It is so damned muggy here I am seriously considering wearing a mumu. I’ll just tell everyone I’m Scottish and it is a kilt. My melodramatic pansies have all fainted and can’t be revived, and Lily is too hot to go for long walks.
*** Update ***
Not too hot for tacos, dirty rice, salad, daquiris and mojitos:
You, too, can have a Feed apron, if you click on the Balloon Juice store to the right. All proceeds go to animal rescue.
Chuck Butcher
Well it actually made it all the way to 70F and is raining off and on all day today – and for the last month and I’m sick of it. We just miss being a desert and need what precipitation we get … but shit.
It ain’t just about the Harley, there’s the little issue of two roof jobs that involve tear-off and people kind of resent paying good money to have their problems increased.
5 nice days in May…
scav
Cyclamen are other drama queens of the floral world. My great-grandmother called the “Drunkards” because of their ability to collapse and pop back again. Apart from that, I’m really just waiting for the chorus crying out for photographic documentation of the mumu.
Tlazolteotl
Utilikilt!
http://www.utilikilts.com/
licensed to kill time
__
Please please please! post a photo if you do ;-)
Origuy
Go Islamofascist and wear a thobe. I’m told they’re quite comfortable. Kilts are hot, at least the wool ones are.
Tlazolteotl
Utilikilt, seriously
http://www.utilikilts.com/
And sorry if this is a double post, I tried one and it looked like it went “poof!”
Libby
Ha! In the spirit of diversity, you should tell them you’re honoring your black heritage and the mumu is a dashiki.
Adam Collyer
A few thoughts to lighten the mood over here, a blog which seems to be in the throes of despair these days. From Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker (D) at the Suffolk Law School graduation:
jeffreyw
You need a good hot soup.
Svensker
Pansies don’t like hot. They will pooh out on you shortly and for good. Plan on replanting their pots with something that can cope with heat — petunias, geraniums, verbena are good ones for hot and sunny.
Also, too, pics of you and the mumu! There’s gotta be something that’s not pissing me off in this country.
Phyllis
We just had a heckuva downpour with more coming according to the radar. So much for hanging out in the yard with a margarita and a good book (With the Old Breed). On the upside, the SO received notification today he has $79 in previously unknown unclaimed property coming from GA. Pays to check those websites sometimes.
licensed to kill time
Also, I hope you provided a fainting couch for your pansies.
Bill E Pilgrim
Best name for Balloon Juice commenters evar.
BombIranForChrist
Re: Mumu, Homer Simpson showed us the way. Just do it.
eemom
perhaps the pansies are republicans and heard what Paul McCartney said.
asiangrrlMN
@jeffreyw: Yuuuuuuuum! It’s eighty today, which is too hot for me. We had a brief, heavy rainfall last night, and it was in the sixties. Much nicer.
Pics request of you in the muumuu seconded.
robertdsc
So does that mean Lily is a hot dog? /chuckle
And how is Tunch today?
fucen tarmal
re: mumu;
remember we are counting on your support.
sincerely
your nuts
MattR
@robertdsc:
I am trying to figure out if Tunch would be welcome in Arizona or if the color in his tail disqualifies him.
Mike E
Diane Rehm spent most of an hour on the recent Israeli
crazy uncle actPR gambit at sea. Anybody listen in today?Jim, Once
Ha! Look what I just came across on Wonkette –
Should I apologize for sharing this? I was just so startled when I found it – especially where I found it. I think it’s just dorky enough to really be him (or DougJ?). Nevertheless, it’s hard for me to wrap my mind around BOB being a Wonkette poster.
jeffreyw
@asiangrrlMN: Sorry. no muumuu for me, ever.
BDeevDad
I’d blame Tea Party folks for this, but Moran is not even correct, phonetically.
MikeJ
@jeffreyw: It sure is no fun singing Old McDonald at your house.
Melodramatic Pansy (was Jay in Oregon)
I’ve seen the mention of Utilikilts; I happen to have a NeoKilt and I love it.
And for the records, kilts don’t go up around your neck, generally speaking…
Melodramatic Pansy (was Jay in Oregon)
*blink blink* I’m in moderation? Is it my new nom de plume or the link?
EDIT: It’s the name, apparently…
demo woman
@Jim, Once: If it walks like a duck, yadda, yadda, yadda…it’s B.O.B.
