Of life’s daily annoyances, there’s nothing I hate worse than dealing with goddamn technical issues. I’d rather discover an asp in my knickers than spend an hour in a chat window with Engulf & Devour, Inc. tech support.
So naturally, over the course of the last seven days, my range electronics went haywire, necessitating purchase of a new oven; Verizon locked me out of Balloon Juice; and my iPhone bricked. Fuckity fuck-fuck.
Problems #1 and #2 are resolved. Still working on #3. What are you up to this evening?
PS: If you use an iPhone, back your shit up before you upgrade to iOS 9. Just saying.
Baud
Glad you are back.
WaterGirl
I have been known to say that I’d rather shoot myself than have to call Comcast tech support. That’s not true, of course, but it feels like it’s true when you have to deal with the incompetent people on the other end of the phone.
gogol's wife
Nice to see you.
Recovering from the week with Midsomer Murders, as usual. The one about the randy gardener and the poison pesto.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Hi Baud. :: waves :: I see the campaign is proceeding apace.
Baud
@WaterGirl: where you been lately?
Baud
@WaterGirl:
It’s going swimmingly. I owe it all to you. You were my first supporter.
Now I know how Obama feels.
donnah
My empathy on tech and appliance problems. Forgive me for sounding like a granny, but we had a Maytag washer that worked without a single repair for 27 years. It finally gave out and we replaced it with a new Maytag. Two years later, bam! An unseen internal leak ruined the outer drum and repairs would have cost more than the machine did.
We had to buy a new washing machine!!!
jeffreyw
Use of a fork is encouraged, but not required.
Chet Murthy
Out of pure technical curiosity, what model iphone? I ask b/c I’ve been told by sources I trust, that the older the phone, the less AAPL cares about the upgrade actually working. The source tells me that, to aapl, a bricked older iphone is a sales oppty, hence …. of course, they could be paranoid.
Poopyman
@Baud: @WaterGirl: I see an ambassadorship in someone’s future!
TaMara (BHF)
I was at a friend’s house this afternoon when another friend’s phone became a brick the moment it finished the update.
I hate that crap. I’ve had to reload all my work software because of Windows updates. Since I only get paid when I’m actually working, fuck you microsoft.
WaterGirl
@gogol’s wife: I had never heard of Midsomer Murders so I went in search of the show. Turns out that it’s on Netflix, which I just signed up for a week ago so I can see season 4 of LongMire.
So far I am very pleased with Netflix, which I watch using my Apple TV.
Corner Stone
And now back to this b. B Crack WHAT’S GOOD?
jeffreyw
We have a Samsung washer dryer pair, the dryer has lots of buttons and settings in a fancy control panel. It went haywire, wouldn’t dry things very well. Called tech support and they told us to unplug it and then plug it back in. Worked great after that.
different-church-lady
Never upgrade unless you have a good reason.
NEVER.
Stability is completely underrated.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I don’t have Netflix, but I love my Chromecast.
Baud
@Poopyman:
WaterGirl will be my Valerie Jarrett.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Go me! I expect a letter from you when you win Iowa, just like I got from Barack Obama. I kept the letter on my fridge from January 2008 – tearing up occasionally when I would read it – until the tree hit the house in May of 2013.
I took it down when I had to move everything out of the house, and now I don’t know where it is. So that will make my Iowa letter from you even more important!
I have been here, but I seem to get to the threads late when there’s no point in jumping in because no one is there to hear me!
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
I think raven has said he lives within walking distance of the stadium. He may still have to deal with an extra layer of security, but he likely won’t be stuck in traffic.
Poopyman
@jeffreyw: If the tech had had had to come out he just would have swapped a couple of boards until everything worked again.
And then charged a couple hundred bucks for the parts. Plus the labor. Folks might want to seriously consider a maintenance plan when buying these newfangled contraptions.
(Edited. FYWP eated the first half-sentence)
WaterGirl
@Baud: Oh, yay! I am so on board with that!
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: Before I clicked, I was so sure that it was going to be super yummy nachos!
Edit: It still looks super yummy, but I had my heart set on nachos.
p.a.
What was the Vz issue? Same as AL’s? As a former employee, curious.
Anoniminous
@different-church-lady:
This.
The usual excuse is to patch security holes. Realistically all you are getting is a replacement of one somewhat known set of security holes for a whole bunch of unknown security holes.
Phylllis
Enjoying our new wireless tv; already set up Netflix and Amazon streaming.
Soonergrunt
Most everything at work is working. What isn’t working, I can’t fix, because HR hasn’t completed my onboarding yet so I don’t have my admin credentials.
I’ll be working from home two days a week as soon as I get a home to work from.
