airtime and social media and distract the public from the slow collapse of Trumpism. I'm hoping Bovino has a shark-jumping moment before he leaves town this time.
Good morning. It's going to be warm enough today for some of the snow and ice to melt. The condition of bus stops in this city is a hazardous disgrace. Property owners who grudgingly admit that they must clear their own sidewalks are still pretending that it's OK to heap up the shoveled snow by the curb next to the bus stop, so seniors and others can slip on uneven frozen slush and break something, or worse. Fie. The city government is ignoring the problem, but I bet the aldermen are getting a lot of letters following an opinion piece in the Sun-Times about the situation. I'm planning to write one.
Yesterday I completed stuffing and stamping my Christmas cards, prepared an out-of-town gift package, and took them all to the post office. Now I can take a little bit of a breather, but I must get to work on a list of other things I mean to do by the end of the month, because there are some.
I've been looking at rental houses on western North Carolina lakes for a trip in (maybe) late May. Prices aren't bad, especially compared to the beach, but it's hard to find a place with enough beds for all the bros. They don't like to share.
Up valley a bit, in a zip code a few times more pricey, in Old Snowmass there has been a Trappist Monk monastery since the 50's. The monastery is on 3500 acres of so of the most gorgeous land in Colorado. I mean that literally. @BikerChick if you ever come this way, the 10 mile (1500ft) bike ride up Snowmass Creek Road is my favorite in the area. Smallish and large properties owned by a series of billionaires line the road. All of the properties gorgeous and respectful of the incredible valley they fall in.
An alternate turn takes you down Capital Creek Rd where you pass by the monastery. To our regret, we haven't been. It is quite well known for being the home of Father Thomas Keating, a popular writer on centering prayer.
Sadly, the monks are all old, and there isn't anyone to replace them. So they have sold the property for $120M to Alex Karp - founder of Palantir. The showboating MAGA-lite defense contractor. What's the word to describe... sacrilegious, a sign of the times, just a bummer.
here's a bit carried over somewhat related to yesterdays topic...
A sperm donor who unknowingly harboured a genetic mutation that dramatically raises the risk of cancer has fathered at least 197 children across Europe, a major investigation has revealed.
all those siblings... will they find each other, or care to? Will the doctors or geneticists looking for those "at least 197 children" be required to make sure incest doesn't occur?
It's another spike in the casket of complicated biological time bombs we've created but have not developed systems and institutions to regulate and/or provide moral/ethical guidance and support.
when I was a kid our family would go to Shakey's Pizza parlor on Sante Fe in Englewood, CO & watch cooks toss the pizza dough high in the air through a large viewing window.
I had friends in HS who worked in a family owned Shakey's Pizza parlor. Shakey's didn't have the best pizza, but they had a primitive big screen tv (projector based). They had long picnic tables inside, so it was best for a large gathering where a group wanted to hang together.
They tried opening a second one in a nearby city, and eventually both failed. They didn't have a great location in Muncie; it was a little too far from campus, and didn't have other restaurants nearby.
The father played banjo, and some nights entertained customers with it.
oh, that's right, maybe old movies on the kids' side, & like Lucy said, music on the other side - my folks could go over there & dance, knowing we were safe & they could see us - I think there just a half wall between the 2 sides??? Or maybe a window? It wasn't blind, anyway...
enjoy the ride, have a safe journey, say hi to my son & granddaughter in Baton Rouge...
chow down on some gumbo - yum!! We're actually able to get some really good gumbo base here at HEB, in the freezer section, called Frenchy's. We add leftover chicken thighs, shrimp, kielbasa sausage, let it simmer, simmer, simmer - serve over brown rice...
It is impossible to describe how wonderful HEB is to those that haven't experienced it. Leaps and bounds better than your typical store in the quality of produce and meats. Better than Whole Foods. They are clean, wide aisles, wide parking spots. People like to highlight Buc-ee's as a thing Texans love. Psshaw. HEB.
No HEB in WI. I've never been one to frequent high fa-lootin' grocery stores. I manage fine at the local Pig (Piggly Wiggly.) We have an Aldi and a Dick's as well. I am not even joking when I say the name of the discount card at Dick's was called the "Insider Card." I think it's been retired.
when I was getting ready to move to TX, I was looking at grocery stores to shop, ie: Safeway, Kroger, places I knew. Couldn't locate any near where I was moving. I saw HEB & thought 'what is heb???' never heard of it... Their brand is really good, customer service top notch...
