To set the mood, here is a baby seal sleeping on a couch:
Anyone brings up the defense bill, the seal gets it.
This post is in: Open Threads
To set the mood, here is a baby seal sleeping on a couch:
Anyone brings up the defense bill, the seal gets it.
Comments are closed.
cokane
GOD I HATE PISSBURG
namekarB
So if we keep attacking Middle East countries can we change the name of the Department of Defense back to the War Department?
Yutsano
You could at least threaten a timeout or something. They club baby seals in Canada you know.
@namekarB: I bet Willard will get right on that.
El Tiburon
Can we discuss the Indefinite detention bill then?
Raven
Da Bearz. Also, the pukes are queering the deal on the budget. . .discuss.
Anya
Can we talk about the Keystone XL Pipeline instead? Only because we’re a bit short on flame wars lately.
gaz
/hands john cole a cookie!
Anya
@namekarB: What do our friends in Israel think?
DanielX
Oh, now that qualifies as just terminally cute….
Yutsano
@Raven: Only the payroll tax cut extension part. My understanding is the budget bill is signed and done. Unless I’m missing something and I’m NOT working Monday…
gaz
@namekarB: Man… I’ve long advocated for that.
Let’s see our politicians argue for War Spending instead of Defense spending. Heh.
Change the name back, let the optics do their part to erode support for the MIC
heh.
wmd
Why does John hate baby seals?
Shortest joke:
Baby seal walks into a club.
different-church-lady
YOU CAN’T CALL IT A DEFENSE BILL BECAUSE IT TALKS ABOUT DETENTION!!!
(I don’t like seals.)
namekarB
@gaz:
Perhaps some brave congress critter can slip an amendment into the next omnibus bill to do that. I heart poison pills.
Anya
Why don’t we ever discuss Film Noir?
Yutsano
We can discuss happier subjects. Suck it Koch Bros!
gaz
@Yutsano: I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:
BWAHAHAHAHAHA
yay.
JPL
Friday and Saturday evening, I watched the Unusuals on Netflix Instant. Thank you to the commenter who suggested the series.
Villago Delenda Est
@Anya:
Because we’re too busy discussing politics noir.
gaz
@namekarB: I would mail a puppy to whoever was responsible for that.
Ira-NY
A seal waddles into a bar. Orders a whiskey.
Bartender asks the seal his preference in whiskey.
Seal says anything but Canadian Club.
gaz
@efgoldman: That would create a dangerous national popcorn shortage.
Jerzy Russian
@wmd:
Now that made me laugh.
gaz
@efgoldman: Which is essentially what I was alluding to.
Litlebritdifrnt
OT (oh wait) just wanted to let you guys know that there are some very effective ads running on my teevee machine here in NC extolling the virtues of the “Federal Option” (ie the NC High Risk Pool) I am assuming they are real people and not actors (because there is no such disclaimer at the bottom) one a woman who had breast cancer and could not get insurance due to that pre-existing condition, and another a guy with an unspecified pre-existing condition. As the republicans feared, once more and more people discover what is in the ACA the more people are going to like it. That scares the piss out of them.
Canuckistani Tom
John, whatever you do, don’t let Tunch see this, he’ll get ideas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YB90NjT51gg
barath
Ok, here’s something on a different topic, then:
I’ve tried to understand the Climate Change vs. Peak Oil non-debate. That is, why are there two topics that have the same underlying cause, major worldwide consequences, and immediate need for response, and yet nothing is being done on either and folks who believe in one often deny the other.
Michael D.
I hate the Defense Bill!
And as a Canadian who was born in Newfoundland, I’m bred to be ambivalent when it comes to seals.
Anoniminous
Trying to get a handle on the various Rules the GOP state parties have made for their primaries.
To get an idea of what I’m up against, here’s the Official Rules for the GOP Iowa Caucuses:
So the state Rule is: there are no state Rules for a local caucus, the Rules Committee and Parliamentarian can do whatever they want.
Hill Dweller
This didn’t get a lot of fanfare, but the EPA finalized its ‘mercury rule’, limiting toxins(mercury, arsenic, etc.) from coal burning power plants, on Friday, after a 20 year delay.
Linnaeus
Apologies if someone has already linked this, but it looks like the good times are rolling again for top CEOs in the US:
gaz
@barath: Strikes me as a bit of a straw-man, actually.
I understood Peak-Oil before I understood Climate Change (by understand – I mean actually became interested enough in the topics to do a little research)
They’ve always struck me as twin issues – and oil related (or at least in the case of climate change, largely so).
Apparently my mistake was in assuming that other (at least somewhat) reasonable people understood the issue that way, too. So I guess I’m wrong in that regard?
I understand why people that might believe in Peak Oil refuse to believe in man-made climate change (see salary, Upton Sinclair). But now I am curious as to who believes in man-made climate change and denies Peak Oil.
Maybe I missed something.
Baud
@Hill Dweller: Positive change didn’t get a lot of fanfare. I’m shocked.
