Beautiful day here, and despite being pessimistic this morning, I’m in a great mood. Good day for cleaning, football, some video games, and soup. A few quick notes:
1.) My email finally overwhelmed me. I had several thousand messages in my account, many of which are unanswered, in no small part because you idiots keep signing me up for crap I can not or will not read (like the daily updates from Michelle Bachmann and David Vitter). Please stop it. I don’t care for updates from Phyllis Schlafley. I really don’t. At any rate, I was so overwhelmed I just deleted everything, including the trash, so if you sent me an email and I did not answer, I never will unless you send it again.
2.) When I upgraded to Windows 7, I lost all my pet pictures. In other words, feel free to send pics of your pets so I can post them, as I have none.
3.) A little bit of barley goes a long way. I had a ginormous pot of beef soup the other day, and at the end put about a half to a cup of barley in. Holy sweet jeebus does that stuff expand and suck up fluid. It gave it the soup great texture, but I had to add more broth and stock. How come no one has made paper towels out of barley? Couldn’t you dump barley on oil slicks and soak it up? Again, sweet jeebus.
Have at it.
rachel
Somebody signed me up for updates from Glenn Sacks. :(
Silver Owl
John, You don’t want a daily does god awful ignorant with Vitter, Bachmann and Schafly? I hear atrophying your own brain is new sport these days. lol
GReynoldsCT00
Morning John! How about some pet pics while you are at the email? Or at last some snaps of Tunch and Lily.
Svensker
You were warned about the barley, you just wouldn’t listen.
Good, tho, innit?
dmsilev
Why does Microsoft hate puppies?
-dms
burnspbesq
Strange days are upon us. The Duke – Carolina football game is (a) meaningful and (b) on teevee.
Let’s go Devils!
GReynoldsCT00
@Svensker:
I remembered, as soon as I read that it soaked up have his soup…you were warned!
matt conway
1.)it’s too late for your pet pictures, but perhaps this will save someone else.
when you spend $150 or $200 to upgrade to the next version of windows, spend a little more. buy a new hard drive for $60, and swap it out for the old one. keep it in a drawer. and when you realize that you just fried years of photos/ writing / LOLcats, you take the old hard drive out of the drawer, stick it in a $20 enclosure from best buy, and get your stuff back.
total cost < $100 including gas.
3.) barley? it’s great stuff. did you know they’re making BEER with that? we should really, really look into that.
burnspbesq
@dmsilev:
Microsuck hates everything that makes no contribution to its operating profit. Producing reliable software is time-consuming and expensive. It’s much easier and more profitable to take advantage of a dominant market position and shove crap down the throats of users who have nowhere else to go.
I want my fucking WordPerfect back!
Kirk Spencer
You can’t use barley for those things because you need the heat. Now if the sun heats the oceans to boiling we’ll need the barley farmers to keep stocks on hand for flood controls, but otherwise – duh. (for those who don’t get it – sarcasm. sigh)
Seriously – yes, barley expands a LOT. So do several other grass-origin grains, unlike legumes. Just something to keep in mind if you use bulgur wheat or millet.
Sanka
It’s all about insuring the “uninsured”:
No wonder why the blue dogs are jumping the Pelosi ship on healthcare reform.
Well, we all know that the people protesting healthcare are astro-turfing, right wing terroritsts out of their mind. What the American people really want is a health-insurance mandate from the Federal government, requiring all citizens to purchase healthcare, whether they want it or not, lest they get fined, taxed, and, of course, go to prison.
It’s the American way. This is obviously the progressive realignment we voted for in 2008. (Tuesday’s election results are just stupid and should be ignored)
I implore the Pelosi/Obama junta to keep pushing for statist health care “reform”. It can only make the progressives stronger. Screw the rest, they’re just birthers…
Rey
Beautiful here in the Mid South- Tennessee to be exact. Taking in a movie w/ the family- all votes are for Law Abiding Citizen– I think Jaime Foxx is in it- anyone seen it?
CaseyL
Cole – I don’t know how many email accounts you have, but I’ve found it useful to have one for real email (and which I never use when I respond to a survey, an ad, or buy anything on-line) and another one for responding to surveys, ads, etc. It might also help to categorize the junk emails as junk emails: some email programs automatically put all future emails from that address in the Junk folder.
Today I have my usual volunteer shift at the Aquarium, then no plans. I might just stay home and watch the weather. We’ve had some amazing weather the last couple days here in Seattle: multi-peal thunderstorms with hail thick as snow. I love it, except when the kitties are outside and won’t come in, because then I worry about them too much to enjoy the storm.
dmsilev
@burnspbesq:
Well, there are some other options. Not suitable for everyone’s needs, of course.
