Meanwhile, inside the box, Schrödinger’s cat plans its revenge. pic.twitter.com/kUEKYB1A7E
— Prof. Feynman (@ProfFeynman) May 28, 2021
Bird’s eye view of juggling. pic.twitter.com/gOgH2dAHMw
— Strictly (@StrictlyChristo) May 29, 2021
obsessed with this guy who just uploads videos of him playing classic rock riffs while his birb freestyles vocals pic.twitter.com/PRad1TY33D
— flop era orange coat guy (@rtnordy) May 26, 2021
So glad movie theaters are back ?? pic.twitter.com/N300NKmQmT
— Lebbertoxd (@InsaneLetterbox) May 29, 2021
My 8-year old daughter: “They’re in a library! I thought you weren’t supposed to do that in a library!”
Me: “That’s what makes it punk.”
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) May 21, 2021
Baud
“Don’t fear the
reaperraptor.”skerry
These damn cicadas are driving me crazy.
Alison Rose
Get that bird a fuckin record deal
Chetan Murthy
I can’t be the only one who watches President Biden’s actions and listens to his words, and worries that he might come to harm from them. He’s going to Tulsa tomorrow to commemorate the 1921 Massacre and Race Riot, and IIRC, a memorial observance was *already* canceled due to the threat of White supremacist violence. Geez. Geez. And I can’t write any more, b/c, as with 44, it scares me too much to do so. I never expected a President (to be brave enough) to do what he’s done.
John Revolta
When Mrs. Revolta go to see a movie in the theater, which isn’t often, we wait until it’s been out for three or four weeks and then go to the last showing of the day in an out of the way cineplex. Often we’ll be the only ones in there. It’s great!
craigie
@John Revolta:
First showing of the day is cheaper :-)
HumboldtBlue
Hobbies, huh?
This guy’s hobby is making music and here he does it with a cat.
Miss Bianca
That movie story is both hilarious and horrifying as I contemplate opening our theater this summer.
Shana
“That’s what makes it punk” That’s a dad teaching his kid right.
Another Scott
Great stuff. :-)
Relatedly, hippo off the stern…
!!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Jay
John Revolta
@craigie: Yeahbut people! *shudder*
debbie
@Alison Rose:
Not much of a dancer…
Baud
@Another Scott:
Their closest relatives are whales.
debbie
@Chetan Murthy:
It was canceled because the governor refused reparations for the survivors.
ETA: Link.
eclare
@HumboldtBlue: That video woke up my snoozing kitty!
Another Scott
Aljazeera:
Erdogan will probably have everyone who watched the videos arrested. :-/
Cheers,
Scott.
WaterGirl
@Jay: Who won the lawsuit?
Starfish
This thread is hilarious.
Chetan Murthy
@debbie: Oh, interesting. I thought I’d read they received threats of violence. In any case, while I can understand why the commemoration committee wouldn’t want to make payments to the survivors, I can also understand why the survivors would want those payments. I certainly can’t blame the survivors in this.
HumboldtBlue
@eclare:
If my cat had been inside he would have woken up too. Yesterday it was the mewling of a tiny kitten that pulled him away from his catnip ball.
eclare
@Another Scott: That is scary!
rikyrah
Madam Vice President Harris is GOAT! (@flywithkamala) tweeted at 1:58 PM on Mon, May 31, 2021:
The media has dogged Venus and Serena Williams for decades. Now they are doing it to Naomi Osaka.
No matter the industry or realm, the media constantly attacks high achieving Black Women and then expects them to continue on unbruised like whole institutions didn’t attack them.
(https://twitter.com/flywithkamala/status/1399440136891473922?s=03)
Splitting Image
The movie story reminds me of the time I was riding the bus home from work and a middle-aged lady got on and started chatting with the driver. She spent half of the trip complaining about how rude young people are these days and stood there blocking the door while a group of teenagers edged their way past her trying to get on. A taser would have come in handy there too.
I haven’t been to a movie theatre since a group of my friends decided to see Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.
rikyrah
Why all these onions ????
Rex Chapman?? (@RexChapman) tweeted at 11:46 AM on Wed, Apr 14, 2021:
Manchester, England:
After not seeing his wife Mary for several months due to the pandemic — Gordon decided to surprise her by moving into the assisted living home so they could be together.