DanielX
@Linnaeus: And the tumbrils will be rolling too, because they’re a gang of greedy swine. Also, too, because fuck them, that’s why.
Villago Delenda Est
@barath:
Things are being done, but they’re reactive in nature, anticipating the downside of both. DoD knows it’s a problem, and that it will create more problems.
The issue is at the highest policy levels there are those who actively seek to deny that either exists, or are impeded by those who deny.
We’re all basically fucked, even though we know it’s coming, because those in a position to take action refuse to, it’s just too discomfiting for them.
As the tag line goes, we’re all Mayans now.
schrodinger's cat
More cute from the last thread, the bunneh who eated Tunch.
Amir Khalid
I saw a pair of steel-toed Caterpillar boots for half-price at my local mall. They cost less than a third of what I’d have to pay for Timberland yellow boots, and they should last me a decade or more. Only question: should I get them in yellow (“mustard”) or black?
RossInDetroit
@namekarB:
This is actually a very good idea. The present Department of Defense should be the War Department and the Department of Homeland Security should be the Defense Department.
This would be logical and would take the Fascist sounding ‘Homeland Security’ out of the mix.
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: At that price it sounds like you could get both colours and still come out ahead!
sherifffruitfly
LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!!!!!
Villago Delenda Est
@gaz:
The crucial issue is alternative to fossil fuels energy, and 30 years ago, there were initiatives to address this known problem of a non-renewable energy source, but the first fucking thing the shitty grade Z movie star did upon moving into the White House was to kill all those initiatives.
We’d be in much better shape from both a peak oil and a climate change perspective if those initiatives had not been so callously and stupidly terminated.
gaz
@Amir Khalid: Get the yellow. After a few weeks of steady use, the whole pair will likely be brown-black*, so you get (sort of) black for free =)
Best of both worlds!
*depends I suppose on how you use them.
Anoniminous
@Amir Khalid:
Get the left boot in black and the right boot in mustard and wear them with shorts and pink knee high socks with purple polka dots.
Start a trend.
Villago Delenda Est
@RossInDetroit:
I have always contended that “Department of Homeland Security” sounded much better in the original German:
Heimatsicherheitshauptamt
A friend of mine cleverly malprounounced this into:
Heimatsicherheitshauptangst
which, I think captures what was really going on with the entire operation.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@barath: Well, without reading your link, my understanding is that the worst case for climate change by 2100 involves continuing Business As Usual (BAU). However, the Peak Oilers can show there isn’t enough carbon in the ground to continue BAU for another 80-90 years, so that scenario can’t happen.
I don’t know anything about the Climate Changers pooh-poohing Peak Oil, though.
Here’s my take on both of these:
It looks like we crossed Peak Oil during the Bush years. Even so, I expect that we (human race) will burn every atom of carbon and every hydrocarbon molecule we can dig out of the ground, regardless of the consequences, ’cause that’s how our monkey brains work.
I also tend to think that we’ve crossed the irreversible climate threshold during the Bush years, based on the arctic ice disappearing faster than any of the climate change models predicted.
So, in the words of Ed Grimley, “We’re doomed as doom can be.”
gaz
@Villago Delenda Est: I *get* that. That basically as I understand it, falls under the Upton Sinclair category.
Where the piece kinda lost me was on this statement (and admittedly, I probably interpreted the statement a bit broadly initially)
I probably should retract my straw-man – guilty of skimming on too little caffeine – I guess it’s really an education issue (among the group in the quote)
Even that though, I find to be pretty surprising.
Kinda of like if I woke up one day and people didn’t know what Tab soda was…
Oh wait…
Fuck, I’m just getting old.
I keep forgetting that.
=P
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@Hill Dweller:
Don’t worry, the GOP is likely working as hard as possible to insert language into the budget as we speak to ensure the EPA’s funding to enforce that is immediately revoked.
MacKenna
The only thing cuter than that baby seal would be a picture of Tunch sitting next to it.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Anoniminous: I trust that with all these rules there is No Rule Six.
barath
@gaz:
Yeah, you’d think most folks would understand them as twin problems, but I’ve found that’s not the case… (Which is why I figured I’d write about it.) There are a lot of people who understand climate change who’ve never even heard of peak oil. And there are plenty of conservative peak oilers who deny climate change.
It’s a weird dynamic.
longtime lurk
You must be very embarrassed by what has become of your blog, John Cole. It is now a forum for bashing anyone to the left of the Obama administration. Even the founder of the blog gets slapped down by other front-pagers when he deviates from the party line. Very sad. Good luck with it.
gaz
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: Crap.
I should have just said…
What Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason Said.
Heh.
Cheers
JPL
@gaz: Why not mention national security. Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights is abysmal and considering Saudi Arabians attacked us on 9/11, you can give Sleeping with the Enemy an entire new meaning. I like to call it prostitution or whoring for oil.
trollhattan
The Seattle handegg persons appear to be handing the Chicago handegg persons their arses in the contest’s second half. Whodathunk?
