Good afternoon. Because I had to front-load yesterday's activities (meaning I had to get moving right after breakfast and before I could finish my usual news-surfing) in order to get everything I planned done, I took it easier this morning before getting to the to-do list.
But I've completed some household chores AND got my Amazon order placed, the one I've been trying to get to. That means I will receive my order of Christmas cards on a date that will work. (That has been a problem some years.) What I'm most pleased about is that I was able to second-guess Amazon's attempted manipulation regarding delivery dates and how much of a shipping charge I will accept. (I don't do Prime, period.) Within the checkout process, they change their strategy every time and try to hide the options and choices I'm looking for. But I've learned to slow down, think twice, and keep looking before going ahead to place the order, knowing that I'm up against AI and need not accept everything it wants to make me say OK to. Good for me!
I will probably be doing some intensive, time-sensitive copyediting tomorrow. Or if not tomorrow, then Monday.
If you follow the right people it's pretty good. Jonah posts regular doggo videos of his two. I try to avoid too much politics. Although I follow someone who does politics who has the same last name as me!
Before it got changed by Musk, I used to be able to view Jonah's page. Now I pretty much can't view anyone's twix page, which is no great loss as I don't care to get any politics from there. Now in lieu of Jonah's page I can sort of hack into key items and videos from it using a search engine and fiddling with the search settings. But I don't watch them as often as I used to. Also I can't see the replies to non-video posts. If it gets worse, I'll just stop even looking. Before that happens, perhaps Jonah will get his way on adding certain features to The Dispatch that will allow him to migrate this stuff over there for us.
Busy today—and grateful for it, I’ll add. The other rental that went vacant stands a good chance of having a tenant tomorrow, and I’ve got some last-minute, I’d-feel-guilty-if-I-didn’t-make-a-bit-better-effort tasks to perform. And now I can add two garage door openers failing at two homes that I can replace the next couple days amidst the other stuff…
Time to go grab some random tool opposite its pointy end and do something productive to something else… and before I talk myself out of the caffeinated motivation.
Keep your belly empty and your bladder full: one of the best methods known to man for sustaining maximum momentum!
Grabbing a tool opposite its pointy end. Huh. That's my problem right there. Thanks for the pro tip. I learn so much from these comments. You might be thinking I'm being sarcastic. I only wish I were.
Happy Thursday! Sun is out and it is above freezing almost.
My husband is mailing the check to buy his dream banjo today. He is just about giddy with excitement. We contemplated driving down to Louisiana to pick it up but the timing was bad.
Now I need to think about Christmas for everybody else.
My husband started off on accordian (being Slovenian on both sides) but saw Douglas Dillard play on the Andy Griffith show and was hooked. He tried to major in banjo at SUNY Cortland but they wouldn't let him. Software developer talent aside, he is a musician.
Neither was I. So they are not pots for keeping snakes in--they are cooking pots with a snake motif.
But the phrase "dream snake pot" made me wonder if it's a pot for a dream snake, whatever that is! And that put me in mind of some Pete Townshend lyrics, which I guess I sort of conflated, because I don't understand the lyrics anyway. But since it's Townshend, I'll stipulate that they could be deep rather than stupid.
"There's a beautiful white horse I saw on a dream stage
"He had a snake the size of a sewer pipe living in his rib cage"
(I always misheard "pipe" as "pot." Sorta like a chimney pot, maybe?)
When I was young, I made my own banjo, but it was only the neck. The pot is a birds eye maple job from an old tenor banjo circa 1900-ish. It's got a great deep tone. Bart Reiter told me it's a decent banjo.
Congratulations on the dream banjo! The just-past English music director (the realsies employee) at my church just got his dream guitar. It cost more than my new Honda Accord.
ETA: He had another full-time job, so it's not like the church was paying him a high-end-guitar wage.
Acoustic guitars can get REAL expensive. I only have a couple of inexpensive acoustics. However, I have about 12 electric guitars. (My wife had apoplexy when I had a mere 9). We are in a golden age for extremely high quality electric guitars at prices we couldn't dream of in the 70's.
My favorites are made in Vietnam or Indonesia. I buy something for under $300, usually under $200. I have a full guitar workshop and upgrade parts as needed. I have guitars that play and sound better than $3,000+ guitars. After my fantastic 1970's Les Paul got stolen years ago, I decided I didn't want that heartache again.
I just bought a $60 guitar from Temu (I know, I know!). I just wanted the body. It turns out to be a fantastic guitar, after I did some work on it. I was shocked.
