Open Thread
Sorry, was out of the loop all day. I had to go to the Burgh to hit the Apple store for the macbook problem (diagnosis- optical drive is broken and we ordered one), then spent some time looking for a new couch. While up there, the doom and gloom for the Steelers on talk radio was heavy.
And let’s face it, our offensive line has one good leg among the group of them, our defense is not the same without Polamalu and our secondary suspect, we are now on our third string quarterback who the team is suggesting they have no faith in (why have we paid Dixon the last three years) and Jeff Garcia might be on our roster by the end of the week, and our special teams play is as bad as I have ever seen.
I suppose there is always the Pirates.
Just kidding.
nitpicker
All good points…but Kansas City?
Even I, a Chiefs fan, can’t come up with a reason for you to feel OK about that.
demkat620
Could be worse John. You could be an Iggles fan about to hear you’re going to get 5 more years of Andy Reid.
Zifnab
Unpossible. I was told Apples never have problems.
It was good times watching the Steelers wreck shop last year, but I think it’s time for everyone to just pack it in and wait for next season. Just put your guys on ice, take the time to grab a few choice draft picks, and settle in the for the Olympics.
General Winfield Stuck
Aside from the sorry state of affairs that exists within our body politic and the mind numbing stoopidity that plays out daily, and my yeoman efforts to avoid the big suckitude pit reading about Sarah Serendipity’s latest scree from the banks of her cement pond, there is good news today.
I am cleared to get a pet doggie that is under 30 pounds from the place I have lived the past nine years. Have contacted the Humane dog shelter here and will visit the pound sometime shortly after Turkey day for the selection. Not cheap at about 100 pesos, but that is OKay and well worth it.
randiego
You could do a lot worse than pick up Jeff Garcia. i’m pretty surprised the guy is available.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
You think it’s bad for Steelers fans? Try being a Bears fan. Yesterday the Bears were pantsed – literally.
Svensker
@General Winfield Stuck:
Yay! Please provide pics and all stories—heart warming or otherwise—asap.
John—didn’t know Big Ben was out. Gak. Consolation prize: you’re not a Jets fan.
jeffreyw
@General Winfield Stuck: Yay! Gonna be expecting many pictures, maybe even a puppy cam.
jeffreyw
Started the chicken, can’t wait on Mrs J all night.
demkat620
@General Winfield Stuck: Well, a Jack Russell Terrorist is always a good choice.
The SPCA is where mine came from.
MikeJ
I hope the shelter takes care of the neutering.
burnspbesq
@General Winfield Stuck:
Good on ya! You will not regret this.
Zifnab
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Aha, yeah. That was hilarious.
New Yorker
I dunno John. Complaining about the Steelers travails this season after 2 Superbowl championships in 4 seasons seems a little gauche to me. You could be a Browns fan, or a Lions fan, or a Raiders fan, or a fan of pretty much any team not named the Giants, Colts, or Patriots.
I know this because, as a Giants fan, I remind myself of 2 things whenever the Giants do something like blow a 2 touchdown lead to a Falcons team without Michael Turner.
1, at least they’re not the Mets…...
2, I promised the Giants a 5-year grace period after Giants 17, Patriots 14.
General Winfield Stuck
@MikeJ:
Yea, they give a coupon or something/ It was all kind of confusing but I think about a 100 or little under will cover everything for an adult dog, including all shots and stuff.
Have to think and fret over pup v adult, and will need to worry about the responsibility for a week or two and make several trips to pick one, or whatever is appropriate.
ellaesther
I have no conversational skillz when it comes to either Apple or football (though I can talk about apples! John, have we mentioned the Honeycrisp?), but I did see this bit of science humor over to the Boing Boing, and I’ve been sharing it as widely as I can (it’s an open thread! Back off!)
I am particularly proud of the fact that there was but one joke that I really didn’t understand.
(The full video of Science Comedian Brian Malow can be seen here, and it’s worth it, my friends!
valdivia
@burnspbesq:
how are your adopted kitties?
MikeJ
Speaking of football, didja see that Wigan is offering refunds to their supporters who went to the away game in which Tottenham beat them 9-1?
jl
On the bright side, the ownership of the Stillers is not insane, and coaching staff do not commit criminal assault on each other. Raiduhs fans, or ex-fans, always have those issues hanging over a brighter football tomorrow.
alhutch
As an Oregon fan, I think Dixon is a better QB than most give him credit for. Is he ready to lead Pittsburg? Guess you’ll find out soon.
Picking up another QB is just sound management if Batch is really out for the season and Roethlisberger had his bell rung again.
Cat Lady
@New Yorker:
Ugh. Still hurts when I see, hear or think that.
It’s hard to go undefeated, Colts and Saints fans. Forewarned is forearmed.
