If you don’t have anything nice to say about anyone, come sit by me.
– Dorothy Parker (as repeated by Truman Capote)
by Tim F| 184 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
If you don’t have anything nice to say about anyone, come sit by me.
– Dorothy Parker (as repeated by Truman Capote)
Comments are closed.
BGinCHI
Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend.
Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.
— Marx
Elizabelle
Virginia: jury’s deliberating in the corruption trial of our former governor, Transvaginal Bob, and his psycho wife.
Seven men on that jury; I am concerned we will see an acquittal.
Virginia’s ethics laws are ridiculous. I don’t think politicians — in a state house or in the US Congress — should be able to make their own ethics laws. I think a citizen’s commission should do so.
Wish we could get rid of the Senate’s horrible traditions, where one Senator can hold off the will of a great majority. They’re public servants. Make them more accountable to the public.
Anyhoo: Balloon Juice guesses on how the jury will decide in the McDonnell trial?
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
I sent you an email to the gmail address.
BGinCHI
@Elizabelle: Hopefully chain gang.
Although it’s hard to imagine McDonnell yelling, “Takin’ it off here, boss.”
Karen in GA
M.C. Iggy is fancy. Because of course he is.
Karen in GA
@Elizabelle:
No. Because that means thinking about reasons why he’d be convicted vs. reasons he’d be acquitted, and then I’d get depressed.
srv
Where are John’s nude mopping pics?
The Bieber (is that like The Ukraine?) arrested again!
And I blame Obama:
Mandalay
Uh-oh….another one….
Islamic state issues video of beheading of U.S. hostage
Tommy
@Elizabelle: I feel you. Four of my last seven Governors of my state have served a prison term. Ponder that for a couple minutes.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne:
I will check that now.
jacy
Sitting at the oncologist’s office, waiting to go in , so i am typing on my tiny little phone screen and realizing i am apparently too old to do so without grumbling under my breath about the kids on my lawn. Also too, husband was just complaining that i said something cryptically mean about the brainless whore he slept with on the social media. Which i guess i did, but very cryptically.
Hungry Joe
That quote (“If you don’t have anything nice to say…”) is also — and usually — attributed to Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Teddy’s daughter. Dorothy Parker came up with any number of great lines, but this wasn’t one of them. It’s plenty snarky, but it doesn’t quite sound like her.
Longworth Roosevelt, BTW, may not have originated, but only popularized the line.
srv
Freedom to ricochet
Roger Moore
@Tommy:
I guess that puts electing The Governator in perspective.
Amir Khalid
At my local cineplex there is playing The Expendables 3, starring and produced by Sly Stallone, and a cheap knockoff titled Mercenaries and starring Sly’s ex-wife Brigitte Nielsen; Vivica Fox from Independence Day; Kristanna Loken from Terminator 3; Cynthia Rothrock, an American actress who did some Hong Kong action movies back in the 1990s; and Zoe Bell, who was Lucy Lawless’ stunt double on Xena: Warrior Princess. The poster for the latter exudes pure direct-to-DVD schlockitude. How this movie got to a big screen anywhere just baffles me.
Villago Delenda Est
@jacy: If I was on the jury that was trying you for slapping your husband upside the head, I’d vote “not guilty” and give you a free pass for any future slaps upside the head.
Steeplejack
Sitting here at the brother’s house, mildly uncomfortable because the cleaning crew is here and I’m trying to stay out of their way and simultaneously not feel vaguely embarrassed that someone else is doing the cleaning. First World problem, for sure. And of course earlier this morning I went through the whole “Got to tidy up before the cleaners get here!” thing. WTF.
Discovered yesterday that the recently retired greyhound still has food-insecurity issues. I found a torn-up plastic bag in the front room, which led to the further discovery that he had swiped two-thirds of a loaf of bread off the kitchen counter and snarfed it down. And of course when confronted he gave me the “Moi?” look. At least I didn’t find thrown-up bread anywhere.
Now it’s almost noon, and the whippet, who apparently is connected to the atomic clock in Boulder, CO, is giving me the hypnotic “It’s lunchtime!” gaze.
Nancy Williams
Actually it was Alice Roosevelt Longworth who said “if you haven’t anything nice to say about anyone, come sit by me.” People/women have made needlepoint pillows with the quote for years.
Shakezula
When I hit the iceberg, the iceberg sinks – Dick Valentine
Karen in GA
@srv:
Tragic, yet weirdly impressive.
Tommy
@Roger Moore: It does. And they are from both parties. You know IL isn’t a small state. We should have better elected leaders.
beth
Just saw a Wounded Warriors commercial with James Gandolfini. Isn’t it a bit creepy to have dead people doing commercials or am I too sensitive?