Here’s the reunion…https://t.co/Kx40D57WzJ
(https://twitter.com/RexChapman/status/1382374719358431233?s=03)
debbie
@rikyrah:
Similarly, there was this from last summer that I still haven’t forgotten.
Ken
@Another Scott: All these years I thought “river horse” was metaphorical.
Raven
@Alison Rose: We went to see out friend’s Dead tribute band last night and I thought of you.
The Thin Black Duke
@rikyrah: I just saw what true love is.
gene108
@Chetan Murthy:
Committee agreed to pay the three living survivors $100k each, and put $2 million aside as restitution for descendants of those hurt by the massacre.
Per the article, the survivors and their lawyers asked for a lot more money, $1 mil for survivors, and $50 mil for descendants
Committee basically backed off at the higher demand amount. I think the respective sides lawyers are trying to agree on the amount for reparations.
There are other events scheduled this week, just not the big one with John Legend, Stacy Abrams, and the survivors.
rikyrah
RunJuly ? (@RunJuly) tweeted at 2:21 PM on Mon, May 31, 2021:
The anger toward Naomi Osaka withdrawing from the French Open shows me people aren’t just mad she wont talk to press to protect her mental health, they’re mad at the fact she has the power and wealth to choose not entertain you if she so wishes.
(https://twitter.com/RunJuly/status/1399446010057789443?s=03)
Chetan Murthy
@gene108: One of the reasons I don’t buy property (even here in majority-minority CA) is that I feel like, if the shit really hits the fan, it’s easier to move more-liquid assets out of the country. I figure, if the US ever stopped capital movements across its borders, it’d fall apart in about 2 days, so that’ll be a step they won’t take for quite a while. I remember reading about all the steps the Nazis took, to prevent Jewish Germans from emigrating with their assets, and think to myself: that’s a lot easier to do when the assets are physical, than when they’re rows in a database.
But I could be completely wrong. Sigh.
leeleeFL
@Chetan Murthy: I knew he would be brave, just like I knew Obama would be brave. A not brave pair would have just said “Fuck it!”
Brave, patriotic and selfless. What a gift for a weary nation!
WaterGirl
@debbie: I thought it was cancelled because the survivors upped the reparations amount at the last minute. by a factor of 10, it looked to me.
Chetan Murthy
@rikyrah: Heh, what she could use is an anger translator to take the questions for her when she doesn’t want to. [ok, ok, I’m only joking]
100%, yeah, this is bullshit. The press oughta submit their questions beforehand, and she can provide answers to the ones she wants, either in person or in writing. Or not. This idea of a damn media circus is infuriating.
eclare
@rikyrah: People are mad at her? She doesn’t owe anyone anything.
zhena gogolia
@leeleeFL:
Yeah.
Baud
John Revolta
@eclare: One of my favorite Bob Dylan lines is not from a song:
“Just because you like my stuff doesn’t mean I owe you anything”
debbie
@WaterGirl:
I read this morning that the governor had shut down negotiations, but reporting seems to have changed since then.
zhena gogolia
I don’t remember BJ Thomas singing this well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11UD4odvMgY
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Okay that Cruella story is going into my “why I still don’t leave the house after being vaccinated” file
zhena gogolia
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Haha, me too. I’m hoping to go see In the Heights, but I think that if we go in the afternoon to our sleepy local theater it will be okay.
The last film we saw there was Little Women. There were about 20 women, my husband, and another guy who said to him, “We’re the only guys here” as he went up the aisle.
Starfish
@zhena gogolia: That’s the last movie that I saw in a theater with friends in 2019 before the pandemic hit.
zhena gogolia
@Starfish:
At least it was a good one!
gene108
@Chetan Murthy:
One thing the U.S. Treasury Department did, prior to the American entry into the war, was catalog the assets of Dutch, Belgian, etc. nationals and the respective governments had with U.S. banks, so the Nazis couldn’t request our banks to remit them back to Europe. This included things like gold, stock certificates, bonds, etc.
I heard this on an NPR segment, but I can’t remember which one.
Wag
@Another Scott: Don’t want to blow anyone’s mind, but when I shows the video of the hippo to my daughter she said “I saw that the other day. And apparently hippos can’t swim, so when they’re leaping out of the water like that, they’re running along the bottom of the river, and jumping up for air.”
Don’t know that it’s true, but really cool if it is.
WaterGirl
@debbie: I’m guessing that this is what they call a fluid situation. :-)
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I think it’s being streamed AND is in theaters, but I may be confusing that with something else.