Buc-ee's just funny, but clean, & someplace to see if you've never seen one
There is supposed to be mixed precipitation tomorrow am when I drive to Madison for pickleball. I’ll brave the potentially slick roads because it’s also supposed to be windy. I have an appointment at the dealership at 2:30 for a test drive so the tech can hear the wind rattle. It’s the little things.
> Nuzzi does not appear to consider that she is an adult who made poor decisions. That her plight is not relatable in any sense, or quintessentially American in its mythos. She is not Joan Didion, or Monica Lewinsky, or Britney Spears, or a beloved starlet being hounded out of Hollywood during the Red Scare. No one, not even her fellow journalists, wants to read this self-pitying tripe. <
I feel your pain. There’s so much chasing our eyeballs in the attention economy, it’s worthwhile to know clearly what sorts of things you like and dislike, so you can at least cull the latter. I’m a kinda/sorta long-term Stiles fan.
My wife is a huge animal nut, especially dogs and horses. We thought Bob & Ray's Tippy the Wonder Dog was outrageously over-the-top humor. I remember our Tippy segments bombed the most.
Back in the early eighties, at Temple U Dental School, there was a pair of instructors who were known for their Bob and Ray routine while teaching, believe it or not. Not too many of my peers understood where they were coming from, but I enjoyed it, due to my appreciation for anachronistic humor, music, etc. At Christmas my family knows they're going to be listening to plenty of "Spike Jones Xmas Spectacular".
Thor and Sheldon came over yesterday to do their laundry. We played Wingspan, having missed it on Saturday because we went out for drinks and pizza. I was 3rd, in a weirdly low-scoring game in which Sheldon had twelve birds played but still had the lowest bird-points score. Vlad, who defeated his father with a tie-breaker, will drive Thor to the airport this afternoon. Thor is going to visit his sister in Oregon.
I'm always looking for new games, & checked on Wingspan. However, I often have 6 at one table & 8 at another, so this wouldn't work - it says in order to play w/ more than 5 people I would need an additional game at each table which would really make it expensive. I could have Wingspan at one table, w/ 2 copies, & the other table playing a different game, but I've tried 2 different games before & folks generally don't like that...
Other times we play w/ 2 other couples, thus 6 people...
A fun game that you can play with up to 53 people is called Murder!
You have two assassins, a sheriff, a priest, and a narrator. The rest of the people are townspeople who are likely to be killed. A dozen people works great.
Everyone is dealt a card, but they don't show anyone. I assign the one-eyed jacks to assassins, a king of one suit to the sheriff, the priest gets the ace. The narrator doesn't get a card. But you can assign whatever card to each role as you like.
The narrator has everyone close their eyes. While closed, he asks the assassins who they wish to kill; they point to someone). Once they're done he asks the sheriff who should be arrested, once done the priest is asked to spare from death. No one actually touches anyone, that's why everyone has their eyes closed. That leaves four outcomes.
A. The assassins kill someone
B. The assassins try to kill someone but fail (the priest spared them)
C. The assassins kill someone but one is arrested (the sheriff correctly identified an assassin).
D. The assassins try to kill someone but fail, and one is arrested (the sheriff correctly identified an assassin).
Everyone opens their eyes, and the narrator weaves a story of intrigue, explaining what happened that round. If a person is assassinated or arrested they are publicly identified and don't have to close their eyes anymore.
The above process is repeated, until the end when
a) Both assassins are arrested.
b) everyone but the assassins are dead.
c) stalemate: everyone but the assassins and the priest are dead.
The key is to tell funny stories, or gory stories, just something playful and memorable. I taught Christy to be a narrator, and she loved creating funny ways of people dying. She killed someone who jumped off the roof rather than look at my mismatched socks, while I once killed her by poisoning her skyline chili. She was fond of jealous boyfriends murdering me quite violently! But sometimes the assassins slit someone's throat with a playing card, or jammed a pencil through their eyeball.
I often used the game after a few games of euchre or uno. We often did it at Ivanhoes Ice Cream Parlor, where nearby patrons laughed and smiled at our antics. Allow one minute per round.
oh, gosh, I came back in to c/p this, this morning to save it in order to use it. Last night I 'thought' I typed up a reply, using my phone, thanking you, saying it sounds really fun!!!!!