Was listening to this week’s Econtalk while shampooing a carpet earlier. It was an interview with an author about playing tuba in band. Someone cited a saying, roughly, “A musician is someone who takes a $5,000 instrument in a $500 car to play at a $50 gig.”
I almost laughed at that quote. Before realizing that sums up my (semi-professional/hobby) musical career. I was then tempted to cry.
Actually, early on (college and post-college) I was happy to get some really nice guitar gear paid for out of my band earnings. I still have most of it.
About ten years ago I took my two youngest kids to an Arena Football league ( a lower division league). The QB played for our local HS. The kids had fun (AFL moves quickly loads of action, and because crowds are small you can sit close and hear it). They were paying $50 a player to most players, the QB got a little more.
The mini is going in for service today so they can attempt to detect and remedy the wind noise. I have little faith but I’ll remain hopeful. On a windy day (say 25+mph consistent gusts) while going 60mph+ it makes an intermittent rattling sound near the front passenger door that is unmistakably abnormal. I’m sure they’ll think I’m “one of those” people. Well guess what service tech…I have a video of the noise.
Having a video should be helpful. Sometimes the hardest thing to convey to a mechanic is what the exact sound is that they’re trying to replicate in order to diagnose and possibly fix.
It's nice to have my deeply held beliefs (posters on X are political actors fomenting dissent in the US) confirmed. Of course they are, with lots of them being 50 centers from China. I've long been in agreement with Lee Kwon Yew's take on media, i.e., American media structure is ridiculous and a very major cause of civic confusion and unrest. There's a reason he didn't let our media run free in Singapore.
Good morning. 29 degrees now and staying in the 20s all day.
The mothership is covering tensions between PR China and Japan regarding the “other” China — the one on Taiwan. The FP has an article predicting a civil war in England (presumably over immigration and non-assimilating Muslim immigrants) and one on the Bible on trial in Europe (actually Finland). The latter involves a prominent Finnish politician who publicly dissented from the Finnish Lutheran Church over gay issues. Seems she actually had the audacity to quote the Bible, and so now she is now on trial for “hate speech”.
Sounds similar to the Pentagon and Hegspud persecuting my great Senator USN retired Mark Kelly for quoting the UCMJ about Ilegal Orders. French had an apoplectic essay on the topic
European countries as well as Canada (which might as well be a European country) tend to be like that. Canada has been known to hassle a Protestant minister who dared teach from the Bible about homosexuality.
(Of course, when you say "idiotic" I don't know whether you approve of, or disapprove of, the Finnish "hate speech" case against that woman).
Disapprove. Prosecuting the woman for what she allegedly did or said is ridiculous. America is idiotic in its own unique way, but so far no prosecutions.
-5 over here in southern Wisco. Brrrrr. Interestingly the high is forecasted to be 13 with a feels like temperature of 26. Can somebody make sense of that?
It's only 27 degrees here in Rochester, and it's snowing hard and windy. But as I write school buses are picking up neighbors' kids as usual -- no doubt as they are in Wisconsin.
Switzerland recently sentenced a man to a short jail term because he said men and women have different skeletons and then refused to pay a fine for his "crime".
There was a little more to the story, indicating he referred to anything other than male or female as a "mentally ill idea,".ridiculing trans ideology. Still, that's nuts. The trans folks are worse than the gay folks, some of whom (like Andrew Sullivan here on Substack) push back against the trans ideologues.
You needn't be guarded about news consumption. Just find a source that TRIES to honestly deliver the news. (I like The Dispatch.) But there are aggregators of news stories that compare/contrast biases in coverage. Then it requires some critical thinking on your part. But such is life.
Dispatch (Morning & Jonah, sometimes some others/never Nick/never the comment section anymore - not enough time for that now), GlobalPost & 1440 are what I still keep up w/, when I keep up w/ anything.
But guess what, I start reading here & this really takes a lot of my time 😁
I'll go back to the Dispatch when they get a functional comments section... and Steve writes an admission that his book supporting the war in Iraq was misguided stupidity because he was young and didn't know what he was talking about... and Jonah stops making dumb proclamations...oh, and Nick commits himself to a mental hospital.
I just read this (long) piece also. He’s an ambitious guy! He’s a liberal, of course, and I disagree with him on various issues. But he’s also one of the few Democrats I actually could have voted for a year ago, if the Democrats had had the sense to nominate him.
I read it this morning (it's night here). He seems mildly sane, for a pol. I think I liked him because he clearly was at odds with Kamala. Nowadays, something like that is enough for me to like somebody.