BGinCHI
@Karen in GA: Nothing says “fuck you” to the ones you love like a messy suicide.
Bob In Portland
The war is over, unless the US/NATO wants to continue the death and destruction.
OzarkHillbilly
Ahhh finally, a place where I fit in.
Woodrowfan
I live in Va, I expect he’ll walk and his wife will be convicted. I’d send them both to the pokey…
jacy
@Karen in GA: That is weirdly impressive. Makes you wonder how exactly he came up with idea.
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack:
I thought of this YouTube video.
Woodrowfan
@Karen in GA: eh, Isadora Duncan did it better.
Amir Khalid
@Bob In Portland:
Yes it is, and the bad guy won.
Elizabelle
@Woodrowfan:
Can the wife be convicted without Gov. Bob being convicted? She is not a state official.
Woodrowfan
@Elizabelle: she was indicted as well. I think her staff were state employees, though I am not sure. But his whole defense was blaming her…
Amir Khalid
@Elizabelle:
Would it make sense to convict only her? From what was reported, it’s pretty clear that he too benefited from what was given to her.
jl
@Nancy Williams: That’s what I thought, Alice Longworth Roosevelt.
But Parker had some good ones that deserve regular exposure on this blog
“You can’t teach an old dogma new tricks.”
” Salary is no object: I want only enough to keep body and soul apart.”
OzarkHillbilly
“If at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your style.”
-Quentin Crisp
Karen in GA
@BGinCHI: Wouldn’t saying “fuck you” to his family be more effective if he killed them before/instead of himself? Or killed himself, say, at a loved one’s workplace? Or somewhere that makes them find him and have to live with the knowledge that he died right there.
I wonder if it might say drugged or undergoing a full psychotic break. Who beheads himself? (Why, it’s just not done!)
gvg
@Steeplejack: Watch out for the plastic bag. If any of it is missing the dog may have eaten it on it’s way to the bread which can cause intestinal blockage (potential needing surgery if unlucky) or diareah yuck. We just had that happen and had a week of messes to clean up. Elderly rescue getting senile and reverting to past.
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
Exactly. Except no remorse and no trace of the crime. He’s a hard case, he is.
BGinCHI
@Karen in GA: I’m happy to let you win this argument. So gruesome….
Tommy
@Amir Khalid: No it wouldn’t. As best can tell she was in on graft. I don’t think she acted alone. It is just his legal defense.
Steeplejack
@gvg:
Forensic reconstruction showed no substantial pieces of bag missing. I am aware of all rescue dog traditions.
OzarkHillbilly
“Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.” -Mark Twain
Karen in GA
@Woodrowfan: Had to look up how she died. Why didn’t I know about this before? (Okay, because I’m a Philistine schmuck, but besides that.)
Was the official cause of death “slapstick”?
Karen in GA
@BGinCHI: Yeah, sorry about that. And that wasn’t even the first draft of my comment. I found myself going in all sorts of hideous directions, then deleted most of it. Quite the imagination I have.
Scamp Dog
@jacy: Good luck! We’re thinking of you.
BGinCHI
@Karen in GA: Too many cop shows/novels. We live in a scenario-rich environment.
Tenar Darell
@beth: The J’Adore Dior commercial with Marilyn, Audrey Hepburn and Charlize Theron freaks me out, every time. But the worst was the one with Fred Astaire dancing, I think with a vacuum cleaner. I despised that. Made me want to go out and buy anyone else’s product as revenge.
El Caganer
@Tommy: Perhaps IL is aspiring to do for states what Philly used to do for cities. Per Lincoln Steffens in 1903: “All our municipal governments are more or less bad. Philadelphia is simply the most corrupt and the most contented.”
Woodrowfan
@Karen in GA: and like with Nelson, the “last words” were judged to embarrassing, so they were changed.
WereBear
@jacy: Best of luck!
El Caganer
@Amir Khalid: Which bad guy? I don’t recall there being a whole lot of good guys over there on either side. A lot of victims, though, like pretty much the entire population of Ukraine.
Redshift
@Woodrowfan: I thought his entire defense was BS, and I got the jury agrees, but considering how lax our laws are, I’m not sure if he can be convicted. I’m holding out hope for the fraud charge, which hasn’t gotten much publicity. Basically, they say they thought the monetary “gifts” from Williams were loans, but they didn’t list these sizeable loans on their mortgage application. So either they’re lying about the loans (which as a coverup strengthens the corruption charges) or they lied on their mortgage application, which is fraud.