-dms
NutellaonToast
@matt conway: You don’t even need the enclosure if you have an extra slot to stick the HDD inside your computer, which you should.
John Cole
@matt conway: I did. I just forgot to add the folder of other people’s pet pictures.
@Rey: My father saw it and said it was fun but very violent.
dmsilev
@dmsilev: Gah. URL FAIL. That first link was supposed to go to apple.com (the second one embedded correctly, and goes to ubuntu.com).
-dms
Brick Oven Bill
I am concerned that this post indicates that Balloon Juice has been affected in some way by the Muslim doctor-Major with the hand-guns. Consider the three bullet points (again an interesting way to structure a thought Balloon Juice) and the time of posting:
Bullet Point Number One: This is the most authoritarian stance I have observed Balloon Juice take in many moons. All Islamic governments are authoritarian. Is this a coincidence?
Bullet Point Number Two: In Islam, dogs, other than hunting dogs, are considered halal, or forbidden. Balloon Juice just deleted all the dogs. Is this a coincidence?
Bullet Point Number Three: The Belief System of Islam has not burned out yet because of the oil bonanza. Now Balloon Juice is talking about soaking up oil bonanzas with barley. Is this a coincidence?
Now consider the time of the post- 9:29. This is the classic verse of Islamic Supremacy over other religions. Behold 9:29:
Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.
Another coincidence?
This change in Balloon Juice behavior will be monitored. And if it is nothing more than some attempt to get an unqualified crazy person promoted to O-4 in five years, that is no longer a successful career tactic. That game is over.
burnspbesq
Bill,
Go take your meds, my friend.
Rey
@John Cole
Fun- but violent? Awesome!!!
PeakVT
For anyone needing an
earlymid-morning chuckle.Chad N Freude
Of course, you had them all backed up, you being a careful, methodical kind of guy.
I’m sorry you lost the pictures, John, but snarky comments about no longer being conservative are occurring to me too fast to type them.
Chad N Freude
@Brick Oven Bill: DougJ! DougJ! DougJ! Admit it, or the puppy pictures get it!
Of course, you could be someone else, making me look like a fool, which has never, ever happened before.
Just Some Fuckhead
Thanks for getting my emails deleted, assholes. Go find yer own friends.
NobodySpecial
It’s 60 degrees here in northern Illinois at 9am in November.
This means the windows open back up, the fan goes in, and I charcoal my brain playing Fallout 3.
As Ice Cube would say, today is a good day.
lutton
re: barley
This lamb stew with barley looks good, but I have’t tried it yet: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/barley-and-lamb-stew-recipe/index.html
Leelee for Obama
@PeakVT: That was funny! Why did the commenters call it a fail? I think it’s pretty clever.
HeartlandLiberal
I will be going to the Indiana vs. Wisconsin game here in Bloomington, Indiana. Beautiful sunny day, temps to be in the 60’s, game starts at noon.
I wish I had some great expectations. We actually led against Michigan and Iowa, but our team does not have the stamina or defense to hang in for the second half. It will be interesting to see what happens today.
If nothing else, an excuse to sit in the sun with my son and some friends and co-workers, and eat some food that is really probably no good for me.
No alcohol allowed in the stadium, unfortunately. One vendor sells the best fruit smoothies in the world, and I keep threatening to smuggle in some dark Anjeho rum to spike mine with.
The big news here, of course, Bob Knight did NOT attend the Hall of Fame induction for IU Athletics that was held last night. He send what for Bob was a pretty nice, balanced letter, but that basically boiled down to the fact that he still has not forgiven too many people with shafting and firing him 10 years ago, and did not feel comfortable attending and detracting from all those others being inducted who deserved the recognition as well.
PeakVT
@Leelee for Obama: I don’t think they are saying its a fail. The site-owners just like to work in some wins amongst the fails.
Chad N Freude
@Sanka: Well, this is on page 25 of JCX-47-09 (November 05, 2009)
And on page 26
I couldn’t find a reference to “numerous civil and criminal penalties”. Where is it?
RedKitten
‘Tis cold out here today, but at least we didn’t get whomped with snow, unlike Halifax. The baby is in his playpen, listening to Iron Maiden, and we had pancakes for breakfast (cooked in the cast-iron pan, natch.) I spent the rest of the morning sending out resumes and writing samples to various communications firms, proposing a remote employment setup with them, offering a month of volunteer work to sweeten the pot. And I’m seriously considering getting a major haircut.
