Pigeons and tawny crazy ants. Who knew?
Here’s something that might be a problem: Would you be alarmed if your smallish freshwater fish tank containing a single betta fish suddenly had scads of little snails in it? Cone-shaped snails, the largest of which is maybe the size of a raisin and others that are really tiny? I don’t know where they came from!
Open thread.
Doug R
Look for a car with a “S” on it.
tarragon
The snails problem happened to me after I added some commercial water conditioner to my single gold fish tank. Eventually I assumed they were related.
All I did was scoop the snails for about a week and then there were no new ones.
Gin & Tonic
Get some garlic and butter and the snails become an opportunity, not a problem.
NotMax
Every betta must be named Max.
There oughta be a law.
Han
Well, you see, when a mommy/daddy snail and a mommy/daddy snail love each other very much…
Doc H
It sounds like Malaysian trumpet snails (/Melanoides/). They can, in the right conditions, explode in numbers. I like ’em, but people who don’t sometimes use assassin snails (/Clea helena/) as a a biological control.
Mary G
We have had a swarming invasion of what I think are carpet beetles. They are proving to be very hard to kill. A commercial exterminator wasn’t any use. Anyone have any suggestions?
redshirt
Snails just spontaneously arise. They discovered this in the Middle Ages.
NotMax
Think I might have caught a glimpse of Tawny Crazy Ants in a Doris Wishman nudie flick.
p.a.
If the Tawny Crazy Ants get ino the Tawny Port- RUN
misterpuff
We have had a swarming invasion of what I think are Trump supporters.
They are proving to be very hard to kill.
A commercial exterminator wasn’t any use.
Anyone have any suggestions?
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Do you like snails, or oysters? wink wink nudge nudge
redshirt
I have built a stream which runs for about .5 mile now, and I just surveyed it as it’s flowing nicely with the spring melt and is a thing of beauty. But in the few isolated flat portions, there are these tiny red bugs that form an almost complete mat. They don’t seem to move. I have no idea what these are, but I suspect they’re all about to die as temps here at New Gondolin will be dipping into the mid teens the next few days.
redshirt
@misterpuff: Take off and nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: Carpet bombing?
(Like anyone really thought I wasn’t going to swing at that pitch?)
NotMax
@p.a.
Any port in a swarm.
Trollhattan
@Doc H:
Yes, they’re live-bearing snails that rode in probably on a plant. They’ll make more snails like crazy and you often don’t know you have them as they frequently hide in the gravel during daytime..
A natural control is clown loaches, which will dig for them in the gravel (presuming you a. have gravel and II. it’s not too deep). I’ve watched them reduce and even eliminate the population.
Or, you can kill them with snail drops, which is a copper compound that I don’t quite recall. Remove the fish (easy with a betta) treat the tank including plants, change water and clean the gravel, return the fish.
elmo
My wife has a half-dozen fresh and brackish water tanks, ranging in size from 20gal to 150 (that’s for redear turtles). Among other things, she raises axolotls. She fights the battle of the snails all the time. Apparently the larva is on everything, every kind of aquatic plant, and in the water, and maybe in the air for all I know. So she orders assassin snails from Amazon and eBay.
HRA
Did you have plants in the tank? They have to be cleaned before adding a conditioner.
http://www.ratemyfishtank.com/blog/what-to-do-about-aquarium-snail-infestations
Amir Khalid
My latest YouTube obsession: Cupcake and ice cream recipes. The YouTube obsession right before that was Lotus sports cars. I almost never eat cupcakes or ice cream anymore; I just like to look at them. I don’t particularly enjoy driving, and I doubt I will ever be able to afford an Elise Sport 250. Elises are not the fastest sports cars, but damn if they don’t look the prettiest.
Mike in NC
Are pigeons still a thing? I had an uncle in East Boston who kept a pigeon coop. Filthy critters.
Elmo
Oh and BTW, since we no longer have site maintenance threads – BJ is becoming unusable on Internet Explorer. Hangs constantly, crashes two visits out of three. (Yes, I know, browser snobs, but some of us goof off at work.)
Amir Khalid
@Doc H:
Why is it always Malaysia’s fault? Harrumph.
FlyingToaster
I had to spend some time identifying the ants that come into our house every spring.
They’re pavement ants; they farm the aphids on the viburnum when they’re not invading the building.
We also have some very tiny light brown ants, which are the odorous house ants. They usually don’t come inside.
I think Bwahstin is too cold for crazy ants of any color.
Adam L Silverman
@Amir Khalid: I now know what I’m doing for tonight’s recipe as I’m filling in for Tamara: cupcakes!
