Wednesday Morning Links

The steroid era ain’t got nothing on the live ball era.  MLB just broke a record for most home runs hit in a season and with around 12 games to go per team, it looks like they’ll crush it.  But they swear the ball’s not juiced. Sure thing.

There were some crucial games last night and a few teams playing out the string.  The Red Sox topped the Orioles. The Yanks beat the Twinks to keep pace. Fortunately the California Angels lost to the still smoldering Indians so that tenuous wild card lead is holding. The D-backs fell, as did the Rockies. And with the Brewers winning, the NL chase is officially red hot. The Dodgers fell to the Phillies. Team Canada beat the Royals. The Cards beat the BIG RED MACHINE. The Cubs won. The Nationals won. And the Astros continue to play solid ball and topped the White Sox.

Nothing else happened on this side of the pond. The League Cup kicked off in earnest yesterday. But with many teams fielding a b-side through the entire competition its not really much to get stoked about.  But preseason hockey is in full swing now, so expect some reports to start dribbling in as thats season approaches.

Alright, are you fired up?  I’m fired up. Let’s all get fired up for…the links!

Earthquake damage in Mexico

Gaia must really hate Puerto Rico. Prayers for my friend in Yabucoa and everybody else in the path. She must really hate central Mexico as well. Prayers for everybody between Puebla and Mexico City.

President Trump dished out a blistering speech at the United Nations yesterday.  He took the Nork, Iranian and Venezuelan governments specifically to task and offered up America as an example.  As for the Norks, he said we would destroy them if forced to defend ourselves or our allies from attack. Of course, most of the major media left that last little bit out and are calling the speech terrifying.  But trolls gotta troll.  The memes started coming quickly.

Hey, just be glad he was still there and didn’t start driving people home. (Its not too soon, is it? Nah.)

Obviously not the designated drivers

I’m bring you a double-whammy rom the Bay Area today because they’re both too good to pass up. First, no good deed goes unpunished. Coffee shop robber looks to sue man who subdued him. (WATCH THE VIDEO!!!)  And second, Fremont man bashes baker with baguette. The roll was unavailable for comment.

I wonder if this was covered yesterday or if its new? Jogging woman wey dey always poo-poo for somebody dormot. Either way, its better in a tongue that really grabs the essence of it. Enjoy.

This guy gets it! Taxes are bad. It shouldn’t be a revelation, but at least somebody is saying it.

Start toe-tappin. Then finger-snappin. Then that voice kicks in.

Offer up a prayer to thought to those in Puerto Rico and Mexico, please. And everywhere else that’s had a shit deal the last few days. Thanks.

Comments

605 responses to “Wednesday Morning Links”

  1. All disasters, politics and crime. The lynx are going the way of the news media. At least we have a few decades before it gets too bad.

    1. Just a thought not a sermon

      It took the Roman Empire two centuries to collapse. Actually, 1200 years if you count the Byznatines (which they certainly would have). So I’m not too worried. Maybe Trump is like our Constantine. I hope he founds a city.

      1. It took them five hundred years to stop being a republic.

        They just did everything slower.

        1. Slammer

          Imagine if they had Twitter

          1. Just a thought not a sermon

            Vini, vidi, vici, LOL.

          2. Slammer

            #Rome plz dont throw sheepwool tampons in sewers

          3. Gustave Lytton

            #BringOurHostageSonsBack

    2. MikeS

      But the crime involved the Kennedy’s! America’s royalty, I’m told!

      1. Just a thought not a sermon

        Considering that most royal families started off as local warlords who clawed their way to the top, this makes a certain amount of sense.

        1. AlexinCT

          The Kennedys did that running those illegal hooch making stills, right?

          1. Oh, no, they didn’t make the stuff. Heavens, no. They bought it in the UK and shipped it over, then sold it to mobsters for distribution.

          2. Grummun

            Wunnit war profiteering?

          3. Number.6

            The Kennedys were into a lot of stuff. Notably, shipping booze in from Canada down Lake Champlain.

            Let’s not talk about being instrumental in shipping AR-15’s to Belfast …

      2. The Kennedies were in that Safeway and Starbucks?

        1. MikeS

          I was thinking of the pooping story

    3. The Starbucks story is a civil matter, so technically not a crime story. And if you watch the video, it’s more of an “awesomeness from an average guy” story that a crime story.

      And you must have completely missed the entire opening sports segment.

      1. With all the political commentary in sportsball these days, I just tune it out.

        1. With all the sports commentary in sportsball, I just tune it out.

      2. You mean the one that should start, “Area badass teaches local family’s man-child an important lesson about personal responsibility.”

        1. Gray Ghost

          And it should end with, “Area badass’s attorney teaches shithead’s attorney the price to be paid for filing a frivolous lawsuit.” The bidding will start at “Bar License suspension, payment of court costs, and opposing attorney’s fees,” and should go up from there.

          Fuck that guy’s mother too, both for raising the kind of shitbag that knocks over Starbucks at age 30, and for whining that the Good Samaritan was a “vigilante” for being better at using shithead’s knife than he was. Seriously: there isn’t a charge for receiving stolen property, welfare fraud, or another of the ‘three felonies a day’ that TPTB can hang on that woman?

          1. Yeah, the mother can go hang, as far as I’m concerned. I mean, you can do your damnedest to raise your kids right and still wind up with a dud or two, and of course you still love your kids even when they do horrid shit, but still. The chick behind the counter is somebody’s kid, too, and she’s working for a living rather than trying to steal cash from people at knifepoint. So, you know, maybe be a little more critical of your son. Try some tough love.

            To my mind, the moment you threaten deadly force to commit a crime against someone, anything that happens to you is fair game. If you don’t get killed, consider yourself lucky, be grateful, and be a better person moving forward.

  2. Just a thought not a sermon

    68) So I might as well admit it: I’m pretty much racist.

    My son had the choice this year (seventh grade) of signing up for Honors Pre-Algebra or, for those really advanced in math, Algebra I. Math is his favorite subject, and he’s always done well in it, so we encouraged him to go for Algebra I. It’s been a struggle so far, and he mentioned a couple days ago he might want to give it up and move down to Pre-Algebra.

    The first thing I thought of at that point was my wife’s description of the class to me after she went to the school open house a couple weeks ago: “There’s about 10 South Asian kids in there, and about 10 East Asian kids, and maybe four or five white kids. And that’s it.” And so we’re supposed to quit now, with all those Asian kids in there doing fine? Are you kidding me?

    Finally, I came around to a more rational way of thinking. My son’s not actually doing terribly—the failing grade he got on his first test was a 63 out of 100 points, so not a total loss. Not like a 20 out of 100 or something. I think he gets the general idea of what they’ve learned so far, and just needs to take his time doing the problems. And if things don’t improve, we’ll do what’s best for him and move him down to the lower-level class. There’s nothing wrong with that.

    But still…maybe it’s the shit lord in me. Maybe it’s because Trump is president now. Maybe we’re all a little bit racist. I’m not sure. All I know is, I’d still really like my son to stick it out and show we German/Scandinavian-derived folks can hang with any Korean, Fujian, or Karnatakan you can toss at us.

    1. Pushing too hard can be setting the kid up to fail.

      Of course, so too can not pushing hard enough…

      1. Suthenboy

        It isnt the pushing, it’s the torture. It is actually possible to make math lessons enjoyable. putting some poor kid in isolation with stone-cold boring math books is the wrong way to go about it.

        1. Gray Ghost

          It isnt the pushing, it’s the torture. It is actually possible to make math lessons enjoyable.

          Get the kid interested in playing cards or baseball. (This is for when he gets to statistics and probability)

          Alternately, getting him interested in shooting, and he’ll kill himself trying to learn vectors and mechanics.

          The point is, per Suthen, that most of us need some practical application of this stuff to help it sink in.

          Not that doing the work when you don’t find it interesting, isn’t a very valuable lesson though.

          1. Very, very true. I hated math in school. Now that I write code for a living, I find myself wishing I was better with it. It’s like playing music by ear versus being able to read it.

          2. AlexinCT

            One thing I keep telling people repeatedly is that our education system, and parents in general, do a horrible job explaining to kids why they are going to school. Most treat it like some baby sitting program, and the kids going there respond to that by not caring.

    2. Pat

      Regardless of how gifted you are, math is one area where step-skipping generally doesn’t work that well.

      Also, you may enjoy this in light of everything.

      1. Actually I’m baffled by the concept of “Pre-Algebra”.

        If you’ve got arithmatic down, what’s between it and Algebra left to cover?

        1. Pat

          Probably depends on how it was taught. My school was rigidly linear with math concepts, so pre-algebra was helpful in transitioning to the notation and abstraction required. But if they’d integrated that into the arithmetic curriculum or just spent a few weeks covering it at the beginning of algebra I it probably wouldn’t have made a difference.

          1. My school was rigidly linear with math concepts,

            So you’re saying the teachers had issues with Quadratics?

          2. Pat

            Oh Swiss…

          3. It was a school for Fighters

          4. Gray Ghost

            +1d20

          5. AlexinCT

            Don’t roll a 1 man.. a critical failure is a bad thing..

      2. Just a thought not a sermon

        The explanation of the classes was that Algebra I wasn’t skipping any steps, it was just much faster-paced than Pre-Algebra.

        1. Pat

          Even so, sometimes it’s better to take it a little slower and make sure you’ve mastered one step before moving on, or else you can find yourself really stuck on concepts later on. If the usual method at the school is to put students through pre-algebra, it probably fits their teaching method better.

      3. Certified Public Asshat

        Chinese teachers set high expectations for their students partly because a teacher’s compensation is closely tied to his or her students’ academic performance.

        Well that won’t work here.

        1. Well of course not, here they just make the test easier and are more lenient in the grading.

    3. the failing grade he got on his first test was a 63 out of 100 points, so not a total loss.

      Sounds like government worker material right there. He’ll be fine in the new, progressive America.

      1. But…he’s a white male.

        1. The Last American Hero

          A Scandanavian White Male – the very model of the Progressive Ideal.

    4. Suthenboy

      Go to Home Depot. Buy a 4’x8′ sheet of hardboard and a can of chalkboard paint. Hang it on the wall in your living room and paint it. Go to the office supply store and buy a bucket of multi-colored sidewalk chalk. Make it fun with some kind of finger food.

      Nail your ass and your son’s ass to that board. You have to hit it just as hard as he does.Keep hammering that shit until he gets it. That is what I did for my son and step-son. They both say it was one of the most memorable experiences of their childhood…and they both aced algebra.

      1. Just a thought not a sermon

        “Nail your ass and your son’s ass to that board. You have to hit it just as hard as he does.Keep hammering that shit until he gets it.”

        We’re still talking about Algebra, right?

        Kidding. My wife and I have been spending a lot of time with him going over the homework problems. I do really like the idea of buying some food and making it more of one-on-one kid with Dad time.

        1. Suthenboy

          Absolutely.

    5. Scruffy Nerfherder

      DO you think that all the Asisan kids are doing fine as well with no drive from their parents?

      Be the Asian Dad and light a fire under the kid.

      (Or you could just spend some time helping him understand the concepts)

      1. AlexinCT

        I am dating an Asian woman, and I will tell you the reason they are successful is because the parents are perfectly willing not to have any kind of social life because all their time is invested in getting their kids a step ahead.

        1. SugarFree

          Asian are the white people of people.

          1. AlexinCT

            Damn, I knew you would play that card as soon as I hit the reply button SF… Your post-fu rocks.

        2. Scruffy Nerfherder

          I was frank with my son when he entered middle school. I told him that yes, he is highly intelligent and musically talented, but unless he is willing to put the time in, the kids who are motivated are going to wipe the floor with him academically. Then he would just be a highly intelligent, musically talented loser.

          1. AlexinCT

            A talk like this can do wonders if it registers…

          2. Apples and Knives

            Best version of that talk on film:

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnK56ntlTjU

          3. Thinking about showing this to my kids on a weekly basis.

      2. Gray Ghost

        My favorite one of the Asian Dad memes was during the Occupy brouhaha, with the caption, “You part of 99%? Why not 100%?”

    6. Drake

      I knew a guy who was an undergrad Business Major at USC. The first day of a semester, he would check out how many *insert several Asian slurs* were in each class and adjust his schedule to avoid as many of them as possible. The alternative was GPA suicide.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        Those Asian kids are often under extreme family pressure to perform. I twice had textbooks stolen just prior to math exams in college. I always assumed it was the Asian pre-meds trying to bend the grading curve down by sabotaging the engineering students.

        1. But, being an engineering student, you had redundant books to replace those stolen, right?

          1. Scruffy Nerfherder

            I took regular backups.

        2. invisible finger

          GF drags me to kid’s high school orchestra concerts. Freshman band is always first. This year no Asian kids in freshman band. She said “I think the neighborhood is changing.”

          Next up was concert band which is best freshmen and whatever other kids stick with it that can’t cut it in orchestra. 98% Asian kids that looked about 10 years old. She said “Never mind.”

    7. Maybe we’re all a little bit racist.

      I’d wager that anybody more alert than Terry Schiavo is a little racist. I don’t care what color they are or their upbringing or station in life. It’s just the way it is and always has been.

      1. WTF

        “Only white people can be racist!!11!!!!”

