Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

We have all the best words.

Four legs? good! two legs? we’re not so sure…

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

The house always wins.

We need fewer warriors in public service and more gardeners.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Let there be snark.

Trump is going to draw a dick on that dog with a sharpie, isn’t he?

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

I’m going back to the respite thread.

Dinky Hocker shoots smack!

I thought we were promised Infrastructure Week.

‘Forty-two’ said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.

I can’t take this shit today. I just can’t.

The willow is too close to the house.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

I personally stopped the public option…

Good luck with your asparagus.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

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Major Major began writing at Balloon Juice in 2018.

Weekend Diversions Open Thread

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Good afternoonish time, everyone! What are we all doing to stay sane these days? Myself, it’s the usual–reading, writing, TV, video games, wishing a plague upon my enemies. I’ve been hitting the Pratchett pretty hard lately, and I started watching Grimm, which is kind of dumb but a fun distraction.

But my number one diversion right now is video games. Specifically Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, which is just a blast if you’re into JRPGs with very deep leveling systems. I also want to put in a plug for The Outer Wilds, one of the finest video games I’ve ever played. Weighing in at ~twenty hours of nonviolent exploration and puzzles, it’s got a great story and is just a joy to experience. Think Subnautica in space, and without the monsters.

I have, lastly, been taking solace in these fine playlists of Japanese 80s music.

What about you all? I’m also accepting recommendations for some horror movies to watch. My favorite lately were Annihilation and Midsommar.

Open thread!

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National Coming Out Day Open Thread

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Is it October 11 already? Time flies when you’re locked in a plague bunker.

Last year I wrote about my mixed feelings on this day of observance. Visibility can be a burden; most of us just want to live our lives. At the same time, lack of visibility is a big driver of the forces that seek to prevent us from living our lives, and reminding everybody I’m gay once a year isn’t really that annoying. So it is with only minor grumpiness that I wish you an acceptable Coming Out Day–may we some day not need it any more.

I’m gay, and so is my husband.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled lazy afternoon.

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RIP Longcat

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Early meme pioneer Longcat, real name Nobiko (“stretchy”?), has passed at the ripe old age of eighteen.

A lot’s changed on the Internet since 2005, when that picture went viral… but some things, such as the supremacy of felis catus, have not.

Here’s a thread by Longcat’s owner with dozens of adorable pictures from over the years. Machine translation suggests that they are distraught–feel free to leave them a nice note.

Open thread.

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Afternoon Open Thread

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Looks like we could use a fresh one. I’m tired and lacking ideas for one, though, so… here, have a funny tweet I saw:

I do actually have a question. I’m in a graphic novel book club, and we’d like to do something zeitgeisty for our next read. Anybody got suggestions? Any genre is fine, it just has to be a narrative work in drawn form. If it were a regular book club, and I could get away with suggesting a doorstop, I’d go with Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers, but it is not.

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Grab Some Afternoon Respite

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It is Friday and I find myself with some free time between meetings. I also find myself not wanting to use it for work, or to discuss politics or disease. But you know what’s always nice? Music! What’s everybody been listening to lately?

I’ll start. I’ve been hitting the J-pop pretty hard. Here are a couple songs I’ve enjoyed lately, picked somewhat haphazardly.

Friendly reminder that this is a respite thread. Have at it!

(rescued from Tuesday, when I posted it immediately before the VP announcement…)

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A Saucy Diversion

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Ketchup has a long history. Its distant ancestor hailed from Fujian, China–a fermented fish sauce known as kê-tsiap. Later innovators like Mary Randolph would popularize a tomato version. By 1896 it was the “national sauce of America”. For whatever reason, I find this all fascinating.

I was very happy to learn that Science Friday had a segment on this last week: Ketchup: A Fishy History. It’s just under twenty minutes long, and–joy of joys–that link even includes a transcript. If this sort of thing is up your alley, why not treat yourself to a little bit of respite? It looks like we could use a thread for it, at any rate.

What’s your favorite Fun Fact about food?

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Goons Out

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Submitted for your approval:

Open thread!

UPDATE: The NYT has more details: Federal Agents Agree to Withdraw From Portland, With Conditions

Under an agreement between Ms. Brown and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the governor’s office said the Oregon State Police will provide security for the exterior of the city’s federal courthouse, while the usual team of federal officers that protects the courthouse year-round will continue to provide security for the interior of the building.

Ms. Brown said the federal tactical teams that had deployed to the city would begin a phased withdrawal on Thursday. But Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that though the department has agreed with the Oregon governor on a plan, the department will proceed with the withdrawal of security personnel in Portland only if federal officials are confident that federal properties will no longer be under attack.

“State and local law enforcement will begin securing properties and streets, especially those surrounding federal properties, that have been under nightly attack for the past two months,” Mr. Wolf said. “We anticipate the ability to change our force posture,” he added, once circumstances on the ground “significantly improve” with the deployment of additional state and local law enforcement.

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