I just hope the cleaners was able to get the stains out of the frilly apron from my last fill in Food Goddess post.
Frankensteinbeck
I like the loach idea. It sounds fun to watch. Plus, fat loaches! Who doesn’t like fat loaches?
Amir Khalid
@Mike in NC:
As I understand, they aren’t any filthier than other birds if you don’t keep them all crowded together. I understand Mike Tyson keeps homing pigeons.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
Technically it’s a day too late for them, but chocolate Guinness cupcakes are delish. Smitten Kitchen has a great recipe for them.
Betty Cracker
@elmo: I was just texting my daughter about it (she maintains the half-dozen tanks in the house, five of which are in her room), and she mentioned assassin snails too. Seems kinda harsh to me — poor little snails! Maybe I’ll try scooping them out first…
ET
Speaking of birds, I am getting a kick out of the eaglecam at the National Arboretum in DC. One eaglet has hatched and we are waiting for another.
I got to watch a changing of the guard so spotted the tiny little bird as well as seeing on of them chow down on something that was takeout. Oh and they totally decimated a fish.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
The purpose of cupcakes is to provide people a dozen opportunities to screw up baking a cake, all at once.
;)
Actually, today would be a good choice for any Easter recipes as it gives folks a week to gather ingredients.
LAO
@Amir Khalid: When I was a kid, my dad had his midlife crisis, which resulted in his purchase of a Lotus Turbo Esprit (not as nice as Lotus Elise). He drove that car everyday to work from Westchester to lower Manhattan — what a waste of a sports car!
Oddly enough, I too have a new food obsession — chocolate candy making (even though I really don’t eat much of it).
But I remember that stupid car — a two seater for a guy with three kids.
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: I think the betta would kill or at least fight to the death any fish added to his tank, though. My kid does have fat loaches in one of the other tanks, and they are cool. Big fat cigar-like fish!
The Other Chuck
@Han: With snails, it’s frequently when one mommy/daddy snail just gets bored. Those wacky mollusks.
Trollhattan
@Frankensteinbeck:
They’re well named because not only do they have the clown stripes, they can be goofy as heck (then there’s the nighttime clicking they sometimes do, which has had me walking around the house until I remember I have fish that can click). Had a trio–Larry, Curly and Mo, of course– that lived twenty years until I introduced ich with some new fish. They’ve been known to live decades longer.
Librarian
@NotMax: Maybe it was Tawny Kitaen?
I was waiting for somebody to make a Tawny Kitaen joke.
Trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
You can usually keep a male betta in a community tank provided there’s room, hiding places and the other fish are fast. They’re only really fixated on battling other male bettas, but will nip fins of the unsuspecting.
Have you tried a mirror against his tank? Tons of fun. “Oh yeah, so’s your mother! Don’t you talk about my mother!”
Steve in the ATL
@Betty Cracker: What about using regime change snails instead?
Steeplejack
“Tawny Crazy Ants.” Going on the list of band names.
ETA: “Assassin Snails.”
NotMax
@The Other Chuck
What happens in the shell stays in the shell.
;)
Steve in the ATL
@Amir Khalid: I have seen Lotus Elises on the road and they are very small and very low to the ground. Probably a lot of fun but not sure I would feel safe driving one around here (you know, with all the Asian drivers…yes, I’m disappointed that no one took the bait on my comment earlier).
misterpuff
@redshirt: No Nukes.
But I like the idea of the United States covered with an exterminators tent.
Drumpf’s Big Top!
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
I love that you ask a nice Jewish boy named Silverman for Easter recipes :-)
Keith P.
@Librarian: I was literally just about to when I searched for “Kitaen” to see if someone had already made the ‘crazy’ connection.
Amir Khalid
@LAO:
The Esprit Turbo was notoriously underpowered for a sports car of its time. Yet it was James Bond’s ride in The Spy Who Loved Me, so one can imagine its appeal to a dude in midlife crisis.
Scamp Dog
@NotMax: What about Blocker? Don’t bad farm-a-suitical (FYWP) puns count?
Patricia Kayden
Snails are creepy. Take that beta fish out of that tank before they slime it to death!
Steeplejack
@LAO:
That was probably the point.
acallidryas
In Florida, I generally expect a standing body of water to develop snails, frogs, minnows, turtles, and eventually alligators in about one weeks worth of time. I don’t see how having it indoors would make any difference. That state seems to prove the theory of spontaneous generation.
raven
How bout that Pac 10 basketball!!!!!
LAO
@Steeplejack: On further reflection, that was definitely the point. He did have a nifty jeep wrangler for weekend driving (so just as dangerous, but we all fit!)
