More Olympics coverage tonight. I’m watching that and playing Star Wars: The Old Republic as well. Tomorrow we’re supposed to get a cooling front, and it will only be 102 degrees, so I’ll mow the lawn.
Not a lot going on right now. The OKC VA Medical Center is putting a roof over the east patient parking lot so that the patients’ cars will no longer reach the 140’s and above, which will be very good for them. Even better is the solar photovoltaic array that will be placed on top of it to generate a significant amount of electricity for the hospital. Pretty cool. At the link, you’ll find that we are one of five pilot plants in VA. If it goes well, then they intend to spread it out. They’ve already decided that the west patient lot, and the new patient parking structure will also get solar roofs.
And dog pictures. We’ve pretty much shaved her down. It’s awful hard on our little one when she’s got a fur coat in 112 degree heat. She now perches on the back of the couch or the back of the side chair so she gets as high up in the room as she can.
raven
Thought you had fires?
lamh35
Man, I’ve been trying to watch the Track & Field events all day, but my computer at work does not have streaming capabilities. My fav from USA, Justin Gatlin & Tyson Gay. Let’s go USA!!!
Justin Gatlin & Tyson Gay
So yeah, I missed the women’s 100M so don’t spoil it damnit…lol
raven
@lamh35: Aw man, it’s been great but I’m having a hard time figuring out what is on when. The men’s 10,000 is great.
lamh35
Anyone else just SMDH when you see that Westley Clark is gonna be apart of that stupid “Stars Earn Stripes” show that NBC will premiere after the Olympics.
I hope Gen Clark is making out like gangbusters in term of payday for this show.
raven
@lamh35: They’ve been running that promo quite a bit. “LIVE AMMO”!
Violet
Usain Bolt is about to run. Okay, he ran now. He’s so much fun to watch. I was in Jamaica after the 2008 Olympics. Billboards everywhere with his face on them and the airport gift shops were filled with Bolt t-shirts, mugs and so forth. He looks like he’s lost a bit of the cockiness that he had last time. I hope he does well.
Violet
@lamh35: Is that the one Todd Palin is in? He looks utterly ridiculous.
raven
@Violet: And there was the great Illini and Jamaican runner:
Gwangung
@Violet:
That made me LAUGH.
raven
Pistorious up! YES!
Anya
I am not a super twitter fan but this is a fun read: Mitt Romney’s Twitter Nemesis
lamh35
So what does everyone think about Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee running in 400M for South Africa!
Personally I think it’s inspiring.
Litlebritdifrnt
Cueball is sick, he has everything, the shits, vomiting, not eating, dehydration, the whole deal. I cooked him some chicken and rice this evening hoping that I could get him to eat something to calm his stomach, no luck so far. He won’t even eat his regular canned food over his chicken and rice. DH will have to take him to our vet on Monday, he cannot continue to lose weight the way he is right now, he is just a bag of bones. He is an old boxer, particularly old for his weight, but damn I do not want to lose him.
raven
@Litlebritdifrnt: Aw, do your best and don’t be hard on yourself.
Litlebritdifrnt
@lamh35:
I am kind of torn about it, on the one hand it is inspiring that a double amputee is actually running in the main stream Olympics and not the para Olympics, on the other hand I wonder how much of an advantage he has over his rivals considering his fake legs weigh so much less than human lower legs. DH pointed out that the stress on the connection between his fake legs and his real legs would more than likely make up for the difference and that is why the Olympic committee approved him to run. But what do I know? (DH is a runner, I am not)
Litlebritdifrnt
@raven:
Thanks. So soon after losing Judy would be a blow. I am holding out for the fact that Cueball is a beast, and will come back from this thing. However, I am well aware that a 9 year old 90lb dog is a lot older than an 11 year old 60lb dog.
raven
@Litlebritdifrnt: It’s just so unpredictable.
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
%$#@%+* Hippies!! Burn coal like God intended!!!1!
Soonergrunt
@raven: All the fires have been well south and south west of here. We’ve gotten the smoke, though.
Ohio Mom
Re: solar canopy over the parking lot. The Cincinnati Zoo did the same thing a few years ago. Seems to be working out.
raven
@Soonergrunt: Well, that’s good I guess.
Litlebritdifrnt
Did you guys see the tweet from someone today to a link of a “Christian School” “Science” text book which basically said that no one knows where electricity comes from… really a text book that is being taught in Christian schools says that electricity might come from the sun, or is just “out there” in the atmosphere and no one knows where it comes from. It was unfuckingbelievable.