Baud
I always update. Never had a serious problem with it.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Only if you’re ok being the object of irrational conservative hate and rumor (and I know you are).
WaterGirl
@Baud: Backup, backup, backup.
I NEVER upgrade an OS on a Windows computer – it’s just not worth the pain – so I just use the old OS until it’s time for new hardware.
I always upgrade my Apple stuff, but I always back it up first and then double check to be sure the backup worked.
jeffreyw
@WaterGirl:
Gotcha covered!
Porco Rosso
Was it an electrolux / frigemore range? (Frigidaire, ge, kenmore)
We have a Kenmore where the control panel is conveniently located over the exhaust vent from the oven. So it tends to fry if you use the self clean feature.
Corner Stone
@Soonergrunt: Utah, eh? You know you didn’t actually have to move there to consume pr0n nonstop.
BillinGlendaleCA
@jeffreyw: So basically they had you reboot your washer.
@Betty(OP): See, Samsung has this all solved; no upgrades.
(Looks at Samsung Camera, I want Lolipop so I can shoot RAW.)
WaterGirl
@Baud: As long as you and I are good, that’s all that matters. Though I have to warn you, I will always give you my honest opinion, even if it’s something you might not want to hear.
Your faithful advisor,
WaterGIrl
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
Upgrade worked flawlessly for me.
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: Yes!!!!! Just what I wanted.
(How do you get your onions to cook on your nachos? They look perfect.)
Roger Moore
@Corner Stone:
To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women.
WaterGirl
@BillinGlendaleCA: Ctrl-Alt-Delete, baby! It’s not just for computers anymore.
BillinGlendaleCA
In other news, I picked up a HP Stream 7″ tablet. It comes with a free copy of Office and since I’m due for my yearly payment to MS, so it wasn’t that much over the cost of Office. It’s currently d/l’ing Win10.
BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: I think it’s more big red switch or a battery pull.
ETA: (IBM PC’s had a big red power switch on the back side, and when androids go seriously screwy the solution is to pull the battery.)
Ruckus
@TaMara (BHF):
Posted a few posts ago about my work day yesterday and trying to make an FTP connection. Turned out to be IE, which couldn’t/wouldn’t find the site. We tried to blame Verizon at first, not an illogical concept. And as well if the file was emailed it was corrupted when it arrived in the building, hence the Verizon blame. However this one was all on microsoft. People could get the file on their phones, as long as there was no microsoft involvement. So I’ll add my name, for the 12 thousandth time, to the list of people who say fuck microsoft.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
If it’s from you, I want to hear it!
Besides, everyone else in my administration will be yes men, so it’ll be good to have you to keep me honest.
MomSense
@Soonergrunt:
Good to see you, Sooner. Sending you a hug.
Roger Moore
Since I haven’t seen it discussed here, Volkswagen appears to be in deep shit. They’ve been caught red handed cheating smog tests. Some of their diesel cars had special software that would only engage their anti-pollution technology when it detected they were undergoing smog checks. The rest of the time, it was left unengaged, supposedly to improve performance, at the cost of allowing up to 40x the legal limit for nitrogen oxides. Now the EPA and California Air Resources Board are talking about fines of up to $18 billion; presumably that includes some hefty punitive fines for doing the whole thing deliberately.
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
There’s a self-help book in there somewhere.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: all the new androids don’t have pullable batteries, except LG.
Soonergrunt
@Corner Stone: Where is this porn in Utah, of which you speak? I haven’t found any.
Ummm, not that I’ve been looking or anything, of course. Cause that would be wrong.
Ruckus
@Baud:
What is this concept yes men you speak of?
HumboldtBlue
It’s movie night for a lot of folks and for those who enjoy Netflix may I suggest an extraordinarily entertaining movie that deals with a hard historical subject.
Take the time to watch the Wipers Times. It’s about a few British officers in the trenches during WW1 who produce a front line newspaper with wit and humor born of horrible and deadly circumstances. It features an excellent cast and it even has Monty Python alum Michael Palin as a British general!
Roger Moore
@Baud:
What role will John Cole play in the Baud administration?
schrodinger's cat
@Corner Stone: You are back! Some people were worried about you and asking about you.
schrodinger's cat
@Roger Moore: Press Secretary.
Baud
@Roger Moore:
Political prisoner.
MomSense
@Roger Moore:
I was looking at a TDI and now I’m going to pass.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Couldn’t agree more, sir.
WaterGirl
@BillinGlendaleCA: I didn’t mean Ctrl-Alt-Delete literally. :-)
I had to unplug/replug my Electrolux washer and it completely solved my problem. I had called the place where I got the washer because they include a 5-year warranty, and they told me it would be a week before anyone could come out. So I said “so I’m supposed to sit here for a week with my good towels sitting in the washer for a week, getting mold or mildew while I wait for someone to come out?”