That made me laugh.
ellaesther
My melodramatic pansies have all fainted – I envision this becoming a Balloon Juice meme very, very shortly!
Moesha
Maybe the heat is responsible for this:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060305438.html?hpid=sec-nation
Violet
Since this is an open thread, does anyone know if The Daily Show and the Colbert Report play online for people in Asia and Europe? A friend is going overseas on a business trip and was hoping to watch some of them while there. Anyone know?
MattR
@Violet: I want to say they are not available, but I am not really sure. I don’t even know if they are accessible from Canada, though I will be able to answer that in ten days.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Origuy: My dear departed Daddy used to wear one of those, he swore by it when it was hot.
demo woman
@Violet: My son has been spending time in Denmark and has trouble viewing anything online except what he has downloaded. Hulu is not available.
Milk Jiggers (formerly Derek)
Just don’t wear clothes, dude. Problem solved.
ellaesther
@Origuy: Kilts are hot – especially on Ewan McGregor.
http://www.clangregor.org/images/ewan-kilt.jpg
Ahem.
BDeevDad
@MattR: Daily Show Canadian link.
Don’t know if it works elsewhere.
Derek
Just don’t wear clothes, dude. Problem solved. You’re welcome!
Cat Lady
@Moesha:
Everyone’s gone fucking nuts. I am not getting out of this boat.
jl
Lot of old mumus at my parents’ house. Be glad to send some.
All I ask in return is a pic of Cole in one of them, standing at his front door holding a cig butt and a bottle of cheap booze in the front doorway. At the top of the blog.
If I get that, I will send a couple next day delivery.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Tlazolteotl:
I am deeply disappointed that the first question in their FAQ is NOT “what are you wearing under your Utilikilt?”
Litlebritdifrnt
@BDeevDad:
There is only one problem with phonetic spelling, which the proponents seem to ignore, there are a large diversity of accents in this country (and others of course), which would mean that you could have three or four different spellings of the same word depending on how it is pronounced in various places. Tomayto Tomahto for example.
MattR
@BDeevDad: Good to know. Thx
Elizabelle
Did you see this great Obama cartoon published in today’s LA Times?
By R.J. Matson, of St. Louis Post Dispatch and other pubs.
http://blog.cagle.com/tag/obama-cinderella/
bemused
Reading the free-times on the ‘raghead’ story, I was shocked that the cohost of the radio show & leader of the Dem Caucus, Phil Bailey and Dem Rep Boyd Brown didn’t say a word of protest to Senator Jackass when he opened his fat mouth with that filth. After the show, Bailey said it was ‘a step too far’. What an understatement. Is it that bad in SC that even people with a D in front of their name tiptoe around calling blatant racists out?
Litlebritdifrnt
@Jim, Once:
Yeah I saw a couple of rambling BOB posts over there the other day. The rest of the Wonketteers ignored him.
Violet
@MattR:
Thanks, that was my guess too. I should be able to report whether or not they work in Singapore and/or Malaysia pretty soon.
@demo woman: Thanks for letting me know. My guess is they wouldn’t work, but wondered if anyone knew for sure. I figure they might work with a proxy, but that can be a pain.
qwerty42
@Svensker:
Agreed. Get started now, it will be a help to the summer plants to get going sooner rather than later. I plant some pots with petunias and geraniums and a few others just because I can watch them and they add some variety. The drawback is they will need more frequent watering than plants in the ground.
Sheila
@Adam Collyer: I love Cory Booker. Thank you for the fine quotes. I hope he is our next President and the chain of narcissistic, arrogant white men is broken forever.
Litlebritdifrnt
BTW Mr. Cole, you should have asked about planting pansies at this time of year before you did it. Even in your zone most gardeners would have told you bad idea.
Sheila
@Origuy:
Why not try a dhoti? Indian men should know something about garments that provide some relief from the heat.
Professor
@Violet: It is on Hulu but you cannot get access to Hulu in Europe unless you register in the USA. Somebody told me you can do it but I doubt it.
bemused
@Elizabelle:
This!
Anne Laurie
Yes, the wool ones are very effective traps for body heat. On the other hand, a cotton or linen sarong permits air circulation much more effectively than trousers, while providing protection against hot/sticky seating surfaces. There’s a reason the ancient Egyptians wore those little semi-transparent linen kilts for thousands of years.