@Amir Khalid: got it in one.
Elmo
@Betty Cracker: Um. Scooping them out, fine – and then what? Setting them up in their own little tank?
Betty Cracker
@Trollhattan: I haven’t done that, but a certain combination of lights in the room where his tank is must cause him to see his reflection on one side because he goes ape shit! It is kinda funny, but I always douse a light because I’m afraid he’ll stroke out or something. (Yes, I realize I am anthropomorphizing the aquarium critters!)
@Elmo: Nah — I’d just toss them in the creek!
@NotMax: I could do an illustrated butter lamb tutorial. I’ve been made the official butter lamb bearer.
chopper
@Trollhattan:
oh come on now, you just made that up.
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
A perfect match for the notoriously underpowered Roger Moore.
NotMax
@LAO
Ah, if only he could have gotten hold of a family-size streamliner.
OBS
@Mary G:
Here are some tips: http://npic.orst.edu/pest/carpetbeetle.html
raven
@NotMax: The Rainbow Warriors with the huge upset over Cal!!
japa21
@raven: One of my upset picks.
LAO
@NotMax: That would have been awesome.
Gin & Tonic
@raven: Huh. I didn’t know Greenpeace had a basketball team.
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack:
They’re using Aston Martins with V12 engines for the Daniel Craig era — also a good match between the Bond and the wheels.
Steve in the ATL
@raven:
Bear down!
Arizona did beat Wichita State, right?
Yutsano
@SiubhanDuinne: Let’s be fair though. Baby sheep translates into just about any dietary cuisine. Hell it actually shocked me that the Chinese have lamb dishes, although that’s mostly in the north and west. Plus this gives me an opportunity to link to a Lamb Meatballs with Eggplant Sauce recipe that is simply divine.
@raven:
Yeah I’m not crazy about it either.
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
Agreed.
Eric S.
@Amir Khalid: I saw an Elise on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago yesterday. I agree, they are a very attractive car. They’re reasonably quick but one buys a Lotus for carving up curves and corners.
kdaug
Spontaneous Generation! It’s not just for the middle ages anymore!
Fair Economist
Here’s an interesting analysis of Erik Erickson, courtesy Digby:
She’s using this to point out that Erickson doesn’t care about democracy, which is true enough. But this points out, and she didn’t get to this, that the current fight between Trump and NeverTrump is really a fight between fascism and neo-fascism. Both have similar goals – corporate power and profits – but different means. Erickson is a good representative of the neo-fascists who reject the old fascist techniques of violence and ethnic cleansing in favor of subtler ones like election fraud (especially voter suppression and gerrymandering) and media manipulation. Just when they thought they had it all down along comes Trump, who’s drawing from the old traditional fascist playbook of knocking heads, beating up reporters, and ethnically cleansing various minorities. Literally from the playbook, BTW.
Although their ultimate goal is pretty similar for the rest of us, they’re fighting each other because they’re different gangs and only one gang gets to be boss. I think the neo-fascists know enough history that the outcome for them is pretty grim if they help Trump to power (see what happened to Rohm, the leader of the Stormtroopers).
mel
@Betty Cracker:
Yes!! Butter lamb tutorial, please!
Speaking of lambs, has anyone figured out the symbolic intent of the dreaded “Smoking Lamb” cakes that appear in grocery store bakeries at Easter every year?
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
McConnell managed to enrage the last of his totebagger cred here in the People’s Democratic Socialist Kenyan Shariah Republic of Louisville. He had spent a lifetime in politics delivering pork and doing pretty decent things for the University of Louisville. Obama nominated a well-respected, bipartisan good choice to the Sixth Circuit – Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Lisabeth Hughes Abramson. She’s not controversial, knowledgeable, was a fine trial judge (I appeared before her many times), a Louisville grad and the recent ex-wife of a philandering U of Louisville law professor. Her chops are solid.
McConnell is scotching the nom. He’s sold his soul for teabagger peace. He may actually have managed to put some money on the table to turn his wrinkled ass onto the street with this one – he came from totebagger roots originally, and was one of them.
Trollhattan
@chopper:
They’re real, man! You should see them pile out of a tiny aquatic car.
joel hanes
I’ll try scooping them out first…
They can reproduce faster than you can scoop.
Throw them in the creek
[suppresses rage]
Never never never dispose of unwanted aquarium anything by introducing it to a local body of water.
Never.
Especially in Florida where it’ll likely thrive.
That’s how we (you) got water hyacinth, brown carp, and a host of other invasive aquatic pests.
joel hanes
If the tank has flat sides,
you can delight your betta by taking a
flat hard something (small square of glass, e.g.)
and crushing the snails on a patch of the inside of the tank.
