The hashtag for this weekend’s NH GOP presidential forum is #FITN, which sounds a bit like HP Lovecraft sneezing.
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) April 17, 2015
Don’t worry, debate fans — the Democrats will be out on stage, per Bloomberg Politics:
… Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, who doubles as chair of the Democratic National Committee, is so convinced that there will be a contested primary for the presidential nomination that she has has begun planning for “a series of sanctioned debates that we expect our presidential candidates will participate in,” she told C-SPAN’s Newsmakers program on Friday. Referring to Bloomberg’s poll showing that Democrats want a challenge to Clinton, Wasserman Schultz said, “I expect that voters who believe we should have a Democratic primary will get their wish.”…
And then, the kicker:
Interviewed from New Hampshire, where she was observing and offering tart commentary on a two-day conference featuring GOP presidential hopefuls (“a clown car,” is how Wasserman Schultz described the gathering), the congresswoman was especially critical of her fellow Floridian, Jeb Bush. Noting that she had served in her state’s legislature for six of the eight years of Bush’s presidency, Wasserman Schultz called him “inflexible” and “unreasonable.”
“He had absolutely no interest in working with anyone who didn’t share his opinion,” she said of Bush, who is having difficulty convincing some conservatives in his own party that he’s rigidly ideological enough.
In case anyone had trouble identifying the Permanent Repub Establishment candidate until now.
***********
Apart from the white-collar version of the WWE, what’s on the agenda for the start of the weekend?
Baud
What is the sound of one debater clapping?
HinTN
White collar WWE; there’s nothing else to say.
germy shoemangler
This newyorker cartoon reminded me of Balloon-Juice:
http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/Everyone-here-is-bonding-over-pictures-of-their-dogs-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i13368586_.htm
NotMax
Dictionaries need to add a definition for “debate.”
To wit, “formulaic political pukefest.”
Mike in NC
I don’t think even H. P. Lovecraft could have dreamed up a creature as evil as Ted Cruz. A regular Cuban-Canadian Cthulhu!
Steeplejack
DVR Alert!
Season 3 of Orphan Black starts at 9:00 p.m. EDT Saturday on BBC America. As a lead-in to that, IFC is running a marathon of all 20 episodes of the first two seasons, starting at midnight tonight. Nice time to catch up if you’ve got room on the DVR or an urge for some serious binge-watching.
germy shoemangler
Continuing on the dog theme, this link explores the various objects dogs have ingested:
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/x_rays_of_all_the_weird_stuff_dogs_eat
we don’t have a dog, we have a cat. And we have to constantly be on the lookout for anything she might swallow, like rubber bands and string and other things.
It’s like having a toddler, except she poops in a box.
germy shoemangler
@Steeplejack: Watch the Orphan Black cast try to sum up their show in 30 seconds:
http://boingboing.net/2015/04/17/watch-the-orphan-black-cast-tr.html
Steeplejack
Bit of a howler there.
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack:
There’s so many Bushes, it can be hard to keep track.
Betty Cracker
@germy shoemangler: You have a cat and no dog? Well, there goes my theory about your Internet handle. (I pictured a resident sandal-eating German shepherd.)
germy shoemangler
@Betty Cracker: There was a dog in my past who inspired my handle.
Our current girl is of the feline persuasion.
I think I hear her now.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
On a related note, through a rare combination of focused inquiry and the almost accidental discovery of some useful information on the Internet, I was able to resolve the longstanding problem with my DVR. I was able to confirm that the external drive I added to it in 2010 was dead and that I would not be able to revive it or retrieve a large number of programs. Oh, well, five years working 24/7 is a pretty good run.
I picked up a 1TB Western Digital drive at Micro Center last night and installed it today. Went without a hitch, and now the DVR storage space is 340 percent bigger. I have 79 shows on the DVR, only a few in HD. Total of 72.5 hours. They were taking up 97 percent of the old space, now taking up only 22 percent of the new space. Total storage should be back up to somewhere over 300 hours, depending on the mix of HD and regular programs. I’m looking forward to packing shows on there so I can get back to my usual routine of having to erase something to record something new—and never watching a lot of the saved stuff. That’s how a digital hoarder rolls.