      2. I’d wager that anybody more alert than Terry Schiavo

        *narrows gaze*

        1. SugarFree

          The Swiss are the white people of Europe.

          1. The Swiss are the white people of white people.

          2. bacon-magic

            I see holes in your statement.

      3. trshmnstr

        *insert avenue q song here*

    8. AlexinCT

      JATNAS, never think like that. One of the things I have noticed distinguishes people that go on to succeed versus the ones that join the proggy collective is the belief they can’t compete. My recommendation is that you challenge your kid by telling him that he is the only one that can define how well he will do at this. I got me a masters in EE (and a BS in EE and AE), and it was all Asians and like 5 Americans when I was doing my MS, but I never let that stop me because my father had told me to never let others define my limits. Notice, I am not trying to tell you to ignore reality, but to remind yourself that hard work is what makes the difference.

      1. Gray Ghost

        Per Alex’s comment, it doesn’t get any more white, the further in STEM you go. My biochem courses were almost exclusively filled with students of Vietnamese and Chinese ancestry. Some probably were foreign students too.

    9. You know, and I’m just spitballing here, you could get some of those gooks to help your boy. Or the red dots. Either way would probably work.

    10. Gray Ghost

      Was he doing pre-algebra before, in 6th grade? Because going from long division and factoring to Algebra 1 is a bit of a leap. At least, I would have thought so at the time.

      HOw much homework is he doing for it? Real homework, not busywork bullshit that the schoolteachers I used to work with would assign their kids to meet whatever District pedagogical goal was trendy that month.

      I found that math was one of those things where you’ve really got to put in the work to make the concepts sink in.

    11. Urthona

      As the parent of two (half) Asian-American children I bet I can tell you the amazing (but somewhat obvious in retrospect) secret.

      I have one daughter in middle school and one in elementary. They live in one of the richest small cities in America with among the best public schools in America (we all know that’s just a demographic ranking anyway, of course, but still).

      They are so far ahead of everyone in math that math is a fucking joke to them. There has never been a standardized test in which they did not place in the top 99th percentile. I have received so many quasi-racist remarks about how it must be the Asian genes.

      So what is this secret? Are they exceptionally bright? Actually no. Are their parents slave drivers? Not really.

      Well, my wife is first generation Japanese-American. She and I had a big fight some time ago, because at some she wanted to send our (at the time, mediocre academically) kids to the after school/tutoring program that SHE had to go to when she was a kid. I was totally opposed to it. They spend a huge percentage of their lives in school. Really twice as long as anyone ought to. Because the state requires it. I thought MORE SCHOOL? That’s nuts. But finally she won out.

      So, they go to this program twice a week. 30 minutes each time. A total of a whole hour a week. Is it expensive? No. It’s no more expensive than any other activity kids do. Actually it’s dirt cheap compared to the price of any formal schooling.

      Every single kid in the program is South or East Asian except…. surprise.. the #1 student in my eldest daughter’s class who is white.

      In 6 months my kids were completely dominant at math.

      That changed my philosophy entirely. If I could, I would simply drop the formal schooling and just do the hour a week program. The hour a week program is significantly better at teaching my children. When you think about it, it should be obvious. Targeted tutoring at whatever pace is best for my kids? Obvious. Hell, wouldn’t it be nice if everything was like this. Just pick the thing you want to learn and learn it in a focused fashion.

      ..

      And I don’t think this is my libertarian bias that I’ve arrived at this conclusion. Before this experience, I honestly thought public schools were fine. I thought of schooling as a zero sum game. You just have to get through and avoid certain pitfalls. I still think that way in general…

      1. Gray Ghost

        Urthona, I had several moonlighting co-workers whose day job was schooteachers. They related to me that their job was a constant stream of bullshit and mandated learning hours, very little of it related to teaching. What teaching there was—this was in Texas—exclusively concerned getting the kids ready for their standardized test.

        In short, it’s not surprising at all that a focused, efficient private learning program runs rings around anything the public school system can put out. I’d homeschool if I had kids.

      2. ChipsnSalsa

        Welcome to homeschooling.

      3. Old Man With Candy

        There’s a reason that webdominatrix (SP’s daughter) was in college by the age of 12.

      4. The Last American Hero

        What you are describing is the same method used to teach music. Somehow we get to core subjects and throw all the rules out the window.

      5. invisible finger

        I was always #1 in my grammar school classes in math. I am not a genius.

        People never believe me but it is 100% the truth: When I was 4 my 10-year old and 11-year old sisters would play school with me and use their textbooks. They HATED school with a passion and tried to torture me by making me sit through the same stuff they sat through earlier in the day. It was play time for them. And for me. So I learned how to read at a 4th grade level and do 5th grade math when I was 4. A year later they wanted nothing to do with their 5 year old brother but at that point I would read whatever I felt like reading and I would go to the dime store and by math activity books and learn the next level stuff myself. I read “Ball Four” when I was 8. OK, I didn’t know what a whorehouse was yet but I did know what “pounding Budweiser” meant.

        Mostly I like saying this because it goes to show that compulsory education and union teachers are a toxic combination. CHILDREN can teach kids.

    12. trshmnstr

      A few observations from a former smart kid who sucked at school through middle school.

      1) You have to find a way to connect the math to something tangible. This is especially important with boys, who have a hard time dealing with abstract concepts at that age. Find a way to apply algebra to your kid’s hobbies or interests so that he is motivated to learn it.

      2) Get ahead of the class. It only takes a couple hours a week to teach the concepts, but if you can expose him to the concepts early and give him a little practice, he’s going to be a step ahead of the class. If he’s a little slow in the retention of a concept, it’s fine because he’s just falling back to the pace of the rest of the class.

      3) Make the extra work and studying “optional”, but tie some irresistible benefit to the completion of the work. Then it becomes the kid’s idea instead of something forced on him by dad. It also teaches him a good method of motivation for use in college and beyond.

    13. mexican sharpshooter

      I didn’t do particularly well in Algebra either. While I did not fail the course, my stepdad made me retake it in summer school simply because conceptually its the backbone for some of the other higher levels of math. I think he did it to play off my ego too, because I was able to get it I just didn’t put in any effort to get an acceptable grade and as a result had to associate with some truly retarded kids. Just an alternative approach, I guess.

  3. Just a thought not a sermon

    “Lt Howard Black tell di BBC say dem fit charge di suspect for law in di city wey ban anyone to poo-poo and piss outside.”

    I couldn’t have put it better, myself.

    1. I mean, where do they think they are, San Fransisco? India?

      1. Suthenboy

        San Diego.

    2. Pat

      Now who can argue with that? I think we’re all indebted to Lt. Howard Black for clearly stating what needed to be said. I’m particularly glad that these lovely children were here today to hear that speech.

      1. Old Man With Candy

        +1 Olsen.

  4. Mustang

    Anybody know where I can get a MAGA hat? Cause I want a MAGA hat after that fucking speech.

    1. Here. One five-second google search.

      1. MikeS

        Whoa! Look at the computer genius over here!

      2. Mustang

        Sheesh, it was rhetorical. I liked the speech but I also like not being beaten by mobs.

        1. MikeS

          For the record, my snark was aimed at UCS, not you.

        2. If they weren’t $25, I’d hide a few around the office just to see what kind of reaction they’d get.

          1. Mustang

            MikeS, no worries.

            UCS, Make sure there are hidden cameras. That would be some great viewing.

          2. pan fried wylie

            UCS, Make sure there are hidden cameras. That would be some great viewing.

            “What part of ‘I’m not spending more than $5 on this prank’ do you not understand?”

          3. MikeS

            Allen Funt hardest hit

          4. Gray Ghost

            Alibaba doesn’t have a bunch of $1.99 knockoff hats available?

          5. Gustave Lytton

            But do you have to buy them in 10,000 increments?

          6. Gray Ghost

            I guess it depends on how big UCS’s office is.

            Although, I only had to pay something like $2.85—I know it was under 5 bucks—to them for the knockoff wireless mouse I’m using now, and I only had to order one. Been going great for the past six months or so.

    2. SugarFree

      Well, it could be from us if someone would get our merch site set up.

      1. WTF

        I eagerly anticipate the Warty Hugeman swag.

        1. Slammer

          I want a The Hat and The Hair Tshirt. That graphic is sweet.

          I also prefer the FLOTUS hat to the MAGA one

          1. Slammer,

            You do know she doesn’t come with that hat, right?

      2. mexican sharpshooter

        Still waiting on my STEVE SMITH ACTION FIGURE.

        1. SugarFree

          Eh, save your money. It’s just an old Stretch Armstrong with pubes glued all over it.

          1. mexican sharpshooter

            That’s disappointing.

          2. AlexinCT

            Whose pubes?

          3. We were going to use Warty’s…but they are like steel wool.

          4. pan fried wylie

            oddly, Neil Armstrong’s

          5. SugarFree

            We found a box of them in the back of the warehouse for some reason.

          6. pan fried wylie

            Admit it, you’d shave before going into space. You wanna feel that pristine vacuum right against your sk….wait, no.

  5. Pat

    Walmart will allow EBT customers to order their groceries online

    This summer, Amazon debuted a new program that made it easier for those on government assistance programs to join Prime at a reduced cost. Today, rival Walmart is announcing a change that will benefit that same demographic of low income shoppers. The retailer says it will allow customers using EBT benefits to use its Online Grocery Pickup service to pay for their groceries with their government benefits.

    1. Waterfall Insurance

      I can’t remember which stand up comedian it was but they described this as a “welfare Carol” https://youtu.be/x7Wq8EQ3vYk

      1. pan fried wylie

        Damn, that song played on the school bus every morning for a year, I never got the title until now.

        I was really hoping the link was to the comedian you couldn’t remember 😉

    2. SugarFree

      It just makes sense. Do you expect them to take time out of their busy day to go shopping?

    3. leonadasiv

      Now all they can go to the library and order their food. I think it’s great these businesses are competing to better serve a they’re customers, but sometimes I wonder if there are assumptions that were made that don’t hold up. I know interns penetration is High in the US, but still. Every time I go to together library (which is quite often as I don’t pay die Netflix, Spotify or audible) the computers are being used.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        You know who else penetrated the interns?

        1. Old Man With Candy

          Ben Casey?

        2. leonadasiv

          Gosh dangit

        3. WTF

          Captain Kirk?

          1. Badolph Hilter

            winner

        4. Suthenboy

          Bill Clinton?

          1. AlexinCT

            +1 millionty cigar humidor!

        5. ChipsnSalsa

          Hitler, it’s always Hitler!

        6. bacon-magic

          Bill O’Reilly?

    4. spqr2008

      And then upper level management will be shocked when their customer satisfaction scores for those stores Online Grocery Pickup tanks.

  6. Scruffy Nerfherder

    SJWednesday: What To Know When You’re Screwing A POC Edition

    Captain Kirk hardest hit.

    And while interracial dynamics always add a layer of work to romance, it’s important to note that I’m white.

    Because when you’re a white person in an interracial relationship, there’s this whole – ohhh, ya know – white supremacy thing hanging in the air.

    It’s important to remember that as a white person being sexual with a person of color, you’re in a position of power. The fact that you’re intimate with one another doesn’t erase that.

    And it can be difficult for a marginalized person to feel comfortable expressing their needs without a safe space being intentionally created by the person of privilege.

    I’ve written (okay, tweeted) before about how this plays out even in sexual encounters where only a power imbalance exists on the axis of gender.

    1. I’m sorry, that’s too stupid, even for them.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        There is no bottom to the stupid well.

    2. MikeS

      This has to be the definitive proof that this site is satire, right?

    3. Suthenboy

      Ever notice how flaming racists cant shut up about race? Everything is about race for them. Normal people never even think about that shit, but with racists obsessed with race it just never…fucking…ends.

      1. Drake

        I sure notice how Democrats haven’t stopped talking about race for nearly 200 years. On day in the 60’s they went from hating blacks to patronizing them, and just kept on talking about race even more than before.

        1. They still hate black people, of course.

          1. Drake

            Obviously. Look at the results of their programs.

    4. WTF

      These people are completely insane. They live their lives based on fantastical delusions.

    5. Just a thought not a sermon

      As I pointed out above, I’m pretty much a racist shitlord any way, but I just had the thought….maybe that POC is getting off on what they perceive as a power imbalance?

    6. SugarFree

      So… slave play is off the table?

      1. AlexinCT

        Massa gonna suck my dick?

        1. SugarFree

          “I’m gonna whip you like Geordi La Forge!”

          1. Scruffy Nerfherder

            For a Geordi laugh, check out his screen test photo. He looks like he’s ready for the 1986 Jackson 5 reunion tour.

          2. SugarFree

            Fun Fact: The original name of the character was Geordi DeBarge.

          3. AlexinCT

            Someone caught that the name was going to be problematic before the show went live? 🙂

          4. SugarFree

            He actually had a lot of trouble remembering his character name. The director of the first episode had to employ some… questionable methods.

          5. AlexinCT

            Got any pictures of how they made Beverly or Dianna remember their names SF?

            And for Jesse you can add one with Riker.

          6. Tacit Rainbow

            They worked over Riker so hard he never sat down right again.

          7. Not Adahn

            Less fun fact: In the TNG DVD special features, LeVar Burton claimed the reason that Geordi couldn’t keep a girlfriend was because the show was afraid of a black man’s sexuality.