The betta will take care of the rest.
Central Planning
@FlyingToaster:
I just put out some Terro ant baits. That stuff works like a dream!
misterpuff
@misterpuff: Pee Wee Finger’s Big Electoral Adventure
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
MTSU!!!
Amir Khalid
@Eric S.:
I’ve seen the videos showing how Lotus glues the chassis together from aluminium boxes. Interesting that they achieve such a strong, rigid frame that way.
Central Planning
@Betty Cracker:
Scoop them out and then what? Set them free?
Trollhattan
@mel:
Wow, you got my attention with “smoking lamb.” Evidently it’s a thing.
Mnemosyne
@Central Planning:
If you can figure out where the ant trail is coming in, putting ground cinnamon in front of it to block it actually works. I need to renew the sprinkling in our master bathroom because they’ve started showing up again.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Always pictured Bond tooling around in an early model Marcos Mantis, for some reason (maybe because it was a British car). Never happened, though, AFAIK.
redshirt
There are times where it’s good to live in the cold, hard North. There’s nothing much alive to invade your house.
Frankensteinbeck
@Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:
You can’t sell what you never had.
I’m not entirely joking. McConnell has no principles except maybe ‘No black man could ever be better than me.’ His hate of Obama always did seem personal that way. He does whatever seems politically expedient, he’s never worried about honesty or consistency, he’s generally a mean shit who likes stomping on the weak, and most importantly his voters have never liked him. He gets reelected anyway. After he crushed the last Tea Party challenger, I don’t think he’s afraid of them. He’s just giving the finger to Obama, possibly in revenge for knowing Obama will win this Supreme Court nomination fight.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
Izzo is going to have to go to a cardiac care unit.
Frankensteinbeck
@FlyingToaster:
If the ants are a problem, ant baits you can buy in grocery or hardware stores work these days. They didn’t back when I was in college, but the chemical technology has improved. They probably won’t kill the colony, but they’ll kill the branch invading your kitchen and keep them out of your hair for a couple of months. Best if you can place the bait right next to where they’re coming in.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Upset Alert:
Holy Shit: Spartans going down.
Gin & Tonic
@redshirt: Until blackfly season.
Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class
@Frankensteinbeck:
He actually started OK. The teabags turned him into something ugly.
Mnemosyne
Betty, I’m afraid I have to agree with joel hanes and Central Planning — unless you’re going to move the betta to a whole new tank and maintain a tank full of snails, you’re gonna have to assassinate them. Farm the work out to your teenager if necessary, or get the recommended fish and let nature take its course, but pitching them anywhere that they could potentially survive is just introducing an invasive species to your local area.
Betty Cracker
@joel hanes: Oh good point — I stupidly assumed they were native critters who had somehow slithered in from my yard to infest the tank. (Don’t worry — my husband, the subscriber to the magazine featured above — would have stopped me from doing something that dumb by reminding me that “duh, Everglades pythons, nitwit!”)
Central Planning
@Mnemosyne:
Unfortunately for the ants, I’m more heartless than that. Terro is a liquid sugar/borax kind of thing and they bring it back to the nest. These are the 3/8″-1/2″ black ants that I’m eliminating
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Could be the biggest upset in NCAA history. a #2 seed defeated by a #15 seed
NotMax
@Scamp Dog
Nice.
@Yutsano
No linky. You fix, please.
Heliopause
To answer the question on everyone’s minds, no, I did not have Middle Tennessee in my bracket.
p.a.
@Trollhattan:
Is that a pro- or anti- Trump Repub bloc?
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: Eh, PAC-12. Do try to keep up.
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: Eh, they suck. As does the B1G, bye bye Sparty!
Mnemosyne
@Central Planning:
We just have the normal tiny ants, plus we have cats and don’t want them wandering around in poison.
If you want a really satisfying spray solution and don’t care that it will almost certainly shorten your lifespan, I used to buy something called Hot Shot. Killed everything super dead immediately and they didn’t come back for months.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
Better that than this.
Gin & Tonic
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Umm…
Roger Moore
@misterpuff:
I thought that was what they called his comb-over.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@raven: I want to gay marry Taureen Prince for his wonderful stupid question answer. So deadpan and gracious.
I watched some Match Madness today at the College of Medicine. Very weird; some students were clearly delighted with their match, others were assholes, and one who I was told wanted very much to match at UC in psych appeared thrilled to go to Cleveland Clinicn. They had Tshirts and everything.
RobertDSC-Quad Intel Mac
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
This is why I don’t follow college basketball. What a waste.