There, that’s my news.
Chad N Freude
@NobodySpecial: Having been in northern IL in November, I can only conclude that this means global warming is finally here. We’re doomed.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Chad N Freude:
I was wondering what kind of Orwellian title they were gonna give the Death Panel Czar.
Bob In Pacifica
If you go here:
http://www.gwumc.edu/hspi/old/PTTF_ProceedingsReport_05.19.09.pdf
there’s the “PROCEEDINGS REPORT OF THE HSPI PRESIDENTI TRANSITION TASK FORCE. April 2008-January 2009”. HSPI is Homeland Security Policy Institute. Take a look at the people who worked on this deal. You’ve got old warhorses like Ed Meese and Richard Allen. You’ve got people from the world bank, there’s congressmen like Connie Mack, William Sessions the former FBI head, generals and bigwigs from the Navy, former heads of the Army, people from military contractors, that Woolsey guy who’d been the head of the CIA, William Webster who’d been the head of both the CIA and the FBI, policy wonks, Hal Bruno from ABC News. A really incredible roster. All the dickheads who’ve been giving us the War On Terror.
And on page 29 look who’s there? “Nidal Hasan, Uniformed Services University School of Medicine”.
Now we have been told that Hasan was a lone nut, a wacko, a religious zealot, a guy who got bad reviews for his work. Depressed. Publicly opposed to the war. Sympathetic to terrorist bombers.
So why did the Army send him to a conference with the heaviest hitters of national security? Since the report spans from April 2008 to January 30, 2009, eight days after Obama took office, this pretty much suggests that whatever process that took place to put Hasan among such luminaries happened during Bush’s term. Why is this lone nut elbowing with the elite of homeland security?
I discuss this via the anthrax letter thingie at my blog.
Betsy
@RedKitten:
Major haircuts are always fun.
Betsy
Re: barley, my new favorite soup is the mushroom barley soup from Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. It is fantastic. Good umami flavor, perfect for winter.
JenJen
Everybody must have the same soupy ideas now that autumn is in full swing! Yesterday, I made beef barley soup and even added a diced potato, and by the time it was finished, the barley was so big it turned it into a stew. It was still delicious! But if I’d had more broth, I definitely would’ve added maybe another two cups.
Did I add too much (1/2 cup) of barley, or let it simmer too long?
asiangrrlMN
@Chad N Freude: Here is Steve Benen’s take on it. Quite good, I think.
@RedKitten: Major haircuts. Once my butt-length hair turns all white a la Storm, I’m cutting it to my ears. That will be many many years from now, methinks.
asiangrrlMN
Cole, you deleted my emails suggesting you become my third fake-hubby? Sob!
Chad N Freude
@asiangrrlMN: Thanks for the link.
wasa1
Barley’s Law —
Carefully estimate the amount of barley you will need in the soup, then reduce that amount by 2/3rds.
RedKitten
@asiangrrlMN: Well, I always have it back in a ponytail now anyway, for when I’m holding Grabby McSpitup. And because it’s so damn thick, it takes forever to dry after I wash it. So I’m always walking around with a half-damp ponytail.
I’m thinking something like this.
South of I-10
Morning everybody. Despite the headache, it is a beautiful day here South of I-10. Waiting on the LSU/Bama game and trying to come up with something new and different to cook for the game.
@RedKitten: I got a mental picture of baby with an iPod rocking it to Iron Maiden. Little South has been walking around singing Cowboy Mouth songs all morning. Quite entertaining.
pjbacfl
If you had a Mac, you’d still have your pics.
asiangrrlMN
@RedKitten: Super cute! Go for it. My mom cut her hair short after my bro was born for the same reason.
@South of I-10: I’m listening to the link you provided last night (Jenny Says). I know that song! Me likey. I love the idea of kids singing offbeat songs.
Genine
Wow, Krista! That would be a major haircut.
I, on the other and, always wanted to have longer hair. **sigh**
South of I-10
@asiangrrlMN: She has been singing “Let it go, let it go, let it go” since she got up. And in case anyone was wondering, no, we didn’t have our kid at the bar. We went to Downtown Alive, which we do pretty much every Friday. This one was particularly fun though.
asiangrrlMN
@South of I-10: Aw, so cute! Gotta expose them to counterculture when they are little so they can be proper DFH revolutionaries when they grow up!
slag
I was hoping some geek would tell us in the comments whether they do use barley to soak up oil slicks. Disappointed.