Jeremy
In happier news, the MN Republican Party is imploding in front of our eyes: http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/135802693.html. It will be fun seeing the thugs remind us of the sanctity and sacred vow of marriage leading up to next year’s vote on the
Marriage Discrimination Actconstitutional amendment to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.barath
@Villago Delenda Est:
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
Wow…you’re both even more doomery than I am, and I thought I was pessimistic. The thing is, I’m not sure you’re wrong, which is a bit worrysome.
JPL
@MacKenna: Tunch would eat it.
sherifffruitfly
@trollhattan:
It’s “pointyball persons”, thank you very much.
gaz
@barath: Like I said I’m probably getting old.
The topic of Peak Oil is so 40 or 50 years ago =P
heh.
I’m guessing that might be why some of the “millennials” and some of the “gen-y”ers don’t grok it.
who knows.
And modern conservatives will believe anything. Absolutely anything. Especially if it’s pro-fucking-the-environment.
vheidi
@gaz: My local bartender didn’t know who John Coltrane was- oh the humanity
Benjamin Franklin
@gaz:
What’s Climate Peak?
errrrrrr…
Amir Khalid
@Anoniminous:
Sounds tempting, but I’m not so sure I’ll be able to persuade them at the store.
Villago Delenda Est
@MacKenna:
SERIOUSLY cute would be the baby seal, Tunch, young namesake Cole, and both puppydogs frolicking in clover.
Comrade Mary
This is the end of the “John Cole is secretly gay” meme and the beginning of the “John Cole is secretly Canadian” meme.
GAHH! I still have so much Christmas baking to do. Luckily for that little guy on the couch, I’m from Québec, so I’m making tourtière, not you-know-what flipper pie.
MikeJ
About to make gbread cookies while watching the game. I wonder how skittles would go with gingerbread…
Allan
Once a right-wing authoritarian, now a left-wing authoritarian.
Wherever you go, there you are.
Villago Delenda Est
@gaz:
Which is why irony is dead. “Conservatives” who oppose conservation.
barath
@gaz:
Yeah, younger folks like me didn’t experience the oil shocks of the 1970s first-hand, and so we don’t even have a point of reference for oil crisis. That plus climate change has been the central, defining environmental / energy challenge in the news for the last couple of decades means that it’s drowned out most other topics. (Which for the most part makes sense since it’s also the biggest, longest lasting problem.)
gaz
@Benjamin Franklin: I edit a lot. BJ needs a preview button for goofs like me.
This post would not be complete without the obligatory FYWP.
BruceFromOhio
@trollhattan: The Chiefs are putting the slamma-damma-jing-jong on the Packers pointyball egg people. It was fun while it lasted, that unbeaten record. Derp!
gaz
@barath: I didn’t experience them first hand either. I was born when the peanut farmer was president.
But the discussions of Peak Oil were still in full effect through Reagan’s term.
We even discussed it in school. (not talking about college)
And for me, that was probably during George HW’s term, or Clinton’s first term
srv
Ah, my browser missed this post… so repeating –
Gen X thinks Millinealist Occupiers are Slackers. Maybe it’s time we had a generational internecine war on BJ?
tomvox1
Cannot believe the end of the Iraq War II is not a bigger deal. Like anywhere. We really are getting stupider and shallower as a country. I suppose, of course, that people would actually have to give credit to President Obama for, you know, doing exactly what he said he’d do and coming through for the American people yet again. Doesn’t seem like the chatterers on the Right or Left want to do that these days. So much more satisfying to harp on his perceived shortcomings than his tangible and lengthy record of accomplishment.
trollhattan
@BruceFromOhio:
Double whodathunk! A few diehard Chefs fan betters are going to harvest a bundle today.
Also, too, http://www.saasta.fi/saasta/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/handegg.jpg
barath
@gaz:
I think you’re lucky to have been exposed to those ideas in school. I bet that’s pretty rare…
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: Not yet.
Linnaeus
@srv:
Oh, dear. That one made the rounds a few months ago…I appreciated the tongue-in-cheek-ness of it, but I’ll vote no on generational warfare.
gaz
@srv: FTR, that was not my intention at all.
The only reason I used the labels is I thought it might have something to do with an age factor, and the possibility that peak oil is not a popular topic anymore.
PeakVT
@barath: Both Peak Oil (or Peak Fossil Fuels to take the more general case) and Global Warming both have the same implication: start using less and find alternate sources. There are some reasons in the details for one group to ignore the other, and over the years they’ve attracted different crowds of supporters/believers. But I suspect the main reason is that the self-appointed advocates for each issue pretty are mono-maniacal about their chosen issue. Any other issue is competition.
RossInDetroit
@tomvox1:
Maybe people have gotten wise and see that this ‘end’ is just the beginning of another phase of misery and headaches over there. Getting the trucks across the border doesn’t get us out of there by half.
Villago Delenda Est
@srv:
I’m glad that Matt Honan is the sole voice of Gen X.