But my reply isn't here... so here I go again... TY TY TY!!
plus, it reminds me of a game called WINK, but wink is more of a game that's played while you're having a party, preferably w/ a large # of people. When guests arrive, they pick a card out of a deck of cards, not showing anyone what card they drew (hosts have cards removed to equal the # of people who will be at the party). Whoever gets the Ace of Spades is the killer. No one knows who this person is. As the party goes on, the killer, discreetly, winks at other players. Sometimes when talking to another guest, or perhaps when passing another guest... At the beginning of the party, guests are asked to try to not be too noticeable when they announce they've been killed, ie, not immediately after being winked at --- when winked at, they've been killed, so soon after, they shout out "I'M DEAD". Some people like to be dramatic, fall over deadish... After a few people get killed, other guests are to start guessing who the killer is --- if guessed wrong, the incorrect guesser is dead... if correct = the winner; perhaps a prize of some sort... What's fun is if the killer takes his/her time, & the party is going along & all of a sudden you get winked at & have forgotten all about the game...
We once played this, & one of the more 'elderly' guests never caught on to what the game was... the killer was a woman, & she kept winking at him, at various times, & he would ignore her... She'd try it all kinds of ways - she generally had a quick wink, but w/ him she started a slow, exaggerated in his face wink. He never died. We guessed he thought she was flirting. His wife was there... as was the killer's husband... killer was laughing sooooooooooo much!!!
My wife and I would dissolve into laughter listening to Bob and Ray. We also similarly loved Prairie Home Companion. One year at our church's 'Talent Show' we did a skit of some of their most hilarious routines. My wife was famed for her creativity and acting talents. We were a hit most years at the talent show. That year, however, our friends just looked on in puzzlement as we bravely soldiered on to complete our skit. It was terribly embarrassing and puzzling to us.
I gathered that none of our friends had ever heard the Bob and Ray show, and few if any listened to Prairie Home Companion. I realized in that moment that our cultural tastes differed in some key respects from our friends. But I still think Bob and Ray were some of the funniest men I ever heard. However, our kids did 'Who's on First' at least one year at the talent show and it was a huge hit.
Pam and I listened to PHC many Saturday nights. in our first home we often polished the hardwoods once a month while listening. We'd sweep, then scrub floorboards during the show. When it came time to polish we put on thick socks and some dance music, doing the twist on each board. Once (sometimes twice) a night I'd slide her between my legs than pull her back up. She'd laugh and shriek, telling me "those boards are good".
When Mrs. F and I were going together in the 80s, on a Saturday night driving to or from a date, she knew PHC would be on the radio. I loved it, but she would often need a little explanation of the Lake Wobegone humor. Married me anyway.
"A boy dives headfirst into a drainage ditch a day after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was inaugurated for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela ..."
This weirdly implies that there is a meaningful connection between the two events. To be fair, it does look as though the boy is going to hit his head and die.
…until, unexpectedly: “A child catches snowflakes with their tongue”
Thanks a lot, AP, for your needless stylistic “enhancement” to the English language, where no one can tell what anyone’s talking about when pronouns are used. Man? Woman? Child? Animal, vegetable, or mineral? Single or plural?
Boring.... engage the viewer..."Who remembers catching snowflakes on their tongue?" I think there'd be a collective "awwwww...." heard round the world.
“Its” would also be an option. Or reformulating altogether.
“Catching a snowflake on your tongue.”
But no. In the name of faddish intellectual fashion statements, we’re going to toss a perfectly functional, centuries-old system of pronoun-antecedent agreement onto the bonfire of modern vanity. Then we can legitimately grade every half-assed college essay as “A+” material, no matter how many grammatical errors it contains.
Fie. That a-hole Bovino is back in town with his goons, taking his "caravan" on a tour, stirring things up, spinning what he's doing to try to make it sound right, and lecturing the mayor of Evanston that he's not allowed to refer to residents as residents if they're "illegal." A news report I read says what he's been doing today appears "made for TV" and I would say that is consistent with what we have seen from him before. One new thing is he is claiming that local law enforcement is on his side now, but that's not what local law enforcement is saying. All I can do is wonder what comeuppance for him will look like when it finally arrives.