Violet
@Litlebritdifrnt: Yeah I saw that. Unbelievable. No wonder we suck at science if that’s what’s being taught.
Sorry about Cueball. Hope he gets better soon.
raven
This dog pic is going around on facebook
Warning, tear jerker.
David Koch
What a pretty Soonerdog.
lamh35
Oh and I see that Serena Williams totally opened a can of Whip Ass on Sharpova. Sharapova never had a chance.
Serena Williams kicking Sharpova’s ass!!
Hal
So I’m driving home yesterday, approaching the freeway around 11:15pm when I come across my first DWI check stop ever. I was asked where I was coming from, I pointed to my work badge and that was it. But, can someone please explain to me how this bullshit is even remotely constitutional? What business is it of the Officers where I was, and if I was drinking, what justification would you even have to question me or pull me over without any suspicious behavior?
BTW, of course I’m not defending DWI etc etc…
Hobbes
Soonergrunt, I’ve been thinking about giving SW:TOR another go, which server are you on?
raven
@Hal: Here you go.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven: Saw that on FB earlier. Just a lovely photo and story.
lamh35
Jeez. #NBCFail. I am really trying my best to wait for the Women’s 100M final, but NBC is milking it for all it’s worth.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: And the pup looks like my Ralph and Henry.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Hal:
But you don’t have to worry if you have not done anything wrong, but you don’t have to worry if you have an ID, but you don’t have to worry if you have not committed a crime, but you don’t have to worry if you are in your house minding your own business and the cops charge in to the wrong house serving a warrant on the wrong address. And so on and so on, you don’t have to worry unless it is you who has to worry.
Amanda in the South Bay
Bleh, I’m stressed out about not being able to find a job, and the associated money issues. That’s good about installing the solar panels-they installed them last year in my school’s parking lot, and they also provide a bit of shade.
Southern Beale
Saw this over at Regretsy, which is a must-read for anyone doing some garden blogging this weekend. I thought it was hilarious. The money quote:
LOL
Soonergrunt
@Hobbes: Corellian Run
Yutsano
PUPPEH!!
Got my soul soothed after a long Dawg talk. Now dinner. Which will most likely be leftovers.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Amanda in the South Bay:
I am stressed about the fact that our law office is going to run out of money in about two months. Business is so bad that we cant even cover our operating costs. There are so many attorneys practicing in this area that the fees are being cut to break even levels.
folsom ca
since an open thread. could someone please tell me how to comment without being put into a five minute time out. Do I refresh, do I have to join a club, I am not that savvy. I do live in No Cal, and my son lives in So Cal, I would appreciate any help.
lamh35
@lamh35: Wow! So Ryan Lochte poses with his “USA Flag” grill after winning his Gold (he even wanted to wear it on the damn podium) and the announcers and sports people just thought that was soo cute.
But Serena Williams does a little 20sec dance (yeah it was the “crip walk” but who the hell really knew that) and all of a sudden ….scandal!!!
Hmm wonder what makes Serena’s lil celebration different?
http://msn.foxsports.com/olympics/tennis/story/serena-williams-taints-golden-slam-with-crip-walk-dance-080412
pseudonymous in nc
Given what happened with the women, I’m guessing that NBC is again going to be broadcasting when the men’s 100m final takes place, but won’t show it till primetime. Let’s call it a pre-fail.
folsom ca
@Yutsano: please tell me how to respond to folks.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven: Ralph and Henry were beautiful dogs, then.
Socratic_me
How are they dealing with the inevitable hail storms on those panels? D they even have materials that can stand a chance or is their some sort of protective covering?
SiubhanDuinne
@Southern Beale: That is a very funny story. I do hope it’s true!
MikeJ
@lamh35:
As somebody who spent time in Little Rock hacking perl on the campaign, yes.
SiubhanDuinne
@folsom ca:
@folsom ca:
I’m not Yutsy, but a couple of things:
1. If you’re a new commenter, or even if you’ve been around a while but have a new handle, your post will go into moderation until someone with a key checks legitimacy and let’s you out.
2. In the lower right hand corner of each comment is a little curvy arrow, and/or the word “Reply.” just click on that and you will immediately be sent to the “Leave a Reply” box (complete with link to the person youre replying to) where you can write, but often not edit FYWP, to your heart’s content.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
FY autocorrect, that should be “lets,” not “let’s.”
WaterGirl
@folsom ca: Is that meant to be a joke? In your “reply’ to a comment by Yutsano you ask how to ‘reply’?
murakami
Odd video of the day: Lie back and think of Singapore…
So I’m voting in the Republican KS Primary on Tuesday. Registered as a Republican so I could vote for Ron Paul in March to do my small part in muddling the final results and haven’t bothered to change back yet. Besides, the Republican Primary is probably the only way I’ll get any sort of voice in this very red place where I live.