The whole “bracketology” industry should die after this.
redshirt
@Gin & Tonic: Blackflies don’t really invade your house. Nor mosquitoes.
In awesome news, I think my work over the last 6 years of eliminating standing water spots has all but eliminated my mosquito population. But with all the running water now I think it’s increased the blackfly population. But I’ll take that.
Eric S.
@Amir Khalid: Colin Chapman of Lotus preached, “Simplify, then add lightness.” They’ve been working with lightweight materials for a long time. Chapman teamed with Ford to bring a rear engine car to Indy in 1963. They did so well (2nd) that the era of front engined cars Indy cars started a death sprial.
raven
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: 8 times.
piratedan
@raven: well…. considering the draws… not too surprising, Cal loses their leading scorer the day before the game. Wichita State should have no way been an 11 seed and AZ doesn’t have a PG. Oregon State, not sure how they got invited, much less a 7 seed, playing VCU who’s been there and done that. Colorado running into the anointed ones from UCONN and USC loses on a busted inbounds play. But hey, how about those Spartans! and that’s pac-12 to you bub!
p.a.
@Gin & Tonic: That ’93 Arizona fail kept me out of the money in my pool; I really rocked every other bracket. 2 wins by them and IIRC I would have won. Those Lute Olsen teams were out early a lot.
The Dangerman
I had Hawaii over Cal (injury, distractions)….
…but Sparty? Madness!!
raven
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): It’s great!!
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Izzo is such a great guy, hate to see this happen to him. He’s a big supporter of ACA (photo)
p.a.
@redshirt: I actually have to deet spray my headnet or the blackflies squirm their way through the mesh to get me.
raven
@The Dangerman:Potts for MTSU was awesome!
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Obama thinks he’s Jimmy Johnson – just running up the score.
Eric S.
@NotMax: Without going through every movie as best I recall Bond has driven Astons, a Lotus, BMWs as company issued cars. In the original books he drove a Bentley which gets a mention in Gold Finger (I think). Q is giving him his first Aston and Bond asks where’s the Bentley.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Hey, the young cook in Monarch of the Glen was given one of those by his mum!
You’ll probably be amused by this video tale of taking one’s car to work – literally.
raven
@piratedan: Whaaa. Yale didn’t have their best payer either. . .bub.
Mnemosyne
@p.a.:
Have you ever tried picaridin? It’s becoming more popular with campers and backpackers because it doesn’t melt your gear like deet does, but I don’t know what frequent users think of it.
raven
And the dope from Iowa with a 3 pint foul with a 3 pt lead an 2 seconds to go. . .bub.
The Dangerman
@raven:
True, but a real “team” win, well played all around; shockingly, MSU never led and I’m not sure they were ever tied.
I saw this Dance as Madness. I have Yale all the way to the S16,- yes, I have Yale over Duke – but I also had Sparty to the FF. Oops.
piratedan
@raven: well, Yale played Baylor, who isn’t in the Pac12, Cal lost to the running rainbows of Hawaii.
Mnemosyne
I’m having a super unproductive day at work, which could probably be guessed by the frequency of my commenting this afternoon. In my defense, I woke up with a headache that wasn’t quite bad enough to stay home, but bad enough to kill any ambition for the day.
Mike in NC
@Eric S.: USA Today just profiled the Bentley Bentayga, an SUV that costs around a quarter million bucks. Mitt will probably order one or two for his garage in LaJolla.
raven
@piratedan: Yea and Yale could have made the whiny excuses too, they just went out and won didn’t they?
Steeplejack (phone)
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Putting my Sparty RWNJ brother on suicide watch.
p.a.
@Mnemosyne: last time I was at BPS I looked for some but couldn’t find it. admit I will miss the numb lips and slight vertigo effect of deet. (no I don’t purposely spray orifi but when you try to get effective coverage there’s spillage)
Central Planning
@Mnemosyne:
I think my dad sprays an 18″ wide swath of that stuff around his house in NC. I’ve never seen bugs inside his house.
piratedan
@raven: YES, they sure did and congrats to them for doing so.
raven
@The Dangerman: I have Iowa State winning it. They said one of the bracket deals had 13 million entries and only 11,000 perfect brackets BEFORE today!!!
NotMax
@Mike in NC
Trump would order one, then return it after discovering it’s capable of turning left.
;)
raven
@piratedan: Listen, Barkley or one of those guys was all about how great the PAC 12 was going to do. That’s the basis for my comments, I never thought they were any good in the first place.
Mnemosyne
@p.a.:
I’ve gotten it at REI and similar places, but honestly I don’t hike enough to be able to tell if it’s any better.
kc
Alarmed? I’d run screaming from the house!