RedKitten
@Genine: Yeah, I’m going to think about it for awhile. On one hand, it’s just hair, and it does grow back. (I’ve been known to go from mid-back-length to a pixie cut on a whim.) By the same token, I want to make sure that I really want this, and am not just going to cut my hair out of frustration.
And I definitely don’t want it to wind up looking like the “mom” do that a lot of women get after having a baby, which basically says to the world, “I completely give up on looking attractive — bring on the kitten-appliquéd sweatshirts, the sensible shoes, and the eschewing of contact lenses and lipstick.”
asiangrrlMN
@RedKitten: But that cut is super-cute. You have less active hair follicles as you grow older, FYI. I say cut it, anyway.
South of I-10
@RedKitten: I know many people who have fallen into that trap. What does it take, another 15 minutes to slap on some mascara and lipstick? I just had my natural hair color restored yesterday. :)
Leelee for Obama
@RedKitten: I had 11 inches of mop chopped a few weeks ago-I love it. It’s still to my shoulders, so I have the illusion of length, but I got rid of 5 years of split ends and I don’t have to braid my hair to be seen in public. I like that cut you posted, but maybe go a bit longer and sneak up on it?
Betsy
@RedKitten:
I think there’s very little danger of that. :)
Find an edgy/stylish cut that suits you (like the one you posted) and have fun! Make sure you go to one of those salons where they pamper you with a neck rub, etc.
kay
@Sanka:
I don’t know if you’re capable of persuasion on the mandate, but I can tell you how the mandate that now exists has played out. All 50 states currently mandate parents of unmarried children to 1. provide proof of employer-sponsored health insurance, or, 2. purchase health insurance, if it is available at a reasonable price (5% of gross in my state) or contribute towards a “medical support order”.
I’ve been working with that state law since the summer of 2008 (President Bush changed an administrative rule to mandate states do this, in the summer of 07).
I have yet to write a cash medical support order.
How the mandate played out is like this: it enrolls. It informs people of what they’re eligible for and gets them enrolled.
In S-CHIP, in Medicaid, in employer-sponsored plans. It gets the kids covered. I have yet to hear a complaint from those mandated. They want to be insured. They know they should be insured. They just wouldn’t or couldn’t get going on it. The same will happen here. That’s my prediction, anyway, but it’s based on experience.
I think the mandate is going to be less of a burden than feared. It works quite well, at the state level, and in this limited group. I was surprised at how well it worked, not as a sanction, but as a way to get everybody “in”.
asiangrrlMN
@South of I-10: I don’t wear makeup at all, and I don’t even have the excuse of having children!
kay
@kay:
Sorry. “Unmarried parents”. not unmarried children. None of the children are married.
tripletee
@pjbacfl:
Unless you logged into the guest account and it decided to delete your entire primary user profile.
(not anti-Mac trolling, just pointing out they’re not
immune to problems.)
Chad N Freude
@kay: Based on experience! How can experience compete with dogma?
Chad N Freude
@kay: BTW, I find your posts very informative.
tripletee
@RedKitten:
You forgot “Mom Jeans.”
RedKitten
@Betsy: I’d love to. I usually go to a place in Halifax — they always do a great job, and the prices are pretty reasonable ($50 for wash/cut/blowout including tip.) But, driving 2 hours to go get my hair cut seems like a bit of an excessive indulgence now, so I’m going to have to bite the bullet and try somebody local. And I’m sure that there are probably some very good stylists around here, but I’m nervous as hell — I’m still a bit of an urban snob about those things, and am doubtful about being able to get a good cut out here in the boonies.
South of I-10
@asiangrrlMN: Some people don’t need it!
kay
@Chad N Freude:
I was worried about the mandate, then I realized we already have two in the state where I live. Parents of unmarried children, and students at state colleges and universities. Both mandated to have health insurance. We haven’t had any mass citizen uprising against tyranny that I’m aware of.
Both mandates were put in by conservatives, one by President Bush, and one by my conservative-majority state legislature.
President Bush’s is sort of classic conservatism social engineering. If you’re married, with children and receive S-CHIP, you don’t have to reimburse the state. If you’re unmarried, you do.
I expected a challenge on that, but no one gave a shit, I guess.
kay
@Chad N Freude:
The whole discussion bothers me, because it’s based on a lie. Republicans know they have to get people covered. States can’t continue to operate like this.
They’ve known it for years, and they’ve contributed to this slow, necessary “get everyone covered” process, because everyone knows it has to be done.