That’s when the nice lady told me that there was a good chance that un-plugging the washer and plugging it back in would resolve the problem. (How jerky not to have told me that in the first place!)
Baud
@Ruckus: Nothing you’ll never have to worry about.
Steeplejack
@efgoldman:
What SiubhanDuinne said. And also from my somewhat hazy grasp of Athens geography and Raven’s place therein.
MomSense
@HumboldtBlue:
I’m about to start the Keith Richards documentary.
Morzer
I just read this and am unsure about whether I am going to watch football again:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sports/concussion-watch/new-87-deceased-nfl-players-test-positive-for-brain-disease/
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: That’s why I’m looking at one of last year’s Sammys for my next phone. The Note Edge is my first choice, followed by the Note 4.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: You’re a good man, Bill. You’re going places.
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
Rebooting still is just for computers. It’s simply that practically everything these days is a computer, so it applies to many more things than you’d expect.
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore: Holy shit, that’s awful! (The part about VW, not the part about the fines.) $18 billion sounds about right to me.
Ruckus
@Baud:
What if I win?
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve never had a smartphone with a removable battery. I don’t like it in theory, but I’ve never had a problem.
Roger Moore
@Soonergrunt:
It’s on the Internet, the same place it is everywhere else in the world.
BTW, now that you’re in SLC, you need to visit Les Madeleines. They’re fantastic.
HumboldtBlue
@MomSense:
I haven’t noticed that one but then again I have no interest in Richards or the Stones.
One music-based Doc I thoroughly enjoyed was “Greenwich Village, Music that defined a generation”. As a child the music of the 70s particularly the folk music played a big role in my music education
Baud
@Ruckus: You’ll probably pick the “best” people rather than the most obsequious.
Betty Cracker
@Chet Murthy: It’s an iPhone 5, admittedly not haute couture, but not so old that they should hang me out to dry, the money-grubbing pricks. From what I can gather via Google, the danger is for people who skipped an upgrade. If you’ve kept up, you’re okay.
benw
My old iPhone 4S survived the upgrade to iOS 9, but with an interesting twist. I back up to iTunes on an old MacBook, that can’t update past 10.6.8. When I sync’d my phone last night, iTunes asked if I wanted to update in the usual way, but with no special warning. After I’d backed up and verified, I updated. But after the update, iTunes won’t talk to my phone, because I need a newer version of iTunes to talk to iOS 9. But my old MacBook can’t update iTunes to the necessary version, because it can’t update to a newer OS. iTunes updated my phone to a iOS version it knew it couldn’t talk to! So in short, I have all my backups on a laptop that’s no longer accessible to my phone.
Thanks, Obama.
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore: You are right about that. :-)
Morzer
@Baud:
Glorious One, Shadow of God, Immanentizer of the Eschaton – I still have the Ambassadorship to Hentai and associated dominions, right?
Cacti
First world problems got you down?
WaterGirl
@benw: That really sucks, I’d be furious about that if it was me. You should be able to revert to the previous iOS, though, on your phone. That should get you back to where you were before you started.
benw
@Baud:
That’s a great idea, Baud!
MomSense
@HumboldtBlue:
Oh yes, I just queued that documentary. Im looking forward to it.
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
The fines might be a bit on the excessive side; it adds up to something like $37K/car. I could definitely see fining them several times their profit on each car, but fining them more than the MSRP is over the top.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: It’s kind of a requirement since I use custom ROM’s. When things go really south, like a process that’s using too much juice; sometimes only a battery pull will work to reset things. Also having a sd-card is important for me.
ETA: I noticed that Lightning Launcher upgraded today and has what’s called floating desktops. I guess you can have a separate desktop that will popup. It sounds intriguing I’ll investigate.
Baud
@Morzer:
No, because you didn’t warn me not to Google hentai.
PurpleGirl
@Soonergrunt: Hello, Sooner. Good to hear from you. You are thought of fondly here at BJ and we all wish you well. Take care.
jeffreyw
@WaterGirl: I always cook some minced onion down in oil before browning the meat, usually some peppers along with them but I don’t see any in that batch. Garnish with raw onion.
Ruckus
@Baud:
Maybe a few of the more obsequious to sit in a corner and smile nicely whenever I walk by. As long as they don’t touch or talk.
schrodinger's cat
@Baud: Do you already have a chief of staff in mind?
Morzer
@benw:
It is far more than that. It is an inspired demonstration of strategy at its most masterful – and does not even require batteries!
PurpleGirl
@jeffreyw: Looks yummy. Much nicer than the grilled cheese I’m having for dinner tonight.