Mnemosyne
@Central Planning:
My parents used to be Arizona snowbirds, and one winter they came home after several months away to discover a scorpion mound in the middle of their living room. They switched exterminators after that.
piratedan
@raven: well, if that gives you happiness, then I’m glad its found you. For those of us who follow college hoops out on the left coast, it’s been a brutal tourney, but not every year is your year, and have seen Arizona not meet and exceed expectations in the past. It is, what it is.
Trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
Speaking of the Big Combover, this.
Eric S.
@Mike in NC: I’ve seen pictures of the Bentayga but haven’t read up on it. Recent history, 10 years or a little more, has seen the high end luxury sedan shunned for the luxury SUV. Porsche wen there with the Cayenne. BMW has the X series. Mercedex the G series. It’s not surprising Bentley is making an SUV. Lamborghini has even flirted with the idea.
raven
@piratedan: My old man became a huge Cats fan when he was alive. It was really hard because I hated Lute with the fire of a thousand suns. When Illinois came back in that incredible game in Chicago I cried like a baby because all I could think about was him and how he loved Arizona even though he was an Illini too.
And the Hawkeyes save the B1g!
The Dangerman
@raven:
Reasonable pick; I didn’t go that crazy (I picked Xavier to cut down the nets) but I can’t recall a Dance that has such … parity isn’t the word … how about unpredictability? Madness, indeed.
ETA: Iowa State in the region where a 15, a 12, and an 11 have won (and I don’t think Virginia is all that)
p.a.
@Mnemosyne: West Marine has it too. This works too, but can interfere with fishing. Also a useful human repellant ?
piratedan
@raven: well, not sure what Lute did to engender that kind of response, but sports does cater to those kinds of emotions (I have a passionate dislike of everything Dallas Cowboys) but that’s what makes the tourney what it is, the upsets, the efforts, the emotions. Even in a “bad” year for your teams, there’s almost always something worth watching.
raven
@piratedan: If you are an Arizona fan see if you can ID this guy? We went out on a deep sea boat in Maui a couple of years bac.,
raven
@piratedan: He was the Iowa coach and a whiny fuck before he went to Tucson.
Eric S.
@The Dangerman: I have Michigan and WVU is a pool that goes by the point spread. So long as the team I have covers the spread, I advance to the next round with whoever wins.
That said, my pseudo alma mater, Iowa, just one. I attended for one year before transferring to an in-state school.
PIGL
@redshirt: if a fellow named Turin shows up, give him the hard goodbye.
redshirt
@raven: UofA is a really nice Uni too, from my experience, and Tucson is a great city.
My Pa went to ASU on some military deal so I was a Sun Devil as a child and was told to hate UofA, but now I feel completely opposite. Tucson is the far superior city, just as the U of Arizona is far superior to ASU.
Example 1: The Biosphere.
raven
@Eric S.: I’ve been in a Calcutta for 11 years. I won money my first year but nothing for 8. The last two years the bidding had gotten so high I could only bid on teams that might pull a big upset or lose by the most (that paid 5%). This year we didn’t have enough guys so we didn’t have it. Bummer.
redshirt
@PIGL: No shit, right? I’d love to see Jackson or someone make a Turin movie, or a Beren movie. But the Turin movie could be so grimdark I think it would be a huge hit.
The Dangerman
Just read … of the first 21 games completed …. 11 of the Dogs have won. Sure, 8/9 and 7/10 games are basically a coin flip but … still … that’s kinda nuts…
raven
@redshirt: My half sis went to AZ and my idiot half brother to ASU. He and my old man almost came to blows after the ASU fans chanted PLO, PLO at Kerr.
redshirt
@raven: Fun pic!
raven
@The Dangerman: Isn’t it great!!!
raven
@redshirt: He was the only one that didn’t get sick. I did but I kept fishing and his 4 friends never fished. That is what allowed me to catch the 130lb tuna!
redshirt
@raven: What’s the PLO background on Kerr?
Eric S.
@raven: I’m not much of a gambler so I’ll have to google “calcutta” in a minute. Some regulars at my corner watering hole are in some kind of pool(?) where they bought teams at an auction. As a team they spent $65K. The total sales from the auction was $400K. I know they have some purchases that are straight up teams going all the way. Other bets they have has to do with upsets and blowouts. Beyond me. I can’t even figure out from the local paper’s website what the spread is on my teams. I’m trusting the bar manager to be honest.