In that spirit, I declare myself to be the sole voice of late Boomers (born in ’57, the year of Sputnik!) and remind the snot nosed Honan that all that music he was paying for (and probably taping, driving the RIAA to absolute apoplexy) was created exclusively for my generation, the ruling generation of all time, the generation that told Tom Brokaw’s “greatest generation” that yeah, you saved the world from the Nazis, then you voted for Nixon. Thanks a bunch for undoing your own good deed.
Ruckus
Listening to Rajaton
H/T to echidne at Eschaton
All I can say is wow.
barath
@PeakVT:
Yeah, I think you’re right about that last one. It’s the activist tunnel vision that gets going and blocks out any other thoughts. Though part of the issue is that many of the solutions proposed in response to one don’t help directly with the other. (Solar panels aren’t going to help address peak oil, and tar sands will just make climate change worse, etc.) It’s easier for activists to not compromise on their favorite solutions rather than find common ground on things that will help address both.
The one organization that really seems to get it is the Post Carbon Institute. But there aren’t many like them, and they’re pretty small time in the scheme of things.
RossInDetroit
@Villago Delenda Est:
I was born during Ike’s term and I can program the timer on the VCR. Therefore all generalizations about old people are invalid.
Amir Khalid
About the baby seal:
SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
piratedan
yeah but do any of us KNOW if that seal is being detained indefinitely?
Zandar
Hey, the Panthers failed to lose.
*waves little flag*
gaz
@barath: I was very fortunate. I went to what I believe was one of the best Jr High and High schools in the state, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was top-tier nationally.
There was potentially nothing special about those schools. And the area was podunk, and basically a navy town..
But I don’t recall a school levy that was ever voted down by that community while I was there.
Teachers got what they needed. They were paid well (WRT to cost of living locally). Class Sizes were generally under 30 – they had every bit of equipment.
Hell, for a sense of perspective:
Our HS auto shop had TWO hydraulic lifts, and a full on 4 wheel alignment system + a lot full of cars and ever Chilton’s ever published.
Our pool was Olympic class
Our welding shops had like a dozen booths, and a full complement of all the different varieties and LCD blockers in the welding helmets (high tech shit at the time)
We had no less than 4 computer labs each larger than a class room.
Full Track & Field – and 3 aux fields.
Roughly 900 students.
By today’s standards, this is insane. <– I wish that were not true.
BruceFromOhio
@trollhattan: ah, yes, the remedial football tutorial 101 for damned yanks. Call it what-have-you, this handegg game is still damned entertaining.
PeakVT
@tomvox1: The war was scheduled to end this month before Obama took office, and it was the Iraqis who forced it to actually end by (quite reasonably) not giving immunity to US troops. So Obama deserves credit for following through on a campaign promise, but it wasn’t the most difficult thing he has taken on. OTOH, if Obama ends the war in Afghanistan over the objections of Republicans and a lot of Democrats, then a lot people on the left will be quite vocal with their praise.
sherifffruitfly
This thread is now officially a STEELERS thread.
Steelers just locked up playoff birth via Titans loss. GO STILLERS!!!!!
Judas Escargot
@srv:
I realized earlier today that the generation that currently dominates the retail/cashier jobs right now (i.e. late teens/early 20s) is incredibly polite. Cultural shift, I guess, but it did strike me.
Caught myself having a reverse old-man moment: Hey, when we were your age, we made sure to ironically sneer at our elders!
GenX embraced glibertarianism for a number of reasons, but a big one was a general, generational resentment of the (by then already mythologized) DFHes: “Why would any responsible, serious person ever want to protest? What are you, a fucking hippie!?” So I’m not surprised at comments like those in the article.
We were well-trained as to who needed barking at. Woof.
Raven
Peak hash oil here.
tomvox1
A little too nuanced, I’d say. Americans haven’t given a fuck about the aftermath once they’re done fighting since WWII.
More like most people just don’t want to have to examine how they were played for suckers and made accomplices to mass murder through their credulousness and simplistic need to “punish” someone, anyone for 9/11. All so they could stop wetting the bed at night. Yeah, I’d say that’s the real reason the bulk of the reaction is so muted. That and not wanting to give the Big O proper credit.
Omnes Omnibus
@sherifffruitfly: I’ll be cheering for them on Monday night. With an loss by SF, Green Bay locks up home field in the NFC.
gaz
@Judas Escargot: Your post made me smile.
I was only ever in danger of becoming a glibertarian until I was about 14. (Gen-X’er here)
But I know whatcha mean. =)
Arclite
Since John is playing the Star Wars The Old Republic beta, I thought he (or anyone) might appreciate this comic.
Downpuppy
@PeakVT: The peak oilers at theoildrum & Downstream Ventures almost all pretty climate aware. The climate types at Realclimate are hardly cornucopians about oil.
I tend to worry more about the likelihood that our current depression will just get worse as we gradually go into a full Jay Hanson dieoff, but that won’t be until after the Patriots-Tories game about to start in Denver.
gaz
@Raven:
So sorry to hear that. =(
You haz no dispensaries where you live?
Raven
@gaz: Ah, that ship sailed many moons ago but sweet memories. . .