Corner Stone
@Soonergrunt: I didn’t say it was in Utah, just that your fellow travelers there seem to consume it at a high level per fapita.
And whatever you do, don’t go looking for pandas or ninja nuns.
Just sayin’.
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore: Excessive or not, I say make an example of them. What they did was downright evil. I am SO sick of big greedy companies doing whatever they please, regardless of the impact on anyone else. It’s time to smack them down.
It’s probably also time for me to get my fix of the JUMP! You fuckers! sign that Coles sometimes puts up. That always makes me happy.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA: I wish I were tech savvy enough to try that. You can do neat things with android if you know how.
Morzer
@Baud:
Just remember, I still have the tapes of your flirtation with Ted Cruz and a small, puzzled goat.
Corner Stone
@Baud: If you didn’t already know what Hentai meant then I am not sure I can vote for you.
schrodinger's cat
@Morzer: Eeww Ted Cruz, Baud has better taste than that.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I couldn’t figure out how to activate the floating desktop.
Roger Moore
@PurpleGirl:
Why aren’t you celebrating National Cheeseburger Day in the most appropriate fashion?
WaterGirl
@jeffreyw: Mmm, peppers on nachos! I hadn’t thought of that, but that would be good. Especially since i have a million peppers from my garden.
I see a splurge on nachos in my future this week.
Mike J
@Roger Moore: Their first quarter profits were $3B. I don’t see 1.5 years of profit as an excessive fine for intentional circumvention of the law.
Morzer
@schrodinger’s cat:
So you might well have thought, even wished, but alas, the tapes are absolutely damning.
Now, about my Double Ambassadorship to Hentai. I shall naturally require my own personal davenport.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl:
What? Let me say that again, what?
Who doesn’t put some kind of sliced pepper on their nachos?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I’m guessing it’s activated with a gesture, like a right or left swipe, I’ll take a peak tonight. I’m still upgrading the new tablet and my roommates are eyeing me with a hungry look.
Corner Stone
@schrodinger’s cat: I notice a suspicious lack of agency here.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Morzer: Will a sofa do?
WaterGirl
@Baud: Private browsing is your friend if you are going to look up something you have seen here on BJ.
I was not aware of private browsing, however, when I googled whatever Omnes was talking about, and the “fuck me because I love Jesus” video came up. Good thing I use AdBlock because I’m sure I wouldn’t want to see all the ads that would come up…
* I have to say, though, that I watched the video all the way through – it was awful and funny and I couldn’t look away.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: It will never happen again.
raven
@efgoldman: Oh right, 90,000 morons here and I’m going to not go because of one more. Please.
Morzer
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I am a reasonable person, so I’ll accept two sofas for one davenport.
Baud
@Morzer:
I’m not sure if Cruz or the goat would be the greater scandal.
Steeplejack
@Roger Moore:
That’s what puts the ouch in “punitive.” This was not some “Oops, we positioned the gas tank badly and it might occasionally blow up” misfeasance. It was deliberate, calculated breaking of the law—which occurred on every car sold.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
How do you think I read Balloon Juice?
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: I’ll take a car down to the bakery in the morning. The princess will drop me off and I’ll just grab it on the way home. Seriously, with a 6 o’clock
kickoff whatever he has won’t make any difference. This joint is in gridlock anyway.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Really? You pull up BJ in a private browsing window?
I guess if you want to be president, being cautious is good. I notice you didn’t say anything about googling that video… I guess you’ve seen it before?
Morzer
@Baud:
We can always avoid any unnecessary unpleasantness provided my Ambassadorship to Hentai is promptly publicly confirmed, Your Benevolence.
PurpleGirl
@Roger Moore: Didn’t know it was National Cheeseburger Day… I had one for lunch.
Baud
@schrodinger’s cat:
No. Still open. Might fill it with a cat.
@Corner Stone:
But I was going to make you ambassador to Texas.
Jeffro
On the surface, this looks like a “both sides do it” article…but it does get across at least a bit of the Repubs’ focus on wacky, base-of-the-base issues instead of ordinary, middle- and working-class American’s day to day issues:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/are-democrats-and-republicans-talking-about-the-same-country/2015/09/18/7e6de048-5e32-11e5-b38e-06883aacba64_story.html
raven
@Corner Stone: Ain’t seen you in a while.
schrodinger's cat
@Corner Stone:Well I thought you were on vacation and would be back eventually, so I was not worried that you had gone to meet the Great Ceiling Cat looking over us all. It was Lojasmo
Morzer
@Baud:
I assumed you were wearing a silk smoking jacket and a fez, with a Cohiba clamped between your dazzlingly lustrous teeth, Your Grace.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I’ve seen the video. Funny.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
It’s stuff like this Volkswagen thing that makes me want to neck-punch a libertarian. In what parallel universe would less (“job-killing”) government regulation and the awesome efficiency of the libertarian marketplace even detect this, let alone rectify it?