SiubhanDuinne
Obama has invited the families of all the people killed in the Deepwater Horizon explosion to the White House next Thursday for a meeting and personal condolences.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
YES! Thank you! That Disney Cinderella scene is exactly what I’ve been reminded of all this time.
“Cinderella, Cinderella,”
Night and day it’s “Cinderella!”
From the moment that I get up
Till shade of night is falling
There isn’t any letup
I hear them calling, calling,
“Go up into the attic and go down into the cellar,
You can do them both together, Cinderella!”
bemused
@asiangrrlMN:
59 & rainy most of the day up north till the sun came out late & it made it to 70. Too bad we can’t split the difference between north & south MN temps.
ellaesther
To those of you who have come by to my place off and on this week because of all the Israel/Palestine flotilla insanity (set to continue in the wee hours tonight!), I hope that you’ll also come by to see some of the other stuff I write about. Come for the international madness, stay for the pop culture musings!
Also, too, is not my perma-link a thing of beauty? “Emily Hauser In Your Base Killing Your Doodz” – it don’t get much better than that.
demo woman
Elizabelle and SiubhanDuinne, John should post that if there are no copyright laws against it.
jl
A pic of Cole in a mumu, sarong, dhoti, grass skirt of a kilt adapted for hot climate wear all sound good to me.
As long as they are pastel. After Easter, you know, and he should keep in fashion.
If he finks out with a seersucker suite with a straw boater, that will be a cop out.
Anne Laurie
@Litlebritdifrnt:
But if John remembers to water them, they will come back after the first cool snap in the fall, just as all the summer-color plants are collapsing. Swap the pansy planter for one with impatiens, fuchsia, lobelia and/or allysum to perk up your doorstep, and set the pansies in an unobtrusive area where they can summer over.
SiubhanDuinne
@demo woman:
I wouldn’t swear to the accuracy of the words — I’m working from memory of the film from, what? 60 years ago or so? If it is accurate, Disney holds the copyright, and if it’s only close, Disney would have us up for plagiarism :-)
Have no idea what constitutes “fair use” in a blog for an editorial cartoon and half-remembered song lyrics.
cleek
@Jim, Once:
BoB was an Obsidian Wings poster before he came here.
he gets around.
Redshift
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: Their slogan is (or used to be) “We sell freedom!” which made the answer to that kind of obvious. ;-)
SiubhanDuinne
By the way, I tried to post last night but the site was all kerflooey (in a different way than its current kerflooeyness), but I wanted to mention that my package arrived from Café Press, and I am now the proud owner of two Balloon Juice mugs (one with each of the available slogans), two tote bags (“Tunch Is Watching You” and “OBEY”), and a long-sleeved Tunch t-shirt. It’s far too hot to think about long-sleeved anything, but when the weather cools off I’ll wear it happily. In the meantime, my coffee will taste better and my toting will be happier.
Anne Laurie
@cleek: “Bricks Over Brains” got banned at Obsidian Wings before wandering here. After he succeeded in finally pushing even John Cole’s expansive limits on insane racist graffitti past the breaking point, he moved on to pollute the commentor pool at Wonkette. If only Andrew Sullivan permitted (printed) comments, I’m sure he’d be trolling Sully right now.
Redshift
@Litlebritdifrnt: Yeah, they look like idiots. They actually seem to be advocating simplified spelling, a cause which has a long tradition, and don’t understand that it’s not the same as phonetic spelling. And they have stupid examples like “oo” and “ee,” when a real simplified language wouldn’t use more complex double-letter spellings instead of single-letter equivalents.
I’d be embarrassed that one of the “protesters” is a former principal in my county, but I’m willing to bet she was hired back in the days when Republicans ran the county.
Anne Laurie
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: The Utilikilt people do have a special “activewear” model with a discrete strap to prevent (accidental) flashing. The traditional sporran hangs at the front center of the Scottish kilt for a reason…
SiubhanDuinne
@jl:
mo bettah fixed
BethanyAnne
The Arizona thread is broked. Someone tried to strike through some words.
bemused
@Redshift:
I can’t believe this is for real.
Crackpots standing on soapboxes shouting in the streets to passersby didn’t get much traction back in the day. Now, almost every last one of them gets their face & rant on local & national media outlets.