I also bought a 128GB USB stick that was on sale. That is big enough to back up my entire notebook hard drive, and I’m also going to see if I can make a bootable copy of the drive. Haven’t done that before.
lamh36
So I got off early from work today and I’m off Monday so that’s a 3 day weekend. I left work today like this: https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/589141215691452417
I’m just gonna relax, stay home and catch up on some sleep the next 3 days.
Anyhoo…right now I’m checking my twitter machine. Came across this question from a blog I follow:
For my money, it’ can’t be worse than the Ryan Reynolds film. My short list to play John Stewart as Green Latern: Nate Parker, Trai Byers, and Billy Brown.
Pics at this link: https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/589189234243854336
germy shoemangler
@lamh36: Billy Brown would be a great John Stewart. Your short list is pretty good, actually.
Mike E
@Steeplejack: I’m doing minimal time shifting recording b’cast dtv on my laptop with an antenna and a USB tuner…just caught the latest Wolf Hall and America Masters: God’s Fiddler.
SiubhanDuinne
ruemara
It was a helacious week (pro tip: social media managers who do not set fucking facebook on fire are all saints) and I will be settling into the local university’s open house picnic day with a friend coming up from the bay. I feel quite bad for her. Every time we meet up, I drag her to parades or various places that we end up walking all damned day and she’s on her feet for 10 hours.
to make up for not having as much working out this week and for the fact that i’ll be working on a location shoot (pilot, nothing major) I’m debating going off for a little zumba and some weightlifting to bank some fitness. But sitting on my butt and resting before picking her up from the train station sounds really good too.
Gin & Tonic
@germy shoemangler: It’s like having a toddler
No, it isn’t.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mike in NC:
Cthuban-Cthanadian?
lamh36
Alright, here is the official non-pirated version of the Superman vs Batman trailer from the director Zack Synder
https://twitter.com/ZackSnyder/status/589197792662278144
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
Nice.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
First paragraph was supposed to be blockquoted. I thought I hit all the right buttons, but I guess I didn’t. FYWP.
jake the antisoshul soshulist
@Mike in NC:
The Republican Primary: Finally an election where Cthulhu is the lesser (least) evil.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne: Always reminds me of this.
NotMax
@lamh36
Denny Dillon (or Tina Fey) as G’nort. No reason G’nort can’t be played by a female – what with being an alien Green Lantern, it would work.
Abe Vigoda, Ed Asner and Linda Hunt as Guardians.
SiubhanDuinne
So tomorrow morning (late morning, if I know me, and I think I do) I’m heading down to Plains/Americus, GA for a couple of days. Will be attending and observing, if not actively participating in, the Jimmy Carter Golden Peanut Auction to support his home town of Plains (it’s actually a very sweet little town).
(Did I already post about this a couple of weeks ago? If I’m getting repetitive, sorry.)
I’ll be with a dozen or so Canadians, all of whom know, admire, and like President Carter (as do I, it goes without saying). For me, it’s a two-hour road trip. For them, it’s an international flight involving passports. Anyhow, should be fun.
I’m even going to church Sunday morning (gasp! Yes!!) because it’s one of the weeks that Jimmy gives the Sunday School Lesson at Maranatha Baptist Church. It takes a lot to haul me into a house of worship for anything other than a wedding or funeral, but a much-admired former President will do the trick.
jl
i like that after Christie yelled about means testing for Social Security, Jeb! thought real hard about it, and decided to propose increasing the retirement age.
Jeb is proposing a cut that most people will correctly perceive as a cut and cannot be hid under the tiny fig leaf of calling it a ‘reform’, and will be far more unpopular than what Christie proposed. Now Jeb! wants mandatory Medicare advance directives, which means his people already know that the Schiavo mess will be hard to explain, if (ha ha, when!) it is brought up. And HRC will surely point out that Jeb! is proposing something more stringent and potentially intrusive than the ACA ever did.