Maybe 250 years ago you could have said, “That last clock we bought sort of sucked, so maybe we’ll try this new guy Seth Thomas this time,” but today’s world is vastly more complicated in every way, and it makes no sense at all to try to navigate it with rules based on a village market economy.
Belafon
But, DRONES:
Corner Stone
@schrodinger’s cat: There’s a difference between psycho stalkers and somewhat normal blog commenters.
raven
@Belafon: A chopper ain’t no drone.
benw
@WaterGirl: Actually, I couldn’t find a way to fall back on the iPhone itself. However, you can restore an old version of iOS through iTunes. However, my iPhone can’t talk to my iTunes! It’s diabolical.
Corner Stone
@raven: You were probably too busy being the blog nursemaid.
Baud
@Morzer:
Smart of you to leave out pants.
Morzer
@Steeplejack:
You just need the EyeMax rose-tinted lenses from Doctor Paul’s Emporium of the Future.
Corner Stone
@Baud: “It’s MY island!”
Morzer
@efgoldman:
Mustard Lacker in Chief? Aren’t you worried that he might poupon the parade?
WaterGirl
@Baud: My niece was the only person I know that I thought would appreciate it, but I sent it to her without warning. So she pulled it up on her iPhone while she was waiting for her daughter at dance practice. oops!
Morzer
@Baud:
I assumed that the hereditary kilt of Clan McBaud was covering your magnificent nether regions.
raven
@Corner Stone: Nah, In missed you.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Ha. You’re one of those cool aunts.
Roger Moore
@Steeplejack:
The parallel universe where the wonders of libertarianism have us all riding rainbow farting uniponies instead of these awful polluting cars.
Baud
@Morzer:
Oh, I like that. Gives me ethnic cred. OK, you have have Hentai.
raven
@Corner Stone: How’s the kids footwork coming? Got that drop step down?
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: I’m with you on this. But won’t you first please neck punch the folks at VW who decided to do this?
Let me know when you’re in the market for my margarita recipe. You had asked for it when you talked about making margaritas but I didn’t see that until it was too late. Maybe that was a passing fancy, which won’t offend me a bit, but if you still want the recipe, I have it.
Morzer
@Baud:
I think we can win over the surly denizens of Appalachia with your Scottish roots and caber-tossing skills.
Baud
@Morzer:
Look out Jim Webb! I’m coming for your voter.
WaterGirl
@Belafon: I have no problem with using drones in warfare. But shooting suspects from a helicopter is just wrong. That would have been wrong even for the Boston Marathon bomber.
Our society has seriously gone off the track.
This “suspect” isn’t the jaywalking guy, was it?
schrodinger's cat
@Corner Stone: So which category do I fit in, according to you?
WaterGirl
@benw: Catch-22! But there is a way:
How to Restore iPhone to Factory Settings Without iTunes
raven
@WaterGirl: You need to read about what happened before you decide.
Baud
@raven:
Your paragraph breaks turn tragedy into modern freestyle poetry.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Of course I am! :-)
Belafon
@raven: No, I was making a comment about how how freaked out people get over the idea of drones being used to hunt people because of various reasons. The point was that the cops didn’t need a drone to do this.
raven
@Baud: fixed
WaterGirl
@schrodinger’s cat: I think that was a trick question. Are there any somewhat normal commenters on BJ?
raven
@Belafon: Got it.
WaterGirl
@raven: Sounds like a really bad guy, and their actions give new meaning to “stop or I’ll shoot”.
Do you think it was a sniper in the helicopter? I would think a sniper could hit a non-lethal location, like a leg, that would make it impossible for the guy to keep going. But maybe not, this is definitely not my field of expertise.
ms_canadada
@HumboldtBlue: Oh, I didn’t know of this series.
‘Wiper’s is Ypres, which was a hell-hole for the British & Canadian troops during WWI.
If you have the opportunity to travel to Belgium, you can still see some of the trenches. It’s quite a moving experience. Thanks for the info.
WaterGirl
@ms_canadada: How’s the baby? Haven’t seen you since the week the baby was born.
Morzer
I wonder how many more little secrets Carly has waiting to see the light of day.
Anoniminous
@WaterGirl:
It would take a superhuman shot and even then probably not. Helicopters are not a stable platform for sharpshooting
Morzer
@WaterGirl:
When you combine an unstable platform and moving target you make it exponentially harder to even hit the target, never mind pick out a specific area on it.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Bring it on! I just had a giant margarita with lunch at El Paso Café in Arlington today.