Litlebritdifrnt
Good link for the totals of animals, birds, mammals collected by the International Bird Rescue.
http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/posted/2931/FWNumbers_WEB_June4_final.590343.pdf
Also a good link for a blog about those awful pictures of the birds that we saw yesterday.
They were rescued. “We are busy today with those birds” That is what I needed to hear to heal my heart today.
http://www.intbirdrescue.blogspot.com/
KDP
@Adam Collyer: Thank you, I needed that.
Eight days to my graduation. Final edits to my senior research report over the weekend. Final essay and final for a GE class. Basic statistics final next Thursday.
Commencement on the 12th. My five year slog of working and going to school full-time is nearly done. Until I start grad school……still waiting to hear about that.
Happy weekend everyone!
ellaesther
Oh, come ON. I go away, I come back, and no love for Ewan McGregor IN A KILT?
You people are ded to me.
robertdsc
@SiubhanDuinne:
We could put millions of people to work in hand sewing garments in Tunch’s size, lmao!
cleek
ok, who is that sportin the apron?
Welfare Cadillac ca. 1970.
Elie
@licensed to kill time:
LOL! I would too!
Rosalita
@cleek:
like herpes…
Cain
Look at y’all with your 80 degree, muggy weather. Here in Portland, we got 60 degree weather, rain all the time, and we’re still wearing jackets cuz it is like 50 degrees at night. In June! At least the rain is kinda warm.. (not really)
cain
Litlebritdifrnt
@ellaesther:
Ella I loved the story of John Barrowman and his “husband” getting married in the UK in Kilts. Their dogs were the “bridesmaids”
hpr
My Little One
Sleep sweetly, little one
and enter a land of milk and cream
that never makes you sick
you will never be sick again
You and I
we’ve been through a lot together
and all those times
I cried and cried
you’d try to shake me out of it
with urgent meows
and bumping your head against me
to say “come on, you’ve got me, I love you”
Sleep sweetly now, little one
your pain is gone
I kiss your sweet little noggin
as I have done so many times before
now for the last time
As tears plop onto the blanket
beneath your frail body
that sleeps sweetly now
know that I loved you
that I love you, always
my little one, my baby, my precious girl
Litlebritdifrnt
Another good link about the bird rescue
http://www.tristatebird.org/dwh
Cain
@Sheila:
Dhoti’s are okay, but rather hard to maintain.. I prefer “lungi” which is more like a mumu or whatever those polynesians wear. More colorful..
In India it’s the best thing to wear. I never understood why the younger generation (including mine) wear shorts.. I felt way cooler in lungi’s since the air from the overheard fan would always get trapped inside the lungi cooling my legs.
cain
burnspbesq
@KDP:
Congratulations!
If we find out that you didn’t take at least a couple of days to do nothing except celebrate, we will sic BoB on you.
burnspbesq
OK, it’s after 5:00 everywhere in the lower 48. The drinking lamp is lit.
lamh32
So I just watched “Fred Claus” with Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti, and I’ve developed an hypothesis: the BEST thing about Vince Vaughn movies is…VINCE VAUGHN.
It’s amazing to me, but for what ever reason, I always laugh at Vince Vaughn’s schtick. Yes, it’s the same schitck in most every movie, but damn if Vaughn does not have it down. I’m convinced that it’s why he doesn’t really do any serious non/comedic movies anymore (i.e. Psycho), he’s just too good at the comedy.
My fav Vince Vaughn movie “Dodgeball”!
PurpleGirl
I have a friend who for years wore an Egyptian cotton caftan at parties he gave. Said it was cool and comfortable.
celticdragonchick
@Tlazolteotl:
You beat me to it!
Utilikilts are teh awesome! :)
KRK
Actually, BoB was an Obsidian Wings commenter before he came here.
It makes a difference.
4jkb4ia
“The only purpose of cats is that they constitute mobile decorative objects, a concept which I find intellectually interesting, but unfortunately our cats have such drooping bellies that this does not apply to them….When I hear my mother say “Constitution is both a very proud and very sensitive little cat” when in fact said cat is sprawled on the sofa because she’s eaten too much, it really makes me want to laugh. But if you think about the hypothesis that a cat’s purpose is to act as a modern totem, a sort of emblematic incarnation, protector of the home, reflecting well upon its owners, then everything becomes clear. My mother makes the cats into what she wishes we were, and which we absolutely are not.”