I wasn’t going to show up but I started getting very expensively printed brochures and fliers supporting this particularly obnoxious State Senator Forrest Knox. Looked at the fine print and saw “Americans for Prosperity” were paying for it.
So this super-evil superpac is extending its tentacles to support some brain-dead teabagger in a race in the middle of fucking nowhere. I guess they were thrilled he voted for the now-law in Kansas which essentially eliminates taxes on the rich and every business and will lead to monstrous state deficits in a few years.
Many of my neighbors have large Forrest Knox signs in their front yards. I really want to go door to door and tell them the upcoming budget deficits will probably lead to the closure of the local school which covers preschool through 12th grade. It’s probably the only thing holding this town together. As the state deficit mounts up, tiny schools like this one will be the first on the chopping block. And that’s going to kill this town. It’s not like there’s any sort of culture or jobs here. The biggest appeal to keeping people under 50 around is the notion that your kids can live in a safe place and walk 2 blocks to school. When the kids start getting bussed 20 miles away, there’s no reason to stay in this dead end town.
Knox’s opponent is also a state senator and has to fight for his job since the state redistricted this year. Knox’s opponent is an evil man who is firmly anti-choice, anti-contraception, anti-immigrant, anti-science, etc., but he did make one correct choice. He voted against the tax bill and did so vehemently. “Moderate” Republicans, like him, tried to stop the state from voluntarily driving off of the cliff, even allying with the few Democrats to do so.
So I’m voting for this asshole, who’s anti- almost everything I care about, just for the slim hope at fiscal sanity in the future and to save this town. Talk about the lesser of two evils… Going to feel quite dirty afterwards.
Sorry for the rant. Just get so bloody angry every time I see the Knox signs in the yards of people I know, and they should know better because they’re not stupid or evil people.
kdaug
Supposed to go to a party in about an hour.
Inclined/Disinclined? Can’t tell until you look. But it’s o
ne of those “Really should go” things. Ugh.
Will be wearing my FEED shirt, though.
cckids
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I heard (on NPR) that the Olympic committee did some type of scientific analysis of the motion & effort of running with the prosthesis compared to running on normal legs before they approved letting him into the Olympics.
The tests showed that he had (if I’m remembering right), better “recovery” time between strides; ie, he can take faster steps. Probably because of the weight, or the springiness involved in the legs. Balancing that, he can’t strike the ground as hard as a “normal” leg, which gives him less power. They decided it wasn’t an unfair advantage.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@WaterGirl: I think the edit countdown is confusing him.
@folsom ca: You’re not in a time out. You have a limited amount of time to edit your post after posting it, which is what the timer is counting down.
lamh35
Wait, so NBC gonna show the same damn semi-finals they already showed. Ugh! #NBCFail
WaterGirl
@lamh35: I don’t know what SMDH is, so i googled. There’s an entry for SMD (suck my male-appendage) and SMH (shaking my head) but no entry for SMDH.
I used to like Wesley Clark, but I thought he completely sold out when he endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2008 rather than Barack Obama. His supporting Clinton made absolutely no sense when you consider his position on the Iraq war as compared to Clinton and Obama positions on the war.
Hobbes
@Soonergrunt: Thanks, I’ve started a Sith Inquisator.
WaterGirl
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: You are so right! Clever of you to catch that.
lamh35
@WaterGirl: Shake My DAMN Head…lol
lamh35
Is it sad that I never saw the first Expendables movie and yet I’m so tempted to go see the sequel, all ’cause of Jean Claude Van Damme????
It’s kinda sad right?
WaterGirl
@murakami: That was a fine rant.
Is it too late for you to get a letter to the editor published in the newspaper before Tuesday?
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl: LOL I must be +too many, I never even noticed that when I was trying to help him/her!
WaterGirl
@lamh35: Every reply I can think of would put me in moderation, so I guess I will just say thank you for the clarification.
lamh35
Is it sad, that I’m sitting on my sofa watching the Track & Field heats and I’m bobbing my head like I’m the one running down the damn lane…lol. Go USA and Carmelita!!
MikeJ
@WaterGirl:
Supporting Clinton made perfect sense when you knew he lives in Little Rock and is tied into the Clinton machine. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, he’s just in that crowd. I would have been shocked had he not endorsed her.
murakami
@WaterGirl:
Thanks for the kind words but it’s probably too late and, considering the attitudes of the local Republicans, it would be completely ignored. Any tax cut is a good thing, right? Jobs will flow into Kansas like manna from heaven now that anyone with an LLC or a corporation no longer has to pay any taxes at all. Kansas would have to show 50 fucking percent job growth, starting immediately, in order to avoid multi-billion dollar deficits.
