I really wanted somebody to put up a new open thread. Then I remembered: if you want a box hurled into the sun, you’ve got to do it yourself.
Samwise says to play nice. You may, if you choose, click to embiggen:
I’ve just finished an episode of this season’s bake-off. Lizzie’s accent just kills me. Scousers, man.
What’s up with you all?
ian
God rest her zombie bones.
NotMax
Hangin’ out, doing NotMax things, contemplating what to do about din-din.
;)
Major Major Major Major
@ian: i might have finally convinced a coworker to watch Futurama today.
We were listening to the new guy (the one who deleted our production cluster a month or two ago) try to convince everybody that we need to add all of these new pointless checklists and stupid standards so that we could be a better engineering team. I sent my friend on the team the “oh, sure, I’m taking a lesson in not changing the past from mister I-am-my-own-grandpa” clip, and she said she’s finally gonna give it a look!
eclare
Lizzie is fun and honest on GBBS, but my fave so far is Guiseppe.
Love the bowtie on Samwise!
NotMax
By one measure the Sun is the darkest body in the known solar system, as it doesn’t reflect any light.
:)
prostratedragon
Samwise is the essence of dapper.
From the Castle of Our Skins quartet:
ian
@Major Major Major Major:
If anyone needs me, I’ll be in the angry dome.
JWR
Today’s Background Briefing was good:
I’ve only listened to the first interview, but so far, so good. And speaking of Belarus, I heard that one of the Jan 6 insurrectionists “self-deported” there, which country doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the U.S.
PS. Yep, here’s one article, of many:
Suzanne
Just got home from seeing Bad Religion, desperately needed. Now in bed, sans pants.
Steeplejack
Australian classic My Brilliant Career (1980) coming up in a few minutes on TCM. Judy Davis, Sam Neill. “In turn-of-the-century Australia, an independent woman tries to make a career as a writer despite pressures to marry.”
Followed by The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) at 2:00 a.m. EST.
Jay
Nutso day. We had weather on the weekend, water spout, massive rain, power outages, tornado and tornado warnings.
So of course, nutso customer demand from 6 am, finally slowing down at 2pm, when the next band of downpours hit.
And of course, at 11:30 am, trying to get a 120lb 16 foot stepladder out of the cage for a customer, had two fall on me, ( unsafely stacked), driving me to the ground, only to have the customer decide they really wanted a 75lb 12 footer.
So I have tylenol, beer, my ass on a heating pad, frozen peas on my left temple.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
Duet doin’ Wolfgang.
;)
Major Major Major Major
@ian: some day I’ll have my own angry dome.
James E Powell
Just noticed first episode of the new season of Shetland is up. Will watch it tomorrow night. It is really not that hard to make me happy.
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Speaking of TCM, have Air-Wick, Febreze, multiple scented candles, etc., etc. at the ready. The stench of airing Skidoo at 2 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday will be pernicious. Whether one is tuned to that channel or not.
:)
JAFD
The grand annual convention of ‘grown-ups who still play with toy soldiers’ begins tomorrow, after year-and-a-half hiatus. Meself shall be leading a small army of Ancient Britons into action. Wish them luck.
West of the Rockies
Should have asked this in a previous thread, but I discovered it too late. So…
The achingly-slow pace of 1/6 investigations and prosecutions… could that be a purposeful thing by Pelosi and company to make sure Republican duplicity is front and center in late ’22? If it’s all over too soon, the American electorate may forget and not punish Republican criminality.
Anyone have thoughts?
delk
@Major Major Major Major: all we want is life beyond the angry dome.
Major Major Major Major
@delk: speak for yourself.
Anotherlurker
Got my Team Moderna booster, yesterday. Experienced some fatigue and a sore arm. Much better than the alternatives, though.
delk
@Major Major Major Major: I don’t need another hero.
piratedan
@Suzanne: TMI, you didn’t have to say you were in bed…. :-)
MisterForkbeard
@Major Major Major Major: Then you have truly done a good deed today.
You’re walking on sunshine, as it were :)
frosty
@Suzanne: Oh, they’re a band! I’ve been contemplating seeing two of my faves Halestorm/Evanescence in PGH on 12/14 but I never got around to getting tix and neither of my kids wants to go with me.
frosty
@Jay:Ouch! I’ll be sure to be a good customer wherever I go.
NotMax
@JAFD
Have friends who are heavily into 3-D printing RPG figurines.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
Hey, the channel is “classic,” maybe not all of the movies!
Steeplejack
Very minor reaction to my two shots received at midday Monday (flu and Pfizer booster). Last night my arm felt slightly sore in an “after a hard workout” way, and even that lessened today. Nothing else to report.
VOR
That is a beautiful cat.
Major Major Major Major
Just saw an ad for the live action Cowboy Bebop coming November 19. I am… skeptical.
Jay
@frosty:
wasn’t the customer’s fault, at all.
sadly, many people don’t use a tape measure, measure out the distance, add the human reach into the equation, keeping in mind that on a 16 foot a-frame, your feet are at 12 feet safely.
I’m a “place for everything and everything in it’s place” guy. Many of my younger co-workers are “I’ll just pile it here”, and also like me, are overworked and understaffed. Unfortunately, it can cause “unsafe” situations, some which you can’t just eyeball going in.
Steeplejack
@Major Major Major Major:
Yeah, I am having a hard time not seeing it as a form of desecration. It doesn’t look live-action Flintstones bad or live-action Rocky and Bullwinkle bad, but c’mon, man. Definitely not a franchise that needed to be remade in any form.
Is it significant that Edward doesn’t appear in the trailer (at least the one I have seen)?
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Jackie Gleason, Carol Channing, Groucho Marx and LSD. What could go awry?
//
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
You’re stinking up the place continuing to talk about it! Basta!
Jimmm
@Jay: Sounds exactly like our weather (including the high winds that ripped off ridge vent and some shingles)…. You aren’t on the peninsula, are you?
Major Major Major Major
@Steeplejack: probably not, I doubt they’d cut Ed.
I’m mostly concerned with the reported dearth of smoking.
HumboldtBlue
Here is our national anthem done in sound, word and picture.
I laughed. A lot.
Steeplejack
@Major Major Major Major:
I didn’t assume that they would cut Ed. I just don’t see how you handle that character successfully in live action.
Major Major Major Major
@Steeplejack: good point. We’ll find out soon!
HumboldtBlue
For the music realists, the literalists, the pedantically hilarious, here’s Total Eclipse of the Heart.
Literally
Steeplejack
@Major Major Major Major:
I anticipate watching through spread fingers.
Jay
@Jimmm:
nope, Vancouver BC, our first AGW tornado and tornado warnings, ever.
Olympics?
HumboldtBlue
Via Cheryl Rofer, history is never far away.
NotMax
If have been dithering about getting a Roku, take note the 2021 version of the 4k streaming stick has been slashed on a pre-Black Friday deal to 29 simoleons on Amazon.
MisterForkbeard
@Major Major Major Major: Im weirdly hopeful. It’s apparent that Netflix thinks they have a hit on their hands, and some of the bits they’ve released have been very well handled.
But who knows?
MisterForkbeard
@Major Major Major Major: They’ve kept Ed secret, they say. I’m not sure what to say about that.
Interestingly, they’re also commissioning another Cowboy Bebop animal series, or so I hear.
Major Major Major Major
@MisterForkbeard: yeah I’ve definitely picked up on this vibe, it’s the only reason for hope.
Of course, anything set to that soundtrack might be worth watching.
NotMax
@MisterForkbeard
Trailer.
TS (the original)
I always intended to come back in my next life as my neighbors cat – Samwise with the green bow assures me I have made the right decision.
MisterForkbeard
@Major Major Major Major: Yoko Kanno is really amazing. There’s this joke going around that she tricked a lot of people into thinking they like Jazz, but they really only liked Yoko Kanno. ;)
prostratedragon
@NotMax:
Heard a concert recording of this music, and after over an hour of very Turkish-influenced Venetian music from Medieval to Baroque, it sounded so different –and so Turkish– that the audience chuckled with approval.
Comrade Colette
We did our grand mandatory return to the office last week, so I went in on Monday and Tuesday. Yesterday I got a notice that I’d been exposed to Covid by a coworker with whom I had “close contact” during those two days. Yup, two whole days back and I’ve already been exposed. I spent the last 30 hours waiting for the results of a test while feeling steadily more under the weather. The test is negative! Yay! But I still feel like crap, and my colleague is apparently pretty sick. We’re all vaccinated, of course, but why the hell do we have to go back if this shit is happening? Most of us have been doing our jobs remotely with great success while reducing the risk for the relative few who must do in-person work.
On the plus side, my department terminated two people who refused to get vaxxed and they were both the kind of useless boobs that give city workers a bad name, so it’s a win-win. Fuck ’em and good riddance.
Chetan Murthy
@Comrade Colette: Gah! Was this “pretty sick” colleague vaccinated ? B/c if they weren’t, I’d demand that I be informed if any unvaccinated colleagues are present on days I had to go to the office.
ETA: that is to say, if there are any colleagues with “exemptions”. I mean, I get “medical exemptions”. But they don’t prevent the person from infecting others, so I don’t see why i should be forced to share the same air with such a person, until this pandemic is over.
HumboldtBlue
@Comrade Colette:
Here’s hoping you feel better right quick. The workplace has already been dramatically altered, it’ll be interesting to see how many “offices” remain the focal point of business/work.
Major Major Major Major
My slack avatar at work is Doctor Zoidberg. It’s an appropriate warning.
Chetan Murthy
@HumboldtBlue: Oh god! i didn’t read your comment thoroughly! You’re feeling worse for the wear? Oy! I’m so sorry, I hope you feel better. I read that it’s worth it to take two tests at a 3-day interval, b/c that gives enough time for incubation, just in case. Though obvs. we want both to come back negative.
I’m so sorry! Please get better, @Comrade Colette:
Comrade Colette
@Chetan Murthy: She’s definitely vaccinated – she’s on my team and we’ve all been talking for months about how glad we were to get vaxxed and when we can get boosters. As of Nov. 1, all City workers had to be fully vaxxed or get an exemption – and so far none has been granted in my department. Of course she wasn’t feeling sick when she came in last week. I hear she feels really guilty and worried, but it’s not her fault. It’s the goddamn virus + shortsighted policy.
In hindsight, maybe the fun little welcome-back social events with the coffee and donuts and yakking with people we haven’t seen in ages were not such a great idea. It felt SO GOOD to have a few moments of normalcy, but it was an illusion.
ETA: thanks for the good wishes. It’s almost certainly just a cold – I’ll be OK, but I will do another test in a couple of days.
Major Major Major Major
@Comrade Colette: ugh! Hang in there.
Night all
Fair Economist
@prostratedragon:
AFAICT, none of her String Quartets have ever been recorded for a musical release. Only Youtubes. Insane.
Mel
It doesn’t get much better than handsome Samwise wearing a bowtie!
He’s such a lovely kitty.
HumboldtBlue
I’m a bit confused.
So here’s the Pratt Family Singers.
Chetan Murthy
@Comrade Colette: Oh wow. I’m gathering that you work for the City of SF? Aren’t they still requiring masks indoors? And distancing ? Kinda surprised, given that we’ve been going sideways case-wise, for two months.
ETA: I’m glad everybody’s vaxxed. And also your co-worker. I hope she also recovers soon. You all did your civic duty.
NotMax
@prostratedragon
Very nice. Thanks.
And now a decidedly different rendition of Schubert’s Serenade.
;)
Brachiator
@Steeplejack:
Never seen this even though I tremendously admire Judy Davis. Will record and watch later.
Love this film. Love how the cynical, world weary journalists don’t have a damn clue about what is really going on.
Mary G
Went to the doctor for my annual physical; could’ve been worse. RA flare is going nuclear- Roger Moore’s employee City of Hope bought the chain of infusion centers I loved and what used to be “get the order from the doctor by fax, schedule appointment immediately” turned into “you must be authorized and I don’t know who by or why, just be patient” for five weeks. I love them to bits for their cutting-edge research, but it was a struggle.
Finally got appointment for a week from today, Huzzah! Then we went to Lowes for smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and succulents and I treated my housemate to lunch/dinner at an upscale Mexican restaurant – cost a shocking to me amount of money but worth every penny. She is hard to please and was scraping the last bit of sauce off her plate.
I was exhausted and fell into bed at 4 pm and just woke up eight hours later. Might have to dig out the TV clickers and watch GBBS. I am a couple of seasons behind.
opiejeanne
@Brachiator: I know, right? I loved “Billy”, and that scene where you can hear the bamboo growing? I don’t remember anything about that scene other than being surprised that you can hear it.
Tony Jay
I know, right?
Fun fact, we only adopt the accent when we know we’re being observed. Amongst ourselves we all talk like Peter Wyngarde.
Nancy
@Jay:
major ouch
hope you’re feeling less worse this morning
SFAW
@Chetan Murthy:
I’m still trying to figure out “religious” exemptions. Is there some religion that espouses “Thou shalt put your life and the lives of others in danger, by not getting vaccinated”? Is that like the E-to-the-i-pi Commandment? Maybe it’s the “I feckin’ hate LIE-berals, Dems, et al.” religion? Or the Oppositional Defiance religion? Or the recently founded “I was almost the Jeopardy! host” religion?
Asking for
members of not-insane religionsa friend.WaterGirl
@Comrade Colette: Two days in ? That’s really annoying. i’m sorry you have to go back to in-person work.
As I understand it, tests in the first few days can come back negative even if you have Covid. I think that testing again in a few days would be wise.
Major Major Major Major
@SFAW: For the obvious example, there are Christian Scientists.
SFAW
@Major Major Major Major:
Yes, I know. But I thought I read some where that the “mother church” had not taken an anti-vacc position. [I might be mixing it up with another church/religious org.] But even if the Christian Science “home office” were virulently anti-vacc, the worldwide membership is estimated at 100K-400K adherents.
As far as i’m concerned, the “religious exemption” excuse — outside of Christian Science — is bullshit. But I’m an asshole that way.
Jimmm
@Jay:
Yup. I can see Victoria on a clear day. Looking forward to the ferries running again!