Redshift
@Redshift: Grr, autocorrect. I meant I *hope* the jury agrees.
PurpleGirl
@srv: Re: the man decapitating himself
I have one question: did he have any children?
If he did, sorry no Darwin Award for you because you already passed on your stupid genes. The point of trying to win a Darwin is to take your genes out of the gene pool.
Cervantes
@Nancy Williams:
Not only was ARL famous for the aphorism, someone gave her a throw pillow embroidered with it, which she kept for years on the couch in her parlor upstairs.
I’m pretty sure that photographs of the pillow can be found on line.
PurpleGirl
@beth: I’ve seen that ad. It isn’t as creepy as the anti-smoking ad made by Yurl Brenner before he died.
JPL
@Redshift: He was to busy screwing the state, to pay attention to the grift going on at home.
cckids
@BGinCHI:
Pretty sure this is from Mark Twain, originally.
At least, that is what my refrigerator magnet says.
OzarkHillbilly
@cckids: for some reason I thought it was Groucho.
PurpleGirl
@PurpleGirl: My bad, Yurl Brynner.
Here’s the ad, made for the American Cancer Society:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNjunlWUJJI
JPL
While some get their jollies hacking celeb sites, others hack big box stores. Home Depot is investigating a breach.
just f..k… wouldn’t you know the one store that I shop…
This is why we can’t have nice things. Of course, repubs don’t help.
Bex
Good news. TBogg reports that the puppy-kicking CEO Desmond Hague has been fired. Sad news. Michael Sam was not asked to join the Rams’ practice squad.
Mandalay
Nobody could have predicted….
The price of being a failure.
gogol's wife
@PurpleGirl:
Yul! Don’t let lamh find out you got his name wrong, she digs him.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Bex:
I suspect that, by the end of the season, he will be on an active roster somewhere.
Steeplejack
@cckids:
I suspect your magnet is wrong. For one thing, it sounds a little too “meta,” or modern, for Twain.
WikiQuote:
BGinCHI
@Steeplejack: No, it’s right there in the first volume of Capital.
Marx was a lot funnier than people think.
Kerry Reid
@Cervantes: I also am fond of TR’s comment about how he could either control Alice or run the country, but he couldn’t do both.
And then there was the story (maybe apocryphal, but I prefer to believe it) about the time Senator Joe McCarthy addressed her as “Alice.” She frostily replied. “Senator McCarthy, my maid may call me Alice. The garbage collector may call me Alice. You may call me ‘Mrs. Longworth.'”
Hal
If the McDonnell jury finds them not guilty, it’s simply because they don’t think what they did was criminal. If Rachel Maddow’s coverage is accurate, it’s obvious the McDonnell’s did what they are accused of doing. Bob McDonnell’s entire defense is that it was all his wife, and he was figuratively, and in case of the expensive car, literally; just along for the ride.
Elie
Two excellent columns/articles on 1) our current paradoxes in relation to our place in the world and 2) a good analysis of Obama’s options by Fred Kaplan
Elie
@Elie:
I think my link on the Fred Kaplan column was broken. Here it is
Gin & Tonic
@PurpleGirl: Bad again. It’s Yul, a shortened form of the Russian “Yuliy” (not Yuriy.)
PurpleGirl
@gogol’s wife: It’s double my bad because I saw his name when I got the YouTube link. I liked him too. My favorite of his movies are Anastasia and The Buccaneer, although Westworld deserves honorable mention. The Ten Commandments and The King and I are too standard.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@PurpleGirl: Ahem. The Magnificent Seven?
raven
@PurpleGirl: He was great in the Magic Christian and fabulous in The Magnificent Seven.
raven
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Thank you.
Cervantes
@Kerry Reid: Yes, your McCarthy story is a paraphrase but it’s not apocryphal.
raven
Also, if we are into Ukraine, Taras Bulba.
raven
Yul Brynner sings Mad About the Boy with Roman Polanski.
Gravenstone
@Mandalay: We’ve got a metric fuck ton more missiles than they have of hostages. Tragic for those killed so barbarously, but ISIS isn’t winning on that equation.
WaterGirl
@jacy: I hope your mom is waiting with you, that would be so hard!
I find myself thinking about a phrase my old boss used in a story.
The Story: At my boss’s wedding, the best man stopped at the wedding table on his way up to to give his speech, and said “I’m more nervous than a goose shitting peach pits”. Poor guy did not realize there was a mic at the main wedding table, so everyone got to hear him say that. oops.