            His obsession with racism made him blind* to the “nerdy geek” trope.

          8. The Last American Hero

            I just assumed he was a closet homo and having trouble sorting things out.

          9. ChipsnSalsa

            Looks like someone upped their Soul Glo dosage.

          10. pan fried wylie

            LET IT SHI-INE THROUUUGH, YEAH!

            Also, Sexual Chocolate.

    7. Mustang

      This seems like actual racism. The tone strikes me as really demeaning.

      “Make sure your sex slave feels comfortable. Perhaps get them some water and a more comfortable burlap sack to wear. You’re doing them a favor, after all.”

    8. leonadasiv

      “I’ve written (okay, tweeted) before about how this plays out even in sexual encounters”

      Translation: my qualifications are being a perv who tweets about my sexual activity on Twitter.

      1. commodious spittoon

        I don’t buy that this mook has ever had sex in xir life.

    9. The Elite Elite

      Interracial dynamics only creates work if one or both people involved are race obsessed morons and turn it into an issue. For normal people its no different than dating someone with a different hair or eye colour.

      1. Except for Asian women with the sideways vagina, I’d agree with you. I mean, tgats a real thing, right?

        1. AlexinCT

          So far I can confirm I have not found one of these.
          In order to educate however, I must mention that I know people that claim to have found man parts on some of these Asian chicks. I pointed out that the fact they referred to themselves as Ladyboys might have been a giveaway that they were not chicks with dicks, but dudes with tits…

          1. pan fried wylie

            let’s not start a Ghost Pirate/Pirate Ghost argument.

    10. If I dated a non-white person and they started talking about that, I’d to my part not to marginalize them with my white privilege by dumping them immediately. Not because of racism, but because of my grandfather’s sage advice, “Never stick it in crazy.”

    11. JW

      It’s important to remember that as a white person being sexual with a person of color, you’re in a position of power. The fact that you’re intimate with one another doesn’t erase that.

      It’s obvious that the person who wrote this, has never been with the sexy Yellow Peril.

      1. Gilmore

        lol, great minds

    12. Gilmore

      as a white person being sexual with a person of color, you’re in a position of power

      This person has never fucked a black woman

      1. Number.6

        She was a zulu lulu.
        Broke my back and my heart at the same time.
        It was nice.
        Just a zulu lulu.
        I had to move on when I came back she’d gone.

    13. mexican sharpshooter

      Because when you’re a white person in an interracial relationship, there’s this whole – ohhh, ya know – white supremacy thing hanging in the air.

      Yup. That had to be what was on my wife’s mind while I was pinning her to the corner of the shower….

      1. pan fried wylie

        “Shit, we’re out of Tilex Mold’n’Mildew.”

  7. Gordilocks

    Team Canada beat the Royals.

    Insinuation being that Toronto somehow represents the rest of the country, to which I say, bring a little of that Mexican ground shaking action, and let Toronto fall into Lake Ontario …. and be sure to let the seats of the city and Provincial governments drown in the shining waters.

  8. LJW

    I just picked up the essential phone. Have to say it’s a solid phone so far. It’s so much faster than the bloated Samsung UI. Camera needs a little work but from my understanding that’s a software issue. I hope they can stay in business long enough to build a second model and improve on what the phone is lacking.

    Side note this site needs a weekly/monthly tech post. I’d be happy to contribute.

    1. Side note this site needs a weekly/monthly tech post. I’d be happy to contribute.

      *points to ‘Leads/Submissions” link at top of every page*

      Just go there, contribute.

      1. LJW

        Never been much of a writer. I has bad grammerz. Maybe a good opportunity to improve on that and give it a shot.

        1. SugarFree

          If we can clean up the garbage Brett L sends in, we can handle you. (The pidgen links are basically our way of making fun of him.)

          1. AlexinCT

            Start with stuff like this.

        2. pan fried wylie

          “I’d be happy to contribute, If I was smarter.”

          We can start a club.

      2. Damn, dude. Your salt intake must have been high yesterday, because your output is off the fuckin charts.

        1. So you’re saying “Stop helping, your tone with the customers is too brusk”?

          1. I’m saying go back and ready your posts from this morning. You just sound…angry.

          2. leonadasiv

            You can be brusk with us anytime, as long as you remember the power differences between us.

          3. commodious spittoon

            Wait, is it brusk or is it brusque?

          4. pan fried wylie

            briskly basking in the Basque sun, bothered by brusque birds busking on the beach.

    2. Pat

      There’s third party camera apps if you want to get more out of it.

      1. LJW

        Ya I downloaded the Google camera app but it doesn’t utilize the dual lens. Essential is working on a software fix that should be out soon.

    3. Old Man With Candy

      We’d be happy to get your contribution.

    4. Drake

      How much? I’ll need a new phone before much longer and don’t give a damn about most of the features they want to change me a $grand for these days.

      1. LJW

        It’s $700 If you buy from essential, Amazon or whatever electronics stores are I selling it. I got it for $350 Sprint is doing a half off deal. Sprint is the only provider selling the phone, but the phone works on all networks.

        1. LJW

          Should say the half off deal is for a new line activation or upgrade only on their lease/ installment billing.

      2. thom

        If you’re looking for a new phone I would recommend the Oneplus 5. Unlike the Essential Phone it has a headphone jack, is cheaper, and is similarly specc’ed. Mine has been holding up nicely for the past several months.

        1. Badolph Hilter

          It’s tough to know which green-and-purple Atari 2600 graphic to really trust.

          1. pan fried wylie

            Definitely not the green one flipping the bird.

      3. The Elite Elite

        If you don’t care about owning a big name brand like iPhone or Galaxy, the BLU R1 HD is a very solid phone for a low price. I’ve had it for maybe around a year now and it’s been very good. No complaints.

        1. Pat

          Only issue with the Mediatek phones is they almost never see OS updates. So whatever version of Android it came with is what it’s going to have until you throw it away. Of course, for the price you can cycle through them faster and it’s not a big deal. Blu was supposed to be upping their game on updates, but I don’t know if they ever followed through on it.

          I usually just buy a 2 generation old used phone. Brand name hardware, and usually there will be an update to the latest Android version available (or third party ROMs since the hardware is usually more mainstream). I’m lucky if I use my phone once a week though.

          1. Not having everything screwed up by a pushed “update” sounds like a feature, not a bug.

          2. Pat

            Eh, maybe, but by the same token they also usually roll up a lot of security patches that don’t get pushed otherwise.

          3. The Elite Elite

            I’ve constantly had the phone pop up with wireless software updates. Not sure if those are actual OS updates (never had an Android phone before getting this one so don’t know how they work compared to iOS), or just minor bug/security fixes though.

          4. spqr2008

            The Elite Elite, make sure you’re getting the monthly Google Security Updates. Those fix a lot of holes that manufacturer’s builds of the Android OS leave in there.

          5. The Elite Elite

            When it pops up with a “software update notice” it automatically downloads and installs it. So I assume I’m getting these security updates you’re talking about.

          6. Pat

            The vendors push the updates, so if you got it on a carrier contract odds are good you’ll get patches often, and at least one full OS upgrade when the next version becomes available. Unlocked phones are a different story. The manufacturers usually aren’t partnered with the carrier and usually aren’t super interested in pushing updates after the sale.

          7. Pat

            Like I said though, Blu said they were going to start upping their game on updates as of a year or so ago. Sounds like they have.

          8. The Elite Elite

            No, no carrier contract. I bought it from the exact link I gave above, straight from Amazon. Switched my SIM card from my old phone to this one and that was it. So, it’s an unlocked phone.

          9. Spartan Dad

            I usually just buy a 2 generation old used phone.

            I do this too. Bought a Galaxy S5 on ebay last year for $130. It looked brand new. I received a Iphone 7 or whatever the latest one was last year for work. I don’t see a difference between them.

      4. Number.6

        This is all interesting stuff.

        I’m about to move onto a new phone, but unfortunately (for a number of reasons) it has to be compatible with Verizon. Like many of you, I couldn’t give a shit about many of the fancy features.

  9. Grumbletarian

    Fremont man bashes baker with baguette.

    Officers arrived on the scene and told Kowarsh to leave the store, but he was on a roll and continuing to yell

    Wakka wakka wakka!

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Although we recognize that not all white people are actively racist, we want them to accept that all benefit from racism, and we become annoyed when individual whites take personal exception and center themselves in any conversation about race, claiming to be one of the “good ones” and wishing for us to stop and acknowledge their goodness.

      Actually, we just wish you would shut the fuck up and live your own life.

      1. WTF

        I keep waiting for my White Privilege to arrive, but it must be getting lost in the mail.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          Did you put your name on the list? You should have gotten a sign up sheet in preschool.

          1. WTF

            Shit, I just thought we were all just automatically signed in, like the social contract.

          2. Scruffy Nerfherder

            That ended with the Civil Rights Act.

          3. Slammer

            I’m on the list, but I keep forgetting the password

        2. Grumbletarian

          Mine comes with the monthly stipend I receive from the Koch brothers to vote against my best interest.

      2. leonadasiv

        Ah your a racist, therefore not the person they are taking about mmkay.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          By their definition, yes I qualify.

          I call it not caring about their microaggression and victimhood complex.

      3. Rufus the Monocled

        Okay then, Damon. Go fuck yourself because I don’t give a shit. Especially about you, you narcissistic, faux-intellectual idiot.

    2. ChipsnSalsa

      *makes notes on intersectionality scorecard*

      1. How oppressed are you? Take our intersectionality quiz to find out! Add all the points together to see just how much your existance is denied!

        Atheist: +0
        Asian: +0
        Bisexual: +0
        Black: +2
        Christian: -1
        Disabled: +1
        Fail to spout prog talking points: -1
        Gay: +1
        Immigrant: +1, +2 if illegal and/or refugee
        Indigineous: +1
        Jew: +/-1
        Latino: +1
        Libertarian: -5
        Muslim: +1
        Other Religions (there are others?): +0
        Republican: -3
        Woman: +1
        Whites: -1
        Transgender: +2

        Tally them up and see your oppression!
        >=0: OPPRESSOR! You must be silenced!
        1-2: Not bad. At least your not a cis-hetero straight white male wrongthinker
        3-4: So oppressed! Your opinions now have value
        5+: God of the oppressed! All other must defer to your lived experiences and make special accommodations for you

        1. AlexinCT

          I must be a da devil with my score then…

        2. Trolleric the Goth

          how many minus points is it to demonstrate my white male math privilege by pointing out that >=0 means greater than/equal to zero?

          1. It means I hate posting from my phine and if you’re so smart why don’t you tutor JATNIS’s kids?

          2. *Phone! I meant phone!

        3. -4. That would really be disconcerting, if I gave a shit.

    3. SugarFree

      Hip-hop is the white people of music.

    4. Rick C-137

      Shakes fist at lump of starch!

    5. Chipwooder

      “Very Smart Brothas”……as usual, if you feel compelled to advertise to people how smart you are, you’re lying.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    It’s important to remember that as a white person being sexual with a person of color, you’re in a position of power. The fact that you’re intimate with one another doesn’t erase that.

    Thank goodness (s)he is here to whitesplain it for us.

  11. The Late P Brooks

    Algebra- go find an OLD textbook. One from a time long gone, when the New Math had never been dreamt of.

    1. AlexinCT

      This is a great idea… the new math books are idiotic.

    2. Badolph Hilter

      And then pull your kid out of public school and start the home-schooling, because the teacher is going to be pissed that they aren’t doing it “right” and is going to actively undo everything you’re trying to teach, which is going to drive your kid insane.

  12. Pat

    New ‘Wolfenstein’ trailer is a reminder to always fight fascism

    Nazis are the perfect video game enemy because they have zero redeeming qualities. It’s something the Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus development team at Machine Games knows and the marketing department at publisher Bethesda Softworks is keen to capitalize on, especially given the current political climate. Watching the latest trailer, it’s hard to not feel like it’s a direct response to Donald Trump’s “violence on both sides” statements regarding Klansmen, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and their counter-protesters from Charlottesville last month.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Nazis are the perfect video game enemy because they have zero redeeming qualities.

      Other than their snazzy attire, that is.

      1. MikeS

        I approve of this messge

        /Hugo Boss

        1. Pat

          You’re gonna like the way you look. I guarantee it.

      2. Just a thought not a sermon

        Okay, but apart from the snazzy attire, the autobahns, and the improved movie techniques, what did the Nazis ever do for us?

        1. Grumbletarian

          V2 rocket and the advancement of space flight?

          1. This Machine

            Okay, so apart from the snazzy attire, the autobahns, improved movie techniques, V2 rockets and space flight advancement, and cancer research, what good have any Nazis ever done?

        2. Chipwooder

          The Nazis were pioneers in cancer research, believe it or not.

          1. Gray Ghost

            Wasn’t there an ethical controversy a few years back about a surgeon (may have been neuro-, I forget) who used a human anatomy atlas made with Nazi medical experimentation data, because it was the best available reference for the particular esoteric surgery the doc specialized in?

            Or am I, as usual, confusing something like a Law and Order episode with real life?

          1. Mark76

            I was thinking the same thing.

    2. Wolfenstein truly is ahead of the times. Why, they were starting their anti-Trump Nazi satire way back in 1981!

    3. Badolph Hilter

      Although they did a shitty job of controlling the movement and articulating their message, this is the sort of ridiculous fuckery that instigated GamerGate.