TJO
It could be worse… you could be a Browns fan. Trust me, it could be worse.
Joshua Norton
Hardy, har, har….
Fox Noise now has zero tolerance for on-screen errors.
How do you type the raspberry sound?
calipygian
Iowa hates the woman that Rich Lowry jacks off to three times a day.
If even the conservative National Review is printing polls describing how pretty much everyone with an IQ over 70 hates the future Mrs. Lowry, can we stop hearing about how the Wasilla Whackjob is gunna be Preznunt someday?
JK
h/t http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....67441.html
This asshole should never have been allowed to hold a fucking book signing at Ft Hood.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@MikeJ:
I’m not a Wigan fan but that’s a nice gesture that will go a long way with the types of fans who travel with their teams, especially lesser sides like the Wigans of the world.
It’s been a miserable 10 days of soccer for me. The Fire went out on penalties to eventual champs Real Salt Lake and will see several key players leave on free transfers. USA looked bad in two European friendlies, miserable even. Robin Van Persie picked up an injury during a friendly and Arsenal dropped points against Sunderland. Just miserable, miserable, miserable.
You Don't Say
@randiego: ITA. I like Garcia.
gwangung
@JK: Republican idiots say that about EVERY Democratic president.
Yet, people listen to us and respect us. Hm.
Batocchio
The Packers have had a rough time with their offensive line, too. Rodgers is getting sacked and hurried far too often.
Paddy
Must see vid- Chris Matthews spanks Bishop Tobin on abortion.
GReynoldsCT00
@General Winfield Stuck:
Excellent news! Get your camera primed so we can meet the new addition.
Mike
Chelsea Fan=Happy Fan
As a big fan of the Prem I’ve never seen a team with as wide a gap
between their good days and bad days as Wigan this year.
trollhattan
Chris Buckley has a go at She Who Must be Worshipped and Adored—Both, because one is not enuf and they’re kinda different, also.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/b.....riginalsC2
Much comment hilarity ensues.
RedKitten
So did you pick out a couch, John? What’s it look like?
Mark S.
Taibbi has a good article on Palin and media bias:
I don’t like the whole “media is liberal/conservative” memes because it’s too simplistic. But there is definitely a herd mentality that remarkably lines up with the people who pay the checks.
Skepticat
General W.S., that’s great—we get to have another vicarious pet, I can’t wait.
John, the optical drive problem seems to be widespread, though it’s the only real problem I’ve had with my Macs (that I didn’t cause). I have to get mine replaced, too, and am sulking about it. Was yours a MatSHITa or a SuperDrive?
Omnes Omnibus
@Batocchio: Only two sacks in the SF game – they have made some changes, short, quick passes and rolling Rodgers out. Unfortunately, losing Harris and Kampman will hurt.
Xboxershorts
How much was that optical drive? I used to service Apple Computers in another life in Rochester and I always thought that they raped their customer base with so called custom hardware and rediculous prices…
You all should try growing up a Bills fan…God I still see “Wide Right” in my nightmares about this team…
Did anyone see that broken leg yesterday? Lordy, it was like Joe Theisman all over again. AT least they now have the decency to not show those things over and over and over an dover and over and…..
geg6
GWS: How awesome! Another BJ rescue! Yay! You are a good, good man. As for the Steelers, I can’t even discuss it. Too painful. Oh, well. I still have Pitt football. And the Pens and Panthers basketball are just getting started. And the Olympics. So all is not lost.
Martin
@JK:
Hmm, saying that ‘people aren’t afraid of us’ on a military base might just result in a prompt asskicking once the cameras go away.
Nobody but the GOP is afraid of Obama. Everybody is afraid of the US military, however – and that’s who matters in such questions.
Annie
@General Winfield Stuck:
LOL. You do have a way with words…Can’t wait to hear about the new addition to your family. Pictures essential.
I hope John clears the new couch with Lily and Tunch before he buys…
General Winfield Stuck
This shit has to stop. It just does. Secret, private, state sponsored armies tear assing around the world causing murder and mayhem is not a good thing and circumvents the constitutional powers of congress to make war on others in foreign countries.
Stop it Obama. NOW! geesh!
Martin
@Xboxershorts:
There’s nothing custom about the drive, though. I put a slot-load dual layer DVD burner in my mini a while back that I got off of NewEgg. It’s all pretty standard shit. Now, if you want Apple proper to install it and cover it under warranty, well…
But John should have held out and done it on Friday. Even odds had he raised a stink they would have handed him a new MacBook on the spot, or offered to swap out the drive for free just to get him the hell out of the store. The store will probably pull down well over $5K per hour profit on Friday, and shutting up an ornery customer is something they’re often willing to do.