I am not usually one to call people names, but it comes from the heart when I say that even if you called her out as the two-bit whore who helped break up your family, you get a free pass from me. If only he had been as busy defending your marriage as he is defending the “honor” of his new “lady”.
skerry
Dallas Cops “swarm” school searching for “suspect” in miscarriage in bathroom. Guns, helicopters and all.
Guess it is illegal in Texas to have a miscarriage.
Poor girl.
PurpleGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
@raven:
I’ve seen the movie (The Magnificent Seven) and he’s great in it, but it isn’t one that I rewatch. Ditto for Taras Bulba and The Magic Christian.
I didn’t say they were his best movies, I said my favorites.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: And, if we are interested in current events, although I’m sure our commenter gogol’s wife can elaborate, the original version of the Gogol story from 1835 was considered “too Ukrainian” and was revised under some pressure to carry more of a Russian nationalist slant.
nellcote
Former senators Trent Lott and John Breaux have new gigs. As Russian bank lobbyists.
Two former U.S. senators — Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott and Democrat John Breaux — are now working as lobbyists for the Russian-owned Gazprombank, according to a Friday filing. That bank, controlled by the Russian state-owned Gazprom energy company, was a target of U.S. sanctions in July.
The filing, first spotted by the Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit investigative journalism organization, lists the two former senators as lobbyists on behalf of the institution for “banking laws and regulations including applicable sanctions.” They’re representing the Russian bank through the lobbying firm, Squire Patton Boggs. (The pair started working for Patton Boggs when it bought their shop — Breaux-Lott Leadership Group — four years ago. Lott left the Senate in 2007, while Breaux left in 2005.)
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
I dunno….Sam’s workout numbers weren’t good. His success in the preseason came against 2nd and 3rd string talent. I suspect that his elevated stats came last year because his teammates in the front seven were taking the double-teams (sort of like Urlacher’s tackle numbers when he had Ted Washington or Tank Johnson at tackle as opposed to when there was lesser talent in front of him).
I suspect that Sam ends up in Canada.
gogol's wife
@Gin & Tonic:
Please don’t ask me to say anything about Taras Bul’ba. Hate it! Wish he’d never written it!
But I lurve the movie.
Betty Cracker
My goddamned, motherfucking, shit-sucking, bastard piece of shit A/C unit iced up and isn’t cooling my house at the moment. Why does that matter on a late afternoon in September? Because it’s fucking 94 degrees with 70% humidity, that’s why. And because I recently paid thousands of dollars to have a new A/C unit and air handler installed.
It’s under warranty. My A/C guy said, why don’t you open the door to the air handler and let the ice melt? And I said, yeah, good idea, and here’s another one: why don’t you get your ass out here and fix the motherfucker so that this shit doesn’t happen again, ever? Fuck!
Cervantes
@efgoldman:
Wow. I need a cigarette after that.
lamh36
ok Cowboys fans, what say you?
gogol's wife
@Betty Cracker:
Mine used to do that. We’d have a cycle of leaving it off for several hours and then we could have it on for several hours, etc. Finally got it fixed. It’s very annoying.
PurpleGirl
@Betty Cracker: I feel for you. I have my living room A/C on because it’s hot and humid in NYC today and will be tonight. Will sleep in the living room I guess because the bedroom A/C hasn’t been working.
lamh36
@efgoldman: also not a Cowboys fan, Saints til I die!!!
only club this Saints fan dislike more than Cowboys is Falcons.
but I would like to route for Sam. still ain’t rooting for dem ‘boys though
Helen
@Betty Cracker: You and I could be sisters. Really. Awesomely rightous rant, Betty.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@lamh36:
Same view from a Packer fan’s perspective.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): He’s not NFL material. Close but not quite there. I agree perhaps Canada is his most likely destination. In the meantime, can we avoid making this kid the Tim Tebow of the left?
MrSnrub
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
Same view from a Broncos fan perspective.
Trollhattan
@Betty Cracker: While ah feel yer pain (101 here yesterday) I applaud yer rantillisciousness.
In the meantime, our investor-owned very-safe utility just got themselves pasted with a $1.4B fine for blowing up a bunch of people along with a complete neighborhood.
They’ll appeal.
Elizabelle
RE tonight’s meetup in Old Town Alexandria:
Murphys: same deal as Thursday: table on second floor at top of stairs; sixtop with a “reserved” sign and possibly a white balloon. (Murphy’s outdid themselves last week, at boatboy’s suggestion.)
I’ll be there about sevenish.
Talked to the driving Miss Duinne and she was making slowish progress through the Richmond area. Siubhan will join us when she can.
Murphy’s has half price burgers tonight and “a few other specials”, plus quite good brews on tap and bottled.