"To the Tribune, Bovino called the crowd of protestors a 'mob.' He said he’s here for the 'taxpayer Ma and Pa America' for a “legal, ethical and moral mission.” Yeah right, we should be grateful he's saving us all from the menace of elderly tamale vendors. He knows we locals don't buy his spin for a second. This is all to provide sound bites and images for MAGA media; I guess the order went out to do stunts that will fill airtime and social media and distract the public from the slow collapse of Trumpism. I'm hoping Bovino has a shark-jumping moment before he leaves town this time.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/17/bovino-praises-local-police-assistance-in-immigration-enforcement-argues-with-evanston-mayor-daniel-biss/
https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/12/17/bovino-leads-caravan-through-chicago-and-suburbs-clashes-with-evanston-mayor/
Good morning. It's going to be warm enough today for some of the snow and ice to melt. The condition of bus stops in this city is a hazardous disgrace. Property owners who grudgingly admit that they must clear their own sidewalks are still pretending that it's OK to heap up the shoveled snow by the curb next to the bus stop, so seniors and others can slip on uneven frozen slush and break something, or worse. Fie. The city government is ignoring the problem, but I bet the aldermen are getting a lot of letters following an opinion piece in the Sun-Times about the situation. I'm planning to write one.
Yesterday I completed stuffing and stamping my Christmas cards, prepared an out-of-town gift package, and took them all to the post office. Now I can take a little bit of a breather, but I must get to work on a list of other things I mean to do by the end of the month, because there are some.
I, too, have things I must do before the end of the month!
I hope the city government does something for bus-riders soon.
I've been looking at rental houses on western North Carolina lakes for a trip in (maybe) late May. Prices aren't bad, especially compared to the beach, but it's hard to find a place with enough beds for all the bros. They don't like to share.
Up valley a bit, in a zip code a few times more pricey, in Old Snowmass there has been a Trappist Monk monastery since the 50's. The monastery is on 3500 acres of so of the most gorgeous land in Colorado. I mean that literally. @BikerChick if you ever come this way, the 10 mile (1500ft) bike ride up Snowmass Creek Road is my favorite in the area. Smallish and large properties owned by a series of billionaires line the road. All of the properties gorgeous and respectful of the incredible valley they fall in.
An alternate turn takes you down Capital Creek Rd where you pass by the monastery. To our regret, we haven't been. It is quite well known for being the home of Father Thomas Keating, a popular writer on centering prayer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Benedict%27s_Monastery,_Colorado
Sadly, the monks are all old, and there isn't anyone to replace them. So they have sold the property for $120M to Alex Karp - founder of Palantir. The showboating MAGA-lite defense contractor. What's the word to describe... sacrilegious, a sign of the times, just a bummer.
I've read books by Fr. Thomas Keating. Maybe Mr. Karp will preserve the natural environment.
I've never heard of Bob and Ray but Car Talk was part of the Saturday routine.
here's a bit carried over somewhat related to yesterdays topic...
A sperm donor who unknowingly harboured a genetic mutation that dramatically raises the risk of cancer has fathered at least 197 children across Europe, a major investigation has revealed.
all those siblings... will they find each other, or care to? Will the doctors or geneticists looking for those "at least 197 children" be required to make sure incest doesn't occur?
It's another spike in the casket of complicated biological time bombs we've created but have not developed systems and institutions to regulate and/or provide moral/ethical guidance and support.
when I was a kid our family would go to Shakey's Pizza parlor on Sante Fe in Englewood, CO & watch cooks toss the pizza dough high in the air through a large viewing window.
I had friends in HS who worked in a family owned Shakey's Pizza parlor. Shakey's didn't have the best pizza, but they had a primitive big screen tv (projector based). They had long picnic tables inside, so it was best for a large gathering where a group wanted to hang together.
They tried opening a second one in a nearby city, and eventually both failed. They didn't have a great location in Muncie; it was a little too far from campus, and didn't have other restaurants nearby.
The father played banjo, and some nights entertained customers with it.
It was a big deal to go to the one in Rockville. There was music, a player piano and a banjo. Watching pizza crust being tossed was cool, too.
One of the restaurants in Roma we visited a view times had a viewing window, so you could watch them make dough. they were talented!
We used to go to Shakey's in southern California.
did they have the viewing window? Ours also had 2 dining rooms, 1 for beer to be served...
Yes, they had the viewing window. And old movies?
oh, that's right, maybe old movies on the kids' side, & like Lucy said, music on the other side - my folks could go over there & dance, knowing we were safe & they could see us - I think there just a half wall between the 2 sides??? Or maybe a window? It wasn't blind, anyway...
I don't remember all the details. I know it was a bit of a drive, maybe an hour. We would usually go with the neighbors and their kids.