  13. AlexinCT

    Does anyone here believe that the claims that “The left is having a mental breakdown after Hillary lost“? I have heard and seen the same shit from these people for decades, but they are just more vocal about it now because for some reason they figured after Obama had “changed America” they would never again be out of power.

    1. SugarFree

      The few weeks after the election were pretty indicative of a mental breakdown but I think they are pretty much back in their shitass groove at this point.

      1. Just a thought not a sermon

        “Shitass Groove” was one of the least popular of James Brown’s albums.

      2. I don’t remember the left rioting to stifle free speech before this. Rioting after a police shooting wherevthe cop gets off, yeah. But not because some “dangerous faggot” is gonna do a 2 hour bit in Berkeley.

        1. SugarFree

          But we were already headed for that. It’s an outgrowth of Obama’s encouragement of that, not just a reaction to Trump.

          Yes, it is more silly and tinged with hysteria, but then just about everything is anymore.

          1. AlexinCT

            Babies throwing a tantrum..

            The left is basically saying that if they are not in charge, then they will make sure nobody else can be. And that is scary to me.

          2. On second thought, lets not go to Camelot Earth…it is a silly place.

    2. Chipwooder

      I think it’s a continuation of a process begun after the 2000 elections. People forget now how nutty the left was about losing that one. They were losing their minds after both Bush elections. Then they got two terms of Obama and grew insufferably smug about it, assuming that they were in a position of dominance for good – the right side of history and all that shit. Then Trump got elected, which threw all of their assumptions and received wisdom about American politics right out the window, and they commenced a meltdown that has continued for the better part of a year now.

    3. The Last American Hero

      I do. Go back and watch the rerun of the Emmy’s from last week. It was pretty much a continuation of the crap from the SAG Awards. It’s group therapy for wealthy lefties.

      Anecdotally, there’s not a week that goes by where I don’t hear comments from the people in the lefty enclave I inhabit about how Trump is destroying/has destroyed the country. Occasionally, I engage them and ask them how -specifically. Then the sputtering commences.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    we become annoyed when individual whites take personal exception and center themselves in any conversation about race, claiming to be one of the “good ones” and wishing for us to stop and acknowledge their goodness.

    Lock this person and the interracial sex whitesplainer in a room. Get your quatloos on the table.

  15. Pat

    Volunteer Franklin Twp. firefighter suspended amid alleged racist comments

    Tyler Roysdon, 20, was suspended without pay Tuesday by Fire Chief Steve Bishop after Bishop learned about Roysdon’s post. […]

    Roysdon indicated in the post that if he had to choose between saving a dog or a black man from a burning building that he would save the dog first because “one dog is more important than a million” and then used a racial slur.

    Volunteer… suspended without pay… volunteer…

    1. Well, it wouldn’t make sense to suspend a volunteer with pay.

    2. “then used a racial slur”

      Which racial slur?
      Crackers?
      Naggers?
      Deplorables?

        1. AlexinCT

          Blue hater!

          1. Do you have any idea how annoying it is to clean smurf blood out of anything?

          2. AlexinCT

            Steve Smith told me that if you wrap them up in duct tape before you violate them, there is a lot less blood to clean up..

          3. STEVE SMITH NOT LIKE TO RAPE SMURFS. TOO SMALL, LIKE TRYING SQUEEZE SAUSAGE THROUGH CHEERIO, AND BREAK APART BEFORE FUN. BETTER USE THEM AS BAIT FOR CATS AND WIZARDS. MUCH BETTER. AND BY BETTER, MEAN RAPE.

    3. leonadasiv

      “one dog is more important than a million” and then used a racial slur.

      I wonder if he was a cop but got kicked out for not killing enough dogs…

    1. leonadasiv

      De ja Vu all over again.

      1. Rick C-137

        It’s funny cause I actually posted that last night in Q’s article but wanted to post it again for the morning people. I shoulda just read the comments.

      2. SugarFree

        Deja Vu is the white people of memory.

        1. Chipwooder

          Have we not met before, monsieur?


          *Youse is fixed now*

          1. Chipwooder

            MET! Have we not MET!

            Fire my editor.

          2. Uh…looks like you have editing help…gah!

        2. Old Man With Candy

          Q is the white people of Judaism.

  16. straffinrun

    Thought for sure Elton John would’ve been the music selection today given Trump’s “Rocket Man” speech.

      1. straffinrun

        Boom baby!

        1. Private Chipperbot
    1. I had to keep the theme for the week going. It’s all been like an 18 hour drive (straight through) from Cincy to Sanibel for vacation, with my dad blasting the radio with the windows open to stay awake and singing the songs loud as shit (with the dashboard piano, obviously).

      1. spqr2008

        So you were one of those Cincy families? Good to know..

        1. Just north of there. Based on what I’ve seen you and our local Pepe-avatared Buckeye, I’m pretty sure we all grew up within 15-20 miles of each other.

          I was in Springboro for most of my youth and then Carlisle. Then we headed south.

          1. spqr2008

            Little further south than that, but I culturally confuse Cincinnatians, since I was on the West side until age 7, and East side after that, plus had two Assistant Scoutmasters who went to Elder. It’s hilarious when West siders think I’m one of them though.

    2. whiz

      Or maybe this cover of “Rocket Man”, just to mix it up.

      1. straffinrun

        Could’ve bet you were going with The Shat.

  17. Pat

    After Self-Reflection, Journalists Discover They’ve Been Too Critical Of … Democrats

    For those of you who reported the news in 2016, now is the time to confess your sins and ask for absolution. May Hillary take pity on your souls.

    Some choice quotes in there.

    1. AlexinCT

      Yeah, because letting the unwashed masses actually hear facts that would lead them to conclude the democratic party is a crime syndicate, and that what they left peddles is downright evil, is simply not something “responsible” journalists should ever allow….

    2. leonadasiv

      Well they have a point. In their minds, if they had ignored there emails, Hillary would be president. So they were too hard on her. Does that mean they weren’t being soft already? No they just weren’t soft enough. Of course they are still playing as if they are the only game in town. Keep this up and they will be relegated to tables tabloid status.

      1. Fatty Bolger

        It’s not exactly about “hard” or “soft”, but simply whether the correct tactics were used. They chose to minimize the email scandal; perhaps ignoring it entirely would have worked better? Because the MSM is little more than the propaganda branch of the DNC, it makes sense that they would examine their own role in the overall organization’s failure, with an eye on adjusting tactics to succeed in the future.

  18. Scruffy Nerfherder

    SJWednesday: If We Can’t Railroad Men With Unsubstantiated Rape Allegations, All Is Lost Edition

    Donald Trump and his cadre of evil cronies sure have a way of making the worst decisions, always. A recent treat: DeVos’s announcement that she will roll back Title IX enforcement. This anti-survivor plan, cooked up after conversations with MRAs, has been deemed a terrible idea by at least 100,000 student activists.

    This should remind us that when we talk about identity politics, we can’t and don’t just mean identity in the sense of representation. Representation is, of course, important in and of itself: Those who have been excluded from power and have had their rights denied have a right to claim that power, period. But in our own political analysis, we need to pay attention to not only a person’s identity, but how that identity fits in a structure – and whether that person’s policies and politics will actually dismantle that structure.

    1. Rick C-137

      Soooo…. the victim is always right?

      1. AlexinCT

        Even when they lie out of their ass.. Because they are the victim, damn it!

    2. leonadasiv

      “has been deemed a terrible idea by at least 100,000 student activists.”

      Could you find a less authoritative group? I think you could get 100,000 people to deem anything terrible.

      1. SugarFree

        12.4 million Americans watched the Season 10 finale of The Big Bang Theory.

        1. Scruffy Nerfherder

          We’re doomed.

        2. WTF

          I once watched an episode, but was sorely disappointed when that blonde girl didn’t get banged at all.

          1. SugarFree

            I watched like half of one episode and was just mystified by its popularity. I mean, there are 231 episodes! 231! 77 hours of that exists.

          2. Scruffy Nerfherder

            I couldn’t make it to the first commercial break. Admittedly, I despise laugh tracks, but still….

          3. Tryin watching a clip of it with the laugh track edited out. It is amazing how painfully unfunny it is.

          4. Chipwooder

            Two and a Half Men already pounded into my head the incomprehensible success of bad TV shows.

          5. spqr2008

            I enjoyed the 1st 3 seasons. But it has gone on too long now.

          6. Slammer

            Sitcoms are the white people of television

          7. Evan from Evansville

            I believe that’s SF appropriation.

            Through digital osmosis, you are now (further) diseased. Enjoy.

      2. Student activists are well known for their nuanced and developed perspectives on complex and emotional issues.

    3. The Elite Elite

      These survivors could just go to the police with their issue. You know, how normal people deal with being a victim of a crime. Not by going to a kangaroo court.

      1. AlexinCT

        There you go again talking about normal people…

      2. leonadasiv

        But kangaroo courts are one of the beings l benefits of going to college that your tuition pays for.

      3. WTF

        But, the police will not destroy the lives of the accused and celebrate the accusers as heroic “victims” without any actual evidence of a crime, you racist shitlord!
        And the left actually considers this to be the injustice.

    4. Q Continuum

      Due process was invented by Nazis!! REEEEEEEE!!!!

  19. Pope Jimbo

    Minnesoda may not have a swamp, but we do have a bog.

    Lawsuit between Minnesoda’s governor and legislature reveals a lot of stupid spending.

    Maybe not exciting to you folks who live out in the boonies, but it does have some interesting points.

    Legislature has exempted itself from reporting standards that all other municipalities have to abide by, so this is a rare glimpse into how they spend their money.

    Despite having “citizen legislators” we seem to be paying up to $1,800/mo year round (whether the legislature is in session or not) for apartments for those legislators

    Those legislators used their budget to pay for State Fair tickets ($3,750)

    We need that Texass pol bad.

    1. AlexinCT

      Legislature has exempted itself from reporting standards that all other municipalities have to abide by, so this is a rare glimpse into how they spend their money.

      Sounds like most of the shit that gets done by these crooks at every level, Heck the crooks that gave us Obamacare exempted themselves from it too..

    2. Q Continuum

      Funnel cake makers hardest hit.

  20. Pat

    Flippy, the hamburger cooking robot, gets its first restaurant gig

    Miso Robotics has been showing off its burger-flipping “robotic kitchen assistant” for several months now, but today’s food robotics panel marks the first time we’ve actually seen it put to work in a real-world kitchen.

    Flippy’s developers would like to thank all of the Fight for 15 activists for making its development cost feasible.

    1. AlexinCT

      Antifa has supposedly expanded their charter from beating up Nazis (and Nazis being anyone in the way of the communist agenda) to now also hating robots..

      1. leonadasiv

        I can see show the commie-luddite alliance made them stronger.

    2. straffinrun

      Your Mr Deja vous today.

      1. Pat

        Unless and until it shows up in my news feed it doesn’t exist.

    3. TK

      Flippy donates all of his wages to the Fight for 15 cause.

    4. mexican sharpshooter

      Will Flippy allow me to finally order a hamburger medium rare?

      Pasadena get first crack at the robot.

      I guess not.

      1. trshmnstr

        Wheres the link to the plush e coli from yesterday?

      2. pan fried wylie

        How’s the robot supposed to kill the bacteria more effectively than a human cook?

        The problem is the grinding. Whole muscles, the contaminants are all on the outside, directly exposed to the heat. Grinding mixes the contaminants throughout the mass, which is what necessitates the thorough cooking to eliminate risk of poisoning.

      3. Hyperion

        You can at Red Robin or Smashburger.

        1. Number.6

          Whattaburger did a medium rare one for me last time I was sown at Love Field.

        2. pan fried wylie

          Better beef I guess. No mention in their marketing about grinding their own, but Smashburger does tout “using fresh, never frozen Beef”.

      4. The Last American Hero

        Pasadena. Funny. Not Des Moines, or Boise, or Oklahoma City. Pasadena. Wonder what’s so special about California that they need to get the robots in service there?

  21. Glancing through some of the Trunp UN memes Sloopy shared. One of them:

    “America, what happened? You used to be respected. You were articulate. You were a leader. But now, ‘Rocket Man.’”

    It’s always the administration one or two terms ago that was doing things right, that was respectable, and oh how we’ve fallen now. I can’t wait until 10 years from now when people will be lamenting on what happened to America and why can’t we be restrained luke we were under Trump, unlike the policies of New Evil American President.

    1. SugarFree

      Her name is Chelsea, shitlord.

      1. WTF

        Nah, Democrat presidents are generally celebrated, no matter how awful they are.

        1. SugarFree

          Democrat? Those traitors? She’s elected on the Clinton Party ticket.

          1. Pope Jimbo

            Oh shit. I was thinking Chelsea Manning, not Clinton.

            And what would be the ruling on the field? Does Chelsea Manning’s election count as first woman president or not?

          2. SugarFree

            Halfsies. Like Obama.

          3. SugarFree

            Although a Chelsea | Chelsea run might be the ticket.

            Clinton/Manning
            This time, who gives a fuck?

          4. AlexinCT

            Chelsea Clinton is Janet Reno’ son!