I’ll be doing the streaming version for movies in the the upcoming year.
eclare
@zhena gogolia: I think that’s the last movie I saw, too. I met two of my aunts to see it.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Another Scott:
That looks like the Zambezi above Victoria Falls, and likely one of the ferry boats from the landing in Livingstone headed to the resorts. When we did our safari, those fuckers were everywhere around – we passed within 20 yards of bunches of them within a hollowed log canoe thing that was propelled by a stick in the Okavango.
The Pale Scot
@Raven:
Uncle John’s Band?
gene108
@rikyrah:
Press conferences with players after games and matches is usually pointless. I can see how prior to social media it served purpose, because the media reports would be the primary way for the public to get information about players.
Also, she wanted have the media hold off on questions until after the tournament, so she wouldn’t have distractions. She’d wrote she was willing to talk afterward. The tennis association and media didn’t honor her request. She dropped out.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl:
I was looking at streaming movies last week, and it seems like the bigger new releases are renting for $20, which I’m guessing isn’t much more than a ticket at a multiplex these days (Grampa Foolish hasn’t been inside a movie theatre in ten years). In the end, I decided to watch, based on a long ago rec from these threads, Tucker and Dale vs The Evil. It was a mite bit gorier than I was prepared for, but a clever twist on horror movies.
Matt McIrvin
@Starfish: Little Women was the last one we saw, too. It was good, but the one before that was Knives Out, which was great.
That said: in summer 2020, when the COVID rates were pretty low here, one of our local theater chains was trying to stay afloat by renting out entire theaters for low prices (mostly non-first-run films) so you could see a movie privately. A few of us did it and saw Inception, which I guess was rereleased as part of the advance hype for Tenet. I’m not sure it was actually that safe an exercise, but it was interesting to do once.
Poe Larity
Dammit, there go my vacation plans.
Fair Economist
@gene108: 2 million is an insulting level of reparations. The History Channel special estimated the damages at 8 million *in 1921 money* which would be about 120 million today. Then there’s a century of real-valued interest, which would at least quadruple it. So fair compensation would be in the neighborhood of 500 million.
One thing that immediately jumped out at me from watching the special: the Tulsa Massacre was not a spontaneous riot. It was planned, with very nefarious intent. To wit:
Incendiary language in the newspaper, overdone even by the standards of the time.
Rapid intervention of the police providing deputization and arms to the butchers.
A special siren set up to signal to thousands of people waiting for the signal.
Intentional arson attacks on most of the buildings in the district. That’s a lot of arson!
Machine guns to crack defensive nests.
And of course the killer: AIRPLANES with *preprepared bombs*. That’s not something just lying around in the dawn of the aviation age!
The Tulsa Massacre was an ethnic cleansing, carefully planned by a fairly large conspiracy. In addition to reparations and “never again” preparations, we need to investigate who profited from the destruction of Greenwood. Because they were the ones that really did it.
Chetan Murthy
@Fair Economist: There’s that saying: “behind every great fortune there lies a great crime”. Britain lived off of India for more than a century[1] from what I’ve read. None of these great crimes are ever compensated. None of them.
But that doesn’t mean that these survivors and descendants don’t deserve to extract every penny possible. And that’d be less necessary, but for the ongoing racism of our society.
[1] perhaps several; I am not conversant with the history on that subject.
Another Scott
@Wag: Truth is stranger than fiction. TheAtlantic (from 2017).
Clever designer, that evolution fellow.
Cheers,
Scott.
Wag
@Another Scott: Truth really is stranger than fiction.
Another Scott
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Yikes.
Must have been amazing.
And it was – you even shared pictures with us.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Starfish
@Matt McIrvin: I still have not seen knives out. Someone just now told me about the theater rental thing when I mentioned wanting to rent some community pool after hours.
Princess Leia
@HumboldtBlue:
Oh, that is so much fun!!! He’s pretty amazing!
Brachiator
@Chetan Murthy:
I could worry about any president, regardless of his or her politics, because there are some crazy asswipes out there.
But I don’t. There is no point.
Fuck white supremacist assholes.