Good morning. 37 degrees here rising to the 40s. Rain forecast tomorrow, when we’re on the road to Christmas in Louisiana.
The mothership is covering the rise in gold and silver prices. The FP is headling “Kidnapped in Russia”.
enjoy the ride, have a safe journey, say hi to my son & granddaughter in Baton Rouge...
chow down on some gumbo - yum!! We're actually able to get some really good gumbo base here at HEB, in the freezer section, called Frenchy's. We add leftover chicken thighs, shrimp, kielbasa sausage, let it simmer, simmer, simmer - serve over brown rice...
beginning of crawfish season...
Mmmmmm!
the Frenchy's base is authentic & so much easier than making the roux yourself!!!
It is impossible to describe how wonderful HEB is to those that haven't experienced it. Leaps and bounds better than your typical store in the quality of produce and meats. Better than Whole Foods. They are clean, wide aisles, wide parking spots. People like to highlight Buc-ee's as a thing Texans love. Psshaw. HEB.
No HEB in WI. I've never been one to frequent high fa-lootin' grocery stores. I manage fine at the local Pig (Piggly Wiggly.) We have an Aldi and a Dick's as well. I am not even joking when I say the name of the discount card at Dick's was called the "Insider Card." I think it's been retired.
when I was getting ready to move to TX, I was looking at grocery stores to shop, ie: Safeway, Kroger, places I knew. Couldn't locate any near where I was moving. I saw HEB & thought 'what is heb???' never heard of it... Their brand is really good, customer service top notch...
Buc-ee's just funny, but clean, & someplace to see if you've never seen one
Uranus Fudge Factory is kinda sorta like that.
There is supposed to be mixed precipitation tomorrow am when I drive to Madison for pickleball. I’ll brave the potentially slick roads because it’s also supposed to be windy. I have an appointment at the dealership at 2:30 for a test drive so the tech can hear the wind rattle. It’s the little things.
Won't the wind affect play? Or are you playing indoors?
I’m tough but I’m not that tough. I always play indoors in Madison. We never have to worry about the elements.
I should check prices for the gold coins my mom left.
Bonus: Andrew Stiles reads a journalist’s kiss-n-tell memoir so you don’t have to:
https://freebeacon.com/culture/cuckin-in-the-free-world/
Snippet:
> Nuzzi does not appear to consider that she is an adult who made poor decisions. That her plight is not relatable in any sense, or quintessentially American in its mythos. She is not Joan Didion, or Monica Lewinsky, or Britney Spears, or a beloved starlet being hounded out of Hollywood during the Red Scare. No one, not even her fellow journalists, wants to read this self-pitying tripe. <
American Canto?
More like an American Zero.
well, I clicked on the link, & as all types of subjects like that, find no interest, read less than the first sentence of each paragraph... the end
I feel your pain. There’s so much chasing our eyeballs in the attention economy, it’s worthwhile to know clearly what sorts of things you like and dislike, so you can at least cull the latter. I’m a kinda/sorta long-term Stiles fan.
Mr. Stiles needs an editor to tidy his punctuation. I'll read the article, though, because how can one resist such a story?
ETA: The piece brought the late Florence King's parodies to mind.
How can one resist such a story? Watch and learn. 🥱💤🙄
My wife is a huge animal nut, especially dogs and horses. We thought Bob & Ray's Tippy the Wonder Dog was outrageously over-the-top humor. I remember our Tippy segments bombed the most.
Back in the early eighties, at Temple U Dental School, there was a pair of instructors who were known for their Bob and Ray routine while teaching, believe it or not. Not too many of my peers understood where they were coming from, but I enjoyed it, due to my appreciation for anachronistic humor, music, etc. At Christmas my family knows they're going to be listening to plenty of "Spike Jones Xmas Spectacular".
Thor and Sheldon came over yesterday to do their laundry. We played Wingspan, having missed it on Saturday because we went out for drinks and pizza. I was 3rd, in a weirdly low-scoring game in which Sheldon had twelve birds played but still had the lowest bird-points score. Vlad, who defeated his father with a tie-breaker, will drive Thor to the airport this afternoon. Thor is going to visit his sister in Oregon.
I'm always looking for new games, & checked on Wingspan. However, I often have 6 at one table & 8 at another, so this wouldn't work - it says in order to play w/ more than 5 people I would need an additional game at each table which would really make it expensive. I could have Wingspan at one table, w/ 2 copies, & the other table playing a different game, but I've tried 2 different games before & folks generally don't like that...