    2. AlexinCT

      I remember when douchebags like McCain and Romney were literally Hitler, before Trump came and they became great statesmen…

      1. Chipwooder

        The effort to portray Mitt Romney, arguably the most milquetoast, inoffensive man to run for president, as some kind of blood-dripping-from-the-fangs monster was the most ludicrous period in American political history. I still don’t understand why “binders full of women” was supposed to be offensive in any way.

        1. AlexinCT

          Because they told you so!

    3. american socialist

      Progs are self loathing and bitter. If they are upset by this that means it was a good speech and America is showing itself as the top dog

      1. WTF

        The real problem they have with Trump is that he doesn’t speak in diplomatic politician-talk. He just just throws shit out there in plain language for everyone to see, and the political class finds that horrifying.

        1. AlexinCT

          Politicians thinking anyone not as crooked and fork-tongued as them is not worthy?

          Go figure..

        2. Fatty Bolger

          They don’t like the plain truth, that’s for sure. There were similar complaints about Reagan, even though he was a fantastic and eloquent speaker. They just weren’t happy about what he was saying.

          1. AlexinCT

            Funny how when a lefty talks stupid marxist shit it is a display of eloquence and genius, but anyone that says otherwise, especially if they challenge the marxist dogma, is a buffoon to these people, huh?

    4. Gray Ghost

      Related to that, and worth reposting from the other day, from Iowahawk’s Twitter:

      UN: we condemn DPRK in the strongest terms
      Trump: I will fucking nuke them back to the stone age
      UN: OK, maybe not in the strongest terms

      Also mentioned by someone else here yesterday, about Trump’s UN speech, he’s sounding awfully Reaganesque with lines like these:

      The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented. (Applause.) From the Soviet Union to Cuba to Venezuela, wherever true socialism or communism has been adopted, it has delivered anguish and devastation and failure.

      Did Peggy Noonan come out of retirement?

      1. TK

        The problem in Venezuela is not that socialism has been poorly implemented, but that socialism has been faithfully implemented. (Applause.)

        Don’t you mean (silence)? Cause that’s what I heard after that line.

        1. Gray Ghost

          It was a cut and paste from Politico’s purported transcript of his remarks. I haven’t watched the speech.

          That’s a surprising editorial addition by them.

          1. leonadasiv

            Typo, it was supposed to say (a pause)

          2. “We heard two people light clap a few times! Applause! Anything to hide the UN’s socialist sympathies, NTTAWWT

    5. Michael

      Mainstream American leftists are positively obsessed with the idea of maintaining “respectability”, especially in the eyes of the Europeans for some weird reason. It’s inconceivable to them that if Europe was to completely disappear without a trace one day, life in the US absolutely wouldn’t skip a beat.

    6. The Last American Hero

      The LA Times link praises W as working with the UN. During his term he was derided for not working with the UN and referred to often as a Cowboy President.

  22. Count Potato

    “New Brunswick city bans trick-or-treating for kids over 16, sets Halloween curfew

    “I wanted to demolish it altogether but I got outvoted,” Kim Chamberlain said in an interview Tuesday of the Bathurst city bylaw that made it illegal for teens over the age of 14 to parade door-to-door dressed as ghosts and goblins, and set a 7 p.m. cut off. “At least we were able to make some modifications.”’

    https://globalnews.ca/news/3756827/new-brunswick-city-bans-trick-or-treating-for-kids-over-16-sets-halloween-curfew/

    1. Pat

      16 year olds trick-or-treating is a big problem is it? I wasn’t exactly the coolest kid on the block, but holy shit.

      1. Chipwooder

        I have noticed in recent years a significant increase in teenaged trick or treaters, particularly girls. I just give them the candy so as not to suffer the fate of Larry David.

        Only an asshole passes a law about trick-or-treating.

    2. Gustave Lytton

      They have a large Mormon population?

      1. leonadasiv

        Where does this idea that Mormons don’t trick or treat come from? I’ve known one Mormon family that didn’t, and they were weird.

        1. Mormons have a reputation as being more boring than my reputation.

          1. leonadasiv

            I get that. We can be boring. But I tracked and treated until I was 12. Then my parents told me to grow up

          2. The Elite Elite

            So, where you grew up instead of dressing up you had to run a track to get free candy? Not a bad way of doing it. Burn off some of those extra calories you’re about to eat.

          3. pan fried wylie

            boring AND health conscious, insufferable.

        2. mexican sharpshooter

          Where does this idea that Mormons don’t trick or treat come from?

          I think this and many misconceptions about the LDS church are rooting in a lack of contact with them. To be honest, almost every religion has traditions that look odd by an outsider.

          1. John Titor

            I think it’s less that and more everyone confuses them for Jehovah Witnesses.

  23. Pope Jimbo

    What lovely neighbors!

    Neighbors on a lake rat out neighbors for building too big a house and a judge has now ruled that the house must be torn down.

    1. Just a thought not a sermon

      This would be the point where I would discover a new interest in arson.

      1. Gustave Lytton

        Well, that’s one way to save on destruction costs and recoup the initial construction. Oh… you mean the neighbors…

  24. TK

    I thought Trump’s speech was a pretty ballsy, which is what the western world needs right now. Everybody just keeps downplaying the problems that need to be confronted. Trump is basically a wrecking ball. I loved the pause after he said that socialism is the cause of Venezuela’s crisis, it really revealed the preferences of everyone at the U.N. They’ve all been undeniably outed as socialists now.

    Trump got a lot of respect from me for all this.

    1. straffinrun

      Does he actually bite after he barks? Yet to be seen.

      1. american socialist

        Regulations, courts and federal agencies….yes absolutely

        His biggest attribute is being in control of the agencies imo

        1. straffinrun

          I’m talking about his UN speech. Wiping the Norks off the map is quite different from dumping some regs.

          1. TK

            I think he’d do it if they attacked us with a nuke.

          2. straffinrun

            Definitely.

          3. I wouldn’t be surprised if the U.S. has some sort of agreement with China, where if the Norks shoot first the Chinese help stomp them down in exchange for claiming some of that mineral rich North Korean land and the U.S. turning a blind eye to what they do to Nork survivers.

          4. Gray Ghost

            I think he’d do it if they attacked us with a nuke.

            He’d have to. Or be impeached, at a minimum.

            The thing is, there are quite a few intermediate stages between, “shell Yeonpyeong” and “flip an ICBM at Seattle.”
            I bring up again, the Paul Atreides-esque idea of the Norks using an EMP weapon over Japan or South Korea. He’d be using a nuke (atomics, whatever) against machinery, not people. Plus, to forestall an attempt at conventional regime change, he’d still have his remaining nukes, and the ability to shell the living shit out of Seoul’s northern suburbs.

            Would we respond with nuclear weapons against someone who just made a few 10s of billions of dollars of integrated circuits go “Poof!”? Even if his attack ended up killing a few tens of people, through ventilators failing, planes crashing, etc…? I’m not so sure we would. ‘Murder’ all of those innocent North Koreans? Risk nuclear war with China?

            It’s a bitch of a problem. It won’t get any easier either. If I’m right, and NK has been following the Energomash road to the stars, they already have the equivalent of, say, an SS-6, and SS-12. Liquid-fueled, medium to long range, medium payload ballistic missiles. They’re desperately trying to get the equivalent of an SS-25: road-mobile, long range, solid-fueled medium payload ballistic missile. Solid fueled means no waiting to fuel the missile: just park, figure out where you are, turn the key and watch it go. Road-mobile means we can’t realistically find or kill them before they launch. When he gets that, then it’s the Scud Hunt from the Gulf War all over again. Only this time, the Scuds are carrying 150 kiloton and up city-killers.

    2. When Trump got elected, my biggest hope was that he would be a bull in a China shop in DC. He’s done some other stuff I was pleasantly surprised about (Gorsuch, Devos) and some stuff I hated (Sessions) but speeches like that, broadcast to the whole world, are exactly the kinds of things I wanted.

      Also, UN is absolutely commie now. In non-Trump UN material, notice how much time they spend talking about equality vs how much they talk about freedom.

      1. invisible finger

        He got Sessions out of the Senate and is now trying to humiliate him into quitting. The jury is still out on that one – it will be awful if Sessions hangs around long enough.

  25. Pope Jimbo

    Oh, Minnesoda when will you just admit that you fucked up when you built your state exchange and went hard for the ACA?

    Our scheme to give subsidies to insurers to keep them in the state and offset their costs to prevent huge rate increases has run into problems.

    Short synopsis. We passed a plan to give hundreds of millions of dollars to insurers. Needed a waiver from DC though. DC just told them that they will approve the waiver, but that will trigger cuts in federal subsidies to Minnesoda. So our fancy plan will cause us a net loss of $161M.

    “This is a very damaging reversal of federal responsibility to Minnesota,” Dayton wrote. While Minnesota stands to get $208 million in federal funding to cushion against 2018 premium hikes, it would also stand to lose $369 million in federal funding for MinnesotaCare.

    Hey, who would have thought that getting addicted to federal money could ever have a downside?

    1. AlexinCT

      Who would have ever thunk that a money pit couldn’t be saved even after you shoveled in mountains of cash?

      1. american socialist

        Wow. Progs like to feel noble but they expect others to do the work

        1. AlexinCT

          The proggy ideology is all about doing good and making others foot the bill while you virtue signal…

  26. american socialist

    This is a resist prog named Adam best

    “Virginia gubernatorial race is our best opportunity in 2017 to officially rebuke Trump, send a clear message to GOP about 2018. #VAGovDebate”

    Um VA went to Hillary, the current gov is a dem, and both senators are dems and former governors

    1. AlexinCT

      They need a victory, any sort of victory, to point out Trump has now been censored by the populous.

    2. The Zenome Project

      What’s absolutely hilarious about VA is that if anything, Trump’s improved his approval ratings there according to recent polls, and the governor’s race is now a dead heat. Keep it up, progs!

      1. Chipwooder

        As much as Virginia has been trending Dem, the last couple of elections have been really close – McAuliffe only beat Cuccinelli 47-45 despite the state GOP doing as much as they could to sandbag Cuccinelli, and Warner just barely hung on against Gillespie last time by less than a percentage point.

        1. The Zenome Project

          A lot of people, including myself, think that Trump was simply a bad fit for Virginia because he was icky to bureaucrats, but that it didn’t matter because he was strong in other places like Wisconsin. I think it’s very possible that an establishment R like Jeb! or Marco! would’ve taken Virginia last year, and I honestly think that if Trump faced Hillary again, he’d win it pretty handily.

  27. Count Potato

    “Students in a sociology class at San Diego State University can earn extra credit if they take a quiz to determine their level of “white privilege.”

    Professor Dae Elliott offered the option to her sociology class students, a “White Privilege Checklist” that includes 20 questions that aim to illustrate that “racial privilege is one form of privilege.””

    https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/36904/

    1. Pat

      I bet JATNAS’s kid could ace that quiz.

    2. WTF

      It seems those questions could mostly be answered in the positive by most black people.

  28. Scruffy Nerfherder

    My musical entry for today. I missed an opportunity to see him live back in the 90’s. I still regret it to this day.

  29. Q Continuum

    Q: What do you call a nanny with breast implants?
    A: A faux pair.

    http://archive.is/wRUjT

    9 and 27 definitely take their vitamins.

    1. The Elite Elite

      Don’t they have to be real for them to cause lower back problems? Because a lot of those are obviously fake.

      1. Gray Ghost

        “A lot?” And you’ve just noticed this now?

        I’d think weight is weight, so their backs are going to hurt regardless. Also, if “real” breast tissue is mostly adipose tissue, comprised largely of fat, and fat is less dense than water, wouldn’t saline implants be heavier that real breasts? (No idea how the density of medical silicone compares to human fat.)

        1. Q Continuum

          You guys are asking all the wrong questions. What we really should be pondering here is optimum areola diameter and nipple protrusion, density of Glands of Montgomery and the ratio of distance from nipple to collar bone to nipple to inframammary crease. Let’s get down to what really matters here!

        2. The Elite Elite

          No, I’ve noticed it in all of his links to this. As for how implants weigh compare to real fat, I’m not sure. I guess I just assumed the implants would be lighter than the real deal.

          1. Number.6

            Depends on a lot of factors, because nowadays, implants aren’t just simple bags of saline

            Mrs #6 is a double mastectomy and reconstructive work requires different type of implants from the ones used in augmentation. She went for a rebuild slightly larger than pre-op, and she said they move like her old ones did when she was in her mid-20’s, but they’re ‘looser’ laterally. Weight-wise, she offered no opinion saying it was ‘a wash’.

            For augmentative, I believe the implants are typically smaller volume (up until a ridiculous level of augmentation is applied) so I wouldn’t expect the effect to be much different from a ‘natural’ of that size. Of course, if you’re the one carrying ’em around and you haven’t developed the appropriate musculature to counter their mass, sure, I’d think it’d be pretty uncomfortable.

          2. Evan from Evansville

            That sounds like a very fun and detailed conversation with the missus.

          3. Number.6

            I had a vested interest in her ‘getting it right’.

            Women are usually pretty attached to the twins, and when sanity says “get rid of ’em”, they’re usually quite invested in ‘getting it right’ too.

            Sadly, no matter how good the reconstructive work, assuming they want it done, the results are rarely ‘better’ than the originals.