So, I like how the GOPers’ individual platforms are shaping up.
Now, all we need is Trump! And Newt!
If I decide to get drunk enough, the first couple of GOP debates might be fun to watch.
germy shoemangler
@Gin & Tonic: Well, when our sons were toddlers we constantly worried they would swallow something. I remember having to fish a lego out of my son’s mouth. Now they and us are old enough for THEM to worry about US choking on something.
The cat would eat a rubber band if I left one on my desk. I don’t know why.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
Don’t be so modest.
SiubhanDuinne
@Gin & Tonic:
Yes, I was remembering that! Laughed myself sick over that headline, I did.
Tenar Darell
@efgoldman: So, search committees now mean you’re a manager I guess. Huh. As retail employees go, so goes everyone else. They were doing this starting around 10 years ago in retail.
Iowa Old Lady
@efgoldman: These people are so damn ignorant. All tenure and tenure faculty participate in governance. That’s how universities work. You vote on tenure for less senior colleagues. You decide which grad student to admit. You serve on committees such as the Institutional Review Board for Human Subject Research. Faculty are the only people qualified to make these decisions.
srv
Freedom:
Vets do it too (warning, graphic):
mzinformation
I don’t like DWS and wish the Dems had someone with some class to speak for them. I think she’s strident and it ticks me off.
Steeplejack
@Gin & Tonic:
I LOL every time I think of that. An epic burn.
germy shoemangler
@lamh36: Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Charlie Rose, Alfred the Butler, Lex Luthor voice overs.
Steeplejack
@lamh36:
Thanks for the good version of the trailer. It looks a little ponderous to me.
My question—and I’ve had it ever since I was a kid 50 years ago—is how does Superman, with all his powers, not kick Batman’s ass every fucking time?! Batman’s only hope is some kind of Batgun with kryptonite bullets or something, and even with that Superman should be fast enough to avoid them.
Superman was always too “super.” They should have taken away a few of his powers and split them between Aquaman and Green Arrow. You know, the moochers of the Justice League of America.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: I’m looking forward for an update of your trip. If nothing else, it should be inspirational.
Germy Shoemangler
@Steeplejack: Superman was always too “super.”
His powers increased over the years until they became ridiculous. Christopher Reeves turning time backwards by flying around the earth? WTF?
In the early comics, and old animated Fleischer cartoons, he can’t even fly, just leaps tall buildings like a flea.
WereBear
That stuns me! Of course, I’m old enough to remember when 10 megs was a professional drive… and it came in a case the size of a hatbox.
RSA
@WereBear:
I bought one of those in the late 1980s, a permanent storage device for my Mac Plus, which of course had none built in. If I remember correctly, it cost over $1000.
Steeplejack
@WereBear:
I know. I hadn’t been to Micro Center in a long time and was mildly flabbergasted to see that the 128GB stick was only about $40. And it’s a SanDisk, not some fly-by-night brand. I hadn’t been keeping track of prices. I have a couple of 64GB sticks that I bought a year ago, and they were more than that. And of course my ThinkPad’s hard disk has about 65 GB of stuff on it. So this was a useful impulse purchase.
I remember my last pre-IBM PC computer, an Altos 8000 running CP/M, had a 5MB (external) hard disk that was both huge and hugely expensive. I felt like I was the king of the world.
SiubhanDuinne
Watching, in a desultory way, the Braves-Blue Jays game. Isn’t it a bit early in the season to start inflicting interleague play on the schedule?
Steeplejack
@efgoldman:
I did go over $80, because my Cox cable box/DVR is finicky about which external drives it will recognize and I needed an eSATA connection to make it happen. I knew (from the previously mentioned arcane Internet information) that the particular model I got would work, and I didn’t feel like breaking new ground in DVR compatibility research by trying other drives.