But, that’s not going to be a problem. Tax cuts always attract the job creators, like honey + flies or whatever.
WaterGirl
@MikeJ: Yeah, I knew they both came from Little Rock, but this is a presidential election and I think folks with influence should do what’s right rather than hang with their crowd. I felt like he sold out to cronyism.
Edit:
@murakami: Well that’s discouraging!
raven
@efgoldman: Well here ya go, the wiki history will give you all the people so you can contact them individually.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Can you ever be +too many if you are at home sitting on the couch, where you can’t hurt anyone? :-)
lamh35
Alright, I’ma seriously need to get me a pair of those neon NIKES that the USA Track & Field athletes are wearing. Maybe they will motivate me…naw nevermind. I do like ’em though…lol
USA Team Track and Field Neon NIKES
Let’s go Sanya Richards-Ross!
scav
@murakami: You don’t mean to tell me that building runways doesn’t attract loaded cargo planes, now, do you?!
Yutsano
Loughner to plead guilty. IIRC that means he still can’t mount a diminished capacity defence, except at sentencing.
MikeJ
@WaterGirl:
There’s a thin line between cronyism and supporting your friends. I tend to think the best of him. Others might not have any reason to.
I’m also more sympathetic to Hilary, who I agree fucked up on Iraq, and felt boxed in on defending it. It’s easy for activists to talk about doing the right thing and not always easy for the pros to actually do it.
Southern Beale
So, Tennessee’s Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate is a right-wing nutjob who’s a member of an anti-gay hate group. State Democratic Party has disavowed him.
We suck.
hamletta
Any of y’all smokers? Because I took to plunge and bought an e-cig kit, and I’ve gone from a pack a day to 5–7 cigs per day.
Of course, I managed to piss off a lot of people in the e-cigarette forum, because, like all enthusiast communities, there are people there who take things a bit too seriously.
I knew straight nicotine replacement methods, like gum or stinkin’ patches (yes, I read the film noir thread today) wouldn’t do it for me because I really like to smoke, and the thought of quitting made me sad, even though I knew I really needed to do it.
I LOVE the solar canopy over the parking lot idea! My parish owns the parking lot next door, and we’ve just bought a second, to be financed by the first. It’s one of those ideas that are so brilliant, you say, “Well, duh!” when someone tells you about it.
raven
Here are links to vote for my pups in the Athens Area Humane Society Photo Contest. It costs a buck a vote so don’t worry about doing it.
Bohdi
Lil Bit
WaterGirl
@MikeJ: You are clearly more forgiving than I am!
lamh35
Man, I need a butt like these women track stars.. Shit! I need to get on it my workouts…lol.
WaterGirl
@raven: What?!?! You didn’t use the cute one of lil Bit with her tongue out – that was so cute. Definitely would have been a winner! (Not that this one isn’t cute, but that one was a stunner!)
Love the one you chose of Bhodi.
raven
@WaterGirl: That picture is kind of weird. This contest is a set-up anyway. Some woofer has $500 already. I paid my $20 to register and am just enjoying it.
raven
USA USA How bout that Allison ! Go Dawg!
WaterGirl
@raven: I thought the photo was awesome, but to each their own, I guess. Sounds like you’re pretty good at not sweating the small stuff.
raven
@WaterGirl: She doesn’t take a bad picture except the 50% where you can’t see her face. The new camera has really helped with that.
Okie peacenik
I live directly across from the OKC VA parking lot and the Catholic Church that owns a nearby lot, so this post and thread is kinda like old home week. Small world.
WaterGirl
@raven: Ha ha. when I read “doesn’t take a bad picture except for the 50% where you can’t see her face, I was assuming it was because she moved so fast that you caught her from behind. So then I thought “how can the new camera help with that?”
Then I realized what you must have meant. Black animals can be really difficult to photograph, and for me it’s hard to distinguish their sweet faces in particular. The best photos of my black kitty, for instance, are one with his sister in the picture for contrast. That seems to help.
I used to take photos of my black dog, AC, with his brown cocker sister for the same reason. My new iPhone (4s) really helps with that issue, maybe because of the flash?
Gwangung
@lamh35: Was watching the heptatheles. They were RIPPED.
muddy
I thought that Raven meant that the new camera was faster? Mine is old and always finally goes off after the moment has passed. Lots of dog ass pics, or at least looking the wrong way.