          4. Gray Ghost

            I think I came off too strident in my post above. I agree with you; the vast majority of these gals have gone under the knife, and a lot of them look frankly ridiculous. Though the latter is a matter of taste.

            If they’re happy with their new toys, that’s what matters. In my very limited experience talking to women with ridiculously oversized implants, she liked the attention, but she had a bunch of pain, both from the surgery and the weight, and I think she ultimately regretted having them done.

          5. Q Continuum

            I’m always happy to play with their toys.

    2. Q Continuum

      42 also.

      1. mindyourbusiness

        Agreed. Q, that was a very good article last night. More of the same, please!

        1. Slammer

          What made that article and discussion great last night was everyone treating everyone else respectfully. That’s why this is my favorite place. Thanks admins!

        2. Q Continuum

          Thanks!

    3. Troy

      I don’t like the duck lips of #2, but i I wouldnt kick her out of bed

    4. Troy

      3 and 19 would be perfect but for them stupid tattoos. 40 has a butter face, but freckles.

    5. Evan from Evansville

      3 wins. I’m going for cute here. Her Bambi-eyes are very fetching. I think that she and I would get along.

      6 places.

      31 shows.

      Honorable mention to 20

      The arbiter of beauty has spoken. You older chaps (and I’m officially no longer a spring chicken) often have an odd and different –to me– idea about what’s attractive. There really is no accounting for taste.

      (I tried to post something like this 3 times and it said I needed to be logged in, even though it was “Logged in as Evan from Evansville.” Sorry if this posts like 4 times.

    6. I’ll go with 35 although I’d like to see 18’s face.

  30. Pope Jimbo

    Proggies are confused. Why aren’t the black folk going along with the program?

    Long piece on how black students are fleeing the Mpls School District at alarming rates. Lots of hand wringing about how this really hurts public schools because the tax dollars follow those students to charter schools.

    They do report on the fact that students are doing better in those charter schools, but don’t seem to acknowledge that that is a good thing. Those charter schools may be helping the kids, but don’t they understand that the public schools (and their unions) are being hurt?

    1. Q Continuum

      It’s almost as if they don’t care that the students are learning more outside of their extortion racket indoctrination factories…

      1. WTF

        They’ll worry about what’s good for students when students start paying union dues.

    2. Chipwooder

      A Republican who truly wanted to break the stranglehold Dems have on the black vote would hammer the shit out of school choice. Go into black neighborhoods, churches, etc, and just scream about it at the top of their lungs. Make the Dems defend the proposition that their kids are simply doomed to attend their shitty local schools.

      This doesn’t happen because this is one issue, I believe, where bias DOES play a role. Rich suburban white parents, on both side of the political divide, don’t want ghetto kids in their high achieving schools. I’ve seen that firsthand in my own area – I live in a county that has a stark racial and socioeconomic divide. Henrico County kind of wraps around the northern half of the city of Richmond, shaped like a bean. The western half of the county is mostly white and Asian (lots of families from India around here in particular), middle class to wealthy as shit, and has a bunch of top-notch schools that get national awards and such. The eastern half is overwhelmingly black, poor, and has some really awful schools. I was at a bunch of public meetings held recently over a dispute regarding school attendance zone changes. Basically, there were a bunch of upper middle class parents who were concerned that they were going to be redistricted into lesser schools. When I discussed with some people that this wouldn’t be such a contentious issue if families weren’t locked into schools based solely on geography, I got a lot of blank stares and talk about how that would ruin the wonderful schools of western Henrico.

      1. invisible finger

        You are right, but in a sense they are right too because in a “check your privilege” environment, the likely outcome would be “some people get to choose their schools and others don’t get to choose.”

    3. Lots of hand wringing about how this really hurts public schools because the tax dollars follow those students to charter schools.

      This attitude absolutely infuriates and disgusts me. The sickest thing is that I know people who are purposely keeping their kids in a shitty school district because they want to “do their part” to help improve the schools. They’re consciously sacrificing their children’s educations, ultimately their children’s futures, to get marginally more public funding for local government employees and other people’s children. It’s repulsive. It’s a total abdication of their responsibilities as parents.

      1. Chipwooder

        Know a few of those too, people who live within the city limits and deliberately send their kids to the terrible Richmond city schools to prove how wonderfully enlightened they are.

        1. My wife started to verge in that direction, but part of her attitude is that she thinks the local private schools aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. So my strategy is to either move, which we’re already planning on doing, or sending our kid(s) to a local Montessori school that seems to be well-regarded. She’s a big constructivist, so that winds up being a win-win for the both of us. Price notwithstanding of course. Shame there isn’t some way we could take the tax revenue we would be using in local public schools and have it follow our student children to be used at the school of our choice…

          1. Chipwooder

            I love the Montessori concept, but the local Montessori school costs more than fucking college.

    4. whiz

      I do wonder if there is a selection bias in students at charter schools doing better than those in public schools. After all, parents who care enough to move their kid to a charter school likely take a more active role, and those kids would do better wherever they are. Choice is still good, but you have to be careful in interpreting the data.

      1. Pope Jimbo

        I think that is a big part of the disparity. However, I’m glad that those kids/parents have an option to go to a school that is better.

      2. invisible finger

        My father started high school in 1943. Chicago Public School system. And he had to choose his high school before finishing 8th grade. (He may have only had a choice of 4 or 5 schools within a given radius.)

        That setup started getting dismantled after WWII and teacher’s unions started getting more power. CPS was able to keep some semblance of that structure until the mid 1980’s but it’s completely gone now. Now only a handful of high achievers get to go to a designated “magnet” school in their (extended) neighborhood if they want but that is the extent of it. And I’m sure that setup matches how the union allows its better teachers to be “rewarded” by CPS administration. The last thing the union wants is the majority of their members being hired on merit and the last thing CPS wants is individual principals proving that bottom-up management works better than central planning.

  31. Grummun

    Unsolicited Mammoth Cave, KY Vacation Report:

    Cave City, KY: Used to be a one horse town…. until the horse got bored and left. Current population: zero horses.
    – Bucky Bee’s BBQ: Meh. Big portions, tho.
    – Cave City Creamery: Decent ice cream.

    Mammoth Cave National Park: Nice. Pretty drive. More NPS Rangers per square foot than anyplace else on earth. The cave itself is really cool (literally, it was 85 on the surface and mid-50’s in the cave). No charge to get in the park, but you’ll pay not just a little to get underground. We went on three tours: “Historic” covers the most ground, “Domes and Dripstones” is most interesting for the engineering of the entrance stairs, “Gothic Avenue” has the most interesting geologic features. Biggest gripe: they really hustle you along, not much time to gawk or take pictures.

    Louisville, KY (on the drive out and back):
    – Evan Williams Experience: skip
    – Kentucky Peerless: Shiny and modern. No bourbon yet; the rye is … a little raw.
    – Angel’s Envy: Also shiny and modern. Most entertaining tour guide; he referred to Evan WIlliams as “Bourbon Disneyland.” Bourbon is okay.
    – Against The Grain Brewery and Grill: good lunch, but spendy.

    That is all.

    1. Q Continuum

      Always wanted to go there. If you ever get west go to Carlsbad Caverns, that’s amazing.

    2. Juvenile Bluster

      Angel’s Envy is “okay”?

      Admins, this should be a bannable offense.

      1. Grummun

        I may be a philistine, but… prefer Woodford’s Double Oaked and Michter’s Small Batch. I have something of a sweet tooth.

        1. Gray Ghost

          I have something of a sweet tooth.

          Have you tried Blanton’s? I remember it being one of the sweeter Bourbons.

      2. Apples and Knives

        Agreed. Angel’s Envy is superb.

    3. SugarFree

      Did you stay in Wigwam Village?

      http://wigwamvillage.com/

      1. Grummun

        Nnnnnoooooo….. I Can’t Believe We Missed That Opportunity. Drat.

        1. SugarFree

          It has more spiders per cubic foot than any other motel you will ever stay at. That’s a management guarantee.

          1. Chipwooder

            Hey, it keeps the mosquito population down.

          2. Tulip

            It would be worth it to be able to tell people I stayed there. Hee!

      2. ChipsnSalsa

        Liz Warren stayed there once.

      3. Tulip

        I would totally stay there. I love kitschy Americana!

      4. Culturally Inappropriate.

      5. Evan from Evansville

        Oh shit!

        I remember stopping by there a bunch as a kid driven around on family trips.

        never stayed there, though.

    4. Slammer

      Mammoth Cave

      The old shit

  32. Q Continuum

    Just so we’ve got our stories straight:

    Mexico -> fracking.
    Puerto Rico -> global warming.

    Man, this being an NYT reporter sure is easy! When’s the next cocktail party?

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      Well, we know there’s never been hurricanes in the Caribbean or earthquakes in Mexico City, so yep.

    1. LJW

      Nice try Florida will take it from here.

          1. WTF

            “As God is my witness, I thought they could fly!”

        1. whiz

          This sounds to me like a drone delivery gone bad.

  33. The Late P Brooks

    The new neoconservatives?

    Those who have been “red pilled” may start out questioning feminism. But that’s often just the beginning.

    A red pill blogger who calls himself “Pat Riarchy” (“also known as the patriarchy”) recalls that his journey down the rabbit hole began when a Facebook friend derisively called him a “cis male.” He came to recognize that, “it’s been one narrative pretty much.” He concluded, “I have my own objective view…I didn’t want a bigger government. I realized I didn’t like the universal healthcare plan…I realized I didn’t really have an issue with guns.” Several books and discussions later, he emerged as a libertarian.

    Red pill bloggers are increasingly characterizing PC culture as a first step on a slippery slope towards authoritarian socialism.

    One who articulates this best is Dave Rubin, a married gay man and former left liberal whose show, The Rubin Report, has explored the red pill phenomenon.

    In his commentary, “The left is no longer liberal”, he explained his own disillusionment with the “regressive left,” whose “backward ideology” of identity politics “puts the collective ahead of the individual. It loves all of its minority groups to behave as a monolith.

    “So if you’re a true individual—meaning you don’t subscribe to the ideas that the groupthink has attributed to you based on those immutable characteristics—you must be cast out.” Rubin calls this mindset “the biggest threat to freedom and Western civilization that exists today.”

    We can only hope this is a real, and widespread, phenomenon. (And not a b-side version of the liberals’ “I once was lost but now am found” confessionals from “former” libertarians, gun owners, school choice supporters,and whatever other Punch and Judy Show caricatures they have come up with.)

    * the original definition of “neoconservative” was a liberal who has been mugged by reality

    1. straffinrun

      What do you do with the original Neocons?

      1. Ironically, the original Neocons were also democrats who grew disillusioned with their own party and jumped ship. It’s partly why they have such a Wilsonian foreign policy and no real problem with big government (IIRC, their big complaint with the Dems were the dems going commie).

        1. The Elite Elite

          It’s also why the Republican Party suddenly became just as awful on foreign policy as the Dems had always been.

          1. The Zenome Project

            Exactly: people don’t get that neocon wars are a form of leftism. Trump has been inconsistent on the foreign policy front, but there has been a return to sanity in some areas.

          2. straffinrun

            Makes you wonder what Dubya would’ve done foreign policy wise if 9/11 hadn’t happened.

          3. Chipwooder

            He campaigned on non-interventionism. I remember a lot of criticism of the Clinton Administration for nationbuilding efforts.

          4. straffinrun

            Yep. The one incident he had before 9/11 was the Chinese and American fighter jets clipping wings in Chinese airspace. Could’ve been a spark, but neither country was up for a big tussle at the time.

          5. The Zenome Project

            I was too young to remember the Bush campaign, but one thing that I know is that neocons creeped into the GOP in much the same way as the leftists took over the universities and Hollywood. IOW, they slowly got into positions of bureaucratic power, hijacked the old institution, and then walked around in its shell pretending to be conservative and commanding the same respect.

          6. The Elite Elite

            I don’t know how good a job they do pretending. A lot of these guys like to openly call themselves JFK Democrats. (Like Dennis Prager for an example). So they still openly hold their bad Dems from the 60s views, they just tend to seem reasonable compared to today’s radical socialist Dems. (Guess that would go into that Overton Window stuff trshmnstr was talking about).

      2. Q Continuum

        Such a big war boner and no vagina in which to stick it!

    2. Count Potato

      “Liberals sick of the alt-left are taking ‘the red pill’”

      I still don’t think “alt-left” is all that useful a term.

  34. The Late P Brooks

    Did you stay in Wigwam Village?

    WIGWAM VILLAGE?!

    Oh, my stars.

    1. SugarFree

      It has the least PC gift shop EVAR!

      1. AlexinCT

        Buy me a tomahawk!

        1. SugarFree

          It has an online store, but none of the good stuff.

          A friend got me this from there years ago:

          http://www.historyonthenet.com/authentichistory/diversity/native/is2-drunk/Alcohol_Shot_Glass-Braves_Squaws_Papoose.jpg

          1. Tulip

            I want to go there!

    2. Chipwooder

      Man goes to a shrink and says “doc, I keep having these weird dreams. It’s the same two over and over – in one, I’m a wigwam, in the other one I’m a teepee. What does that mean?” The doctor tells him, “Relax, you’re two tents.”

      I’ll be here all week!

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        I’m not going to try the fish.

