You know one thing I really like about this shitty website? I ask a question about the fires in Australia. Moments later there is a guest post answering my questions. See on the news we killed some guy in the middle east. Log in and Adam has already answered my question.
That’s kinda cool. Full service blog.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Yeah, it is, when you’re not big footing those posts, Cole ?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Cole still posts here? Cole reads the blog?
Who knew?
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: ” Cole still posts here? Cole reads the blog? ”
I think both of those used to rotating headers, but someone culled them a while ago.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Test
mrmoshpotato
It is 44 degrees on January 2nd in Chicago! Do I have to explain my “!” ?
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Obligatory
jl
I’m very glad that Cole is happy. Cole being happy somewhat increases my happiness, at least when it comes to mind.
I was (important blog officers tell me) ‘inadvertently’ banned for a few weeks (that is, whoever banned me for no reason wouldn’t fess up, IMHO). Which I never bothered to inquire about because I procrastinated. And writing short comments and watching them disappear provided a certain spiritual awareness. It was going to be a New Year’s resolution to find out what was up. But great thanks to Watergirl for fixing it for me, and assuring me that it has happened to a few other commenters too.
I did notice that my ‘inadvertent’ banning coincided with the new rotating header contest. Hmmmm…. probably someone ratted me out to Cole for wreaking havoc with the last one. But I submitted any random thing that came to mind because I didn’t want Cole’s feelings hurt over not getting many submissions. I never suspected that all of the submissions would be dumped into the bin. So, to end this comment in the spirit of BJ comments, you whiners can get off my damn back about all the weird rotating headers that were here for a while.
jl
To make Cole even happier here are my two top submissions that I couldn’t submit during the new rotating header contest, because I was procrastinating:
“Where it always takes less than fifteen flushes”
“Thanks, but no more slices of beautiful orange fake”
PS, I’ll post more when I find the list I made.
mrmoshpotato
Oh YouTube. Off to watch this episode of Scooby Doo.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@jl:
Speaking of which, I wonder when the new rotating tags will be added? And what’s going on with the Pet Calendar?
jl
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I think see some new ones up now.
I never saw “Women: they get shit done” before. Is that new?
Jackie
John, now you see why we keep coming back! This blog is equivalent to the Book of Knowledge.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@mrmoshpotato:
Hah!
That totally reminds me of some YouTube channels I came across, this video in particular.
The genre seems to be called “analog horror”. The videos are made to look like recordings of late night programming from local community tv stations.
I recommend Local 58 and and Channel 7 (Tempest Verse). Channel 7 in particular builds up it’s lore. From what I can gather, there’s some kind of alien conspiracy with various groups trying to cover up and expose what’s going on. The efforts to expose the conspiracy take the form of broadcast intrusions to local television stations over the course of several years
I also recommend Analog Archives, the same person behind Channel 7. Here’s a sample: https://youtu.be/hoJoW1Z0WV0
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Yes, it’s pretty awesome, John.
THANK YOU!!!!! for hosting ? ? ?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Here’s some other favorites from Local 58:
Real Sleep
You Are on the Fastest Available Route
Redshift
Agree, that is one of the great things about the blog.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I hate to say it, but I think Dump just damaged his chance for a Nobel Peace Prize
West of the Rockies
Your blog is my go-to, everyday, several times a day site. It is a respite and source for informed dialogue, great good humor, and humanity.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Also too:
Weather Service
Adam L Silverman
I want a raise.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: Wait, you got ban hammered? Probably your potty mouth again.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: I’m sure Cole will be happy to double your current rate.
CarolDuhart2
@Adam L Silverman:
And probably a drink as well. I don’t, and really, can’t drink, but tonight I might want to have a sip of that pinot noir.
If Trump thinks that this will take away #impeachment, he doesn’t really know us very well at all. And Trump is so toxic and hateful that nobody is going to “rally around the flag” for him.