Also would like to hear your thoughts on your iPad Air 2. I’m thinking about doing a tablet upgrade, and it’s in the running. (I currently have an old Nexus 7.)
raven
@WaterGirl: It was certainly some kind of marksman but being able to fire that kind of shot from a chopper in the air would be pretty tricky. The cop shot through the windshield and that would be the only avenue in that situation. Someone going 100mph plus the wrong way on a freeway probably isn’t going to respond to “stop or I’ll shoot”.
Booger
better than aps in your knickers.
Corner Stone
@schrodinger’s cat: The Kitteh Kollective Kategory?
WaterGirl
@Anoniminous: @Morzer: That makes sense. thanks.
schrodinger's cat
Bobo was fluffing Carly on the Snooze Hour, while Jowly Shields was just nodding his head. Can’t they have someone better than Shields to argue the Dem POV. He is no match for Uriah Brooks and his lies.
ms_canadada
@WaterGirl: Thank you for asking. Just returned from dinner, celebrating my birthday with my 3 sons, daughter-in-law, and lovely grand baby Emma Claire. (My daughter and son-in-law had to return to LA – they were missed!) Emma slept through the entire dinner, despite the racket. All I can say is, I LOVE being a grandmother!
schrodinger's cat
@Corner Stone: Do not want to be identified with 3 K’s.
raven
@WaterGirl: Footage of the Helicopter Aerial Rifle Marksmanship (HARM) class that was held at the Rock Castle Shooting Center at Park Mammoth in Park City, Kentucky.
WaterGirl
@raven: The reporting is a bit confusing. First I thought that the guy had already left the vehicle (jumping out while it was still moving) but the article you linked to doesn’t seem to know whether he jumped out of the car before or after they shot at him from the air.
What’s your take on the situation? From what you know, does it seem like they acted appropriately?
My point on the “stop or I’ll shoot” was that he didn’t stop and they did shoot, but it was probably a dumb comment for me to make anyway.
WaterGirl
@ms_canadada: That’s so great! This could have been a terribly sad birthday, and I imagine there was some of that, but Emma Claire is a joy and I’m so happy for all of you.
raven
@WaterGirl: Not dumb, you’re a concerned citizen. Did “they” the cops act appropriately? I think so but I’m sure one could say they should not have engaged in a pursuit but I don’t.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: I would love a margarita right now!
Single Glass:
2 oz silver tequila (100% blue agave, not a tequila “with blue agave”)
1 oz. lime juice
1/2 oz. cointreau
1.5 tsp. superfine baker’s sugar
Mix together and pour over ice.
Pitcher:
12 oz silver tequila (100% blue agave, not a tequila “with blue agave”)
6 oz. lime juice
3 oz. cointreau
3 tablespoons. superfine baker’s sugar
Mix together and fill pitcher with ice just before serving.
My favorite thing is to add a pound of muddled strawberries to the pitcher (or a few muddled strawberries to the glass). It’s so pretty and tastes really great. We haven’t made the regular margaritas since we first tried adding the strawberries on a whim after I had a mojito with muddled strawberries.
dexwood
I’ve always loved the phrase fuckity fuck-fuck. It captures a feeling, it does.
raven
Apparently there is frat fear all over Athens! I just went to the back porch and the noise is wild!
Howard Beale IV
Thread needs live kittehs
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: I really love my iPad Air 2. I had an original iPad and I used a keyboard case with it, one that raven recommended. I loved that.
I got a keyboard case with the iPad Air 2, but as it turns out, that’s not the case I use – I use the smart cover instead. I just like the lightness of the smart cover and it seems like a better smart cover design than the one I had with my original iPad.
I ALWAYS get the iPad with a cellular data plan. it’s a lifesaver when wireless is not available and it’s great to have connectivity even in a storm when the power or wireless might go out. I think it’s definitely worth the extra money.
raven
@WaterGirl: I use the iPhone personal hotspot for that.
Cervantes
@Roger Moore:
Excessive?
And what is that cost?
Morzer
@raven:
Baudmentum!
raven
@Steeplejack: I have one and it’s the jam. Great battery life and, as WG said, it’s nice and light. It also vibrates with sound!
WaterGirl
@raven: My attitude toward police has changed significantly in the past 2-3 years.
My car was broken into a couple of weeks ago and I called the police to get it in the record and so they might keep a better eye on our neighborhood. While they were at my house, the neighbor a couple of doors down drove by and stopped and asked if my car had been broken into again. (it was broken into 2 years ago, too.)
He was full of bravado and said, “well, if they come to my house, you (the police) won’t have to worry about it, I’ll take care of it myself and he’ll be sorry he ever came to my house”. It sounded like he would shoot the guy. The cop and the trainee cop who was with him both said “you don’t get any argument on that from me”, like they were encouraging the guy to take matters into his own hands and shoot anyone who came to his house. Ugh.