The Dangerman
@raven:
Yup. College Football could have this, too, but probably never will. Oh, well.
redshirt
@raven: Did you sell the tuna? How much did you make, if you don’t mind me asking.
raven
@redshirt: They killed his father,
raven
@redshirt: Nope, it belonged to the boat and they got $1200. So I paid $200 to catch it and $700 for the replica I had made that is staring at the game with me.
piratedan
@raven: sorry Raven, can’t ID him…. was he just a UA athlete or someone from the area?
redshirt
@raven: Damn you! You made me search for it. PLO.
raven
@piratedan: Eugene Edgerson. . .the Edge. Here’s a funny thing, I was at our coffee shop one morning after that trip. I started talking to a dude about my trip, told him about Eugene and he said “I went to high school with him in New Orleans”!
raven
@redshirt: My father never let that go.
raven
The Edge
piratedan
@redshirt: Steve Kerr’s dad was the president of American University in Lebanon and the PLO executed him (circa 1986?. In their misguided fashion, ASU students chanted “PLO! PLO!” at Kerr at a home game in Tempe because … reasons.
As such, a heated rivalry took on for many years a sense of bitterness that still remains…
I’m sure it was simply a bunch of classless drunken dudes who thought they were being funny but that distaste remains to this day between the schools although many coaches have tried their best to put it all in the past. The Arizona fanbase still fumes about it to this day.
piratedan
@raven: Edgerson! he was a good guy, went on to major in special ed I think and went into teaching and coaching. Long considered a good guy (hard to recognize these guys without their numbers :-))
Eric S.
@redshirt: I followed the Chicago Bulls quite closely when Kerr was with them. I’ve never heard this story before. It’s a very ugly incident at ASU but I find it an interesting but very sad bit of history about Kerr’s father that I never knew.
redshirt
@piratedan: It’s amazing how a few individuals can so shape overall opinion. Not just in this matter, but all matters.
raven
@piratedan: When my old man had the run in with my half brother I told the dude that he’d regret how he talked to our dad. It never set in and, in the interim, he married this teabagger bitch and I cut all communication wth him. I should have kicked his ass that night.
bartkid
Tawny, Crazy Aunts makes a lot more sense.
redshirt
@raven: I get why. Though it was probably just a frat of douchebags.
raven
@piratedan: Yea, all the people on the trip we his teaching colleagues from Arizona. They were comatose but he and I had a great time.
joel hanes
@Gin & Tonic:
blackfly season
[shudder]
I’ve canoed western Ontario in late May.
At times, a headnet was required if one was to maintain even a modicum of sanity.
piratedan
@redshirt: in this case, the entire fanbase and coaching staff and university circled the wagons in support of Kerr (as you would expect, after all, his dad had just been murdered weeks before) and served as a reminder on how to behave and when when the rhetoric can go too far. Whether they are classier or not over ASU fans, it’s one of those things that shapes events in the state. Hell, Tucson is usually considered simply a good place to get gas on the way to Puerto Penasco in the local vernacular from what I’ve heard from friends in the Phoenix metro area. The state coffers are pretty firmly tied up in the Phoenix area and leads to rivalries and issues between the capital and the rest of the state.
redshirt
@piratedan: Given the general blue nature of Tucson, I’m not surprised it’s the center of lots of controversies within the state.
piratedan
@raven: he really seemed to accept his role on the squad, board, pick up the garbage points, play tough defense and seemed to simply enjoy being out on the floor. Seemed like getting into education was a great fit for him, boundless enthusiasm.
kindness
@Betty Cracker: Don’t worry Betty. Betas will really only go after other betas. We have them in tanks with other fish and they could care less. Until another Beta enters the tank.
piratedan
@redshirt: well, Arizona is complicated and Tucson’s place in it is part of that. Lot of resentment here of Phoenix and how things are done. Plus the Koch Brothers puppet just put into effect that if the state chooses to, it can nullify any locally voted upon ordinance. Plus the behavior of the former governor and their actions post the Giffords shooting really had a telling effect here in that there’s a shit-ton full of dark money here in the area with a massive smear campaign in place (that’s how we got Martha McSally as our Congresswoman… yech). It’s why there was the wry movement of free Baja Arizona spawned because not only did Phoenix control all the money, they wouldn’t even let us manage our own affairs.
On a related note, the Kirkpatrick campaign is claiming that they’ve pulled even with McCain for the Senate election, which if true, would be awesome.