—-Elegance of the Hedgehog
celticdragonchick
Me with kilt and Celtic harp.
The two handed Claymore sword on the right is mine also.
burnspbesq
It occurs to me that I haven’t linked to any pictures of Laettner for several months. She’s now a growed-up kitteh.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/burnspbesq/lazylaettner04jun10.jpg
james hare
@MattR:
Yes. On the Comedy Channel or something silly like that. Those darn Canadians with their special channels. You even have to go to a special webpage to watch them.
Try not to notice their nice roads and functional healthcare system while you’re there. I’ve been enjoying the shitty roads and my girlfriend has been enjoying the shitty healthcare system since we came back from Canada less and less.
When did the US of A start to look like a third world country compared to our neighbor to the north?
BethanyAnne
@ellaesther: oooo, much love for him in that kilt. or, um, out of it….
SIA
@ ellaesther
“Kilts are hot – especially on Ewan McGregor.”
He’s purdy. ME LIKEY.
Munira
@MattR:
They are available in Canada here:
thecomedynetwork.ca/
SIA
My fav time of day, sitting on the porch listening to the faint haunting strains of the call to prayer at a nearby mosque. Beautifil.
SiubhanDuinne @55, well done. What a memory you have. For baseball too!
PurpleGirl
Hidden caption to the photo:
Billmodelsthefinestintunchapparel
srv
I live in a 1906 Italianate, and my stove is older than Bills. Now way you could cook properly on an electric stove.
But the cast iron is ok.
And also, of course, why can’t we have a Fairey Tunch with OBEY? Also.
ms badger
@ellaesther: Alright, already. Ewan McGregor in a kilt is lovely. And toothsome. And easy on the eyes. The sneakers are a nice touch.
If you are in the Rocky Mountain West, come to Estes Park, CO on Sept 23 (I think) for the Scottish Irish Festival. Kilts for days and miles, many of them worn well. Caber tossing, whiskey drinking and jousting for amusement. Well worth the price of admission.
ellaesther
@BethanyAnne: @SIA: THIS IS WHAT I’M SAYING.
I mean, I’m not saying. I’m just sayin’.
ellaesther
@Litlebritdifrnt: I confess, I had to look him up. I am a cretin!
But upon looking him up, I have to say that I can imagine that he, too, would be lovely in a kilt.
But dogs as bridesmaids? Um…. I shall hold my tongue. Because who am I to judge? I’m no one that’s who. No one who should judge, not even to judge a person who puts their dogs in their wedding party. Nope. Not me. Ain’t gonna judge!
jl
Is that a picture of Cole in the update? He would look dang fine in a mumu,
The Tunch ‘Feed’ apron could go on the outside.
maus
@celticdragonchick: There’s nothing more amusing than walking by the Utilikilt retail store and seeing drunks get kicked out.
I mean, really? Are you seriously too drunk to handle UTILIKILT HEADQUARTERS? I mean, that’s a store you have to be drunk even to walk into, for chrissake.
@KRK: His new trollin’ account is BeaverFallsBob.
Morbo
Ok, do any other people laugh their asses off whenever they see the Letourneau University ad for Teacher Certification?
Elizabelle
@burnspbesq:
Thank you. Duly drinking a chilled Manhattan, since it is past five here too.
Gina
@Adam Collyer: God DAMN I’m fired up now! Thanks for posting this.
SiubhanDuinne
@SIA #96: Well, you saw my disclaimer. But yesd, for some reason I’ve always been blessed with a pretty good memory for song lyrics. My mother claimed that I could sing about 300 songs before I was in kindergarten. I challeneged her, but then we began making a list (mind you, we’re talking about a lot of nursery rhymes and hymns and folk songs here) but I think she may have underestimated. And I promise you that by the time I was 13 or therreabouts I knerw every word and every part of every Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, even the obscure ones.
Now please tell me how I can make that profitable.
Lovely night tonight in metro Atlanta.
Gina
@Melodramatic Pansy (was Jay in Oregon): Hmm. Any sort of kilt around here could invite some nasty surprises from the deer ticks and mosquitoes, what with DEET being ill-advised for application to delicate areas.
Jager
Try the old Viet Nam heat and humidity beating lounge wear, jungle fatigue pants cut off above the knee, GI T-shirt without sleeves, cheap flip flops and a well worn, washed out towel around your neck. Last but not least, you must go commando.