Rob
@Another Scott: You’re probably right about that
Elizabelle
@Fair Economist: I have not read it yet, but interesting article about an eyewitness account by attorney Buck Colbert Franklin, an attorney and father of the late, great John Hope Franklin. Smithsonian Mag from 2016; no paywall.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/long-lost-manuscript-contains-searing-eyewitness-account-tulsa-race-massacre-1921-180959251
ETA: Slate published BC Franklin’s manuscript in full.
https://slate.com/culture/2019/10/watchmen-b-c-franklin-tulsa-massacre-account-full-text.html
Feathers
@Starfish: Most small community theaters can show anything you bring on BluRay. If you are bringing a disc that you own, it’s not a copyright issue, they are merely renting you a room and projector.
It’s fun to have a screening of somebody’s favorite movie on a big screen for their birthday, especially one they never saw in the theater. If you get a group together, it costs about the same as a regular movie.
gwangung
In the Heights will be streamed, as it is released, on HBO Max. And HBO Max doesn’t charge a premium for seeing it at the same time as the theatre release.
Disney, on the other hand, does…
Brachiator
@Another Scott:
This is also why the Hippo team are a lock in the Synchronized Swimming events in the Olympics.
debbie
@Brachiator:
They’re not bad ballerinas either!
Wag
@Brachiator: Disney beat you to it. Dancing hippos in Fantasia
Feathers
@gene108: What gives the game away is that they are saying that an athlete not doing the press conferences would have a competitive advantage over one who did. These press conferences provide no useful information and lower the quality of play. It’s all about the media outlets’ egos.
I still haven’t seen anything on whether it is actually in the player contract that they could kick her out for not doing the press conferences. If the only penalty listed is the fine, then she should just be able to pay it and play. A fine is simply a price, after all.
I also have the feeling that if a dude were doing this, it would be a brave and principled stance.
Chetan Murthy
@Feathers:
I’m disappointed the WTA hasn’t taken a firmer stand on this. Lots of people aren’t extroverts. The idea that you have to be one, to be a pro tennis player, is pretty damn wrong.
Sister Golden Bear
Sometimes, t’s the little victories that count. I braved a trip to IKEA today to get the missing shelves I needed for my new TV console. They reportedly had seven in stock, but by the time I got there, I nabbed the last one. Still need four more, I’m still happy because this is the visible shelf where the AV receiver will go — and online they’re back ordered until mid-July.
Plus, I discovered they have a cute new yellow cushion for the lounge chair I picked up used for $20. Just the sort of color pop I was looking for as I redecorate the living.
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
I’m glad to see this film being discussed. It looks as though it will be available via some streaming services, which is probably where I will see it.
I don’t know when I will feel comfortable going to the movie theaters again. On top of it, the movie theater nearest me went out of business because of the pandemic.
I do note that a second run movie house, popular with seniors, some college students and large families, is getting set to start up again. I think this is cool.
Last film I saw in theaters was Knives Out. Cool that they are working on a sequel. The movie was lots of fun. Daniel Craig was a hoot and a half.
Among the co-workers at a former employer, there were some guys who absolutely would not go to see a movie that their wives or girlfriends wanted to see.
Jerzy Russian
@John Revolta:
That is what I used to do. I was the only one in the theater when I saw Captain Marvel.
PaulWartenberg
Writers’ check-in:
They’ve published “Strangely Funny vol.VIII” today. It has “War of the Murder Hornets” and OMG they used a quote from my story as part of the book blurb!
https://www.amazon.com/Strangely-Funny-VIII-Sarah-Glenn/dp/1949281167/
HumboldtBlue
@PaulWartenberg:
That’s wonderful. Congrats!
Another Scott
@PaulWartenberg: :-)
Excellent!
Cheers,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
@Brachiator:
I’m lucky in that he likes a lot of “women’s” movies.
Brachiator
@Feathers:
I don’t know. They had hinted at harsher penalties.
I am ultimately glad that she beat them to the punch and withdrew.
Sports pundits don’t know how to react. I get the feeling that some journalists were trying to set her up as the ” new nice black woman” in opposition to Serena Williams as “the old scary black woman,” but Osaka is not playing along.
Doubtful. The tennis bodies want that sweet cable and TV money. And that means trotting the players out for meaningless interviews. And the cable and TV stations want their reporters to be seen with the athletes.
Professional sports is show business as much as it is competition. And everyone wants the merchandise to be sold effectively.
ETA: I don’t know about ratings, but these days I prefer to watch women’s tennis, if I watch tennis at all.
frosty
Last movie I saw in Jan 2019 was Ford vs. Ferrari with a friend on a rain Monday night. We were two of the four people in the theater.
gene108
@Starfish:
@Matt McIrvin:
Pre-pandemic some theaters would allow people to rent out a theater to show a movie the theater wasn’t running.