Montysano
@Paddy:
Jeebus, what a mealy-mouthed, waffling coward Tobin is, and kudos to Matthews for holding his feet to the fire. Talk about lacking the courage of your convictions: if abortion is murder, then man up and advocate for jail time for the murderers.
Nice duds, though….
Montysano
@General Winfield Stuck:
Well, it may not make much moral sense, but as a business model, it’s a home run. And that’s what Iraq/Afghanistan is all about: corporate welfare. A young man just left his $12.00/hour job at our company to go make $80K/year, tax free, flipping burgers in the desert.
New Yorker
I liked this:
“black-suited, laptop-toting flatlanders,”
“Flatlanders”? Is that some sort of Alaska-speak derogatory term for us down here in the temperate climes of the lower 48? Am I supposed to apologize for living in a state whose high mountain is only about a mile above sea level?
Jeebus, I’m glad there are other subjecting themselves to the torture that is reading this book so I don’t have to…...
r€nato
This is clearly another attempt by Obama to indoctrinate our schoolchildren in socialism.
r€nato
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck I always forget how to spell soc*ialism here.
Martin
@r€nato:
And yet you can let out the longest ‘fuck’ you can dream up. It’s a pretty awesome place, this.
bedtimeforbonzo
” . . . our defense is not the same without Polamalu . . .”
Do ya think?
—-
Picking up Jeff Garcia would be wise. I’m surprised the Broncos didn’t.
—-
I take back any defense I gave for Jay Cutler earlier this season. Josh McDaniels has earned his first-season paycheck in Denver just for getting rid of this interception machine. Bad quarterback, bad leader. Just bad.
—-
Watching highlights from that wild Cleveland-Detroit game (which, of all things, turned out to be entertaining), the Stafford kid looks like a future star for the Lions, leading their comeback with a bad wing.
—-
I said before the Cleveland-Detroit game that Cleveland was the worst team in the NFL and it would be verified if they lost to Detroit. Verified. Why would they even think about keeping Mangini?
—-
Brett Favre has turned a lot of us off the past two (three?) offseasons, but he has been sensational and is the NFL’s MVP to date. Manning and Brees—and Rivers—are right there. And while the MVP has become a quarterback-centric award, I’d at least give consideration to Maurice Jones-Drew. Meanwhile, the best player on a bad team, by far, is Steven Jackson—five straight 1,000-yard rushing seasons in St. Louis.
Chauncey Baker
John, I’m not trying to be a dick, but I would like to know what you think about this. There’s been a lot of talk about about right wing bias (rightly so IMO) on the web, but I think there is also left wing bias. As a liberal I’ve been suspect to the information that the HuffPo posts. Since I don’t know how to use xhtml here is the link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....67839.html
Read the title and then read the article. There is no real news to support the title. HuffPo does this a lot. Iranians firing on US warships, vaccines are evil, etc.
I only bring this up here because I know it will get your full ire, and hopefully a discussion on how media really isn’t left or right, but sensational.
Finally, I think any organization that makes this crap available should get a kick to the balls (what’s the female equivalent…I don’t know, but they (Arianna) should get it as well).
JK
Further proof that Andrew Malcolm is the Inspector Clouseau of the Los Angeles Times
Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama: The approval gap silently shrinks to a few points
http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....are-c.html
jlo
I’m a huge Oregon fan and I loved Dixon, but the Steelers are going see UO at Arizona writ large with the offensive line that Pittsburgh has.
Moonbatting Average
Cole’s and TBOGG’s Mac laptops both crap out in the same week? You mean they aren’t perfect? gasp
(posted from 2yo HP laptop that I have had zero problems with)
Chuck Butcher
my being a Browns fan must be punishment for some former life, because as bad as I’ve been in this one I don’t deserve this
Just Some Fuckhead
@Paddy: Note to Catholic Bishops: if you find yourself on Hardball, yer doing yer job wrong.
General Winfield Stuck
@Chuck Butcher:
It is quite bad for us now. But there is talk of hiring Mike Holmgren as the new coach. And he is at least interested in talking to Browns management. So all hope is not dead, yet.
Montysano
@Mark S.:
Get a grip, Matt: 2019 words to explain why the media is mean to Sarah? It’s easy: because they can.
For journalists, I don’t imagine it was much fun having Bill Clinton up in your face. With Palin, no worries: she doesn’t even show up to the fight.
Neutron Flux
Look, you beat us in the stats. We (I) know that you would beat us 8/10 times. This is just and example of the “any given Sunday” thing.
Now having said all of that, your team has some issues.
Serious issues, that your coach, who I like, needs to get figured out. Then you will be fine.
bedtimeforbonzo
I apologize for my rants about fighting falling into foreclosure, but it’s the scariest thing I have faced as a married man with a child—and for his lack of attention to this problem, almost his nonchalance, while I don’t forsee voting Republican, I sure as shit won’t pull the lever again for Mr. Obama.