Elisabeth
@SiubhanDuinne: But will he show proper emotion?
Litlebritdifrnt
@hpr:
Well that just made me cry. I hope you can imagine that she is waiting for you over the Rainbow Bridge. Damn.
arguingwithsignposts
Alright, open thread question here. The tiny a/c in my apartment barely works. I’m on the top floor, so naturally by 4 p.m., the studio apt. is cooking. I have two small fans, but they don’t really help that much. At this time of year, that means things don’t cool off until about 9 or 10.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a good fan that will actually cool the place down some without blowing everything away (i.e., other than a huge box fan)? Do those tower fans work at all?
thanks
Elisabeth
@arguingwithsignposts:
I have two tower fans that work pretty well. I have one for the bedroom but I still have to elevate it on a one-story kitty condo to get the most air over the mattress/box spring (bed sits up kind of high). Have you thought of ceiling fans?
srv
@arguingwithsignposts: Daquiri machine.
Or landlord + new a/c or ceiling fan. Window a/c’s are like under $200 now.
ellaesther
One last shot across the bow of the topic of the damned flotilla and its consequences before I disappear into Shabbat-land:
I found a truly remarkable op/ed on HaAretz by Anshel Pfeffer, in which, among other things, he says:
“the feeling of helplessness of a poor lonely victim, confronting the rage of a lynch mob and frantically realizing that these are his last moments, accurately reflect the current psychosis of the majority of the Israeli public.”
and
“We need a strong, unified voice from the Jewish leadership in the United States and Europe telling Israelis enough is enough, you are hurtling down the slippery slope of pariahdom and causing untold damage to yourselves and us.”
I posted a chunk of it at my place; the original is here.
Shabbat shalom – pray (or hope) for better days.
Olive Oyl
John, did you plant some hot peppers? Let us know if you got a good crop and if they’re actually hot. I hope the mint leaves are good for mojitos.
Litlebritdifrnt
@arguingwithsignposts:
True story. Our AC unit died (three bedroom two bath house average electric bill $400.00) I weighed the odds, repair cost + the electric bill versus not fixing the AC unit and buying some window units. We bought a window unit for the living room and one for the bedroom. Total cost $247.00, our last electric bill? $96.00. It makes absolutely no sense heating and cooling an entire house when you basically use three rooms.
SiubhanDuinne
@hpr
Sob
And hug
Breezeblock
Nerdlinger!
SiubhanDuinne
Good Shabbas, ellaesther. Thanks for your updates and insights over the past several days.
arguingwithsignposts
@Elisabeth:
Re: fan/ac question: The landlord would probably install a new unit, but I don’t know if I’m going to be in this apt. after this summer, honestly, so I’d rather just muddle through without having him come in and do it.
Which also rules out the ceiling fan option. It’s really a room, kitchenette, bathroom and closet, but I get a great rental rate and all bills paid, so I’ve put up with it so far. Now that the new noisy neighbor has moved in, I’m probably moving (which I hate, hate, hate!)
Martin
@Elisabeth: Yeah, when we moved in the AC wasn’t working and rather than buy a new central unit with the $2K we got, we bought ceiling fans in the bedrooms and dining/family room, 2 tower fans, a lemon tree, and a really fucking nice patio set.
Fans, understanding how to funnel air through the house, and a steady flow of Arnold Palmers from fresh lemonade + wifi out on the patio, plus CFC and other electricity saving measures has resulted in an annual electricity bill of $500.
Alice Blue
88 degrees here today, 93% humidity, slam bang thunderstorms every afternoon. On the other hand, the gardenia bush is loaded with blooms and buds (the heavenly scent is all around the house and yard) and the magnolia tree we planted 7-8 years ago has bloomed.
Small blessings of summer in Georgia.
burnspbesq
@ellaesther:
Amen to that.
And Shabbat Shalom.
Honus
time to get a bit serious. I’m omitting the picture of the bird he sent because it’s it’s too depressing, but here’s the text of an e-mail an old friend and college classmate of mine sent me today. He is a several-generation native of New Orleans.