Some years ago I had 2 dogs, one was all black and one all white. It was terrible to try and get that lighting right. Regardless how you set thge flash, one would show and the other wouldn’t. Sunlight worked well.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mudpix/7714405020/in/photostream
redshirt
@hamletta: Hi! Yes. I’ve quit so many damn times over the past 20 years it’s crazy – crazy that I have to keep quitting, you dig? Of course you do.
So after my latest failure I bought an e-joye electronic cigarette and 30 different varieties of flavors and I am LOVING it. I haven’t had a cigarette in over 31 days and I’m totally at ease. I’ve quit in the past and been frantic/depressed for the entire time so I started back up. Not this time – I’ve forgotten I used to smoke. It’s wonderful.
Ask me anything about e-cigarettes. At this point I feel like an expert cuz I’ve been rocking them and enjoying it to the max. I chill out in my server room after lunch, nice and cool, and play 3 dozen hands of video poker on my BBerry while dragging off the e-cig. It’s decadent.
In sum, I believe the e-cigs will allow me to finally quit cigarettes for good. And so, I HIGHLY recommend them to any smoker looking to quit. For e-cigs supply both nicotine and the fulfillment of habit that is so key to smoking addiction.
redshirt
Halp! I iz in moderation for unknown reason!
WaterGirl
@muddy: This is one of my favorite quotes:
“The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
– George Bernard Shaw
muddy
@WaterGirl: I could see how it would go either way, and was just curious. My phone is being an asshole right now, it’s old, takes forever to go off even with fresh batteries, it doesn’t like to switch from taking pics to the display, and every single time you turn it on it wants you to put in the date, but if you do it instantly forgets it.
I have a birthday coming up near the end of the month, I have been making it my business to grouse about the phone in front of family who might be wondering what to get me. I’m thoughtful that way.
hamletta
@Southern Beale: Don’t blame me, I voted for Park Overall!
She was the only name I recognized, and I think she’s really cool. I remember seeing her on Tom Snyder, and she’s a bad-ass redneck activist.
WaterGirl
@muddy: Now I’m curious, too.
As for the phone and your birthday, that’s very
deviousthoughtful of you. ;-)I love the photo quality & flash & zoom, and I use the video on my iPhone all the time. I don’t use Siri as much as I could, but she’s a really nice companion on a walk. “call tina cell”. “play jimmy buffett”. etc.
Mnemosyne
Poor Charlotte had a tough day. Not only did we chase her around the apartment to cram her into her carrier so she could take her first trip to the vet since she was a kitten (she’s 3 years old now), but as I was carrying her out the door, the carrier popped open and dumped her onto the floor.
Fortunately, my panicked shrieks got her to dart into the apartment instead of out the front door and we were able to get her rounded up and squeezed into another carrier in time for her appointment. But, for obvious reasons, she was all freaked out until the appointment was over and I brought her home to give her freeze-dried cod treats.
BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: Black dog & a brown cocker, sounds like my girls. One’s a black Yorkie/Pom mix and of course the buff cocker, with freckles.
Anne Laurie
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Getting him to drink is probably the most important thing, right now. Low-sodium chicken broth in his water bowl might encourage him, or depending on his tastes, some dogs actually love the flat ginger ale our moms used to feed us when we were sick little kids. Of course now there’s Pedialyte for that, but I don’t know whether any of its ingrediaents might be bad for dogs…
I’ll be holding you both in my thoughts, and hoping for better news after Monday.
Anne Laurie
Soonergrunt:
Some dogs appreciate being able to lie on one (or more) of those blue-gel freezer packs, wrapped in a damp towel. Pet stores sell fancy ‘cooler bed inserts’ but those are basically just expensive versions of the lunch-box koolpaks.
If she needs to be outside, a wet bandanna wrapped around her neck or a toddler t-shirt soaked in cool water will help cool her down. Although if she’s as fastidious as our little lap-monsters, the indignity may heat her up more than the evaporation cools her off!
Also, since dogs sweat thru their feet, some dogs like to have access to a cheapo baby wading pool with a couple inches of water in it. If there’s room for one in your kitchen, or in a tiled entryway or whatever, she can go stand in the pool to cool off when she’s alone in the house. Assuming, of cours, she’s not too much of a princess for that!
Soonergrunt
@Anne Laurie: This dog is way too much of a princess to ever get her feet wet voluntarily. But I’ll try the wet bandanna and we’ll see what happens. Thanks!
Old Dan and Little Ann
I’ll try one more time.