        1. Good idea, I think it was raised in a chinese spetic tank.

  35. MikeS

    Feel good story for the dog lovers out there

    Grand Forks shelter saves 32 dogs displaced by Hurricane Harvey

    “I was just happy we could help,” said Alexis Gregory, hospitality specialist at Circle of Friends. “Watching it all on the news, I felt kind of helpless. Then hearing we had a volunteer group going down, I felt really blessed knowing we could help, even being so far away.

    “People were super excited. Most of them (the adopted dogs) went out within a week.”

    1. The Elite Elite

      Seems like a pretty sweet and caring bitch. The dog is nice too.

    2. Troy

      I like these reverse nut punches. Gentle nut stroking If u will

      1. Q Continuum

        +1 teabag

    3. whiz

      There are a lot of organizations that move animals around from one shelter to another that can place them better. Mrs. Whiz and I occasionally do animal transports for some of them.

      1. MikeS

        Among shelters in a certain geographic area I assume? That’s great. I’m glad that happens and kudos to you and the missus!

        I think what makes this story a bit different is these folks drove 1400 miles one way to rescue 32 dogs.

        1. whiz

          One pipeline goes from Oklahoma to the upper Midwest, but it’s a shuttle system — each person only drives a few hours, and the dogs are handed off every 100 miles or so. Quite a logistics exercise.

          1. MikeS

            Oh! Very cool. I was unaware of that. They must be involved. I just read another article in the local rag about a town in Minnesota that just got 23 “Harvey” dogs.

  36. ron73440

    OT:

    I have a 15 year old son who is pretty smart and HATES school.
    I have been trying to get him to do homeschooling and a week into the school year he wants to do it.

    I have no idea what to do I know I need a letter to give to the school and I have to pick a curriculum, I’ve been looking, but the choices are a little overwhelming.

    Does anyone here do homeschooling or have any recommendations?

    Also he thinks he wants a computer related job for a career path, not sure if that means programming, coding, or IT support yet.

    1. Bob Boberson

      I’m decidedly unqualified to speak about homeschooling (product of public school/no kids) but I hear this advertised almost daily on Tom Woods:

      http://www.ronpaulhomeschooling.com/

      I’d be inclined toward it just because I respect Ron Paul.

      *Sorry Ken/Hihn

      1. The Elite Elite

        BULLY!

        1. Bob Boberson

          You forgot the text wall in bold face and to declare that you’ve ‘won’ the argument.

    2. There’s some synergy between skills for systems administration and programming.

      I’m always stunned when I run into a developer who’s ignorant about infrastructure or an admin who can’t code. They just seem so complementary to me.

      1. Number.6

        I work as part of a larger team, where the company sent all the developers off to learn T-SQL/PLSql. Three of them to learn more advanced stuff like database design, so they can build the latest iteration of our data warehouse, in Azure.

        Spent a bomb on it, while I’m sitting back here, time on my hands, with 15+ years of across the board, multi-platform, distributed SQL and No-SQL experience, a fair amount of technical teaching experience, drinking coffee and hanging out at Glibs.com.

        Yeah, they want me out. No other explanation.

        1. AlexinCT

          You are probably the guy they rely on when things break, so they can’t afford having you be off at some seminar or class, while these people being away is a great thing for actual work happening…

          That’s what I was honestly told by a previous employer..

          1. Number.6

            No, I’m going to be the guy they give his bonus in Feb 2018, and a fat severance, that will launch my freelance career (career 3.5 or 4, depending on how you figure these things)

            It’s an artifact of the firm’s feudal nature, and a natural result of a palace coup. I’m a wee bit too visible, and have far too much seniority for this branch of the firm to shit all over me.

            In the intervening 6 months, I have a bunch of systems to migrate out of or retire so I can walk out the door like in the cartoons where the shack plunges to the canyon floor, and the roadrunner steps out just before impact. It won’t happen that way of course, but a man can hope.

          2. AlexinCT

            That sucks bro.. Find a job elsewhere ASAP and leave them holding their dicks is what I would do..

          3. Number.6

            It’s up to them. I’m scheduling meetings and writing up specs that they can address, or not address.

            The key point is that I’m developing a product that will be ready for launch in about 8 months, and if/when they boot me out, either I have 16 months’ severance per my contract, or they have a lawsuit. Economically, I need to (a) stay put and (b) fulfill my contractual obligations.

            At some point, they’ll pull the handle and flush me. Historically, it’s at bonus time, and given that the way the comp system here is set up, bonuses are over 70% of base salary, The golden handcuffs are real, and heavy.

            Of course, all that means is that in March, you suddenly find everyone jumps ship at the same time.

          4. AlexinCT

            Yeah, I remember my days as a contractor. Made great money, worked shitty hours, but always had to deal with the insanity and lack of stability. I have been where I am not too long myself and am getting bored, but if I go look for a new job I am leaving the People’s Republic of Connecticut when I do so. This place is sinking faster than Atlantis.

          5. Number.6

            It’s only #6.2’s schooling that’s keeping us in the PRC now.

          6. bonuses are over 70% of base salary,

            My last bonus was 1.8% of my salary. I no longer work at that place.

    3. The Other Kevin

      Also look into online schools. In Indiana we have something called Indiana Online Academy, which is an alternative school. I had a co-worker (a programmer) who nearly dropped out of high school, but after they got him into the online academy, he made up all his grades and even graduated a semester early. Turns out he had a problem with authority, and when they took out that aspect, he did great. He also did fine in college, because there you’re more on your own and the teachers aren’t as in your face.

      1. MikeS

        Turns out he had a problem with authority, and when they took out that aspect, he did great.

        How’s the whole “having a boss” thing going for him?

        1. The Other Kevin

          He no longer works here, but that’s because he got a better job closer to home. Our boss here is a total micro manager, and he did about as well as the rest of us. So apparently he matured out of the authority thing. At his new job he makes more and has a lot more freedom. They don’t even have set hours. Yes, I am jealous, but they aren’t looking for anyone else this year.

        2. pan fried wylie

          I think a lot of the time it’s more a problem with authority-for-the-sake-of-authority. I’ve been blessed in my life in having bosses who were happy that the job was done and didn’t have a need to swing their dick/clit around to improve their self-worth. Wasn’t as blessed in that regard when it came to teachers, which was what eventually lead to dropping out and getting my GED as class of ’99 instead of ’00.

      2. Spartan Dad

        I’ve been seeing this more and more. I think George Washington University runs one. They are essentially private schools, with private school tuition costs, but allow asynchronous online learning like a college program.

        There’s one, I can’t remember the state, but might even be Indiana Online Academy, that offers free instate tuition but charges ~$10k for out of state.

        1. The Other Kevin

          I had the name wrong earlier. It’s Indiana Virtual Academy.

      3. ChipsnSalsa

        WI has a number of virtual academies. School districts will run these so you can open enroll your kids into another district. Depending on the district some will pay for other curriculum for you to use, even some Christian based ones! Our friends have gone this route which reduces out of pocket expense but raises intrusiveness / reporting to district.

    4. Spartan Dad

      As far as the technical requirements, you can find them here for your state.
      https://www.hslda.org/

      It’s worth joining if there’s the slightest chance your local school direct or CPS will make your life hell over it. They’ll provide you legal defense and handle setting the school straight.

    5. ChipsnSalsa

      I have no idea what to do I know I need a letter to give to the school and I have to pick a curriculum, I’ve been looking, but the choices are a little overwhelming.

      Different states have various requirements for homeschooling. Here in WI I have to fill out an online form, sometime soonish, that says I’m homeschooling and the state can go fuck itself. done. Other states need more detail about your plans for the year.

      quick search found this starting point for what you need to do.

      Curriculum, holy crap! there is so much out there. If your state requires documentation of plans a purchased curriculum could be a good route. If not you can find programs for each subject that will suite your kid and interest. History, find good history books / shows and have him write reports on it. Language arts, have him write a paper on a topic he is interested in. Math, find a curriculum or Kahn Academy (?). Sign him up for music lessons from a private tutor. Go out for a walk in the woods and find interesting things and research further. It’s all learning!

      It’s a little late in the season but there are plenty of homeschool curriculum conventions that happen that you can go to and see what is out there and actually look at textbooks.

      Our family uses Sonlight, which for a 15 year old may not be the way to go, our oldest is 11.

      Cavalier I know uses Life of Fred for math which I have heard great things about (real life application of math).

      1. ChipsnSalsa

        Also, doing this adds more to your (the parent) plate. You have to plan, and make happen these things for your kid(s). It’s on you now to get the year planned out and figure out how you will get your kid smarter at the end than the beginning. It’s not a piece of cake, if you take this seriously.

        1. AlexinCT

          Which is why so few parents do this..

          Unfortunately for them, you get what you put into it unless you have a seriously driven kid.

        2. ron73440

          Thanks everyone, I have been watching him struggle with a lot of the same things I did when I was his age.

          He is tired of learning the same things over and over, and I am tired of having to go to the school to talk to teachers about him not “conforming”. It really pisses me off because they all say he knows the material so I’m never sure what the issue is, except he’s not afraid to challenge stupidity when he sees it and he is obviously bored in their classes.(I don’t know where he got that from.)

          ChipsnSalsa: I know it will be a lot of work but there has to be a better result from this than what I am seeing so far.

          1. ChipsnSalsa

            Yes, you will get better results. I encourage you to pursue it and do it well.

          2. AlexinCT

            One thing that made a world of difference for me was a conversation with my dad. He told me if I was so much smarter than him and the teachers, why was I waiting on them to tell me what to do. His point was simple: find your own stuff and learn that as well, and usually the overlap with school would make that investment of time worth it. I went in, found out what we would cover at the beginning of every school year and usually finished all that stuff in the first month, then spend the rest of the year getting real good at it while learning about things I was interested it. That allowed me to get great grades which was the only reason I was not kicked out of school for constantly ending up in fights with assholes that decided to bully kids that couldn’t or wouldn’t defend themselves.

  37. I’m Here To Help

    Sorry if I missed a post on this already…

    Tampa’s first preseason hockey game was last night, and dear god it was painful. I appreciate the emphasis on the slashing rule (and I’ll appreciate it even more if it is consistently applied **coughs** Crosby **coughs**). But it made the game incredibly disjointed. I don’t know what the final tally was, but the teams combined for 36 minutes of penalties by the middle of the third.

    Didn’t help that the refs disallowed two goals by Tampa. Second one was a blatantly horrible call – called tampa for goalie interference when just the tip of the goalie’s toe was still in the blue and the tampa player wasn’t anywhere near it…

    1. Chipwooder

      Same thing in the Rangers-Isles game. There were something like 25 penalties called between the two teams, and most of them were slashing.

      1. I’m Here To Help

        Hopefully they tone down the calls or the players adjust. Granted, the Bolts are really good on the power play…

        1. Chipwooder

          See, that’s the thing for us – the Rangers power play has been putrid for as long as I can remember. More PPs do us no good.

    2. The Other Kevin

      Same with Chicago. Tons of slashing penalties.

      1. Two 3 on 5’s in the first period…

    3. ron73440

      I hope they call them all consistently and then the players will get used to it.

      I hate all the hooking and grabbing that goes on, though it is better than it was before the lockout.

  38. Number.6

    In other news , #6.2 is off today with Mrs. #6 to look at Hillsdale College. Fingers crossed – he’s not awfully focused on where he wants to go.

    1. Gray Ghost

      Does he even want to go to college, #6? If not, then what does he like or want to do?

      Start in the trades? Or go into the Service?

      1. Number.6

        I wouldn’t mind if he wanted to go into the trades, but this is 2017, and America, etc.

        He would probably do well in the military, but he’s not interested in getting shot at in some godforsaken hole on a mission he can’t believe in. He has shown some slight interest in the Coast Guard, which of course is ironic.

        He’s somewhat capable across the board, should leave high school with a combined SAT of 650-750 – maybe more if he doesn’t get bored with school, so he’s capable of going to a good school for engineering. Coming from the UK educational system of the late 70’s, I have a bias towards applied subjects, but if he goes to somewhere like Hillsdale for a course that includes a slab of liberal arts, at least it’ll be a solid “Great Books” background.

        Still early-ish days though – he’s still a junior.

        1. straffinrun

          Can’t say I know much about this, but it may be worth looking at.

          https://discoverpraxis.com/

          1. Number.6

            Looks interesting – we’ll check it out.

        2. mexican sharpshooter

          He has shown some slight interest in the Coast Guard, which of course is ironic.

          Has he showed any interest in the Air Force at all? Its like the Coast Guard except there is no ocean and the rest of the services will at least stop making fun of you when they need something.

          Also from a cultural standpoint, they really push higher education on the enlisted, to the point where they will pay for a sizeable amount of it while on active duty.

          1. Number.6

            He’s not really that interested in the military, although, I think he’d fit right in.

            Air Force would be a good call, since at 6ft 5in (so far) he ain’t even going to be able to get in a cockpit, but nudging him that way won’t succeed. If he continues to show some interest in law, but not “The Law”, he might develop an interest in going the JAG route.

          2. mexican sharpshooter

            6’5″? If he ever leaves the ground it’ll be in the back of a C-130.

          3. Number.6

            Tall and lanky, volleyball jock, beloved of many other female juniors and seniors.

            Good shot (handgun and rifle) – pretty good with joystick. Maybe he can get a dirtside assignment to Reaper Controller.

