Site will be down at 4pm until who knows when until the new site is migrated.
Front pagers check your email.
Not in the mood for your bullshit today readers so let’s not make this a fucking ordeal.
by John Cole| 96 Comments
This post is in: Previous Site Maintenance
Site will be down at 4pm until who knows when until the new site is migrated.
Front pagers check your email.
Not in the mood for your bullshit today readers so let’s not make this a fucking ordeal.
This post is in: Open Threads, #notintendedtobeafactualstatement
BernieBaby could well beat last year’s Ruth Bader Ginsberg. pic.twitter.com/mCbbZVrprQ
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) October 31, 2015
Undoubtedly someone will point out that the ‘science’ is pretty dubious, but here’s an argument for everybody here who hates early sunsets, from the Washington Post:
Making daylight saving time permanent — by never “falling back” again — could save the country billions a year in social costs by reducing rapes and robberies that take place in the evening hours, according to a forthcoming paper by researchers at the Brookings Institution and Cornell University.
In 2007, Congress increased the period of daylight saving time (DST henceforth) by four weeks, adding three weeks in the spring and one in the fall. “This produced a useful natural experiment for our paper,” authors Jennifer Doleac and Nicholas Sanders write at Brookings, “which helped us isolate the effect of daylight from other seasonal factors that might affect crime.” They found that “when DST begins in the spring, robbery rates for the entire day fall an average of 7 percent, with a much larger 27 percent drop during the evening hour that gained some extra sunlight.”
The mechanism that might cause this drop is fairly simple: “Most street crime occurs in the evening around common commuting hours of 5 to 8 PM,” the authors write, “and more ambient light during typical high-crime hours makes it easier for victims and passers-by to see potential threats and later identify wrongdoers.”
Moreover, according to the paper, the drop in crime during evening hours wasn’t accompanied by a rise in crime during the morning hours. Criminals aren’t morning people, as it turns out….
Apart from stumbling around in the early dark, what’s on the agenda for the remainder of the weekend?
November Afternoon Open Thread: Timeshifting Is BSPost + Comments (98)
by Betty Cracker| 150 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Sports, WIN THE MORNING
Once again, we have a 9:30 AM ET game in London today, so I’m posting my picks early:
My big upset pick for this week is Colts over Panthers in the MNF game tomorrow. I keep sticking with the Colts despite all evidence that they suck. No good reason for that; I’m not a particular fan of the Colts other than being an admirerer of Andrew Luck, and the Panthers are undefeated and clearly the superior team. It’s just a feeling.
Anyone got any game-related (or NFL-free) BBQ plans today? I’m thinking about it. We had some guests over yesterday to watch the big college game, and for once, we decided NOT to do a cookout but rather to order pizzas so we could focus on the gridiron rather than the grill. We might make up for it today. Haven’t decided yet.
Open thread!
by $8 blue check mistermix| 130 Comments
This post is in: The Brown Enemy Within
This was probably mentioned in the comments somewhere but nobody seems to be making a big deal of the fact that the next NBC debate is on Telemundo, and it’s the only debate on a Latino network for the Republicans. So the hissy fit du jour has a second benefit, aside from working the refs: it keeps the clown show away from anyone who might ask pointed questions about the xenophobic anti-Latino racism that Republican primary voters crave.
Looking at the debate schedule, Democrats will have 6 debates during the primary cycle, and Republicans will have 11 (assuming they end up on Telemundo). As far as I’m concerned, Democrats should be matching Republicans 1:1 on debates.
This post is in: Garden Chats
From faithful garden correspondent Marvel:
Over thisaway, we’re cursing (what with the leaf-raking and all) & praising the Willamette Valley’s Fall color. Mostly praising.
We’re particularly grateful for a few trees in the lot next door.
Last March found us submitting multiple rounds of testimony (written & in-person) to the local Planning Commission in an effort to save some sweetgum trees that were slated to be removed in conjunction with a proposed subdivision on the other side of one of our back fences. After much ado, the commisioners sided with us and demanded the sweetgums (and an adjacent oak) be preserved and incorporated in the developers plans.
In July, they off-loaded a giant bulldozer next door to start clearing the land for the new houses. Thankfully, a couple of days before the big machinery arrived, a crew was out there building a screaming orange contractor’s fence to protect those lovely trees from the goings on.
This morning I went out and once again rejoiced at our good fortune — those vibrant trees are a good habitat for all manner of feathered critters, provide a lovely natural buffer between us & the new houses, and of course: they knock me out every year with their unbelievable color.
***********
Anybody got tips on overwintering roses in containers (rootpouches)? We have half a dozen bushes in 20gal bags that aren’t going to get planted out before the ground freezes. (There was going to be a new raised bed, which hasn’t yet happened. For once, that’s the Spousal Unit’s #planningfail, not mine.)
The three bagged roses snugged in next to the garage didn’t survive last winter — no real surprise, what with the record-breaking ten feet of snow and all. This year’s potential sacrifices could go into an unheated & dark shed, or some of them could go into the garage (somewhat warmer, unpredictably lit & heated), or I can snug them against the south-facing side of the house and cover them — with what? Will the commercial ‘rose covers’ work, if I cover the containers as well as the base of the shrub? Would ‘heeling them in’ by piling sacks of soil around the bags make any sense?
I also brought two mini-roses (in 3gal rootpouches) and several scented geraniums into the house, where they’re currently shedding leaves on a window ledge. The ‘true daylight’ fixtures over that window are lit pretty much 24/7, so I’m not sure those poor little plants will make it either, but at least the two current cats haven’t shown any interest in them. (Haven’t had indoor plants for at least a decade, since one of our now-deceased felines would do great damage to herself & the furnishings in her extremely successful attempts to murder any foliage brought into her domain.)
What’s going on in your garden(s) this week?
This post is in: Open Threads, #notintendedtobeafactualstatement
— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) October 31, 2015
A gang of a dozen raccoons jumped a couple in #SanFrancisco @reggieaqui has the crazy story at 11pm @ABC7newsbayarea pic.twitter.com/nr6Y8nYWfJ
— Natasha Zouves ABC7 (@NatashaABC7) October 31, 2015
@NatashaABC7 @reggieaqui @abc7newsBayArea we’re calling them Trash Pandas now. Please make a note of it.
— sheeple on the TV (@djbtv) October 31, 2015
The above appeared sequentially on a San Francisco-based twitter feed. As a lifelong sf reader (who has a healthy respect for those ‘trash pandas’), it pleases me to assume that the raccoons are the ones posting the dudebro-bashing flyers…
Late Halloween Night Open Thread: Do Not Underestimate…Post + Comments (83)