Riden with Biden and sanity.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
“Fastest Available Route” is very creepy.
frosty
Full service blog indeed. And I’m with the other commenters about hitting the site multiple times a day. Although I only spend (mumble, mumble) hours a day reading all the comments, I’m sure. But who clocks it?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Adam L Silverman:
I want a raise too. I’m a card carrying member of the BJ commentariat and I know my rights!
tomtofa
OT:
Another rich post from Heather Cox Richardson, from her “Letters from an American” newsletter (thank god not endless twitter threads). About Soleimani’s assassination; adds another context and perspective to Adam’s good coverage.
James E Powell
@CarolDuhart2:
Are we sure about this? What will be the effect of a week of “America! Fuck Yeah!” coverage across all cable shows? The Rs are going to blanket the country with “Democrats are objectively pro-terrorist” and “Why does Joe Biden hate the troops?”
It’s stupid, but it worked very well for them last time
I have more faith in the Cleveland Browns’ ownership than I do in our fellow Americans’ intelligence and wisdom.
SectionH
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: It’s still Thursday here, but that’s my vote for Tube-Winning snark tonight. Only 3 more Time Zones to go…
Jay
Anybody up to speed on Carlos Ghosn?
Mike J
What if I wanted to see pictures of a couple of dogs, maybe a cat?
JaySinWA
@James E Powell: One thing we can be sure of. If Donnie doesn’t get praised for this he is going to be ver-rry angry, and his minions will be front and center lamenting our ingratitude.
Martin
@Adam L Silverman: Cole said he was doubling your salary starting in 2020.
CarolDuhart2
@James E Powell: It worked with Bush because we were still traumatized after 911 and because Bush hadn’t actively tried to antagonize a lot of Americans, and because so many Democrats were being demonized due to right-wing radio and our Vietnam syndrome.
Another Scott
@tomtofa: Thanks.
Wag The Dog was not a documentary!! :-/
Cheers,
Scott.
SectionH
@James E Powell: IDK, but I’ve driven 2500 miles SAN-LEX once, and LEX-SAN twice in the last 3 months*, on different routes each time, and there are plenty of ppl all over the US, including places like Odessa TX who are SO over Trump. OK City has public charging places; Springfield MO at least has hotels with electric charging points. No guarantees about breaking all the voting problems this time, but a lot of still probably R for prez places seem kind of very not happy with Trump.
*”Cheap” one-way to CA in early Dec, doh. We got new SAN-LEX tix, and finally (YAY!) got our sweet little Volt home again. She took all the sleet and ice and 14º not normal in Nov. that Midwestern climate could throw and was wonderful. Gotta msg: “It is so cold, I have to run the gas engine.” Actual msg was less personal but the same.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@James E Powell:
The Trump tax cuts didn’t help the GOP in the midterms, even though they had been popular in the past with voters. The 2017 tax cuts proved to be incredibly unpopular
As @CarolDuhart2: says, there were a lot of factors that played into Bush’s reelection in 04. The shit hadn’t truly hit the fan yet and Bush hadn’t completely pissed away all of the good will and trust that 9/11 brought him. Remember, it was only two years later that Dems won both houses of Congress
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Steeplejack (phone):
Yeah, that’s my favorite one. A lot of mystery to it and unanswered questions like what was going on with the GPS nav, whatever it was that apparently killed the driver, and what the purpose behind the driver’s car trip; did they intend to go to that remote location.
Really good stuff and I’m glad you enjoyed it : )
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Analog horror? How dare you? I wish I had a set of rabbit ears with which to slap you. :)
You might find this YouTube channel interesting.
ETA – Or should I just drop a box of video tapes on you? (I seriously have a box full of VHS movies.)
mrmoshpotato
@Adam L Silverman: Pass around the hat, or build you a set of 3 steps?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SectionH:
Your mentioning the Volt made me look at the Bolt just now. It seems interesting. I’m a little leary on the range. Can you plug your Volt into charge at any outlet? My area has zero infrastructure for EVs.
mrmoshpotato
@CarolDuhart2:
He doesn’t know Nancy SMASH! very well either (or the fact that impeachment is in the books Soviet shitpile bucko!)