'Consider this an early prototype of forthcoming “Elect Shapiro” ads: a hardworking white woman against a backdrop of snow cones and saucer-cup rides, in a county Trump carried by 25 points, praising the Democratic governor for defying the pompous stereotypes of his party.'
Good. Not old, not crazy, not a Jew-hater ... that gives him at least one up on J.D. Vance.
Not that I think the candidates will necessarily be anyone on the menu today. I remember when the 2008 election was absolutely going to be Hillary Clinton v. Rudy Giuliani, and you were laughed at for saying anything else.
It's frustrating beyond all get-out to see "conservatives", even those that supposedly are not MAGA, reject Shapiro as far-lefty no better than Kamala, Mayor Pete, Newsome etc. But I think they are fooling themselves. The pundits could make a prototype out of me if he runs against MAGA succession.
I'll post this separately - it's a repost from a few days ago, but I posted it really late, so I'm pretty sure no one saw it. Sorry if it's a repeat for anyone who did...
Comment on the March 31st Space X shot – my youngest grandson had just turned 3 that month. My DIL picked him up at preschool, the teacher took her off to the side & said he had been saying the "F" word. DIL was amazed, asked more about it, teacher said "He said his dad taught it to him". DIL persisted, asked about the situation. Grandson had been building w/ blocks, made a space station, w/ a rocket ship & was showing those around him the "F'n Rocket Blast Off".
Back story - he was REALLY into space stuff, REALLY into rocket ships. His dad, my son, watched a bunch of shows w/ him. That was during the time when the Falcon rocket ships were really a big thing.
So, that night, they helped teach a just turned 3 yr old how to say his L's better. My son doesn't curse, certainly not the 'F' word... 🤣
many to comment on, however, I'll begin by saying no comment on any of the political, nor devastation caused by natural or war...
Bedlington Terrier little lambs, so cute; well, aren't all dogs
Tippie-toe tennis - new game to play?
Both pics of the lava, flowing & errupting - wow
Caribou in Alaska - our trip to Alaska is one that was remarkable in so many ways. Seeing the Caribou was one part; at that time, we often saw them w/ their heads buried to keep the flies out of their nostrils.
Only a couple of weeks? I saws Christmas ads on TV even before Halloween this year. Christmas music has been on the radio since Veteran’s Day. And on the other end, those will all end on December 26. Does no one remember er the Twelve Days of Christmas?
on the other hand, there might be so much confusion, a friend was in the thrift shop yesterday, we were talking, then when she got ready to leave, she wished me a happy Thanksgiving... everything gets mashed in together... btw, I'll fix some mashed/whipped 'tators for dinner tonight. What do y'all call them? I'll actually fix whipped 'tators, cause I'll beat 'em, whip 'em, w/ butter & milk; mashed would just be using that masher thing & no milk.
If you're using a mixer, then you have whipped potatoes. If you're using a masher, you have mashed potatoes, even if you add milk and butter. I remember one year, Beau put three sticks of butter in the potatoes. "Gosh, this is good!" everyone said.
The difference between mashed potatoes with butter and without butter is huge. I prepared them for the peasants in the village, they wondered...why? Then, I laid on the butter, which they'd not ever eaten before, and the light bulb went on. They were scraping the bowl like it was brownie mix.
I haven't tried this, & don't have the exact 'recipe' in front of me, but it goes something like: put milk in the pot, enough to just cover the cut up potatoes, bring to a slight simmer; turn off heat & allow the potatoes to soak up the milk. Then add the butter, etc, & whip 'em.
True about the ads and stuff, but in my real life, people didn't start saying "Merry Christmas" until after Thanksgiving. Things change more slowly in the South.
I say "Have a Blessed Christmas" to some, & to some I actually say "Do I dare say Have a Blessed Christmas"? Others "Merry Christmas", others "Happy Holidays", altho to be honest I try to use that last one the least <--- & let me edit to add, my dad was Jewish, I have Jewish relatives, & neighbors, so for them I wish them a Happy Hanukkah.
I'll say "Merry Christmas" to everyone once it's Christmas. Until then, I say, "Have a good day," or words to that effect. I respond to "Merry Christmas" with "Thank you," or "You, too." (Because I don't have the nerve to say, "OMG, it's Christmas today?!? I didn't think I was that drunk!")
"Commentary" covered this news, as well. Reports ostensibly coming from Gaza or elsewhere in the Middle East were often not, actually. "Bombs are falling right now!!!" ... in Poland, really guy?
According to various sources coughed up by Google, the feature is currently disabled as they work to overcome the inaccuracies caused by VPNs. I'll bet they could come up with, at least, a notification that, "This account is using a VPN and therefore is from an unknown location."
I'm not an expert on this, but if the posting person is serious I think it would be trivial to setup a server in the US to mask the foreign source without it being detected as a commercial VPN. Showing the location and/or indicating uncertain VPN location will make it harder for some, but not for state actors for example.
Party like it's....a long time ago. Of the four malls we used to have (including the one with the K&W - RIP), the one with the worst parking and traffic thrives. One was torn down and turned into a shopping district with streets and stores, one was bought by Epic Games and mostly torn down. The most recent one hangs in there but resembles an enclosed strip mall. There is a Saks Fifth Avenue and a place to buy fantasy swords, StarWars armor and cool RPG dice.
I haven't been to a mall in quite a while. What do y'all do at the mall?
48 now, which looks to be the high for the day. A SAHday, to take care of some laundry, do a bit of cleaning out my car - doesn't need much. I looked ahead at the weather to schedule my annual car service for tomorrow. Will sit & wait vs get a loaner or have someone take me home/pick me up (it's about 30 minutes each way) - those last 2 options often result in more delays. I think. If they know I'm sitting & waiting, I believe they keep me on schedule. I scheduled it at 9 am, but will pack a lunch jic.
& I'm a curious person - if you're so inclined, I'd love to hear what you purchase. No need to disclose price; unless, of course, it was a super good deal!
Sure. We'll look for a coat for a gift to someone on the church's "Angel Tree." The tag says 16-year-old girl and doesn't give a size, so we'll go with large. We have quite a few suggestions (and sizes included!) for the girl from the "former foster children" program.
Enjoyable to read this Comments section again. Been away for a couple of weeks as my 98 year old love died
Oh my. Very sorry for your loss!
Good afternoon. Because I had to front-load yesterday's activities (meaning I had to get moving right after breakfast and before I could finish my usual news-surfing) in order to get everything I planned done, I took it easier this morning before getting to the to-do list.
But I've completed some household chores AND got my Amazon order placed, the one I've been trying to get to. That means I will receive my order of Christmas cards on a date that will work. (That has been a problem some years.) What I'm most pleased about is that I was able to second-guess Amazon's attempted manipulation regarding delivery dates and how much of a shipping charge I will accept. (I don't do Prime, period.) Within the checkout process, they change their strategy every time and try to hide the options and choices I'm looking for. But I've learned to slow down, think twice, and keep looking before going ahead to place the order, knowing that I'm up against AI and need not accept everything it wants to make me say OK to. Good for me!
I will probably be doing some intensive, time-sensitive copyediting tomorrow. Or if not tomorrow, then Monday.
Good thing I don't have an account on the twix.
If you follow the right people it's pretty good. Jonah posts regular doggo videos of his two. I try to avoid too much politics. Although I follow someone who does politics who has the same last name as me!
Before it got changed by Musk, I used to be able to view Jonah's page. Now I pretty much can't view anyone's twix page, which is no great loss as I don't care to get any politics from there. Now in lieu of Jonah's page I can sort of hack into key items and videos from it using a search engine and fiddling with the search settings. But I don't watch them as often as I used to. Also I can't see the replies to non-video posts. If it gets worse, I'll just stop even looking. Before that happens, perhaps Jonah will get his way on adding certain features to The Dispatch that will allow him to migrate this stuff over there for us.
Busy today—and grateful for it, I’ll add. The other rental that went vacant stands a good chance of having a tenant tomorrow, and I’ve got some last-minute, I’d-feel-guilty-if-I-didn’t-make-a-bit-better-effort tasks to perform. And now I can add two garage door openers failing at two homes that I can replace the next couple days amidst the other stuff…
Time to go grab some random tool opposite its pointy end and do something productive to something else… and before I talk myself out of the caffeinated motivation.
Keep your belly empty and your bladder full: one of the best methods known to man for sustaining maximum momentum!
Grabbing a tool opposite its pointy end. Huh. That's my problem right there. Thanks for the pro tip. I learn so much from these comments. You might be thinking I'm being sarcastic. I only wish I were.
😂
Happy Thursday! Sun is out and it is above freezing almost.
My husband is mailing the check to buy his dream banjo today. He is just about giddy with excitement. We contemplated driving down to Louisiana to pick it up but the timing was bad.
Now I need to think about Christmas for everybody else.
"To buy his dream banjo". that's not a sentence I've read recently!
BTW, Roy Clark played some mean banjo, but I've also seen him do some very intricate guitar work: he was actually very talented.
He was a gifted musician.
My husband started off on accordian (being Slovenian on both sides) but saw Douglas Dillard play on the Andy Griffith show and was hooked. He tried to major in banjo at SUNY Cortland but they wouldn't let him. Software developer talent aside, he is a musician.
Banjo is what brought him to NC, actually.
& here Cynthia & I are wanting a dream snake pot... but I can't find where to find one on-line to check the price & availability...
I am not familiar with snake pots.
Neither was I. So they are not pots for keeping snakes in--they are cooking pots with a snake motif.
But the phrase "dream snake pot" made me wonder if it's a pot for a dream snake, whatever that is! And that put me in mind of some Pete Townshend lyrics, which I guess I sort of conflated, because I don't understand the lyrics anyway. But since it's Townshend, I'll stipulate that they could be deep rather than stupid.
"There's a beautiful white horse I saw on a dream stage
"He had a snake the size of a sewer pipe living in his rib cage"
(I always misheard "pipe" as "pot." Sorta like a chimney pot, maybe?)
from yesterday; Cynthia posted about a Craft Fair; Kurt found a good pic of the pot, scroll down just a bit:
https://www.hiltonpond.org/CatawbaBlacksnakesMain.html
Cool.
Who's the maker?
It is an Ode, the very last one made before Ode became Baldwin. It is the Brazillian rosewood model (C maybe?), pre-CITES treaty.
Oh my...That's a fine instrument.
When I was young, I made my own banjo, but it was only the neck. The pot is a birds eye maple job from an old tenor banjo circa 1900-ish. It's got a great deep tone. Bart Reiter told me it's a decent banjo.
The birds eye maple pot sounds beautiful. And that compliment must have felt pretty good.
Congratulations on the dream banjo! The just-past English music director (the realsies employee) at my church just got his dream guitar. It cost more than my new Honda Accord.
ETA: He had another full-time job, so it's not like the church was paying him a high-end-guitar wage.
Acoustic guitars can get REAL expensive. I only have a couple of inexpensive acoustics. However, I have about 12 electric guitars. (My wife had apoplexy when I had a mere 9). We are in a golden age for extremely high quality electric guitars at prices we couldn't dream of in the 70's.
My favorites are made in Vietnam or Indonesia. I buy something for under $300, usually under $200. I have a full guitar workshop and upgrade parts as needed. I have guitars that play and sound better than $3,000+ guitars. After my fantastic 1970's Les Paul got stolen years ago, I decided I didn't want that heartache again.
I just bought a $60 guitar from Temu (I know, I know!). I just wanted the body. It turns out to be a fantastic guitar, after I did some work on it. I was shocked.
I read a temu warehouse burnt to the ground, insurance estimates losses at $399.
"High-end guitar wage" - that's good!
Even with insurance walking around with that much money in your case is something I don't like to think about.
I wouldn't feel good about it, either. Much easier to steal than my Accord.
Was listening to this week’s Econtalk while shampooing a carpet earlier. It was an interview with an author about playing tuba in band. Someone cited a saying, roughly, “A musician is someone who takes a $5,000 instrument in a $500 car to play at a $50 gig.”
Seems to fit the occasion.
I almost laughed at that quote. Before realizing that sums up my (semi-professional/hobby) musical career. I was then tempted to cry.
Actually, early on (college and post-college) I was happy to get some really nice guitar gear paid for out of my band earnings. I still have most of it.
I now just play for the fun of it.
About ten years ago I took my two youngest kids to an Arena Football league ( a lower division league). The QB played for our local HS. The kids had fun (AFL moves quickly loads of action, and because crowds are small you can sit close and hear it). They were paying $50 a player to most players, the QB got a little more.
$50! High cotton!
Around here it's usually a meal.
The mini is going in for service today so they can attempt to detect and remedy the wind noise. I have little faith but I’ll remain hopeful. On a windy day (say 25+mph consistent gusts) while going 60mph+ it makes an intermittent rattling sound near the front passenger door that is unmistakably abnormal. I’m sure they’ll think I’m “one of those” people. Well guess what service tech…I have a video of the noise.
Having a video should be helpful. Sometimes the hardest thing to convey to a mechanic is what the exact sound is that they’re trying to replicate in order to diagnose and possibly fix.
wind noise - you ate the dogs' chicken gizzards & livers? Or are they riding in the car w/ you?
And are you leaving it there for service or sitting & waiting?
It's nice to have my deeply held beliefs (posters on X are political actors fomenting dissent in the US) confirmed. Of course they are, with lots of them being 50 centers from China. I've long been in agreement with Lee Kwon Yew's take on media, i.e., American media structure is ridiculous and a very major cause of civic confusion and unrest. There's a reason he didn't let our media run free in Singapore.
The shelf-life of proof these days is very limited. But it’s nice to have some proof that give pause to even the more gullible social media consumers.
yes yes yes
Good morning. 29 degrees now and staying in the 20s all day.
The mothership is covering tensions between PR China and Japan regarding the “other” China — the one on Taiwan. The FP has an article predicting a civil war in England (presumably over immigration and non-assimilating Muslim immigrants) and one on the Bible on trial in Europe (actually Finland). The latter involves a prominent Finnish politician who publicly dissented from the Finnish Lutheran Church over gay issues. Seems she actually had the audacity to quote the Bible, and so now she is now on trial for “hate speech”.
Sounds similar to the Pentagon and Hegspud persecution of my Mark Kelly for quoting the UCMJ regarding not following illegal orders.
French had an apoplectic essay on it
Sounds similar to the Pentagon and Hegspud persecuting my great Senator USN retired Mark Kelly for quoting the UCMJ about Ilegal Orders. French had an apoplectic essay on the topic
Not sure I saw that one. Hopefully French was apoplectic about the verbal attack on Mark Kelly.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/opinion/hegseth-trump-venezuela-laws-war.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6E8.4TG_.PUWBhE9IbAsB&smid=nytcore-android-share
French doesn't mention the inane attack on Mark Kelly. Probably because it is likely a legal matter...my guess
Thanks. Hadn't seen that, but it's consistent with his opinions expressed in his other NYT articles and on the mothership's legal podcast.
There is certainly some really hairy stuff in the Old Testament.
Even the New Testament. Jesus driving “the devil” out of a guy into a herd of pigs? (One of my favorites even though I have my doubts LOL).
As you’d expect from something written a few thousand years ago when strange beliefs were common.
Was that where the "Bay of Pigs" got its name? It kinda fits....
Have you noticed that The FreeP headlines seem more and more click-baity lately?
True enough.
Yes, disappointing. They have some fantastic contributors- that I never read because even with those I expect to be fed over-wrought narratives.
Lately? They've been click-baity from the first time I saw them.
The Finnish Bible thing...It's hard to imagine any country being more idiotic about this stuff than America, but there it is.
European countries as well as Canada (which might as well be a European country) tend to be like that. Canada has been known to hassle a Protestant minister who dared teach from the Bible about homosexuality.
(Of course, when you say "idiotic" I don't know whether you approve of, or disapprove of, the Finnish "hate speech" case against that woman).
Disapprove. Prosecuting the woman for what she allegedly did or said is ridiculous. America is idiotic in its own unique way, but so far no prosecutions.
-5 over here in southern Wisco. Brrrrr. Interestingly the high is forecasted to be 13 with a feels like temperature of 26. Can somebody make sense of that?
It's only 27 degrees here in Rochester, and it's snowing hard and windy. But as I write school buses are picking up neighbors' kids as usual -- no doubt as they are in Wisconsin.
You'll feel warmer if you're standing in the sun and sheltered from the wind.
The sense I make of it is the weather people don't have enough to do so they confuse us with data temps and "feels like" temps.
"We got the bubble-headed bleached-blonde, comes on at five
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye
It's interesting when people die, give us dirty laundry"
I can hear Don's voice in my head!
Right.
https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/statement-from-emanuel-brunisholz
Switzerland recently sentenced a man to a short jail term because he said men and women have different skeletons and then refused to pay a fine for his "crime".
There was a little more to the story, indicating he referred to anything other than male or female as a "mentally ill idea,".ridiculing trans ideology. Still, that's nuts. The trans folks are worse than the gay folks, some of whom (like Andrew Sullivan here on Substack) push back against the trans ideologues.
The trans folks... to what degree are we required to participate in their self image? I propose, not at all.
I agree.
thanks for that info - 'cause I don't follow much news these days, & am leary of news, I appreciate news from here that I believe IS trustworthy...
saying that, hopefully, others will take note, ie, BOTH sides
You needn't be guarded about news consumption. Just find a source that TRIES to honestly deliver the news. (I like The Dispatch.) But there are aggregators of news stories that compare/contrast biases in coverage. Then it requires some critical thinking on your part. But such is life.
Dispatch (Morning & Jonah, sometimes some others/never Nick/never the comment section anymore - not enough time for that now), GlobalPost & 1440 are what I still keep up w/, when I keep up w/ anything.
But guess what, I start reading here & this really takes a lot of my time 😁
I'll go back to the Dispatch when they get a functional comments section... and Steve writes an admission that his book supporting the war in Iraq was misguided stupidity because he was young and didn't know what he was talking about... and Jonah stops making dumb proclamations...oh, and Nick commits himself to a mental hospital.
Isn't it too much to expect that one can write about politics and remain sane?
Certainly in this era. Although The Atlantic piece on Shapiro Tim Alberta is quite good, and Alberta *seems* sane. :)
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2025/12/josh-shapiro-pennsylvania-trump-president-election/684991/?gift=GJ8BttuoXrtu1ZXQn6tAiaLS-HyGgmP5RDrNgu6trds&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
I would note that Alberta is a reporter, not a commentator like Nick C. I used to read Alberta when he reported for National Review.
I just read this (long) piece also. He’s an ambitious guy! He’s a liberal, of course, and I disagree with him on various issues. But he’s also one of the few Democrats I actually could have voted for a year ago, if the Democrats had had the sense to nominate him.
He seems to have a certain Willy-like slickness, doesn't he?
I read it this morning (it's night here). He seems mildly sane, for a pol. I think I liked him because he clearly was at odds with Kamala. Nowadays, something like that is enough for me to like somebody.
'Consider this an early prototype of forthcoming “Elect Shapiro” ads: a hardworking white woman against a backdrop of snow cones and saucer-cup rides, in a county Trump carried by 25 points, praising the Democratic governor for defying the pompous stereotypes of his party.'
Good. Not old, not crazy, not a Jew-hater ... that gives him at least one up on J.D. Vance.
Not that I think the candidates will necessarily be anyone on the menu today. I remember when the 2008 election was absolutely going to be Hillary Clinton v. Rudy Giuliani, and you were laughed at for saying anything else.
It's frustrating beyond all get-out to see "conservatives", even those that supposedly are not MAGA, reject Shapiro as far-lefty no better than Kamala, Mayor Pete, Newsome etc. But I think they are fooling themselves. The pundits could make a prototype out of me if he runs against MAGA succession.
I may not live until the 2028 Super Tuesday. But I like to know my options.
And Fred Thompson and Michelle Bachman seem like Trivial Pursuit answers these days. There are so many more...
Good morning. Still cold in Tennessee. I only wish I were posting from some warmer climes. Anyway, this...
100,000 WORDS: It seems a bit early for this sort of thing. But Time magazine offers up its Top 100 photos of 2025:
https://time.com/7336112/top-100-photos-2025/
Good photos, no favorite. The burka sewing guy...I think about women having to wear those things and it unnerves me.
Thanks, Wilhelm.
You're most welcome.
I'll post this separately - it's a repost from a few days ago, but I posted it really late, so I'm pretty sure no one saw it. Sorry if it's a repeat for anyone who did...
Comment on the March 31st Space X shot – my youngest grandson had just turned 3 that month. My DIL picked him up at preschool, the teacher took her off to the side & said he had been saying the "F" word. DIL was amazed, asked more about it, teacher said "He said his dad taught it to him". DIL persisted, asked about the situation. Grandson had been building w/ blocks, made a space station, w/ a rocket ship & was showing those around him the "F'n Rocket Blast Off".
Back story - he was REALLY into space stuff, REALLY into rocket ships. His dad, my son, watched a bunch of shows w/ him. That was during the time when the Falcon rocket ships were really a big thing.
So, that night, they helped teach a just turned 3 yr old how to say his L's better. My son doesn't curse, certainly not the 'F' word... 🤣
many to comment on, however, I'll begin by saying no comment on any of the political, nor devastation caused by natural or war...
Bedlington Terrier little lambs, so cute; well, aren't all dogs
Tippie-toe tennis - new game to play?
Both pics of the lava, flowing & errupting - wow
Caribou in Alaska - our trip to Alaska is one that was remarkable in so many ways. Seeing the Caribou was one part; at that time, we often saw them w/ their heads buried to keep the flies out of their nostrils.
The tennis player photo is excellent. The water polo player. The SpaceX launch. The Afghan tailor.
oh, I forgot to mention the midwife... just made me think of amidst all the awfulness, some natural goodness...
It's been Christmas for a couple of weeks now, so surely it's next year already.
Only a couple of weeks? I saws Christmas ads on TV even before Halloween this year. Christmas music has been on the radio since Veteran’s Day. And on the other end, those will all end on December 26. Does no one remember er the Twelve Days of Christmas?
on the other hand, there might be so much confusion, a friend was in the thrift shop yesterday, we were talking, then when she got ready to leave, she wished me a happy Thanksgiving... everything gets mashed in together... btw, I'll fix some mashed/whipped 'tators for dinner tonight. What do y'all call them? I'll actually fix whipped 'tators, cause I'll beat 'em, whip 'em, w/ butter & milk; mashed would just be using that masher thing & no milk.