Nellcote
@srv:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/occupy-the-clergy/250139/
trollhattan
@BruceFromOhio:
Helps a LOT when one’s team transitions from full stench in the season’s first half to semi-respectable in the second. Now, so long as the Pats knock the snot out of the Broncos, the day shall be complete.
Raven
@trollhattan: Don’t look now.
boss bitch
@PeakVT:
Stop. Just Stop because plenty of people here and in the liberal blogosphere laughed at and dismissed Obama or anyone who said that the troops were going to be out at this time. The bet was that Obama and the Iraqi leadership would break the agreement. NOW that these people were proven wrong its back to “oh it was agreed to already and that’s what the Iraqi people wanted” BULLSHIT!.
Obama never wanted this war and promised to get us out. WE ARE OUT. HE KEPT HIS PROMISE! Despite a shit load of liberals saying he wouldn’t. And they fucking know it so that’s why they don’t have shit to say.
THE IRAQ WAR IS OVER AND OBAMA LED US OUT AS HE PROMISED.
PROMISE MADE PROMISE KEPT.
Holy shit. the left gives bigger cheers if Bernie Sanders farts on the senate floor.
PurpleGirl
I don’t believe that conservatives believe that Peak Oil will happen any more than they believe that man-caused climate change is happening. The fundies probably think that at some point the Master of the Universe will tap his magic wand and, lo and behold, all those dry wells will fill with oil. I don’t know if there is a parallel for climate change.
gaz
@Raven: Heh.
I’m old enough to know better. But young enough to do it anyway. =)
That and alcohol (the other traditional unwindy substance I suppose) is ummm – problematic for me. I don’t like drugs that punish me. And alcohol seems to do so with gleeful abandon, even if I don’t drink much – and imbibe a gallon or two of water. heh. Kind of a shame, really, since we have a wonderful local brewery where I live. I still go for the food (also wonderful).
=)
As far as anyone in recovery, well – let’s just say I totally get that, where that’s someone’s situation. MOAR power to them and I applaud and respect it for what it is.
Mr Stagger Lee
How about that Seattle Seahawk DEFENSE!!! Those hawks really DETAINED Barber and Heine. Since Carrol downgraded the passing and AUTHORIZED the Beast Mode run game. Com’on Paul Allen sign Beast Mode and so he can the BILL for more Skittles!
Anoniminous
@Amir Khalid:
No popular trend is a popular trend with spit without an utterly pointless & brainless & hysterical controversy.
Find someone with your shoe size. Each of you buy one pair. You wear the mustard color boot on your left foot, the other person wears it on their right foot. Meet in a popular trendoid meeting spot where the trendoids gather and have a screaming, public, spat that The Other is “doing it wrong.”
With any luck, or planning, the hissy fit will be written-up for the local newspaper’s Fashion/Society page.
Raven
@gaz: I’m not in recovery, I stopped. Fuck all that “higher power” hoodoo.
I do, however, like the Wharf Rats
Some folks look for answers others look for fights,
Some folks up in treetops just a looking for their kites.
Whoa, I can tell your future just look what’s in your hand,
But I can’t stop for nothin’ I’m just playing in the band.
trollhattan
@PurpleGirl:
Their innumeracy extends to them thinking the onliest thing preventing the You Ess from being completely oil-independent is our lack of willingness to drill the shit out of our continent. It’s all there, ready for the taking, donchano, then Suburbans for Everybody!
gaz
@boss bitch: When Bernie Sanders farts on the senate floor, he does it with enough eloquence and passion to shame everyone else in the room.
Offered FWIW.
OTOH, Not really wanting to get in the middle of the arg between you and PeakVT, which I take no position on, (because I haven’t been following it closely) =)
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
Okay, so maybe I’m hopelessly behind the news cycle, but I just saw the Youtube video of that beating of a woman in Egypt (having encountered the link on Slate). Right-wing fundamentalism of any variety always leads to this kind of horse shit. Jesus-fucking Christ. Friggin’ animals.
Raven
Ying and Yang in Denver
Tebow 6
Ocho Cinco 6
Anoniminous
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
Possibly not, except I’m unclear on the Alaska Rules, at the moment. However I am sure Rules 1, 3, 5, and 7 will be rigorously enforced.
gaz
@Raven: Was kind of just putting it out there in case you were.
And I getcha on that too, pretty much feel that way myself after trying it out.
OTOH I’ve seen it help people I know – and I have no problem with people playing mind games with themselves if it helps unfuck their lives. In those cases the ends seem to justify the means. Offered FWIW.
Man I really need to make some “breakfast” (it’s afternoon!) . And maybe smoke some. =)
Raven
@gaz: Yea, I got no problem with whatever people choose. Paths are many. . .
RSA
Hey, why does that seal have a zipper? Oh, corded trim on the pillow…
PeakVT
@Downpuppy: I’m not saying that there aren’t people who are well aware of both, but that most advocates focus on one issue or the other because that’s the one that bugs them the most. I don’t care which motivates them as long as they are banging the “use less” drum.