“Friends: Please send an email to your Washington representatives asking them to demand the President federalize the clean-up effort in South Louisiana. Nothing BP says about the response is accurate. There may be thousands of people working on the clean-up, but most of them are temporary workers hired on Canal Street and from temp labor firms, then bussed to the coast. These people do not have the stamina, discipline or training to work under the difficult conditions that exist in the marsh. As a result, almost nothing is being accomplished. The attached picture demonstrates the results of BP’s efforts. Please take 5 minutes to send at least one email to your representatives this morning.”
OriGuy
I’ve signed up to do Scottish Country Dancing at the Pleasanton (CA) Highland Games on Labor Day weekend again. Last year was unseasonably cool and our group went on in the morning. More likely to be dancing in the afternoon in 95F heat. It feels like a greenhouse under there in those conditions.
And yes, I wear underwear (while dancing, anyway!)
JohnR
1. @Derek: Naked in this heat/wet? Are you insane? Think of the chafing! At 9:45 it’s down to 89F in the house here, and should be down to 85 by morning, judging by the week’s history. Ranch houses aren’t so good when the A/C is dead. If it wasn’t for thin cotton fabrics, we’d have all killed each other by now.
2. @lamh32: nice to see another person with taste and discernment. Although I’m not a big fan of Vaughn, I loved Dodgeball. I think it was Rip Torn.
3. @arguing: I have a couple tower fans to help with the main window unit for non-A/C times; they’re pretty good about not filling the rooms with flying debris, even on high. Since you’re up on top, though, you’re hosed no matte what you do – the chimney effect is just going to keep bringing up the hot air from below no matter what you do, until everybody else is cooled off first.
Tattoosydney
@Violet:
I can play show clips on their websites from Australia, and last year I could do the same in Amsterdam and Lisbon. Can’t say about any Asian countries, though, sorry.
SIA
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, a lovely evening but a bit muggy, yes?
I have a great memory for songs. I like to “name that song” (referring to rock n roll, though, not that highbrow stuff) hearing the first few bars. I can remember words to songs, characters in movies, old phone numbers, the plots to books I read when I was a child. I can’t, however, remember last week. Or yesterday. :(
ETA: Thinking further, I’m even more impressed knowing you remembered all the words to the childhood song AND typed them up on a tiny blackberry. The BB-fu is strong in you, grasshopper.
Tattoosydney
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Should that read:
Just me being sensitive, but under UK law, the quotation marks are not necessary.
Joshua Norton
For a brief second “Mrs. Roper” flashed through my mind.
Not a pretty sight.
El Cid
Henry Waxman goes hysterical, excuse me, I mean, utterly mainstream, saying Marcia Winograd basically wants to destroy Israel.
Yeah. A fucking nuclear armed state is going to just wither away because a few U.S. politicians think human beings living in Gaza don’t have so many children growing up wasted, stunted, malnutriented, and pregnant women risking their own lives and their pregnancy from anemia, and so forth.
asiangrrlMN
@ellaesther: Even though you will not read this in forever, I have to chide you for being so anxious. I have much much love for Ewan and his kilt. MUCH.
@hpr: My deepest condolences and sympathy to you on the lost of your beloved girl. You wrote a beautiful and moving homage to her. May she visit you from the other side so that you can know she’s free of pain and playing happily.
@jeffreyw: Sorry! The pics of muumuu was for Cole, not you!
bemused, I’ll swap you straight up. I hate the heat.
El Cid
@Tattoosydney: Barrowman is awesome. I wish he’d gotten the new Captain America role.
SIA
@arguingwithsignposts: Depending on the orientation, put a fan pulling the hot air out of the house on the west/south side, and another fan in the window blowing the cooler air in to the house from the north/east side, and get a cross current going. Also, as my southern mama told me, close windows and curtains before the place warms up. At night when it’s cooler open the windows. In the summer my house looks like a cave in the daytime, but it really helps.
Splash eau de cologne on your wrists, neck, and temples.
Or, buy a new AC unit. :)
SIA
@jl: I don’t think it’s John Cole, who once described himself as looking somewhat like Phillip Seymour Hoffman (forgive me if I am mis-remembering). I would like to know who it is because, well, I’m curious.
asiangrrlMN
@Tattoosydney: Hi, you. How you be? I’m still bummed out over the AZ thing. I gotta say, I looked up John Barrowman, and I didn’t find him cute. He’s not my type (as I am not his), so you can haz!