Usually see this with Indian movies. Someone rents out the theater. Sells tickets for people to see the movie separate from the regular box office.
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
Very cool.
ETA: I guess the movie studios are breathing a sigh of relief now that A Quiet Place 2 is doing well at the box office. From BBC News.
Still, I know a few people who now say that if a movie is not a big superhit they might stay home rather than go out to the movies.
Barbara
@frosty: That’s the last movie I saw as well, on the last ski trip I took with my family. Loved it.
Mary G
A twist on the cats in boxes tweet:
CaseyL
Hi, everyone! I’m back from a couple days at Ocean Shores. The weather was lovely.
I have never seen an interview with an athlete that was worth the air it took to form the Q&A. The only exception I can think of offhand was Martina Navratilova, who gave great interviews, but she Had No Fucks Left to Give (long before that was fashionable).
I’ve never heard either Serena or Venus Williams give an interview, because I frankly pay little attention to any sports, so if they are honest, forthright, and occasionally offensive to delicate sensibilities, good for them!
Chetan Murthy
@CaseyL: A-yup.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2021/may/31/were-not-the-good-guys-osaka-shows-up-problems-of-press-conferences
”
We’re not the good guys: Osaka shows up problems of press conferences”
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Brachiator: Michael Wilbon, among others, called out the tournament officials for their jackassery.
It seems that the media complex is as self-important in sports as they are in politics. Quelle surprise.
Chetan Murthy
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): In politics, there’s something to report, if you’re willing to do the legwork: real policy, real consequences, real good & bad guys. In sports? So much of it is just humans imposing a narrative on slightly-biased random walks.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Chetan Murthy: In sports and since forever in politics as well. Narratives get pushed in both spaces.
Brachiator
@Chetan Murthy:
Sports and politics can be very similar in some ways. This is why you have cynical hack reporters covering each area in much the same way. Instead of sports teams, you have political parties. In both realms, there are bums whose achievements are magnified and feats of glory or infamy which reporters either lie about or magnify.
wkwv
I could use your opinions on patio umbrellas. We finally upgraded from a homemade picnic table to a metal table and chair set. The table is 42in and seats 4 people. Do we buy a 6ft umbrella, 9ft or 11ft- which sounds too big for the table. Does anyone have any ideas?
rikyrah
Charlotte Clymer ?️? (@cmclymer) tweeted at 1:32 PM on Mon, May 31, 2021:
A lot of folks don’t know that Medgar Evers served in World War II and is buried here at Arlington. In a cemetery full of presidents, justices, astronauts, generals, admirals, etc., his grave is one of the most visited.
Look at how many folks have been by to pay respects today. https://t.co/NGqMeplvA0
(https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/1399433546545176587?s=03)
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
This is very sad and sobering, but it is good to know that so many people remember him and honor his memory.
Another Scott
@wkwv: We bought a California Umbrella for our ~ 12′ x 16′ deck several years ago. A 9-foot diameter one. I got a separate heavy aluminum base (with wheels) – I think the base weighs 70 pounds.
It has held up well, the fabric hasn’t torn or faded, and seems to be a good size for our space.
Do be careful about winds though. Even with the air vents, and the heavy base, it can get knocked over if it’s too breezy. (We got it for general shade on our patio doors – we don’t have a patio table.)
I would guess that you want something that is at least 4-feet (2-feet on each side) larger diameter than your table (so that if the sun is overhead that everyone can be in the shade without being right up against the table). So 4 + 3.5 = 7.5 feet diameter. So 6-feet might work, but sounds a little small. 9-feet should be more than big enough.
The California Umbrella website seems to be down for some reason, maybe it will be up tomorrow. I recall that it was good for seeing various styles in use, proportions, etc.
I hope this helps a little. Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
@Brachiator: I did not know Medgar Evers is buried at Arlington. Will pay my respects next time I’m up there.
wkwv
@Another Scott:
Thanks Scott, that helps a lot. I thought I had killed the thread. I should focus between 7.5 and 9 feet.
Ivan X
I cannot believe there have not been more comments about that phenomenal parrot. I spent like 30 mins on that guy’s YouTube page. The parrot actually sings in something resembling the right key and rhythm, and the guy didn’t even know, he just figured it out one day when he was playing White Wedding and the parrot wanted to be included.