If there’s a real bone of contention between the two groups it’s nukes, which the PO crowd tends to accept as part of the solution and the GW crowd mostly rejects. Falling prices for renewables may soon render the conflict moot, though.
CynDee
Baby seal for Congress!
birthmarker
@Amir Khalid: Ah hell, go mustard. You know you want to.
Omnes Omnibus
You know what might be cool? A Vaclav Havel Thread.
carpeduum
Professional Diaper Soiler Cole is the one that opened up the can of worms and now he is trying to put the lid back on…..lol.
So not only does he like to get outraged at Dems/Obama at the drop of a hat without properly informing himself but he is so spineless he backs right off at the first sign of a fight.
sherifffruitfly
@Omnes Omnibus:
I will see you, sir, in the super bowl.
dance around in your bones
Gawd, after chasing around after 3 grandkids all day, dealing with a plumber trying to fix the backed-up drains, and the fridge that incomprehensibly stopped keeping things cold and fielding the nasty mud-covered tennis balls the golden retriever keeps bringing into the house….
NOT gonna read any BJ fights over politics. A very large glass of wine is in my future; the Magic Eight Ball told me so.
Omnes Omnibus
@sherifffruitfly: You got tickets?
gaz
Anyone know any tricks to scramble some eggs without milk, and make it so they don’t end up smelling vaguely like wet dog when you’re done? (or alternatively being runny and nasty)… I’m fresh out of milk =(
Also too – Why did Cuisinart make a toaster that has a (Destroy) Bagel button. =(
Raven
@gaz: Make a frittata.
gaz
@Raven: My plan was to put some egg on a bagel (with ham, just to thumb my nose at the natural order of things), and some American cheese (bfast sandwich is the ONLY appropriate use of american cheese in my opinion)
and I decided to poach the eggs instead. Messy on the sandwich but that’s why god made napkins I suppose.
Yes I know, this is totally low rent food, well below the community standards of good taste here at BJ. Flame away! =)
birthmarker
@gaz: I think you can use a bit of water instead. I don’t add anything when I scramble, personally.
Raven
@gaz: Had an egg bagel for breakfast!
Cassidy
Don’t tell eemom.
gaz
@Raven: mmmm. yes they are so good, aren’t they? mmmm
Mjaum
Seals are only semi-edible, and clubbing them is better than using spiky halberd-like things, because they’re less likely to wake up again and try to make a waddle for it.
Whale is yummy. All sizes.
gaz
@birthmarker: thanks!
I’ll try that tomorrow.
I already made with teh poaching…
Ruckus
@gaz:
I’m with birthmarker here. You don’t need to add anything. I thought for a long time you did till I forgot one day and whata know – they were better! I do wisk a little longer with no added milk, that helps the eggs be lite and fluffy. (I assumed that you wanted fluffy eggs)
Raven
@Ruckus: fluffer
gaz
@Ruckus: Yeah. Fluffy.
But (and this is likely just me) – why do scrambled eggs smell (vaguely) like wet dog? (Unless I scramble them with milk, that is)… when I make them straight – they smell funny. Always. (To me at least).
Fluffy is important to me too, (esp for a sandwich, because I like to fold my scrambles – omlette style)
But the smell makes me want to retch. When I scramble with milk they don’t come out that way.
And when I try to cook them less (thinking maybe I just cook them too much) they are runny. Which also makes me want to retch.
Milk seems to fix this for me. Maybe I just have a fucked up olfactory sense. I really don’t know.
Hawes
Maybe Tebogg needs to lay off Tebow. His demonic internet ridicule machine only seems to make him stronger.
gaz
@Hawes: Which only leads to more ridicule…
How is this a bad thing?
It’s a perpetual comedy machine. =)
gaz
@Raven: heh.
JCT
@Raven: Hey, I have my very own Illini now — youngest was accepted and unless he is seduced away by UMich I think he’s going…
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@barath: If you go back to the Limits of Growth, there was one scenario where they could ramp down industrial civilization and keep a reasonably large population fed and housed after the resources got scarce. It involved not polluting ourselves to death.
Any combination of resource limits and pollution? Collapse.
See anyone beefing up the EPA, putting limits on poisoning aquifers from fracking, cutting carbon emissions, protecting the ocean from overfishing? No, neither did I.
Ruckus
@Raven:
You bastard. Now my sides hurt from laughing. But thanks for the endorsement.
Ben Cisco
@boss bitch: Most excellent, thank you for this.
Ruckus
@gaz:
Maybe it’s that your wet dog smells like eggs. Fix that and all will be well.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@gaz: Actually, 40-50 years ago (early 70s, anyway) was Peak US Oil. What we’re seeing now is Peak Worldwide Oil.
Bill Murray
@gaz:
I can remember Walter Cronkite talking about it on the nightly news in probably the early 70s
gaz
@Ruckus: Hehe.
If I tried to own a dog, my maine coon would eat it.