See you there!
joel hanes
@jl:
“You can’t teach an old dogma new tricks.”
” Salary is no object: I want only enough to keep body and soul apart.”
“Brevity is the soul of lingerie.”
“What fresh horror is this?”
“You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.”
“Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone.”
“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”
“There’s a hell of a distance between wise-cracking and wit. Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply calisthenics with words.”
“One more drink and I’ll be under the host.”
WaterGirl
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
Dave Zirin disagrees with you about Michael Sam’s performance.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@efgoldman: Heh.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker:
It’s official. I love you, Betty Cracker.
Hal
Delusional, self important, and a clear lack of understanding on how a Presidential resignation works. What makes their opinion better than any other family that has lost a child in Iraq, Afghanistan, or any other war? But according to these two Obama playing golf and fist pumping his buddies is ground for resignation.
I realize this is right wing BS, but do some people not realize what folks like McCain want is perpetual, unending war? One way or another, this is their end goal. These right wing sights keep pushing the idea that their is “something” else Obama should be doing or acting on without directly saying that something is another war. If you still honestly think, as these two do, that their was a winning solution in Iraq, you should be forever banned from ever speaking on the subject again.
Baud
@efgoldman:
Pacific Gas should move to Texas. They treat exploding companies right.
Elizabelle
@efgoldman:
She was near I-64 interchange in Richmond, and it was slow. Suggested she might divert to 301/2 through Bowling Green to Fredericksburg — yes, it’s longer in time but no traffic and how else do you cruise through Frog Level, VA?
Will keep you apprised.
rikyrah
This Man Changed His Name From Jose To Joe And Immediately Got More Job Interviews
http://youtu.be/PR7SG2C7IVU
Cervantes
@joel hanes: “What fresh hell is this?”
Mnemosyne
I would like to take one of my co-workers by the shoulders and shake her violently while shouting, “HOW GODDAMNED HARD CAN IT BE TO CLICK THE ‘FREE SHIPPING’ BUTTON ON AMAZON!?!”
Seriously, this is the third time she’s done this, and it’s really pissing me off because I’m the one who gets in trouble.
rikyrah
I’m not saying that they’re not telling the truth about Sam and his performance, but I think he’s being blackballed, plain and simple.
rikyrah
@Hal:
Shrub lied us into not one, but TWO WARS…
that Obama had to try and clean up…
yet OBAMA should resign?
G-T-F-O-H
Baud
Anyone know what this means (from Apple):
Is there a technical definition of “breach” that I’m not comprehending?
ThresherK
“It’s nice to see you. That way I know you’re not talking about me behind my back.”
(I want to say Marx, but I can’t find it.)
lamh36
@WaterGirl:ok I freely admit to not being a football aficionado, but which is it?
Half the people I hear tell it that he’s not that great, others tell me he’s not some phenom but he’s good enough to be given more of a chance than just being let go ’cause of “distraction” that’s not entirely of his own making.
either the kid is crap or he as good as any random non “big name. NFL name rookie in pre-season.
what I wonder, is Sam good enough as other rookies before him who were given a chance to prove it in 1st season or not?
Uncle Cosmo
@Cervantes:
I {cough} saw what {wheeze} you did there…
Cervantes
@Mnemosyne: Never mind free shipping, there are reasons not to use Amazon at all.
rikyrah
@Elizabelle:
Oddly enough, I think they went overboard with the ‘ I can’t be corrupt and in collusion with my wife because we don’t have a marriage’.
I think both of them will be found guilty or it will hang. I think overdoing it erased the acquittal.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Did you see my link to Dave Zirin at 109?
WaterGirl
@Baud: I think what they are saying is that people have selected weak passwords and/or easy to guess security questions and that this was not caused by security issues at Apple. I am an apple girl, but if it’s true that they were guessing passwords, I don’t see how that is apple’s fault.
I guess they could require tougher passwords.
Hal
@Baud:
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2014/09/01/this-could-be-the-apple-icloud-flaw-that-led-to-celebrity-photos-being-leaked/
According to this site, Apple is now investigating this possible flaw. It sounds to me like they are basically trying to say it’s password strength as opposed to someone actually accessing iCloud directly and gaining access to people’s accounts.
Cervantes
@Baud:
What they’re saying is that their customers should follow the advice provided here.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: I’m not really a football person, either. But I do trust Dave Zirin, so I believe his take on the situation.
Everybody seemed to agree that Michael Sam didn’t give a standout performance at the day where all the incoming people show their stuff. (obviously can’t recall the name) Even Dave Zirin thought he didn’t perform all that well for that. But once he got to start practicing with a team, etc, he should be judged on how well he did with that, and from what Dave Zirin says, it sounds like he was pretty darn good.