@SIA: The mouse-over says Bill. So, it’s a Bill. Maybe I need to pull on my Tunchie t-shirt to feel better.
Tattoosydney
@El Cid:
He is indeed awesome, and damn cute…
SIA
@Alice Blue: Ah, another Georgia compatriot. Greetings!
Tattoosydney
@asiangrrlMN:
I’m well – it’s Saturday morning, it’s not raining, I’m not working, I am pretending that the world and the environment aren’t fucked for a few hours, and going shopping to buy a shitload of dried fruit to make bolo-rei (Portuguese Christmas cakes).
Last night we watched Stardust, with the very yummy Charlie Cox, which was sweet and very funny and obviously put me in a good mood.
How you?
SIA
@asiangrrlMN: Yes, but Bill Who? I must know! Whoever it is, he looks fine in his BJ swag, which reminds me, I got my two BJ mugs today. Very nice.
asiangrrlMN
@Tattoosydney: You and I have totally different taste in men–which is a good thing. I am grumpy. I’m going downstairs to take a nap.
@SIA: Dunno. I agree he looks fine in his Tunch swag. I know we have a Bill H and a Bill E Pilgrim and some bus Bill, but…You don’t think it’s B.o.B., do you?? That would be horrifying.
Mark S.
@asiangrrlMN:
“I got banned from Balloon Juice for making racist comments and all I got was this stupid apron.”
Tattoosydney
@asiangrrlMN:
Have a good nap. Look a pictures of Alan Rickman.
South of I-10
Alright, so I am late to the thread. John, you should probably just get a sarong and then do the Hula Hoop and Sock Twirling dance.
Tattoosydney
@asiangrrlMN:
I am not generally in favour of banning, but I have to say I don’t miss BoB a bit.
debit
@South of I-10: Dare I click? I am both curious and yet faintly fearful of where the sock might be that it can be twirled.
And now disappointed. That wasn’t even proper Hula Hooping.
Brachiator
Retired UCLA basketball coach John Wooden has passed away at the age of 99.
Not just a sports story. Wooden was an inspiring teacher and mentor who was interested in his players not just as potential superstars or sports cash cows, but as human beings. He was also quite a motivational speaker and just a plain decent human being who loved his wife Nell and his family.
I had the pleasure to hear him speak at a management conference and to briefly speak with him. He had that rare gift of making you feel like you were the most important person in the room. In interviews, I never heard him speak or act as though his coaching accomplishments and all the records he set were the most important thing in his life.
Peace to Coach Wooden, to his family, and to all those he has ever touched or influenced.
Tattoosydney
@debit:
proper Hula Hooping
debit
@Tattoosydney: That was a thing of beauty!
South of I-10
@Tattoosydney: It needs more sock twirling.
Tattoosydney
and a bonus, as Captain Frodo climbs through two tennis rackets.
hamletta
So John Barrowman’s not all that, you say? Are we talking about the same John Barrowman?
burnspbesq
@Brachiator:
Amen. R.I.P., Coach.
Yutsano
@burnspbesq: As a Pac-10 alum, this does indeed make me haz a sad. I also have good friends at that school who I’m sure are going to be in mourning through the summer. Pacem a tei Coach.
@Tattoosydney: Ni hao ma?
PGE
@Cain:
I’ve got to agree with Cain. I spent a few months working in Kerala (a state in the south of India), and there is nothing more comfortable in hot, humid weather than a lungi. Nothing.
Katie
Speaking of kilts, I’ve seen a lot of guys in AK wearing some sort of leather skirt/kilt thing. I always do a double take.
Bret
Are those granite countertops I see?
Redleg
Nice tits.
Steeplejack
@Jim, Once:
Doesn’t sound like classic BOB. Not the right tone. Not even spoof BOB (as I suspect happened multiple times here). Just sayin’.
Steeplejack
@cleek:
God, the thought of Brick Oven Bill on Obsidian Wings makes my teeth hurt. I am afraid to post there because of the gravitas. Somehow BOB seems like a quintessential Balloon Juice phenomenon. Ugly but ours.
asiangrrlMN
@hamletta: Yes, we are. He doesn’t do anything for me. You all can have him!
@Mark S.: Ha! That’s a great tagline.
@Tattoosydney: I never read his remarks except when they were excerpted by others or when they were directed at me. I thought you kinda had a soft spot for him.