Ruckus
@gaz:
Not if the wet dog smelled like eggs.
gaz
@Ruckus: okay – that was funny . heh.
shit.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@RossInDetroit:
You still have a VCR? Gee, you’re old.
Bill Murray
@boss bitch: as long as you forget about the fairly unaccountable mercenaries left behind. Which is one of the big problems with outsourcing government functions. And you should probably give a big assist to the Iraqi government
gaz
@Bill Murray: Doesn’t surprise me, but I was speaking pretty generally. My point was that it maybe isn’t discussed so much anymore.
Schlemizel
@tomvox1:
No, nobody is making a big deal out of it because it is not a big deal. What did we accomplish?(nothing good that for sure) Is this the end now & everything is going to be peachy? (no) Are we safer now that when we started? (no)
Nobody want to celebrate a few less dead Americans against the backdrop of utter failure that is out invasion of Iraq.
gaz
@RossInDetroit: @Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: What’s this VCR of which you speak?
Is it like a floppy disk? or a seedee? or one of those heavy teevees I keep hearing about?
;)
Ruckus
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
I still have a beta player! And a VCR.
Comrade Mary
You don’t need milk for scrambled eggs, just butter, gentle heat, butter, salt AFTER COOKING, butter, patience, butter, take them off the heat when not quite done, butter, and Gordon Ramsay, you fucking dogs who couldn’t fucking well cook your way out of a fucking wet paper bag.
Chris
@PurpleGirl:
The most fundiegelical of them probably believe the Rapture will happen before then (remember one of Reagan’s cabinet members saying exactly that as a reason why we shouldn’t worry about deforestation). The more “rational” don’t care one way or another because by the time it’s a problem, they figure, they’ll all be dead.
If their conscience and their doubts really squeal at them, they mumble something about how if there ever really is a crisis, the Free Market and American Ingenuity will manufacture a solution and save us all. (For some reason FM and AI only work well under intense pressure, and cannot be troubled to come up with a solution to that now).
The above applies equally to peak oil, climate change and virtually all the other problems of the world that they don’t want to think about.
gaz
@Comrade Mary: Salt AFTER COOKING maybe that’s where I fuck up. =)
Guilty as charged, aside from steaks – which I watched a cooking show about once – and it changed my life =)
Schlemizel
@boss bitch:
I must have missed that discussion. I know some on the left feared we would not get out I don’t recall any $10,000 bets on the subject.
But the original statement is still true, Boy Blunder and his Super Friends picked this as the end date. Other than Grandpa Walnuts whining about giving up our advantage there has not been any push to stay.
Comrade Mary
@gaz: Steaks? Well, now you have to share your technique!
RossInDetroit
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason:
My wife still has tapes she likes to view. And yes, we still have the 160 lb TV we bought 10 years ago. Used 60 minutes or less a week, it will last forever.
RossInDetroit
Regarding sporting contests, I favor them in inverse proportion to the amount of officiating and instances of rules disputes. The most boring sports conversations revolve around blown calls. You think the law is boring? The law applied to sports is deadly boring. Not fun for anyone. And sports are supposed to be fun.
gaz
@Comrade Mary: First of all. I like tasting the meat. A-1 is a sin, in my book. A good steak stands alone.
Really, it’s quite simple. One thing that show mentioned (and this is probably the most important bit, I think) – use a gas grill – they can get super hot – and not put any char taste in the steak – I’ve never managed to pull this off on indoor equipment – not hot enough – ymmv. Put your grill on high and get it warmed up.
Take a bowl of melted butter – and marinade the steaks in just that. Depending on how long you want it done, you may need to repeat the process, because the butter will eventually solidify. This should only take 30mins or so (use good meat BTW, people – buy local if u can!)
Meanwhile – Take a mortar and pestle, and just smash up equal parts black pepper corn, and big chunky sea salt.
Don’t obliterate the mess, just smash it til the peppercorns are split, basically.
When you remove the steaks, pound them (even pressure, you don’t want flat meat – but tenderize it just the same)
redip the steak in the butter, and coat it liberally in the peppercorn/salt mix.
Toss them on the preheated grill and cook to taste (I think this works best if u like rareish meat – otherwise if you are not searing, the result will end up too salty)
What you’ll end up with is a steak that has a crispy, peppery, lovely layer on the outside, and a nice juicy flavorful meat on the inside – with no adulteration.
Again, this recipe is for people that like their beef “straight up”
Simple as hell, but if you are not naturally gifted it may take a couple of times to get perfect. Once you do, it’s easy to repeat.
Comrade Mary
Oh. OH. OH!
Duly noted.
We’re having roast tonight instead of steak, but I must try out that technique. Thanks!
gaz
@Comrade Mary: Also, too thanks for that youtube link. I’m gonna try making my eggs that way.
tofubo
no defense bill was harmed in this post
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/12/18/391576/gingrich-marshal-judges/
gaz
@Comrade Mary: You probably know better, for any of the non cooks on the forum, never EVER substitute table salt for the chunky sea salt – trust me.
(That’s all I’m gonna say about that)
gogol's wife
@boss bitch:
You are absolutely right, and I admire the fact that you still have energy to keep saying it. I’ve given up.