TheMightyTrowel
You’re welcome :)
Keep us in your thoughts tomorrow – supposed to be worse fire weather than New Years Eve – everyone is on alert or emergency status here in the southeast (again, I’m safe).
frosty
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
When my brother visits he plugs his Volt into my 120V outlet on the porch overnight. No charging station needed.
Mnemosyne
I’m bracing myself for the incoming wave of “predicting that this will end badly means that you WANT it to end badly!”
Because pointing out that a whole shitload of hornets are about to come pouring out of that hornets’ nest you whacked with a baseball bat is showing insufficient faith in America, I guess.
mrmoshpotato
@Mnemosyne: How dare you not ra ra sis boom ba AMERICA?!
George W. BushDump is a wartime prezzinent! Why do you hate the troops?!rikyrah
You are smart enough to get such smart help, Cole.
And, you let them shine??
NotMax
@jl
Possibly the most perplexing string of three words to appear here in eons.
:)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@mrmoshpotato:
Thank you so much! I watched his Film: the reason some of the past was in HD and it answered a lot of things I’ve pondered about.
I finally (kinda) know why soap operas look different than most other tv programs/films, (sort of) how analog television works, that film is amazing and super cool and how to specifically tell the difference between whether something was recorded on tape or on film. It was honestly a great overview video on modern visual media and I’m subscribed now
I too have lots of VHS tapes from the late 90s and early 2000s. I really need to get around to learning how digitize them and transfer them to DVDs so they’ll last longer
NotMax
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Yesterday spoke with a friend with whom I hadn’t touched base with quite in a while. Among other ventures he owns a second-hand music shop and told me that vinyl and cassettes now far and away outsell any digital formats there.
@mrmoshpotato
Heck, have scads of both VHS and Betamax tapes and still play them on occasion. Not as often as I play something from the collection of reel to reel tapes (a few of which date back over 60 years), but not all that infrequently either.
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Enjoy. It’s a very interesting channel.
Regarding VHS tapes, if it’s something you can rent on DVD, it’s not worth it. Professionally authored DVDs are made from better elements than analog tape (most of the time) and are cleaned up usually.
SectionH
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): I bought a used Volt (Carmax, they’re OK) got so spoiled in LEX, because we have a condo in San Diego, and we don’t have the chance to just plug in after every run. We’d have bought a total electric car otherwise. The “sigh” HoA is working on the lack-o-plugs. And I’m sooooo gonna push that now. Our house in Lexington… it has a duplex 110 v outlet right outside the upper level door so our Volt from Carmax in San Diego came with a Level 1 charger – it takes 12+ hours to fully charge from empty. But we had 12+ hours, and spent a couple of months not worrying about gas at all. Even at – $2.10/gallon. I’d have bought a Leaf or something years ago if I’d had an ability to charge the damn car… Now my lovely little car is “home” but I have to find some charging station which isn’t already occupied, to get it fully charged
Yes, I knew the job was dangerous when I took it. The Central Library has a bunch of charging stations, for instance. And almost all pay-for ones are at least level 2.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Well then, see if you have Volcano! in your collection. I remember my dad taped off PBS onto Betamax. I distinctly remember a road on fire from lava.
ETA – what film cans do you have?
CarolDuhart2
@mrmoshpotato: I think most of the digitizing of VHS tapes nowadays are things like family reunions and things that just aren’t available in any other format. Not to mention shows recorded on tape that just aren’t available readily anyway. Obscure soap opera? Live events broadcast on tv? Pretty much about it.
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Little need for it as if so inclined can go to watch it live versus Memorex.
;)
mrmoshpotato
@CarolDuhart2: Yes. Definitely. Got a tape of Super Bowl I in storage? AFI would like that. :)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@NotMax:
I prefer the quality that you can get out of digital formats. I absolutely hate not actually being able to physically own something tho. That’s why I’m fine with DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. For me, that’s as good as it going to get. Once I buy it, I own it and I don’t have to worry about licenses expiring on streaming services and then having to spend an additional 10 bucks a month just to have access to a show I like. Say what you will about cable/satellite, but bundling many channels together happened for a reason. You could end up spending $150 on streaming services to get what you could get with cable for like $60-70.