Raven
@piratedan: one of my best friends has lived there for 40 years and he’s pulling up stakes and moving to Ft Meyers. We used to go fishing down in Sonora on the Sea of Cortez but it’s just not a smart play.
redshirt
@Raven: I visited Tucson quite a bit and a trip to Nogales Mexico used to be a part of it, but not since the drug war went white hot down there. It’s sad. I loved going to Mexico.
piratedan
@Raven: hey, I love it here, and while its not perfect, few places are. Hope your friend loves Florida, maybe you can hook him up with Betty on where to fish :-)
Raven
@redshirt: We would drive to Hermisillo and then across the desert to the gulf. Insane beauty with garbage dumps and plastic bags in the cacti. Great fishing.
Raven
@piratedan: Yea, his bride has work and after 20 years in the property management biz he was ready.
redshirt
@Raven: I’m surprised the USA didn’t seize the region either during the Mexican-American war or the Gadsden Purchase. Seems so ideal.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: You want the Jewish American guy to post Easter recipes?
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: Trust me, it was much cheaper for him to get the Lotus than to splurge on the blonde!
(Unless he did that too, in which case I’m very sorry for stirring up painful childhood memories)
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Nu, so why not?
Spread your wings and fly!
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne:
You are always quoting Hamilton (“super dead”)!
I know, I know, I’ve got the same disease. I’m reading Chernow’s Hamilton out loud to my husband as he cooks, and every time it mentions “Hercules Mulligan” I do it in the voice of the guy in the show whose name I can’t remember right now.
Okieriete Onaodowan
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Adam L Silverman: That kind of made me chuckle when I read it. Does our Hawaiian correspondent have a similar background?
Speaking of spring, if I were to email you a couple of items of savory Bundy junk for you to pass along to LAO, would that server as a digital Purim mitzvah? Most of my Jewish friends are out of town due to Spring Break preceding Easter in some districts here.
joel hanes
@p.a.:
The Cutters and OFF products with about 50% DEET seem to work
about as well as 100% DEET products like Muskol.
Amazon seems to carry at least a couple 100% DEET products;
although it looks as if the trusty old Muskol brand may have died.
I like to couple DEET-heavy repellents on the skin
with non-DEET herbals on my collar and cuffs and hat, etc.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: I make a mean roasted leg of lamb, maybe I’ll do that. I don’t have any pictures though.
And by mean I’m indicating tastiness, not that its running with a bad crowd and getting into trouble late on a school night.
Adam L Silverman
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Sure, send them along. I think I’ll do a roast leg of lamb and hamantaschen for dessert recipe for tonight. Very ecumenical.
Now I have to go wash and wax my car while its nice and overcast as the humidity is nice and low. Back later tonight. Most likely 9:30 or 10:00ish.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman:
yes, please. To the tasty, non-bad-crowd-running leg o’ lamb.
joel hanes
@joel hanes:
further googling discloses that Muskol is alive and thriving,
and although Amazon US doesn’t carry them, amazon.ca has the spray.
NotMax
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
So far as family background goes, yes.
@Adam L. Silverman
Proud member of the small club whose roster prefers hamantaschen with poppyseed filling
Gvg
@Betty Cracker: do not put them in the wild anywhere. Florida has enough non native invasive species. We don’t need to spend millions more getting rid of another pest please. Even if they die fast (and snails won’t) they can introduce microbes that kill things. You have to kill them or live with them.
The one that bothers me is the introduced venemous lion fish is all the way up the coast to Jax which should have been too cold for email but noooo. Those things scare me.
Fermion T. Clown
cone snails?!?
from here:
Possibly even worse than creeping Sharia Law.
tybee
@joel hanes:
amen
never release any wildlife into a stream. never.
mel
@Trollhattan:
It’s baffling, indeed. I first saw one about fifteen years ago. When I asked the baker what was up with the ciggie lamb, he looked totally taken aback. After an uncomfortably long silence, he blurted, “You know – maybe it’s a Catholic thing, or something!” and fled to the back room, leaving me and the teenaged assistant standing there in another awkward silence until she said, “Um … so… do you, like, want that sheep cake thingie?”
Um, like, NO!
Especially since that particular bakery’s version of Smokey the Lamb looked more like the love child of Yoda and a Bactrian camel.
mel
@Trollhattan:
It’s baffling, indeed. I first saw one about fifteen years ago. When I asked the baker what was up with the ciggie lamb, he looked totally taken aback. After an uncomfortably long silence, he blurted, “You know – maybe it’s a Catholic thing, or something!” -and fled to the back room, leaving me and the teenaged assistant standing there in another awkward silence until she said, “Um… so … do you, like, want that sheep cake thingie?”
Um, like, NO!
Especially since that particular bakery’s version of Smokey the Lamb looked more like the love child of Yoda and a Bactrian camel. The stuff of nightmares.
Prescott Cactus
@Mnemosyne: