cool welcome to america, i hear lots of people are hiring, which is good. https://t.co/03uiTfZHDt
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) September 18, 2021
Seriously, though: Good news, if true.
Watch: The police and reporters far outnumbered attendees at the "Justice for J6" rally in Washington, with fewer than 100 people gathering in support of those accused of storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. https://t.co/yMkGvHQssT pic.twitter.com/FY4zsqo6lu
— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 18, 2021
ETA:
Midwest Diner on the Mall. https://t.co/hHmdO6T0Ub
— zeddy (@Zeddary) September 18, 2021
Another Scott
A DC Police press conference that I heard on Friday said that they expected 700 people. It sound like even that number was a gross, gross over-estimate.
Yay!
Someone on Twitter made the point that this is yet another indication that TFG incited the 1/6 attack. Though far fewer people attended that than they pretended to expect, it was still much larger than today. And he didn’t tell people to come today…
Cheers,
Scott.
pat
@Another Scott:
I think I read that the PERMIT was for 700.
Wonder what it will take for TFG to stroke out….
Mike in NC
If I never read anything written the odious Ari Fleischer for the rest of his life, I’d he happy.
schrodingers_cat
Low energy sad.
Baud
Good.
Ladyracterinok
Hi! My tablet has been broken for a long time. In addition I fell at the end of April and went to the ER. It turns out I had a minuscule fracture of the lower back. Other problems were later discovered and I was sent to a rehab facility. After a hundred days of therapy I am now in an assisted living apartment.
I’ve missed the internet and especially reading the comments.
I was glad to see that so many I remember are still here. Getting old—I’m nearly 82—makes a person especially sensitive about such things.
Glad to be back and able to read the essays and comments at balloon juice!!!
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Indeed. There are more people at an average Indian wedding than this so called rally.
Danielx
@schrodingers_cat:
the very words.
WaterGirl
@Ladyracterinok: Welcome back! 5 months without the internet, holy cow, I’m glad you survived that. :-)
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
@Ladyracterinok:
Welcome back.
Jeffro
Jan 6th: after trumpov rails for months about a stolen election: tens of thousands of his rabid followers show up, sack the Capitol, beat on police all day long.
Sept 18th: after he realizes it’s gonna be a dud, trumpov tells his followers “it’s a trap, stay away”: tens of his rabid followers show up…but tens of thousands of his rabid followers stay away.
In both cases, we have an outgoing/former president directing many dangerous people who will do/not do whatever he asks. He’s not asking them to vote, register, organize, boycott, make calls, write letters, or any of that. It’s “attack” or “don’t attack…for now…to avoid FBI scrutiny”.
Could there be anyone or anything more anti-American? Anything more dangerous?
Anne Laurie
@Ladyracterinok: WELCOME BACK!
(Insert cheers & party hat emojis)
Suzanne
@Ladyracterinok: Oh man, you’ve missed a lot! Welcome back! Have you heard about Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s balls?
Omnes Omnibus
@Ladyracterinok: If you want a welcome back “Go fuck yourself,” I am sure Baud will oblige.
Seriously, glad you are back and on the mend.
Suzanne
Fewer than 100 people, so about the same as Trump’s inauguration.
Baud
@Ladyracterinok:
@Omnes Omnibus:
Just say the word.
Another Scott
@Ladyracterinok: Good to see you here! Hang in there and don’t be a stranger.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Jeffro:
If tens of thousands of people had showed up, it wouldn’t have been a dud.
Ladyracterinok
It was busted a few months before I fell.!!!!
But I did have TV in rehab and have it in assisted living (cable service supplied by the facility but I have to use my own TV)!!!
Without a tablet I could not read the internet so it’s great to be able to read and comment.
In rehab and this first month in assisted living I’ve had little time to think about or mourn my inability to follow the internet.
Super glad to be back!!!
Danielx
@Suzanne:
About half the size of an Italian wedding, maybe less.
Uncle Omar
I’m sure that this has come up and been thoroughly chewed, but I just saw that professional Loon Laura Loomer has the Covid and is PO’ed that docs won’t prescribe invermectin and wants her dozens of fans to pray for her. Were it not unseemly and if I believed in the “power of prayer” and if there were such a place I would pray for a soft landing spot in Hell for her, right next to Joe Rogan.
Baud
@Suzanne:
Haha.
Danielx
@Ladyracterinok:
And good to see you!
Ladyracterinok
@Suzanne:
A bit but I find it mostly very confusing and probably not very important as well. Am I on track with this opinion???
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
Howdy. I may be back after an even longer absence
How is everybody?
Baud
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Hello.
What’s going on with everyone coming back tonight?
Suzanne
@Ladyracterinok: Well, it is certainly not very important! But it has been one of the funnier things to come out of the pandemic, in my opinion. (This pandemic really has not been as hilarious as I need it to be.) Here’s an explainer.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Baud: Dark forces are gathering.
Kristine
@Ladyracterinok: Could you at least go old school with TV and newspapers? If 2020 was a history degree/month, 2021 will be a bio degree a week.
Welcome back!
Danielx
@Uncle Omar:
I think it was Clarence Darrow who said (roughly speaking) that he had never actually wished anybody dead, but had read many obituaries with great pleasure. I’m sort of the same way when I read about wingnut antivax radio commentators and the like dying of COVID. Sorry for their families and all, but the strongest feeling I can summon is “sucks to be you”.
JoyceH
Okay, the SpaceX capsule has splashed down and the pickup boat will be there in about 30 minutes. There are four people on board which makes the odds close to certain that at least one has already jumped up to remove carryons from the overhead bins.
Another Scott
@Uncle Omar:
(via DougJBalloon)
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: It’s good to see you again too!
Doing Ok. About to head out to walk the Doggie and look for foxes, and maybe see a few bats.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@Another Scott:
I thought that was DougJBalloon.
Danielx
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
We know that, you have to be specific.
trollhattan
@Ladyracterinok:
{waves} Welcome back, or home, as the more desperate among us refer to the joint. :-)
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Ladyracterinok: ouchie! So sorry you got hurt and your tablet broke. Glad you are out of rehab! Welcome back!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Danielx: Dangerous dark forces are gathering.
Suzanne
Lord, I am now musing on what it would be like to be disconnected from the internet for a few months and to come back and see all of the memes out of context.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Another Scott: could’ve plugged soooo many names into that byline space. Several million, actually
@Suzanne: I don’t even know if I’d remember how to procrastinate without the internet anymore
Danielx
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Those fucking flying monkeys again – I knew it. And they’ve replaced those caps with MAGA hats, I’ve been told.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Ladyracterinok:
I’m sorry to hear about your travails, and I’m glad you’re on the mend. And it’s good to see you back here.
Ladyracterinok
@Suzanne:
Thanks. That article was helpful. Did she do it just for publicity?!?!
NotMax
@Ladyracterinok
Nice to (virually) see you back! Keep on keeping on.
WaterGirl
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Welcome back!
WaterGirl
@Baud: You didn’t make it clear that you think that’s a good thing. :-)
Baud
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
What does my high school reunion have anything to do with this?
Catherine D.
Open thread? Apple TV+ is streaming a live recording of Come from Away. One of my favorite musicals that I never thought I’d get to see. Stick with it to the end for the musicians’ Screech Out and the photos of the real people.
Suzanne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I have been having a hard time reading books since the pandemic started. Too much doomscrolling and I am working on regaining enough focus to read more than an article or blog post. Having a toddler isn’t helping. I still read a lot, but more a bunch of short, disparate things. The sense of constant crisis/elevation that the pandemic brought has been one of the hardest things for me to cope with.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Baud: But I was talking about Gen Con!
Omnes Omnibus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Hey dude! How are you?
JPL
@Ladyracterinok: Welcome back and you’ll find out things haven’t changed that much around here.
JPL
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: No more dark forces please.
Suzanne
@Ladyracterinok: We’ll, there’s debate about why she did it. I mean, she is a celebrity and therefore likely fairly inclined toward getting attention. She did this in the night of the Met Gala, which she has attended in years past, but this year, they had a vaccine requirement and so she didn’t attend. Maybe other celebrities getting attention bothered her. But I guess her husband has some legal trouble (pled guilty to failing to register as a sex offender) and some people surmise that this is a way to distract from that.
I find it hilarious that she essentially outed the dude for cheating on his fiancée, getting a STI, and then tried to blame the vaccine.
Jay C
@Uncle Omar:
I’m thinking Hell for Laura Loomer will actually be right at the Gates
of Paradise. Handcuffed to the non-moving door while everyone else goes right in past her…..
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Suzanne: I’ve had the same thing with reading since the 2016 campaign. I have to make a decision to sit down and read on paper. Listening to audiobooks while walking is a good new habit I’ve developed, but it’s not the same I really want to get back to paper books.
I just finished Dan Jones’ Crusaders and I’m trying to pick my next distraction from current events. But right now I’m reading and posting on a political blog with a half cleaned kitchen ten feet away from me, and stairs tragically un-vacuumed
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Omnes Omnibus: Decidedly meh. I’m lonely. Depression’s been a problem. I haven’t gotten any writing done in a couple of years. Trying to find some way to get myself jump started.
On the other hand, it’s two weeks until I get to go to ahockey game for the first time in 19 months.
NotMax
@JPL
Outside of a rare few (not you) who continue to confuse this place with slavering-ghoul.com.
Suzanne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, I definitely relate. I also am in the middle of the initial design phase on the largest project of my career (won’t be open until 2028) and it is incredibly complex. When I am in this stage of design on a project, I often get very wrapped up in it and have a hard time detaching. Neglect self-care, work too much, mind racing, etc etc etc. I’m trying to be better.
MomSense
@Ladyracterinok:
So glad you are back and feeling better!!
Richard
@Suzanne:
Haha! I am happy our friend survived. Sometimes people do survive and get out of rehab.
If she would like, our community could make sure she has tablet and internet. Tablets are easy for us older people to use.
jl
I still miss the costumes. Used to be the wingnut protesters had better costumes than the police riot squads. Sadly, no more. Where are the Conan the Viking Ninja Turtle Space Cadets?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Ladyracterinok: Good to have you back.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Hockey should help.
NotMax
@jl
Not so much the ones who shop at
Filene’sAdolf & Eva’s Basement.//
zhena gogolia
@Ladyracterinok: Welcome back!!!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: I think you have them confused with Comicon.
debbie
@Uncle Omar:
I saw her tweeting that COVID was the worst illness she’s ever had. Surprise!
Mary G
@Ladyracterinok: @Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Welcome back to both of you!
laura
@Ladyracterinok: Welcome back and congratulations on your recent scuffle and victory over “the things that come with time” and three cheers for living in a supportive housing situation. I hope to see your nym and comments on the regular.
Mary G
O/T, but I can’t help the immense schadenfreude I felt upon reading this:
Baud
@Mary G:
Gotta make room for the new guys.
topclimber
@schrodingers_cat: Too funny!
zhena gogolia
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Welcome back! Heard about Nicki Minaj’s cousin?
MomSense
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Hey you! Good to see you.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Thunderbird.
Raven
Go Dawgs!!!
senyordave
I somehow managed to not know who Laura Loomer is until yesterday. I checked her out on twitter and honestly thought t might be a parody account. Here is an actual tweet from this creature (Nov 17, 2017):
In NYC today looking for a public bathroom that doesn’t have a Muslim in it or anywhere in the immediate vicinity. This is anti Semitism.
This person ran for Congress?
debbie
Goddamn Twitter. I come across a rare, non-COVID post:
along with some great replies:
and
Then this jerk comes along:
Looking forward to the imminent well-deserved abuse. ?
JPL
@zhena gogolia: The Hardy boys came out of retirement and solved the case.
Baud
@senyordave:
The entire American right is a parody.
Raven
@Omnes Omnibus: What’s the price? Forty twice!
zhena gogolia
@Suzanne: Me too. The only way I get through books (other than the ones I get paid to read) is by reading out loud to my husband while he cooks dinner. We just finished two winners — North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
It’s the cousin’s friend.
Poor cousin.
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus:
Obligatory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xY7mBQrzXU
zhena gogolia
@Baud: I’m proud to say I have never gone to any site that will explain this issue to me in detail. LIFE IS TOO SHORT
JPL
@Baud: You say poor cousin, but by now he has an agent and is arranging tv appearances. If you don’t take advantage of I’m Nicki’s cousin now, when will you?
Ken
@JPL: I wonder if Nicki Minaj’s Trinidadian cousin’s friend ever met Manti Te’o’s Canadian girlfriend?
JPL
@Ken: That must be why he had the health emergency.
tom
Since this is an open thread – thank goodness this lousy excuse for a bar at least has Maker’s
zhena gogolia
@tom: Sounds good!
Chetan Murthy
@Mary G: It’s moments like these, that make me remember our common humanity. I can’t manage to maintain the “fuck ’em”, and instead find myself thinking “jesus wept.”
debbie
@Ken:
Colbert showed a clip of a news conference held by Trinidadian officials who said there were no reports of swollen testicles anywhere in Trinidad. He was masked, but it was still obvious he was unamused.
Suzanne
@debbie: Poor schmuck has probably talked about nothing besides this one poor mystery dude’s balls for almost a week. And, as we all know, a joke is never funnier than when fully explained.
different-church-lady
I’m drunk.
I’m tired.
My soul hurts.
I don’t want your hugs, but I’m not so churlish as to reject them.
Seriously, frequently I wonder what the fuck is so wrong with people that basic human decency is beyond their grasp. IT’S NOT HARD. Rejecting it takes SO MUCH MORE ENERGY.
JMG
I am currently rereading “History of the French Foreign Legion,” by Douglas Porch. Last read it about 20 years ago, found it on the bookshelves, and began again. I only read like 10 pages or so a night in bed before turning the lights out. It’s my true sleep aid. Used the “Trouble Is My Business” short story collection by Raymond Chandler before this one.
Suzanne
Speaking of the toddler obliterating my focus, I do not really watch TV very much, maybe one or two shows per year. But last week, Mr. Suzanne and I tried to start watching “Only Murders in the Building”. The kid just cannot bear to have us watch anything, and she climbs on one or both of us constantly. We just tried for the third time, probably for a grand total of two hours. We have now made it just over of 23 minutes into the first episode.
CaseyL
@Suzanne: My concentration span is shot, too. If I read an ebook, I stop after each chapter to open another tab to check on what’s going on. If I’m reading a real book, I close it every chapter to get online to check on what’s going on.
There’s too much news nowadays. I remember a halcyon time when I could go for days or even weeks without knowing, or needing to know, what fresh hells were upon us.
raven
@CaseyL:
I remember a halcyon time when I could talk about football all night on Saturday.
Chetan Murthy
@CaseyL: Yesterday the power went out around here for 1-2hr. I got thru an entire Scalzi novel by the time it came back on. Here’s to intermittent power outages!
different-church-lady
@JMG: The truest sleep-aide in the world is Proust.
Suzanne
@CaseyL: I feel like this is a reasonable mental state to be in during a crisis, but this damn pandemic is just going on and on and it’s not healthy to live like this for an extended period. I have been doing hot yoga and that helps. If only because I have to leave the house and I keep my phone in a locker. The sweating is just disgusting, though. Lord.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@different-church-lady: that’s why he himself went to bed early, for a long time
debbie
@different-church-lady:
For me, it was Sartre.
zhena gogolia
@different-church-lady: Hugs!
Suzanne
@JMG: DOOD. A couple of weeks ago, I tried to start reading “Discipline and Punish” by Foucault. I didn’t realize that it kicks off with an incredibly descriptive (gory and horrifying) recounting of an execution. I couldn’t sleep afterward. That was a bad idea.
raven
@different-church-lady:
I’m Tired Madeline Kahn Blazing Saddles
Nelle
Back in the late ’70’s and early ’80’s, i spent summers on an island off the north coast of Alaska (an island in summer when the ocean thawed along the coast). No TV, occasional radio, though mostly in Inupiat. Mail once a week, if the plane could land (lots of fog in the summer). No phone. We found out about what was going on weeks later. I remember it with fondness.
different-church-lady
@CaseyL: The internet is changing our brains in ways we’re probably only beginning to understand.
raven
@Nelle: Ever read “Desolation Angels”?
dmsilev
Like a lot of places, LA is coping with a bunch of whiners in the cop and firefighter unions who don’t want to get vaccinated. In addition to mandating vaccines (which said whiners are currently suing over) the LAPD is also hitting them where it hurts, in the wallet:
LAPD officers need COVID vaccine or negative coronavirus test to work overtime at big events
(narrator: most of the venues don’t allow it)
So, if the cops want any of that sweet stadium-security overtime cash, they either have to suck it up and get their shots or shell out their own time and money getting tested every three days.
Chetan Murthy
@Suzanne: the first half-3/4 of the book is great, though. When he gets more and more into a universal theory of penology, it breaks down (for me) but the early start of that theory is pretty thrilling stuff. It’s really affected the way I see modern bureaucracy, corporate organization & architecture.
I used to joke to my colleague at [big-ass Internet company] that we worked in the Panopticon.
Benw
@raven: seriously. Can I whine about the Tech-Clemson game? I wanted Tech to punch it in so bad I stopped caring if they won. Also, cool onside kick!
different-church-lady
@debbie: No, Satre punishes you but in the end I felt it was worth it. I’ve yet to reach anything like that state with Proust.
Danielx
@different-church-lady:
Believe me, we feel your pain :(
different-church-lady
WHO THE FUCK DOESN’T WANT TO GET VACCINATED? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEIR BRAINS????????
raven
@Benw: Well I really couldn’t try to figure out which of the family of networks they were on but the Hokies suffered a similar fate against the Eers and the Illini lost on the last play of the game! Go Dawgs!
different-church-lady
@Danielx: The pain is , “this is the human condition.” There’s no fixing it.
RandomMonster
You know what I’d like to remind Ari fucking Fleischer? I marched in a protest in SF of the buildup to the Iraq invasion that numbered in the tens of thousands, and it received less coverage than the insurrectile dysfunction that we saw today in DC.
Josie
@JMG:
I have long maintained that a good government textbook is better than a sleeping pill for producing gentle slumber.
ETA: Come to think of it, a “good government textbook” is sort of a contradiction in terms.
Suzanne
@Chetan Murthy: I read parts of it in undergrad and loved it, and I was reminded of it recently on a podcast, so I wanted to read the entire thing. But hot damn.
ETA: I will attempt it again when I am in a better headspace to deal with that level of gore.
dmsilev
@different-church-lady:
Conservatives
Conservatism.
westyny
@different-church-lady: Word.
Suzanne
@dmsilev: You are correct in every way.
CaseyL
@different-church-lady: Yes. Shortened attention spans. I don’t want my brain to get rewired that way, but it would take a big act of will (or getting marooned on a desert isle) to stop.
I’m hoping the trip to Maine helps; I’ll have my phone (really can’t not have one, these days) but am trying to talk myself out of taking my laptop along, too. Whatever I can’t do on my phone is best off not being done.
(I may hit a bookstore, and indulge myself that way. Haven’t bought a pile of real, live books in quite a while!)
Chetan Murthy
@Suzanne:
Fascinating. I was introduced to it by a French Military History grad student friend, who specifically pointed me at that introduction, as a description of the brutality of early eras. So by the time I got around to reading it, I knew that first bit *cold*: no surprises, and the thing I found so great about the book, was the history of penology, and his first bits of an attempt at an overarching theory of penology/bureaucracy.
Esp. his characterization of how in tandem went the trends of: (1) the mollification (making more gentle) of punishments, and (2) the making more certain of punishments, by the mechanism of inevitable bureacracy. That was …. a really penetrating observation, to me. That you can’t have the one without the other.
different-church-lady
@CaseyL: Myself, my personal experience is that at first I feel anxiety about being disconnected, but by day three I have lost it entirely and no longer have any desire for it in the least.
Suzanne
@CaseyL: Speaking of trips, that’s part of why I’ve been struggling to read. I used to do so much reading on planes, and I haven’t been on a plane since March 2020.
different-church-lady
@dmsilev: No, it’s well beyond what we used to understand as “conservationism” and into the realm of sociopathy.
stinger
@Ladyracterinok: Hi! Glad to see you here again!
JanieM
@CaseyL: Books…..
This place has books, among other things. Not sure of your route plans, but you’ll probably go right by it.
hellohellobooks in Rockland is owned by our old babysitter. Mostly used books, with a quirky selection of new titles.
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: “I think you have them confused with Comicon.”
No, I do not. Wingnut costumes way better, more amusing.
different-church-lady
I should qualify: the only Proust I’ve read to this point is the Moncrieff translation. I’ve long wondered if the Enright view might unveil the true transcendence. (Just not enough to actually pursue the matter, mind…)
frosty
@zhena gogolia:
Did you notice he doesn’t take a single sip? That’s either the “unusual flavor” or the rules of what could be shown on TV back then.
lowtechcyclist
@Mike in NC:
Why anyone pays the least attention to him is beyond me. It wasn’t even like he had a policy position* in the Bush Administration. His sole job was to lie for them.
*And most of them were destructive idiots, so it’s not like they should be listened to either.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Maybe it’s this site’s Homecoming weekend, and Cole forgot to tell us?
Anyway, welcome back, @Ladyracterinok and @Tissue Thin Pseudonym!!
CaseyL
@JanieM: Oh my godzzzz…Big Chicken Barn looks like exactly the sort of place I can spend hours and hours in, and possibly spend the next mortgage payment at. (And I Want. That. Couch!!) I may pass them on my way to Bar Harbor and just… get no further ?
Thank you! I was wondering what to do if the weather was too sucky for much outdoor activity (weather forecast: rainy and chilly, the whole time I’m there. It’ll be just like I never left home!). Now I know.
JanieM
@CaseyL: I never trust the weather forecasts this far ahead. In fact, they change so often that it’s almost like, if it says it’s going to rain two weeks from now, I think: oh good, the weather will be great.
But then again, it *is* New England.
Sure Lurkalot
@raven: oh yes!
CaseyL
@different-church-lady: I’ve had similar experiences, and think that’s about how long it takes for withdrawal and detox?
@JanieM: Here the weathercasters are usually a few days too early. It’s amusing when they forecast huge snowfalls, and nothing happens when they said it would, so people put their shovels, snowshoes, battery-powered lanterns, and whatever other emergency gear back into the garage or basement they dragged it out from… and two days later we get two feet of snow.
Like the Big Rain & Wind Storm we were supposed to get Thursday evening. It finally showed up today.
Sure Lurkalot
@Suzanne: I wonder if because you spent time in Arizona and miss it, hot yoga is your release. I know I couldn’t bear it!
I used to go to a small, air conditioned spinning class and exited like a wash rag. I get the sweating part. So good, so gross.
dnfree
@Ladyracterinok: welcome back!
CaseyL
@Suzanne: Road tripping does that for me, because I don’t turn on the radio, but focus on driving. Also hiking: phone stays in backpack. And spending time in places like the bookstore JanieM mentioned.
But, yeah, I’ve spent the last 18 months pretty much at home. Definitely need a break; I feel like I’ve turned into a barnacle.
susanna
@Ladyracterinok: I’m not far behind you, agewise, and I agree about reading familiar people and the importance of familiar contact, in all forms. Keep your priorities on yourself and becoming healthy.
J R in WV
@Ladyracterinok:
Welcome back!! So glad you’re free again !!
There’s a lot of opinion that she did it to distract from her husband from being arrested for failure to register as a sexual offender, IRCC. Pretty funny if you ask me.
Suzanne
@Sure Lurkalot: When I was in AZ, I refused to ever do hot yoga. Walking across a parking lot was torture enough. But it really does loosen everything up, and I can bear the heat for short periods. I have had some shoulder and wrist pain since having Spawn the Youngest, and the yoga helps a lot.
The sweat is so copious that I slide around on my mat. Gross.
zhena gogolia
@frosty: Someone in the comments mentions the “Oh, gawd, here we go” expression on his face in the first seconds. I had never noticed that before.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Betting the flavor is also unusual yet scads better than T’bird.
“You’ve accomplished getting some alcohol into it, that’s for sure.”
;)
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
Today’s volcano report from Iceland:
Speaking of balls… Here’s video of huge balls of fiery lava at Fagradalfjall at midnight with lots of tourists.
Villago Delenda Est
The sooner Ari Fleischer takes a tumbrel ride, the better.
Matt McIrvin
@CaseyL: A good ebook is currently one of the few things that can keep me from doomscrolling. But it has to be wild science fiction or fantasy, nothing about the interior struggles of ordinary people that’s going to lead to searing introspection about my life and psyche–that just seems to be really difficult for me right now.
different-church-lady
@zhena gogolia: I know. And the portions are so small.
different-church-lady
@Villago Delenda Est: The
caketumbrel is a lie.Winston
Whitney https://youtu.be/ardglr9MVVQ?list=RDzPG1n1B0Ydw
Suzanne
@Matt McIrvin:
Oh absolutely. Fuck that shit. I have no room for any of that right now. Escapist trash is the order of the day.
NotMax
@different-church-lady
No self-driving electric tumbrels in the works.
//
mrmoshpotato
@Ladyracterinok: Welcome back! Glad to hear you’re back and getting better!
Gravenstone
@Suzanne: You’re assuming that context helps understand them.
dopey-o
Have you had the cognitive impairment test? I’ll bet your IQ has gone up and your stress hormones have declined!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Gravenstone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Sorry that we’re only killing people at a tenth the rate that you think would become problematic, Ross. BTW, kindly fuck yourself you fucking ghoul.
James E Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I don’t understand his point.
Ken
@James E Powell: “I have to send them a column in two hours and I haven’t any ideas” is kind of a point.
Kelly
First big rainstorm of the fall is here in Oregon’s western Cascade foothills. It’s a welcome moment. The air is fresh, dust is settled and the forest fires should settle down. A couple inches of rain won’t put them out but they should be easier to manage.
As is traditional with the first big storm of the fall the power is out. Should be fixed in a few hours.
JCJ
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Glad to hear you are going to go see some pucks! Wishing you well.
cain
@Kelly: a welcome respite!
Matt McIrvin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Reminds me of the Monty Python sketch about the intelligence of penguins:
“Now we’ve taken this theory one stage further. If we increase the size of the penguin until it is the same height as the man and then compare the relative brain sizes, we now find that the penguin’s brain is still smaller. But, and this is the point, it is larger than it was.”
Kelly
@cain: Mrs Kelly is practicing guitar by candlelight. Thru the miracle of cell network technology and batteries I’m still wandering the internet.
Another Scott
Interesting thread on how a good math teacher handles cheating.
(via CherylRofer)
Cheers,
Scott.
Suzanne
@Gravenstone: If we had known at the beginning of this pandemic that we would be approaching 700K dead — more than the population of an American state — the freakout would have been absolutely unreal. And Ross D thinks it’s not so bad?! Lord, being a mediocre white man is one hell of a drug.
Another Scott
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman_Day
Cheers,
Scott.
Matt McIrvin
@Suzanne: People did the calculations. At the time, it seemed like herd immunity might occur at about 70% of the US population infected, and some argued a vaccine would be several years away at the soonest, so there was nothing for it but to try to slow it down while it burned through us. But 70% of the US population is something like 200 million people, so if COVID is ~1% fatal, that’s a couple million dead. And some were talking about the possibility that if it ripped through us too fast, downstream effects on society and the medical system might mean millions more dead.
700,000 is not too far off from that. The real number could be closer to a million. If there were no vaccines, we might be well past a million dead and heading for two million right now. The hell of it is that once the vaccines were widely available to every adult, almost none of the subsequent deaths have been necessary. They’re preventable through almost absurdly simple means.
Kayla Rudbek
@Suzanne: I have been rereading a lot of R.J. Blain/Susan Copperfield’s paranormal romances to help me cope. Fortunately she’s a prolific author and she writes series…
(personally, I think of it as escapist literature and remind myself that the only people who don’t like escape are jailers—I think that was Tolkien or some other fantasy or SF author who wrote/said that)
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
Russia: Reports of voting violations overshadow elections
https://p.dw.com/p/40VE9
I’m shocked, shocked that Putin is cheating. :-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Kayla Rudbek
@Suzanne: and I forgot to put the link to her books in. Books by R.J. Blain/Susan Copperfield/Bernadette Franklin by publication date
frosty
@Another Scott:
Did you see Maria Butina is running for Duma in Putin’s party? The opposition is accusing her of being an American plant. This, after we jailed her for being a Russian plant. Occasionally the news is kinda fun to read.
Peale
@Matt McIrvin: yep. 2.4 million dead from COVID to get herd immunity without a vaccine or better treatment over 5 years was the optimistic calculation. The vaccine has knocked 18 months off that timeframe and hopefully 50% of the fatalities. But we’ve got a ways to go.
sab
@Ladyracterinok: Glad to have you back. I was wondering where you were and how you were.
Matt McIrvin
@Peale: were it not for Delta, we could have had it beaten already in the Northeast. We were down to near zero COVID in MA by the end of June. People focus on breakthrough infections but I think the main thing was just that Delta is so contagious that it will spread ferociously among the unvaccinated even if there are fewer of them.