Other times we play w/ 2 other couples, thus 6 people...
😢
A fun game that you can play with up to 53 people is called Murder!
You have two assassins, a sheriff, a priest, and a narrator. The rest of the people are townspeople who are likely to be killed. A dozen people works great.
Everyone is dealt a card, but they don't show anyone. I assign the one-eyed jacks to assassins, a king of one suit to the sheriff, the priest gets the ace. The narrator doesn't get a card. But you can assign whatever card to each role as you like.
The narrator has everyone close their eyes. While closed, he asks the assassins who they wish to kill; they point to someone). Once they're done he asks the sheriff who should be arrested, once done the priest is asked to spare from death. No one actually touches anyone, that's why everyone has their eyes closed. That leaves four outcomes.
A. The assassins kill someone
B. The assassins try to kill someone but fail (the priest spared them)
C. The assassins kill someone but one is arrested (the sheriff correctly identified an assassin).
D. The assassins try to kill someone but fail, and one is arrested (the sheriff correctly identified an assassin).
Everyone opens their eyes, and the narrator weaves a story of intrigue, explaining what happened that round. If a person is assassinated or arrested they are publicly identified and don't have to close their eyes anymore.
The above process is repeated, until the end when
a) Both assassins are arrested.
b) everyone but the assassins are dead.
c) stalemate: everyone but the assassins and the priest are dead.
The key is to tell funny stories, or gory stories, just something playful and memorable. I taught Christy to be a narrator, and she loved creating funny ways of people dying. She killed someone who jumped off the roof rather than look at my mismatched socks, while I once killed her by poisoning her skyline chili. She was fond of jealous boyfriends murdering me quite violently! But sometimes the assassins slit someone's throat with a playing card, or jammed a pencil through their eyeball.
I often used the game after a few games of euchre or uno. We often did it at Ivanhoes Ice Cream Parlor, where nearby patrons laughed and smiled at our antics. Allow one minute per round.
oh, gosh, I came back in to c/p this, this morning to save it in order to use it. Last night I 'thought' I typed up a reply, using my phone, thanking you, saying it sounds really fun!!!!!
But my reply isn't here... so here I go again... TY TY TY!!
plus, it reminds me of a game called WINK, but wink is more of a game that's played while you're having a party, preferably w/ a large # of people. When guests arrive, they pick a card out of a deck of cards, not showing anyone what card they drew (hosts have cards removed to equal the # of people who will be at the party). Whoever gets the Ace of Spades is the killer. No one knows who this person is. As the party goes on, the killer, discreetly, winks at other players. Sometimes when talking to another guest, or perhaps when passing another guest... At the beginning of the party, guests are asked to try to not be too noticeable when they announce they've been killed, ie, not immediately after being winked at --- when winked at, they've been killed, so soon after, they shout out "I'M DEAD". Some people like to be dramatic, fall over deadish... After a few people get killed, other guests are to start guessing who the killer is --- if guessed wrong, the incorrect guesser is dead... if correct = the winner; perhaps a prize of some sort... What's fun is if the killer takes his/her time, & the party is going along & all of a sudden you get winked at & have forgotten all about the game...
We once played this, & one of the more 'elderly' guests never caught on to what the game was... the killer was a woman, & she kept winking at him, at various times, & he would ignore her... She'd try it all kinds of ways - she generally had a quick wink, but w/ him she started a slow, exaggerated in his face wink. He never died. We guessed he thought she was flirting. His wife was there... as was the killer's husband... killer was laughing sooooooooooo much!!!
Yeah, only five people.
I’ve never heard of Wingspan. I’ll check it out.
https://stonemaiergames.com/games/wingspan/
My wife and I would dissolve into laughter listening to Bob and Ray. We also similarly loved Prairie Home Companion. One year at our church's 'Talent Show' we did a skit of some of their most hilarious routines. My wife was famed for her creativity and acting talents. We were a hit most years at the talent show. That year, however, our friends just looked on in puzzlement as we bravely soldiered on to complete our skit. It was terribly embarrassing and puzzling to us.
I gathered that none of our friends had ever heard the Bob and Ray show, and few if any listened to Prairie Home Companion. I realized in that moment that our cultural tastes differed in some key respects from our friends. But I still think Bob and Ray were some of the funniest men I ever heard. However, our kids did 'Who's on First' at least one year at the talent show and it was a huge hit.
Pam and I listened to PHC many Saturday nights. in our first home we often polished the hardwoods once a month while listening. We'd sweep, then scrub floorboards during the show. When it came time to polish we put on thick socks and some dance music, doing the twist on each board. Once (sometimes twice) a night I'd slide her between my legs than pull her back up. She'd laugh and shriek, telling me "those boards are good".
We'd snuggle on the couch while listening.
When Mrs. F and I were going together in the 80s, on a Saturday night driving to or from a date, she knew PHC would be on the radio. I loved it, but she would often need a little explanation of the Lake Wobegone humor. Married me anyway.
ANOTHER THOUSAND WORDS: The Associated Press looks back on its favorite photographic moments of joy in 2025: https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/top-associated-press-photos-joy-2025-78f245d8b9b0cb1b85314239a9fd7e33
Thank you, Wilhelm.
You're most welcome!
ahhhh - TY
MOAB, Utah!! nice
not fighting at the tomato fight fiesta 😘
and great way to get exercise = ballroom dancing 💃🕺
Dancing is excellent exercise.
great memory exercise, too
There seem to be several pictures of people in mud, or tomato mush. And then there are the polar bear plunge pix.
"A boy dives headfirst into a drainage ditch a day after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was inaugurated for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela ..."
This weirdly implies that there is a meaningful connection between the two events. To be fair, it does look as though the boy is going to hit his head and die.
The pic and the caption were both disconcerting...and I hope the kid isn't a quadriplegic after that.
Maybe it's deeper than it looks ... but alligators.
It's Venezuela. They ate all the alligators.
Heh, good point.
Keep in mind: Associated Press cutlines always read like they're written by photographers. Decent editors fix that.
Thanks for that—very joyous events!
…until, unexpectedly: “A child catches snowflakes with their tongue”
Thanks a lot, AP, for your needless stylistic “enhancement” to the English language, where no one can tell what anyone’s talking about when pronouns are used. Man? Woman? Child? Animal, vegetable, or mineral? Single or plural?
Boring.... engage the viewer..."Who remembers catching snowflakes on their tongue?" I think there'd be a collective "awwwww...." heard round the world.
It's not clear from the picture whether the child is a boy or a girl. Maybe the caption-writer didn't know.
Is “his/her tongue” improper? Seems more proper than “their.”
“Its” would also be an option. Or reformulating altogether.
“Catching a snowflake on your tongue.”
But no. In the name of faddish intellectual fashion statements, we’re going to toss a perfectly functional, centuries-old system of pronoun-antecedent agreement onto the bonfire of modern vanity. Then we can legitimately grade every half-assed college essay as “A+” material, no matter how many grammatical errors it contains.
*sniff!*
"A child catches snowflakes with their tongue”. Agreed it is bad. How about;
"The joy of children catching snowflakes on their tongue".
"A Falling snowflake captured on a child's tongue".
"SNAP budget cuts make a child desperate for dinner" (NPR version).
It's not wrong, just clunky.
Hmm… hadn’t considered that. It looked to me to be obviously a boy. But on second thought, maybe not quite so obvious at all.
Beau wore that style of hat at one time in his 'teens, but girls wore them, too. I didn't even know they were back in fashion.
https://www.commentary.org/john-podhoretz/norman-podhoretz-1930-2025/
Norman Podhoretz has died of old age.
May he rest in peace.
And his memory be for a blessing.
I’ve only got indirect experience of him via hearsay—by way of Jonah’s frequent jaunts down the trail of conservative intellectual history. RIP.
Hate that.
It's very sad for his family, but inevitable.
as Morrie says, in 'tuesdays with Morrie' "everyone knows they'll die, they just don't believe it"
Louis L'Amour said the same thing.
I've read a lot of L'Amour - just googled - 'The Lonesome Gods'! Seems very probable that Morrie read L'Amour's book & then carried it w/ him.
Thanks for the correction. I'll mention this in the book club discussion in Feb.
It equally possible that they came up with it independently of one another. It's a pretty intuitive concept.
Good morning. I'm cold.
I live in these in the winter. I have many colors. https://www.landsend.com/products/anyweather-fleece-quarter-zip-pullover/id_326686?attributes=55615,44967,21576
New fleece is so luscious.
My mother had shirts like that.
Morning. It’s been warming up here all night. Now close to 40.
They Say it's 30 now but will be 60 later, staying warmish tomorrow but raining.