That being said, I do own an RCA handheld cassette tape recorder and several unused Maxell-R cassette tapes. I place some in time capsules I made over the years, mostly as means to study how time affects objects.
On one I recorded, I won’t be able to listen to it until March 20, 2039. It was recorded just prior to March 20, 2009. Ten years ago, stores like Walgreens still had things like CDs, cassettes, and tape recorders
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@mrmoshpotato:
Yeah, I know. But I would prefer to own the media I enjoy. I already own the VHS tapes, y’know?
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Are all NOVA episodes now online?
NotMax
@CarolDuhart2
Some time back Mom had a number of spools of home movies transferred to videotape.
And was royally ticked off to discover the place that did it had added, unbidden, a soundtrack of the crappiest, sappiest, schmaltziest music one could imagine.
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Fair enough. Just say no to pan and scan however. ?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@frosty:
So I could plug it into a wall outlet in a home garage then?
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Sounds like it, but it might be a trickle charge.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@SectionH:
That 12+ hrs to charge is no big deal while you’re at home asleep, but on the go? That would be pretty annoying for car trips, I must admit
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
That predates home video formats. Even predates U-matic cassettes. It’s possible some part of it is sitting on a linear video recording reel someplace, though.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@mrmoshpotato:
Also from local 58, I found this gif set from I forget what video, but it’s pretty profound. And pretty creepy
ETA: analog broadcast intrusions have good potential for lovecraftian horror and I haven’t noticed it being used much in horror
NotMax
@NotMax
Meant to include that those were reels of home movies shot during the 40s and 50s.
James E Powell
@CarolDuhart2:
@SectionH:
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I sure hope you guys are right and I’m wrong.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Mnemosyne:
It’s easier to just tell them to go fuck themselves to be honest
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: And that’s why AFI has Super Bowl I on its list of holy grails. :)
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
(stage whisper)
Psst. It's in Ukraine.
:)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@mrmoshpotato:
I’ll keep that in mind, thanks! : )
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Actually a much better chance of someone dredging up a kinescope than a videotape recording.
SectionH
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Oh and the reason we’ve been in LEX the last few months? Selling the house there.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@NotMax:
Kinescope is where they literally pointed a film camera at a television screen, isn’t it? That’s how they were able to store television broadcasts back in the early days, because prior to video tape TV was done live
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: LOL
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): AKA “This film has been modified from its original version. It has been formatted to fit your (4:3!) screen.”
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: True. Or the 10-hour version of Greed on 96-year-old nitrate stock. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
SectionH
@frosty: Yep. Slow charge, but easy. I so love my Volt.
SectionH
Sorry to change the subject but damn: Live from The Age (Melbourne paper)
OzarkHillbilly
@SectionH:
FYI, There is now a charging station in the Sullivan MO Walmart parking lot
OzarkHillbilly
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
You actually think the world (and you) will still be around come March 20, 2039? Aren’t you the optimist.
JPL
Good morning! I’m not sure what happens next but the war hawks are sure happy. It’s time for them to send their family members to the middle east.
blech
slightly_peeved
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
My favourite of the Local 58 videos is Contingency.
I’ve met the creator, Kris Straub, a few times – he writes the Broodhollow and Chainsawsuit webcomics and is one of the co-hosts of the PAX Aus game convention in Melbourne.
tinare
You created a cool space, Cole.
WaterGirl
@jl: Nope, that one is not new.
I’m waiting for a good time for Cole. In case anyone is wondering, when John is sick with a terrible sinus infection is not a good time.
Zelma
This is my happy place. And there’s not much to be happy about right now. I appreciate the information but I love the Snark.
sab
@tinare: In Akron OH where most everyone’s recent relatives were from West Virginia, we even have jokes : “What happened to the governor of West Virginia? Goodyear recalled him” Not accurate, but that is how we saw them.