Baud
Thanks for the answers. Here’s another question. Why can’t servers be set to accept a passwords for a particular log-in name only once every 3-5 seconds? Wouldn’t that stop these automated brute force attacks?
Cervantes
@Baud: No, because “brute force attacks” can easily incorporate, thus work around, such time constraints.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Baud: It wasn’t a general “hackers seized control of the servers and have your grandma’s photos” sort of thing.
Allowing a brute force attack is still a security failure on Apple’s part. Most sites I’ve dealt with will shut down account access completely after too many guesses to try to block them.
Baud
@Cervantes:
How? Don’t these attacks have to try millions of passwords to find the correct one? Or is there something about programming that makes it easy to circumvent time-based resets like that?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@WaterGirl: From what I saw, he did play well, but as Temporarily Max McGee noted, he was getting most of his playing reps against other player who were on the bubble.. Like I said way up above, I expect that he will be on a team’s active roster by the end of the season. If some team loses a couple of defensive lineman, they’ll think of Sam and he should get a shot. There are a lot of players who are on that bubble. The weirder thing for me was that the Rams drafted him, since they were already very strong at Sam’s position – which is one of the reasons that, despite good play, he didn’t make the roster.
Elizabelle
@rikyrah:
Oh, I hope you are right.
With a smokescreen, I guess you’re not supposed to be so aware of the smoke!
Elizabelle
On my way to BJ meetup. Should be there about 7:40 p.
Siubhan will join about 8:00ish.
Have a good evening, all.
Gravenstone
@Hal: That’s unfortunately hand in hand with the shit coming down now that ISIL(S) has apparently beheaded another western journalist. Which is exactly what they said they’d do if we bombed them again. Which we did.
So wingtards are ranting that we’re not doing anything (dunno, but bombing should count as “something”, if not the optimum thing), yet also ranting that Obama endangered the latest victim by bombing. *sigh* I’d like a sane country, please.
danielx
@Baud:
A whole forty hours of investigation! Well in that case, no problem!
Shorter: It ain’t our fault, we didn’t do it, we’re not responsible, and don’t you even think about initiating legal action lest our state-of-the-art legal hellhounds pursue you to death and beyond.
Shorter shorter: We’re Apple and you’re not. Fuck you.
Amazing how much they’re starting to sound like every other American corporation when they’ve somehow ended up with shit on their shoes.
danielx
Family angry with Illinois police for going silent over gay man’s death during traffic stop
Repeat after me: The officers’ actions were found to be consistent with state law and in keeping with departmental guidelines. And by the way, we don’t need no steenkin’ cameras.
Bob In Portland
Apparently, it was the Poles who invaded Ukraine.
Bob In Portland
@Amir Khalid: Are you a stockholder in Chevron?
Also, getting ready for the report about MH17? Are the Ukrainians who shot down the airliner the good guys?
Bob In Portland
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Signed with Dallas today.
rikyrah
@Redshift:
but, their defense wasn’t about the laws…
their defense was…we have a rotten marriage, so we couldn’t have conspired together.
Elie
@Hal:
And who would that “Man of substance” be?
Mit Romney?
Seriously.
These folks are delusional.
Oh – I forgot. As long as it is a white man, that is all the substance necessary. Check.
Bob In Portland
@Amir Khalid: This.
Then ask yourself what the point of the five billion was.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Bob In Portland: He’s actually going there tomorrow for a physical and to be signed to their practice squad if he passes. Of course, that’s only if you believe the Guardian.
Mnemosyne
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
My company’s internal email will lock me out if I type my password in wrong too many times, and I have to make a phone call to talk to a human being to get it unlocked. Not sure why Apple can’t do something similar, other than they don’t want to have to employ that many phone reps. It’s not a sure thing that the person on the other end of the phone isn’t lying to you (I’ve heard some major horror stories), but it’s better than letting a bot try password combinations millions of times before the right one is found.
rikyrah
@WaterGirl:
Thanks for this…I just think the young man is being blackballed. And, I have no skin in the game for him, I just, well, they let a lot of folks with ‘ questionable’ morals play in the NFL- with less talent. Nobody doubts this guy’s character…..and, I don’t even think they doubt his skill…they just don’t like that he was open about who shares his bed.
WaterGirl
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Agree. Most places lock you out after 3 unsuccessful attempts.
Mnemosyne
@Cervantes:
Different conversation. You’ll have to take it up with my supervisor who approved the purchase.