I related to this This Associated Press story.
It details some of the same roadblocks and frustrations I have had requesting a loan modification. Lost paperwork is a common problem. (I support health care for all, but with what I’ve experienced with this and knowing the similar problems my car dealership faced with the Cash for Clunkers, I wonder if the government can tackle such a massive enterprise.) Bank of America is cited as the most inept of the mortgage lenders. From my experience, I find it difficult to believe it could be worse than Wells Fargo.
Mr. Obama, your mortgage modification program is bullshit.
The fact that this man ran on Hope and Change You Can Believe In and is mostly conducting Business As Usual is shameful.
MBSS
@bedtimeforbonzo:
no direct experience with a mortgage loan, but i can easily visualize B of A as the worst.
banks suck.
Susan Kitchens
Please don’t hate me because I come into an Open Thread and post a link to an awesome fact checking of Sarah Palin by someone who’s
dissedmentioned in that Lynn Vincent book “by Sarah.”The link is very much worth reading, and comment #30 is worth reading, too. From the article…
Comment #30:
There’s much more than that, from the lawyer who’s representing the person who filed ethics complaints against the governor for using private email to conduct state business.
We return you now to your regularly scheduled Open Thread….
I need a name for in here
I post on occasion and using my given name, Tom, is really dull. I’ll come up with something. – Yesterday the Steelers gained over 500 yards and had the ball for 44 minutes. Prior to yesterday the defense gave up a total of four touchdowns in nine games. All is not lost yet, they have tremendous potential if they stop killing themselves by allowing big plays. – The Stillers were 7 – 5 before going on a run and taking the Superbowl a few years back so they can still get there, if not to the Superbowl at least into the playoffs for a few games. – Newsweek’s recent cover story on Palin was pretty shallow, were they trying to be ironic?
asiangrrlMN
@General Winfield Stuck: Aw! Good to see you. Wanna see puppah!
El Cid
This is awesome.
For those of you who thought Tim Geithner wasn’t doing enough to shovel taxpayer money consequence and regulation free into Wall Street, the Administration might be considering dropping the middle man again and just putting J. P. Morgan Chase head Jamie Dimon in his place.
Fucking awesome. Man. I’m going to feel bad about having been mad at Herbert Hoover for his ‘mistakes’, ‘cause apparently that sort of approach is the norm.
CynDee
@ John Cole: You could get Tunch and Lily some Pirate outfits . . .
CynDee
@General Winfield Stuck: Wonderful news about your prospective doggie. Congratulations! We will all be thrilled to meet the little woofer and hear about your adventures.
New Yorker
Anyone else see the sikh dude in the quick crowd pan in the Houston-Tennessee game? He had a red turban on to coordinate with the Texans’ colors. I thought that was cool.
The Other Steve
I’m thinking of maybe replacing my 3.5 year old Dell when it turns 4 and was looking around. When I was in Costco the other day they had a pretty nice HP with a 17” monitor, quad core proc, 4 gig ram and a decent nvidia chipset. The screen was good but only 1400×900 or something like that. I want more resolution.
So I looked online and found the more recent models from Dell and HP I can get with a 1080p screen, i7 processor and latest video from nvidia or ATI for not much more. About $1200.
So then I looked at the Mac Book Pro just for comparison sake. $2499, and they’re using a two year old processor and graphics chip set that’s even slower then the HP and Dell.
I wonder how people can afford to buy Mac’s. Just amazing.
bedtimeforbonzo
@El Cid: First time seeing that news and it is numbing. The financial crisis apparently taught us nothing and will no doubt be repeated sooner rather than later.
From El Cid’s link, the first entry in the comments section had it right. HomeSickCowboy: “Jamie Dimon? Sounds like a replay of the ‘Prefect Storm’. Proof positive the next act will change the show, from a tragedy, to a horror show, with the USA as the long suffering victim.”
If this news is true, President Obama isn’t just out of touch with so-called regular people. He’s out of touch with every aspect of the economy. Why don’t we just send our taxes straight to Wall Street?
From El Cid’s link, commenter Grays Opinion wish of Eliot Spitzer as Treasury Secretary is a good—if it weren’t for the fact that his hooker escapades make him toxic.
My vote goes to Elizabeth Warren, Obama’s bailout watchdog who is tough and smart and insightful—but doesn’t seem to be heard by the administration.
Wake up, Mr. President.
bedtimeforbonzo
@New Yorker: Same reaction here. Nice to see.
Paul in KY
Bedtimeforbonzo, who mentioned this: ‘Bank of America is cited as the most inept of the mortgage lenders. From my experience, I find it difficult to believe it could be worse than Wells Fargo.’
No one on this Earth (including mafia loansharks) is worse than Wells Fucking Fargo.