This is the same neighbor (2 doors down, across the street) who did some crazy stuff last year. My neighbors directly across the street are hearing impaired and they had another hearing impaired guy visiting them. They guy went to the wrong house by mistake and tried to put his key into the crazy neighbor’s door. I happened to be watering flowers or something in the front of the house and I see crazy neighbor chasing after hearing impaired guy, shouting at hime and threatening him and pushing him down on the ground.
I’m telling crazy neighbor that the guy can’t hear and that he’s visiting the house next door and he just made a mistake about which house it was. Crazy neighbor is so angry and wound up that the is completely irrational and just can’t let it go. The poor hearing impaired guy was very shaken up.
The cops do not need to be encouraging this guy to take matters into his own hands.
WaterGirl
@raven: Good point. My eyes are not as young as they used to be, and I find it pretty tedious to google, etc on my phone. So I still like the cellular on the iPad, and it only costs me $10 a month as part of my shared data plan.
benw
@WaterGirl: Thanks! Although I thought the “erase all content and settings” reset described in your link does *not* fall back the iOS version. If that’s the case, if I factory reset my iPhone now, I could end up with a phone with iOS 9 and all my content deleted that still won’t talk to iTunes to restore my backup. So, given that my phone is alive in iOS 9 now, I’m waiting until I have a for-sure backup of my iOS 9 phone before I do anything else.
schrodinger's cat
Tech Question: If you don’t like Safari what browser do you use with your IPad.
WaterGirl
@benw:
Excellent plan.
I figured that once you restored to factory settings that you would be able to connect the phone to iTunes and restore the backup you made before you did the upgrade.
But it’s always better to be safe than sorry!
WaterGirl
@benw: Do you know anybody who has a later OS on their mac computer? You might be able to connect your phone to their computer to go back to the previous version, if you wanted.
benw
@schrodinger’s cat: Chrome.
@WaterGirl: Oh, fo’ so!
Whoops, didn’t see this
Anyways, I’m going to have a beer and not worry about my phone for awhile.
PurpleGirl
@ms_canadada: I have a friend who never wanted to have children. A few years ago he married a woman with adult children and her daughter has had two children herself. He loves the grandchildren — just loves being a grandpa. He watches them and plays with them. Teaching the about computers and he knits for the little girl. It’s amazing.
benw
@benw: Jesus, that comment went badly. I’d better just stick to beer.
cckids
@WaterGirl:
My son was working towards his Eagle Scout award in 2008. He put it off till 2009 so he wouldn’t have a congrats letter signed by George Bush.
divF
@cckids:
That’s what Mel Brooks did with the Kennedy Center Honors, for the same reason.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Just this week I got this Microsoft (eek!) Bluetooth keyboard, which works well with my Nexus 7 and will work with a new tablet, whether Android or iPad. Reasonably easy to type on, given the size.
I’m trying to determine if I could get by with a tablet and this keyboard instead of the laptop for travel.
Steeplejack
@raven:
I need to check on that. My Android phone (from Verizon) has hotspot/tethering, but I’ve never used it because up until several years ago it was basically a scam, because as soon as you started using it they piled on surcharges. I don’t think that’s the case now—I think it’s free and just counts against your monthly data allowance—but I haven’t fiddled with it or checked to see what’s what.
I need to do a general “audit” of my Verizon plan anyway, because they have changed them a lot in the last few years, and the old plan that I have just kept rolling over is probably way out of date. From some TV ads I have seen, I think I could probably save some money, because I think I’m paying for way more data than I use each month.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
C’mon, you know we’d all be better off if we put our security concerns in the hands of the neighborhood loose cannon/vigilante. What could possibly go wrong?
Soonergrunt
@MomSense: Thanks. I could use some of that right now.
Soonergrunt
@Roger Moore: Thanks! I’ll add them to my list!
MobiusKlein
@Roger Moore: fuck fines.
Jail.
Deliberate fraud vs. consumers and govt. should come with a penalty
Omnes Omnibus
@MobiusKlein: Are the people responsible for the decision and the design subject to US jurisdiction?
NotMax
@schrodinger’s cat
Depends what you want to do on the iPad. For general use browsing, try either Mercury or Dolphin.
MobiusKlein
@benw: to fix it, find a friend with a new mac to help. They down grade it then you can do the rest
Chris T.
@jeffreyw: “have you tried turning it off and on again?”
seaboogie
@Baud: I like Cole as Press Sec’y. Imagine him starting every briefing with “Fuck all of you assholes!”, and responding to Ed Henry “Don’t be suck a fucking moron, asshole!” I think it would be quite refreshing….
seaboogie
Something wonderful happened to me this week.