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
I’m pretty mellow when it comes to customer service because I know they have a crappy job.
But, I hate summer, and one of the only bills I don’t ever gripe about paying is the electric bill. If I could, I’d go back and time and offer to marry the person who invented air conditioning.
So, yeah, if you wanna snap my last Black nerve and get the attitude of all attitudes from a customer.
try it being hot, and I have no air conditioner.
I’ll cuss a muthaphucka out in a nanosecond if you give stupid responses like you received.
GO BETTY!!
Mnemosyne
@Hal:
What’s weird about that is that Apple enforces password strength — it must conform to their standards or the system will tell you, Sorry, try again. So are they saying that their own standards are not strong enough?
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Yeah, I saw your comment above and was somewhat heartened. I wonder if the Rams stepped up because some team needed to take him, and they were willing to be that team.
I am so tired of them worrying about the potential “drama” – I guess the names in the news and the slaps on the hand for abusing your wife doesn’t count as drama. I cannot believe these folks at the top in the NFL cannot see that the tide has turned. It’s turned on gay issues and it’s no longer okay to have a team named with a racial slur. Both those ships have sailed, and they refuse to see it.
I think the tide is about to turn with traumatic brain injuries. “La-la-la I can’t hear you” has certainly worked for them for awhile. I hope that time ends now.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): If he signs to a practice squad, can he still go to some other team if he gets an offer at some point?
BTW, I tried to fix the error in subject-verb tense in my previous reply to you, but FYWP.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@WaterGirl:
Yes. It is a risk teams take by having a player of the practice squad rather than the regular roster.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Glad to hear that.
I’m may be imposing my thought process on a situation where I know absolutely nothing (football). But it sure feels to me like these teams are inching their way down to where we should be, first with the Rams willing to do their part and now the Cowboys willing to do theirs. Maybe each step removes a bit of the fear of “gay cooties” so that some team who needs the talents that Michael Sam possesses will be able to snap him up without it being such a big deal.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@WaterGirl: I don’t know if that is the case. Quite a few players bounce around a lot.
cckids
@Steeplejack:When you can’t trust your refrigerator magnets to be accurate, what is the world coming to??
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@cckids: I have a Jolly Green Giant magnet that’s quite small. It’s made me cynical.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Baud:
You’ve gotten several good answers, but I think it’s simpler than those:
“Working as designed.”
They’re saying it’s not broken. Or, in other words, It was “user error”.
It’s probably not a good idea for them to talk about it that way, but they’ve got good lawyers so maybe that’s the best advice they got. (I would think they should have said something like “… We are continually working to improve the security of our users private information and will continue to examine our systems and software to make things even better… or similar.) I expect the story isn’t going to go away soon, but whether it hurts them or not – who knows.
(No matter what the fault was or wasn’t, I suspect there are lawyers chomping at the bit to start a class-action suit against them.)
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): I’ll buy that. In college we had a name for unbridled speculation without the benefit of any particular knowledge – we referred to a statement like that “pulling it out of the wacko hat”.
I pronounce myself guilty as charged.
WaterGirl
Steeplejack, if you are here… I have been late to most of the threads, but I have really been enjoying your descriptions of life in your current residence. Some of it has been laugh out loud funny.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
IIRC, Kurt Warner is a famous example of a player who bounced around for a while — he played arena football before getting signed by an NFL team.
(I am also very ignorant about football and only know about Warner because he’s the subject of a very glurgey story that Snopes has to debunk every so often.)
Cervantes
@Mnemosyne: Just following orders?
Cervantes
@efgoldman: That’s quite an impressive paraphrase.
Mnemosyne
@Cervantes:
Whatever floats your boat. Some of us have to work for a living.
Cervantes
@Mnemosyne:
In Amazon’s warehouses, for example.
Tenar Darell
@Mnemosyne: Watching The General right now. I swear, that bit with the trap in the woods made me LOL. It was so old it must have started back with Keaton, Lloyd or the Keystone Cops.
Mnemosyne
@Cervantes:
Yes, getting fired from my job for insubordination would greatly improve working conditions at Amazon. Good one.
Mnemosyne
@Tenar Darell:
Do you mean the bridge scene? If not … wait for the bridge scene. It’s towards the end. Most expensive gag of the silent era.
lurker dean
@Mnemosyne: I did this once, then immediately canceled the order and re-placed it with free shipping. Perhaps that’s an option.
Cervantes
@Mnemosyne:
Here’s what I said above: There are reasons not to use Amazon at all.
Period.
If you understand and accept those reasons, what you do with them is up to you, and depends on your circumstances. No one person can solve all the world’s problems, not even you!
Mnemosyne
@Cervantes:
Uh-huh. Seriously, you remind me of the women who go onto feminist websites to rave about their Diva Cup and try to shame everyone who’s not using one.
joel hanes
@Cervantes:
What fresh hell is this?
You are correct, sir.
Thanks. Always glad to reduce my own burden of misinformation by a trifling bit.
Cervantes
@Mnemosyne:
Your mind works … mysteriously.
Cervantes
@joel hanes:
Did you just call Dorothy Parker “a trifling bit”?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Cervantes: Can’t blame him for quoting Benchley.
Tenar Darell
@Mnemosyne: No. Girl gets her foot caught in trap, then he gets her out and gets caught too. Hilarity ensues.
I can’t believe that was real, even after seeing it. Too primed by effects. Going to have to re-watch that scene.
Tenar Darell
@Mnemosyne: I am having pronoun trouble. My second paragraph is referring to that bridge scene.
WaterGirl
I broke my toe last wednesday so I did some catching up on tivo while I was doing a lot of foot elevation.
I have had both seasons of Life on Mars (british version) on my tivo box for years. I had seen the US version and liked it, but the british version is so much better! I have watched 10 episodes, 6 left and it’s so good that I don’t want to get to the end because it will be over.
What a pleasure to watch a show like that.
Mnemosyne
@efgoldman:
It’s funnier if you Google it. Don’t worry, it won’t get you in trouble with Mrs. EF, though you may get a bit of side-eye.
NotMax
@Tenar Darell
Welcome to the Astounding World of Buster Keaton.
Even in lesser films, even when forced into being one half of perhaps the most woebegone team-up in movies (Keaton, who barely spoke, with Jimmy Durante, who never shut up) one can sense the genius at work.
Footage unfortunately lost after being cut from It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World had Keaton silently doing his thing with the phone in a phone booth. Reports vary as to how long he ad libbed physical comedy for that scene, but have read estimates over the years which range from 8 to 18 minutes.
Mnemosyne
@Tenar Darell:
The bridge scene was real. Up until about the 1950s, you could still see the scene of the wreck in Cottage Grove, Oregon (though they hauled a lot of the metal away as scrap during WWII).
You should watch Sherlock Jr. next if you really want to see some mind-blowing in-camera effects, amazing stunts, and a few old-fashioned magic tricks. Steamboat Bill Jr. (which NotMax recommended) has the famous scene where they drop the side of a house on Keaton.
There’s a reason the man broke every bone in his body at one time or another, including his neck. In all of his films, there’s only one stunt that he’s known not to have done himself (a pole vault into a second-story window in College).
Mnemosyne
@efgoldman:
They may even have it at Amazon, but don’t tell Cervantes you looked there.
Mohagan
@Hungry Joe: thank you! That’s exactly what I wanted to point out. Princess Alice yea!
seaboogie
@jacy: Hmmm…from a healing perspective, is hubby maybe the tumor that needs removal? Maybe not the best time for you to consider such things, or maybe so? Either he’s a clueless doof, or there is a nugget of anger that needs excising in some way.
Cervantes
@Mnemosyne: That’s a great joke — for the day after Labor Day.
Mnemosyne
@Cervantes:
Contraindicated for post-partum bleeding.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@WaterGirl:
A few points:
First, I harbor no ill will whatsoever against Sam, and I hope that if he’s got the goods, he’ll get to play. Which leads me to the second point..
I’ve been following the sport since I was seven, and I’ve seen plenty of players who had more consistently great college careers who just went bust when they hit the NFL, but who, while playing college football, won more- and more prestigious- awards than Sam.
Lastly, I should have known Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones would bring him to Dallas. Jones has, in many ways, earned a bad reputation amongst NFL fans, but he’s also gone out on a limb to bring guys in who have suffered from mental illness, or have just had a hard time being good teammates….I’m not saying that Sam fits into either of those categories, but he is, like it or not, sort of a misfit toy in the NFL, and Jones collects misfit toys.
Anna
Think this was Teddy Roosevelt’s daughter, Alice, who said that, NOT Dorothy Parker.
Parker actually had to work for a living.
Alice-not so much.
Kerry Reid
@joel hanes: Of course, the OTHER DP (Dawn Powell) was even greater than Dorothy. To the point that Diana Trilling once said that Powell was “the best answer to the familiar question, ‘who really says the witty things for which Dorothy Parker gets credit?'”
Not that Parker didn’t have some great stuff, but her body of work looks pretty thin compared to the novels of Powell (“Turn, Magic Wheel” is practically perfect in every way.)