If you're using a mixer, then you have whipped potatoes. If you're using a masher, you have mashed potatoes, even if you add milk and butter. I remember one year, Beau put three sticks of butter in the potatoes. "Gosh, this is good!" everyone said.
The difference between mashed potatoes with butter and without butter is huge. I prepared them for the peasants in the village, they wondered...why? Then, I laid on the butter, which they'd not ever eaten before, and the light bulb went on. They were scraping the bowl like it was brownie mix.
well, my original was butter & milk vs butter no milk... just say'n...
I haven't tried this, & don't have the exact 'recipe' in front of me, but it goes something like: put milk in the pot, enough to just cover the cut up potatoes, bring to a slight simmer; turn off heat & allow the potatoes to soak up the milk. Then add the butter, etc, & whip 'em.
True about the ads and stuff, but in my real life, people didn't start saying "Merry Christmas" until after Thanksgiving. Things change more slowly in the South.
December 25 is the first day of Christmas.
I say "Have a Blessed Christmas" to some, & to some I actually say "Do I dare say Have a Blessed Christmas"? Others "Merry Christmas", others "Happy Holidays", altho to be honest I try to use that last one the least <--- & let me edit to add, my dad was Jewish, I have Jewish relatives, & neighbors, so for them I wish them a Happy Hanukkah.
I'll say "Merry Christmas" to everyone once it's Christmas. Until then, I say, "Have a good day," or words to that effect. I respond to "Merry Christmas" with "Thank you," or "You, too." (Because I don't have the nerve to say, "OMG, it's Christmas today?!? I didn't think I was that drunk!")
There are only 12 Days of Christmas. And yet ...
"Commentary" covered this news, as well. Reports ostensibly coming from Gaza or elsewhere in the Middle East were often not, actually. "Bombs are falling right now!!!" ... in Poland, really guy?
Probably just a misguided Russian drone.
I thought I had read a follow-up that X was going to block showing that location information. True?
According to various sources coughed up by Google, the feature is currently disabled as they work to overcome the inaccuracies caused by VPNs. I'll bet they could come up with, at least, a notification that, "This account is using a VPN and therefore is from an unknown location."
I'm not an expert on this, but if the posting person is serious I think it would be trivial to setup a server in the US to mask the foreign source without it being detected as a commercial VPN. Showing the location and/or indicating uncertain VPN location will make it harder for some, but not for state actors for example.
That was my immediate thought. VPNs could screw up the site listing.
They definitely screw up the site location.
Good morning! Happy Thor's Day! Teengirl and I are going to the mall today with Drama Queen and Georgia. Fun times!
Party like it's....a long time ago. Of the four malls we used to have (including the one with the K&W - RIP), the one with the worst parking and traffic thrives. One was torn down and turned into a shopping district with streets and stores, one was bought by Epic Games and mostly torn down. The most recent one hangs in there but resembles an enclosed strip mall. There is a Saks Fifth Avenue and a place to buy fantasy swords, StarWars armor and cool RPG dice.
Good morning!
I haven't been to a mall in quite a while. What do y'all do at the mall?
48 now, which looks to be the high for the day. A SAHday, to take care of some laundry, do a bit of cleaning out my car - doesn't need much. I looked ahead at the weather to schedule my annual car service for tomorrow. Will sit & wait vs get a loaner or have someone take me home/pick me up (it's about 30 minutes each way) - those last 2 options often result in more delays. I think. If they know I'm sitting & waiting, I believe they keep me on schedule. I scheduled it at 9 am, but will pack a lunch jic.
You are an optimistic person if you can believe that service people will actually work faster if they know you're sitting in a waiting room!
I've been called a pollyanna...
but I'll pack a lunch, for a 9 am appointment... just say'n...
It's always a good idea to pack a lunch and bring a long book.
I have bookS on my phone; & I'll take my charger. They have charging stations... I've been there... just say'n...
We're going shopping for charity gifts at the mall. We figure a lot of things will be discounted.
& I'm a curious person - if you're so inclined, I'd love to hear what you purchase. No need to disclose price; unless, of course, it was a super good deal!
Sure. We'll look for a coat for a gift to someone on the church's "Angel Tree." The tag says 16-year-old girl and doesn't give a size, so we'll go with large. We have quite a few suggestions (and sizes included!) for the girl from the "former foster children" program.
ooooo, I love all of the programs our volunteer org supports, but the aging out of foster care one definitely gets a 💯