To your point, though, yeah, storage space has gotten incredibly cheap. Heck, the prices have gotten so low on solid-state drives that I’m thinking about putting one in the ThinkPad.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
It’s all over the place. They had some last week. I agree with you; it should happen in designated “safe zones” during the season.
WereBear
My Mac Air (2 years old this July) is all flash storage. Kind of wild to NOT hear the drive :)
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
Maybe the Sunday morning part will be inspirational. Have no idea what the lesson of the day is, but from previous experience, Mr. Carter can bring home just about any verse.
Forgot to add, and this will depend on the weather — if Sunday is a nice day, I plan to stop at Andersonville for an hour or two. (I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before.) My great-great-great and great-great-grandfathers (both named John Hogan, father and son to each other) were imprisoned there, although chances are neither of them knew the other one was in the same prison, and died of unattractive things like dysentery. I’d like to find their headstones and pay tribute to their service to the Union more than a century and a half ago.
If it’s pouring rain, I’ll just head back to Atlanta.
Bobby Thomson
@mzinformation: your concern is noted. As is your newness.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: When I was in OCS we did a day trip to Andersonville. It was a part of our training on the laws of war – just for the record, Andersonville was described as the scene of multiple war crimes.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
War crimes? Those honorable Southern gentlemen? Fie, sir! Fie, I say.
Cervantes
@efgoldman:
Not too likely. You probably mean “250 megabytes”
As I recall, even the first (commercially available) HDDs, sold in the 1950s, had a capacity of about 4 megabytes.
Cliff in NH
If you want to see if you are getting a good deal or not, check camelcamelcamel if you have amazon prime it’s quite useful since it’s mostly Amazon prices.
It’s interesting to see the sinewave and more complicated pricebots fight it out on the price charts.
even though it’s mostly amazon prices there are usually enough sellers that you can see the broad price trend for most products.
Bex
@SiubhanDuinne: If the Baptist Church uses the Revised Common Lectionary, the lessons for Easter 3 are Acts 3:12-19, 1 John 3:1-7 and Luke 24:36b-48.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
It’s crazeballs.
SiubhanDuinne
@Bex:
Um, thanks. I’ll report back Sunday afternoon or evening.
Steeplejack
@Cliff in NH:
Useful site. Thanks for the tip.
Cervantes
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes, one might even say that Camp Sumter was ahead of its time, comparable as it was to a number of well-known Nazi facilities.
Cervantes
@efgoldman:
Hey, I resemble that remark!
Tree With Water
Does anyone reading these words give a rat’s ass what Debbie Wasserman Schultz does or does not think about anything? Because if you do, seek help.
Kay
@efgoldman:
They never give up. This was in the law that was overturned by referendum in 2011.
They’re also trying to pass a provision where if charter school teachers join a union, they’re barred from the state retirement system. There’s a charter chain in Cleveland where the teachers want to unionize- “Quick! Pass a law! STOP THEM!”
Kay
@efgoldman:
It’s complicated. They may have gotten themselves so screwed up they’ll never get out.
Kasich’s proposed budget (supposedly!) re-allocated funding from better-funded districts to poorer districts because Kasich is a Compassionate Conservative.
The problem is it’s a really complex formula and it doesn’t work. Some districts that can’t raise money locally for various reasons lost and some richer districts that just don’t want to raise local taxes won. The net effect was more than 50% of districts lost money. The legislature said they would fix it, but they are incapable of just fixing it without adding secret anti-labor provisions.
So now everyone will be mad at them :)
NotMax
@Kay
Just make it legal for teachers to refuse to instruct gay students. The monetary savings will mount up.
(Not intended to be a serious comment, in case anyone from those legislatures is reading this.)
Jay C
@SiubhanDuinne: @Tree With Water:
Yeah, just great: finally, ONE thing comes up that Debbie Wasserman-Schultz might be remotely useful for (i.e. slagging Jeb Bush over his poor administration in Florida), and she can’t even get it right!