Joel
What a strange Patriots-Broncos game.
These Broncos have a lot of Detroit in them (good and bad).
srv
@gaz: It was separate from your comments above, a meme that is apparently coming back from the mainstream abut occupy vs boomers – I do have to say I assumed you were much older due to your handle being similar to an older regular here on BJ.
gaz
@srv: Ahh…
I was unaware of that meme.
I generally don’t like the generational labels (kinda facile).. but I’ve been guilty of thinking unkind thoughts about the “baby boomers” selling out their children and grandchildren, more than once. Certainly unfair of me, and arguably only in my less than charitable moments.
I’m not that old, I’m only just old enough to start realizing how getting old sucks (through direct experience)
Parts of me are just now beginning to break down here and there. Meh. And I can’t do the things I once could. I’m not quite old enough to accept it yet – but that doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and buy a corvette and a blonde trophy. I’m not there yet =P
(Actually I’d never own a corvette. Those cars scream old-codger to me – I’ve rarely seen anyone under 50 drive one – if I buy a mid-life motor, it’ll be something that gets me laid)
=P
MacKenna
@JPL: I wouldn’t be so sure. Apparently seals have sharp teeth and aren’t afraid to use them. Tunch would probably form a posse with said seal to control the residents of John Cole’s house.
Ruckus
@gaz:
I rub steaks or fish with organic sesame oil(not the toasted) then season to taste, salt and pepper, and grill. They sear up just fine, cook without charring.
Started this with fish to keep it from sticking on the grill. Works great as well as adding a nice touch to the flavor.
gaz
@Ruckus: Interesting technique.
I’ve never had a problem with grill stickage. I’ve been cleaning it the way some mexicans taught me way back when.
Cut an onion in half, take the flat part of the half, and cut into it over and over to rough it up.
Jam a fork in the opposite end, and use it to scrub down the grill.
Finish by doing the same thing with a lime.
I do that before I begin, and again when I’m done.
Never had and significant sticking issues since I’ve done that. For whatever reason, keeps the grill from getting nasty and sticky, and my friends claim it adds flavor (probably does, but I’ve not noticed overall)…
Fish oil seems it could work. And the sesame oil sounds divine. I’ll have to try that sometime.
Ruckus
@gaz:
Only had the fish sticking to the grill but liked the effect so that I tried it on steaks and chops.
gaz
@Ruckus: I see. At any rate, it gives me some viable usage for that fish oil I have sitting around (seriously)
So I’ll have to try this.
Comrade Mary
Whoa — gaz, don’t use fish oil on high heat! Ruckus is using sesame oil on fish, not fish oil on fish.
If you have some expensive bottled fish oil (bought for the Omega-3’s, I guess), you break down those compounds at high heat. It may also not taste very good at all.
If you want a fish oil that doesn’t taste like fish at al, there’s Carlson’s Lemon flavoured oil. I’m highly sensitive to fishy tastes in unexpected places, but I can’t taste any fish at all in this stuff.
Downpuppy
@PeakVT: With nukes, I know some physicists. Most of them were very much “Don’t be hysterical”
Before Fukushima.
Now,even the physicists are skeptical.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ruckus: Wow, that’s fantastic. I adore the sound of Finnish a cappella groups. Thanks for the link.
ellie
That seal! It is so cute!
tomvox1
@Schlemizel:
No shit. I wasn’t asking for a victory dance. Just an acknowledgment of a(nother) promise kept is all. And if the media would do a modicum of its fucking job, maybe we could have a moment of reflection on some of the points you raise rather than sweeping it under the collective national psychological rug. Ya dig?
Annamal
Hey that seal is a countryman(er seal), he crawled into someone’s house through a cat-door and briefly became a national celebrity (NZ doesn’t have a lot of news normally).
Furseals of about that age leave their parents and show up all over the place provoking panicked calls to the conservation department because people think they’ve been abandoned by their parents.
I used to hang out with this little guy on the waterfront in Wellington
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5498208/Seal-soaking-up-the-sun-in-Wellington
He was equally adorable but stunk to high heaven.
Ruckus
@SiubhanDuinne:
I had no idea that I liked this type of music. But I clicked on the video and wow. Had to share that. Maybe it’s just that they are so good. Try some of their other stuff on YouTube.
dance around in your bones
jeez, i never watch Morning Joe, but woke up this AM, already made my coffee, don’t want it to go to waste and thought it was later than it was (4am here) and watching Joey Scar now …what bunch of crud that show is.
Maybe back to bed for a while. Also Kim Jong Il is dayd; too bad, so sad. Heh.
My sleep patterns are all screwed up, because my husband just died and I am all ….well, all screwed up. Damn.
Xanthippas
So during the Bush era every liberal blogger is an expert on the Patriot Act and national security law, and every encroachment of civil liberties by the Bush admin is evidence that the sky is falling. Now that Obama’s doing it it’s “Language matters!”
F this. I”ll check back here in a few years.