They’re completely dishonest. Every single GOP member of Congress knew damn well this was coming, but they were too cowardly to address it while they were in power.
They have nothing to complain about. They were too chicken to face it.
I don’t know what the political ramifications will be for Democrats, but I do know every Republican is lying when they pretend this can be addressed with tort reform, or Health Savings Accounts. That was their sole contribution at the state level. We already know that’s not enough, because their “plan” has been in place for ten years.
They know better.
Tim
You may have lost pictures of our pets, but what about yours? Can we get some Tunch love?
Shell
Oh, John. That immediately made me think of that ‘I Love Lucy’ episode where Ricky is making chicken and rice.
Also, that other sit-com standard, when the husband is doing a load of laundry for the very first time. How much detergent to put in? Oh, play it safe and put in the whole box.
Anne Laurie
@RedKitten:
Any woman in your neighborhood you see with a great haircut, ask her who her stylist is. In my experience, most women love to brag to strangers who admire their hair.
licensed to kill time
Has anybody seen this:
linky to “GOP gone wild!”
Anoniminous
Riddle: What is the difference between Republicans and petulant three year old?
Answer: I don’t know either
licensed to kill time
@Anoniminous: Terrible two and three year olds eventually grow up and grow out of throwing tantrums.
But your answer is funnier ;-)
Michael G
I had no idea who Phyllis Schafley is, but your post finally forced me to look her up. I always thought people were talking about Phyllis Diller.
AhabTRuler
@Michael G: Just don’t get Anita Hill and Anita Bryant confused!
Bruce Webb
@Sanka:
You tool. You fell for a manufactured talking point out of Rep. Camp’s office. He solicited a letter from JCT in which he asked what the potential range of violations that could be imposed on people who don’t pay their penalty fee via their income tax form. They answered.
http://republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov/UploadedFiles/JCTletter110509.pdf
And JCT goes on to explain the range of penalties UNDER EXISTING LAW. This bill does NOTHING to change that law or set specific penalties.
JCT explains that in 2008 there were 392,000 instances of civil penalties being imposed for willful failure to comply with tax law while there were 757 cases that were taken up as either misdemeanors or felonies resulting in 666 convictions and 498 incarcerations. There is no breakdown given between misdemeanors and felonies but the former are subject to up to one year in jail. Instead Camp chose to take the MOST EXTREME penalty under EXISTING LAW and get people like you to believe that Pelosi wants to send people who don’t buy insurance to jail on felony charges. Well that is pure bullshit not supported by the JCT letter, it wasn’t really about anything in the bill at all.
Then Breitbrat picks up the Camp letter and runs with it leading to every wingnut in the blogosphere swallowing it down whole and then bringing it to every related comment thread I have seen today. All in less than 24 hours. Seldom do you see all the steps in the manufacture of a totally misrepresented factoid laid out so clearly.
So excuse us if we don’t fall for the phony outrage. Cause whether you are a willing tool or just an unwitting one you just got used. I would suspect that any felony convictions under this law had to do with tax evasion on a grand scale whether from Wall Street or the drug cartels and not from some guy fiddling his taxes for a grand or two.
Bruce Webb
@Chad N Freude:
“I couldn’t find a reference to “numerous civil and criminal penalties”. Where is it?”
As noted in my post above, in a JCT Letter to Cong. Camp explaining by request the range of penalties under EXISTING law. As you note there is no such language in the bill itself.
I have seen this everywhere this morning. Classic manufactured talking point.
jean
@kay:
Based on the last few days, I don’t think ‘they’ know anything.
licensed to kill time
Everyone is either watching football or has a life, apparently. Dang. I haz a lonesome.
Chuck Butcher
Barley is amazing stuff, if you cook it to mush it will absorb huge amounts of liquid, also a little barley is a lot more than it looks like.
Yes, I have made a stew of a perfectly good soup with barley. Properly cooked barley will have a slight crunch.
mclaren
Barley & rice: the two best ingredients for soup. A tiny amount of either and they suck up the water to produce rich thick soup. Plus, rice is much cheaper than noodles, about 1/2 as cheap. Rice or barley are the way to go in making soups. Chicken & rice, tomato & rice, vegetable soup with rice, you name it, works great, dirt cheap, delicious.
Sandia Blanca
Where do you find barley? I’ve looked in all my local grocery stores, including one of the natural food stores, and no one carries it?
Steeplejack
@Bruce Webb:
Bravo for doing the intelligence, as Ta-Nehisi Coates would say. Solid work.