For the last few months I have been putting this message out into the universe: Please send me a new (to me) car. I don’t care how it happens, I just need it to happen.
My current ride is a ’99 Honda CR-V which has served me well and still runs just fine, but the driver’s side door is stuck shut (so I’ve been scooting over from the passenger side for a few months). Also the the bushings are shot and the hood leaks onto the passenger side floor. Big El Nino expected here in NorCal (thank dog), so leaks were going to be a big issue.
Welp, on Monday morning my Dad phoned to touch base, and mentioned that he was concerned about my car, and I concurred. He told me he wanted to help me to purchase a newer, low mileage Honda Civic, because they are so reliable. My first car was a Civic and I love them.
I did some research online, sent him some links to dealers via a site called Car Gurus and let him explore the terrain. He ended up suggesting a 2013 Civic with 15K in mileage that was about $5000 more than his initial price range. I decided to pull the trigger on that one because I am not picky, and it fit all of his criteria. Plus, it’s totally cherry (even in color!), for a Civic.
The cool part is that the dealer in this case is an online broker/dealer called Beepi, which has been operating here in the SF Bay area for three years. They select low mileage newer used cars and offer the seller a price above what bricks and mortar dealers do. They send out a mechanic to do a very full inspection and 2 hour test drive, take photos, handle the selling online, and guarantee a sale by 30 days or they buy the car to resell, and take a flat 9% of the selling price. This means that they are pulling the cream of the crop of what is available.
For the buyer, there is no dickering, they handle registration and title, license plates, and deliver the car to your driveway with a big ass bow on the hood. They show you how everything works and you get to take a test drive before handing over the moolah. And there is a 1,000 mile 3 week window where if you are not happy with the car, you let them take it away and they give you your money back.
They are also taking my jalopy as a trade in for about $400 over KBB value (they guarantee at least $250 over), and schlepping it away for me on the flatbed that is delivering my new ride.
I cannot tell you how pleasant this experience has been! Their whole goal is to transform the used car selling and purchase experience, and they are succeeding in spades with this gal. Exactly one week from the time that I contacted them, I will have a new ride, and my old one will be sold for parts by them, I can only assume.
If only Cole had this service available when he was searching for a Subie….!!!
Yay Universe – and a big YAY!!! to my Dad, with major props to Beepi!
Kay
Walker watch. This is his campaign manager:
I think he said it like this “there might be some good candidates”
seaboogie
@Kay: That the Koch bros got so hard behind Walker just shows that they have more money than political savvy, and truly believe that they can buy the government that they want. Heb?’s backers must be wondering about their investment too by now.
seaboogie
@Kay: That the Koch bros got so hard behind Walker just shows that they have more money than political savvy, and truly believe that they can buy the government that they want. Heb?’s backers must be wondering about their investment too by now.
seaboogie
@Kay: That the Koch bros got so hard behind Walker just shows that they have more money than political savvy, and truly believe that they can buy the government that they want. Heb?’s backers must be wondering about their investment too by now.
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: Thank you for the recc re iPad. I’m getting one soon, and think I’ll do the cellular data plan.
J R in WV
@Soonergrunt:
Good to see you here on a blog. I heard you were on the twit, but I don’t do that so never saw you over there. I can’t say anything in 140 characters, so why bother?
Hope you can deal with Utah without any stress, it isn’t as much like America as it looks on the surface. Kind of a Potemkin Village version of real America, thing are not as they look at all.
Don’t order a Pepsi at a rural fast food restaurant, it will have been in the tubes for a year or more, and be strange, even if it isn’t flat.
But there is a ton of outdoor beauty, and I think tornadoes are rare, so that’s all good. Dinosaur National Monument up near Vernal is really good, you should take everyone to see that as soon as you are all together in Utah for more than a long weekend. Tens of thousands of fossils in a cliff face, some looking out at you.
Best of luck!
JR
Central Planning
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Two of my friends have Samsung phones that randomly rebooted and wiped the phone. I wouldn’t put them on a pedestal of stability and reliability.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@WaterGirl: I agree VW should be nailed to the wall if they intentionally did what they apparently intentionally did. It’s inexcusable.
I say that as someone who is very happy with his 2004 Jetta TDI wagon (not listed as part of this scandal).
I wonder how many other car companies are pulling stunts like this…
Cheers,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
@Roger Moore: In the libertarian universe, pollution from cars is harmless, and the notion that it isn’t is a conspiracy.
Or if it isn’t, then you could always sue somebody and get damages. Only the wisdom of libertarians determines whose lawsuit is frivolous and whose isn’t.