  39. The Late P Brooks

    Whom should we tax? Wage slaves, or Richie MacMoneybags, the parasitic coupon-clipping investor?

    It’s a mystery, and reading this meandering mishmash, replete with such nuggets of wisdom as this: The most famous economic boom in U.S. history occurred when top tax rates on dividends were as much as 90 percent won’t help much.

    Then we get some befuddled reflection on the low savings rate, followed by this:

    “Taxing investors less is really not what the U.S. needs now,” Saez said. “Instead, we should focus on trying to rebuild middle-class wealth” by encouraging families to save for retirement and pay down mortgages.

    Why don’t people save? Maybe because there’s no return on savings. If you have a brokerage account, it probably costs more to generate and mail the monthly report than the actual interest paid on your cash balance. But pay no attention to the Federal Reserve Bank behind the curtain. But if we raise the taxes on investment income, that will presumably provide a much needed incentive to save.

    Then, we finally get down to business; the geriatric rich are hoarding all the wealth, and soon they will bequeath it to their silver spoon deadbeat children. I think you can guess what fairness demands.

    1. The Other Kevin

      For decades our government has used rock-bottom interest rates to encourage borrowing and discourage saving. Why is it a mystery that the country’s gone along with it?

      1. Pat

        2 tragedies in life, and all that.

    2. Grumbletarian

      The most famous economic boom in U.S. history occurred when top tax rates on dividends were as much as 90 percent

      The fact that every industrialized country on the planet except the U.S. had been bombed into dust and ashes due to WWII is no factor whatsoever.

      1. The Elite Elite

        So what you’re saying is that our economy will see massive growth if we just bomb everywhere else?

        1. Number.6

          Krugabe nods in approval.

          1. Grumbletarian

            The broken windows fallacy is totes cool when America is the world’s glazier.

          2. Number.6

            Even more so when we’re also the thug holding the brick, AND the bank manager.

      2. american socialist

        Weren’t only white men encouraged for good paying jobs?

        Less environmental regs and more industry?

        No Medicaid and Medicare taxation?

        Since ya know correlation is causation

      3. invisible finger

        Not so much bombed into dust (rebuilding a factory doesn’t take that long) as the fact that half the planet decided that socialism would rebuild their crumbled societies.

        1. kbolino

          … with a helping heaping of grants from Uncle Sam and the implied protection of the U.S. military

    3. kbolino

      It is funny how they talk about returning to 1950s tax rates but not 1950s debt policy. At the same time the Fedgov was taxing the top margin of income* at 91%, they were running a balanced budget consistently.

      Also, given that Federal tax revenues have grown out of pace with inflation (as measured by CPI) and population growth combined following the tax reforms of 1964, 1981, and 1986 lowering the top marginal rates substantially, and that debt now accounts for a quarter to a third of financing for Federal government spending, a return to 1950s tax and debt policy would have to result in a drastic (by that I mean 50+%) cut to the welfare state. A return to 1950s tax policy but not 1950s debt policy would turn us into Greece.

      * = Worth noting that the top margin cutoff before 1964 was equivalent to about $750k today. The vast majority of people paid less than 50%.

      1. invisible finger

        Also conveniently ignored from the 1950’s is that sales tax rates were less than half what they are now, and ALL interest paid could be deducted at 100% (not just mortgage interest).

        1. kbolino

          ALL interest paid could be deducted at 100% (not just mortgage interest)

          I’ve never heard this before. Got a source?

          I’ve seen that depreciation was deductible for individuals, which is not generally the case today.

          1. Nephilium

            Late to the thread, but hope this helps:

            History of credit card interest deduction

            The Tax Reform Act of 1986 changed many provisions in the Internal Revenue Code. One of the most notable was the elimination of the personal interest deduction. Prior to this, you could deduct all credit card interest payments, regardless of what you purchased.

            Source

          2. invisible finger

            I like bringing it up to shit all over the current idea of “mortgage subsidy” from the brainwashed masses.

  40. Chipwooder

    Regarding the boom in home runs in MLB – yes, the ball has likely been livened up, but there also has been a fundamental shift in hitting philosophy. Homers might be way up, but so are strikeouts. Striking out just isn’t a big deal anymore. There’s also the “fly ball revolution” – many hitting coaches now preach an uppercut swing to get the ball in air more. Simply put, the more fly balls you hit, the more home runs you’ll hit. The Blue Jays started this – it’s how they turned mediocre players like Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, and Josh Donaldson into feared sluggers.

    It has a negative consequence IMO. Baseball has become largely a game of the so-called Three True Outcomes: walks, strikeouts, homers. I enjoy home runs as much as anyone else, but it’s not as entertaining a game.

    1. Private Chipperbot

      It’s almost like mens’ tennis. Lots of aces and a few volleys.

      1. straffinrun

        That’s a perfect comparison. I loved watching McEnroe, Connors etc. precisely because you didn’t know if they’d serve and volley or hang back at the baseline. Passing shots weren’t just blasts down the line that either went in or out without any concern for the guy at the net. A cross court return of serve for a winner was a rarity and that’s what made it interesting. Now get off my lawn, I feel the rain coming on.

    2. invisible finger

      In addition to the fly-ball revolution, the White Sox announcers yesterday postulated that the 10-day disabled list – which began this year – has a lot to do with the increase. As more pitchers are placed on the 10-day DL more rookie/minor league pitchers are called up that otherwise would never make the major leagues. To paraphrase Ken Harrelson: “We’ve used 31 pitchers this year and we’ve given up more home runs than anybody.”

      1. “…and we suck”

        /sad White Sox fan

    3. WTF

      It’s true, teams rarely play small ball to generate runs anymore, they rely on homers and extra-base hits or settle for nothing.

      1. F. Stupidity Jr.

        Well, you know the old saying: “If you play for one run that’s all you’ll get”. It’s obvious that current conditions only incentivize Three True Outcomes type of play, and I think some rules changes would be the only way to force people to play differently:

        1) Deaden the baseballs

        2) Deaden the bats. These lightweight tiny-handled whip bats make power hitting easier, so mandating a minimum weight and circumference would help.

        3) Move some fences back. Some parks have ridiculously short pull areas.

        4) Limit pitcher’s throws to check baserunners. They’ve done the research, and throwing over does have an effect on baserunners, so if we limit those throws we’ll see more stolen base attempts.

        5) No more lateral shifting. We’re trying to cut down on home runs, not on all offense. If you want to stop a left-handed pull hitter, you have to bring your right fielder in, not move your shortstop into the second base hole.

        1. robc

          #5 is stupid.

          Learn to hit the other way.

          1. straffinrun

            Prove you’re not a transphobe?

          2. F. Stupidity Jr.

            Maybe it’s not so easy to just hit the other way? Or maybe they’re under strict orders not to by management because the prevailing strategy is Three True Outcomes? I mean, that advice sounds like, “That guy is 7’2″, why doesn’t he just dunk the ball every time?”

          3. ” You are playing good defense…we must stop that!”

          4. robc

            If you can’t hit the other way, then ground out. That is called strategy.

          5. invisible finger

            Agreed. The shifts happen because of homer-happy hitters. Why let them get cheap singles so that the next homer-happy hitter gets a two-run homer instead of a solo shot?

        2. Evan from Evansville

          Five is real stupid.

          Pitcher’s gotta be on the rubber. Catcher has to be in his zone. First baseman has to be in position (though I’d scratch that).

          Seven men should be able to play wherever they think they have the best chance of getting an out. Not a whole lot would change. There’s a reason why people play where they do.

          1. F. Stupidity Jr.

            If you think three-run homers and lots of strikeouts is the optimal form of baseball, then yes – outlawing the shift is “real stupid”.

          2. Evan from Evansville

            I love smallball and hate the DH.

            1-0, 2-1, 3-2 games are the best. Tight, well played, exciting. I love suicide/safety squeezes and stolen bases.

            But it’s just very dumb. If you want to pull all the outfielders into the field, then go right ahead. The hitters will respond and just bloop shit over their heads. Even if they aren’t trying to, that strategy simply won’t work. Again, there’s a reason that players typically play where they play.

            Just like I disagree with the DH, I think it’s insane to tell ball players where they have to stand to catch a ball. (imagine how hard it would be to adjudicate what consists a shift or just playing deeper/more shallow…and how fundamentally silly and bureaucratic that would be.)

            Pass.

          3. Private Chipperbot

            You could fix the shift stuff with a simple rule. At least three fielders must be on each side of second base. You make your decision to shift your center fielder or your middle infielder.

          4. robc

            They already changed the rule and require 8 players to be in fair territory. Admittedly, that was more than a century ago, but still.

          5. Evan from Evansville

            Yes, baseball is a private enterprise that can make it’s own rules.

            SLD applies.

            But I find it odd that people are talking about immediate rule changes when the nature of the game will take care of it on its own all in good time.

            Just say’n.

        3. Or just leave it as is and enjoy the game as is?

    4. invisible finger

      It’s interesting you mention Toronto. Justin Smoak has exploded his home run total this year and he has stated that this is the first year he has tried NOT to hit homers.

    5. invisible finger

      Although it is hard to get reliable data on whether or not the ball is “juiced”, pitchers have remarked all season long about the seams on the ball feeling different.

    6. robc

      EE was a feared slugger at the AAA level, and might have been at the Reds if he had come up when someone other than Dusty Baker managing.

      My favorite game of that time frame. Reds down one, bottom of ninth, runner on first, Encarnacion at the plate. Dusty has him sac bunt. Fail. Fail. And on the 0-2 pitch, he parks a walkoff homer. Dusty scowls and stares him down the entire time he is running the bases.

      And that is why Dusty can go fuck himself.

  41. Count Potato

    “A Third of Vegetarians Eat Meat When They’re Drunk
    A new survey of British vegetarians has found that one in three veggies eat meat every time they’re drunk on a night out, with kebabs coming out as the favoured illicit meat snack.”

    https://munchies.vice.com/en_us/article/3dj5j9/a-third-of-vegetarians-eat-meat-when-theyre-drunk

    British vegetables? FAKE NEWS!

    1. commodious spittoon

      Getting drunk and eating meat… sluts.

      1. AlexinCT

        Nothing wrong with nibbling on roastbeef flaps while circling the little man in the boat though…

    2. Hyperion

      That’s because the alcohol triggers a temporary surge in testosterone and also lets the primitive part of the ‘just gimme the stuff I need or I’ll cut yer face off with this handaxe’ brain take over some. The brain required lots of protein to get to where we are now. These people are starving their brains because of bullshit social nonsense. Alcohol makes them temporarily forget about the bullshit and instead think about survival of the fittest. Vegans, part of the reason progs are so fucking dumb.

      1. AlexinCT

        Funny you should say that Hype, because when I pointed out to several vegans that they are idiot science deniers and that I could prove them wrong with just one thing I always got derision from them. Then I asked them what they understood about the function of the teeth in their moth, and biology. When I point out that the canines up front would not be needed if we as a species where to be vegans and that we would have teeth like cows or horses otherwise, they all freaked out. See they only like science when it can be twisted to back their stupid ideology. Real science? Not so much.

        1. Hyperion

          All Paleoanthropologists agree that human brains required eating meat to get to the size of a modern human brain. I mean I’m talking real science here, the kind every proggy freaking loves, right? Not some fake new age shaman who wrote a book telling these dummies to not eat meat.

          1. AlexinCT

            My girlfriends better eat meat.. my meat..

    3. Gilmore

      kebabs coming out as the favoured illicit meat snack

      meh, technically kebabs aren’t really even meat.

  42. Count Potato

    “Hillary, who long during the campaign trail condemned “dark-money” Super-PACs, has funneled over 800K from her Campaign over to one of these very same outfits. It has been revealed that the failed presidential candidate’s Super-PAC, “Onward Together”, is heavily backing “resistance” and Alt-Left extremist groups such as ANTIFA.”

    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/09/exposed-hillary-clinton-moved-800k-campaign-help-fund-antifa/

    1. WTF

      Yet there can be no hint or speculation about any connection between Democrat politicians and left-wing violence.

    2. Raven Nation

      But, she HAS to do that to counter the evil fascists. In a just world, no one would have dark money and Mrs. Clinton wouldn’t be forced into these Hobbseian choices.

      1. Number.6

        she should be forced into an Benthamite Panopticon.

  43. The Zenome Project

    In another edition of Principals, Not Principles: Jimmy Kimmel uses his formerly sick child to further the leftist cause, again…

    On his show Tuesday night, Jimmy Kimmel attacked Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana over the Cassidy–Graham health care bill, accusing him of lying while Kimmel also used his infant son’s heart surgery, as he has before, to push for socialized medicine.

    Kimmel started his rant by stating:

    I know you guys are gonna find this hard to believe, but a few months ago, after my son had open-heart surgery, which was something I spoke about on the air, a politician, a senator named Bill Cassidy, from Louisiana, was on my show, and he wasn’t very honest. It seemed like he was being honest; he got a lot of credit and attention for coming off like a rare, reasonable voice in the Republican Party when it came to health care for coming up with something he called, and I didn’t name it this, “The Jimmy Kimmel Test,” which was, in a nutshell, no family should be denied medical care, emergency or otherwise, because they can’t afford it. He agreed to that; he said he would only support a health care bill that made sure a child like mine would get the health coverage he needs no matter how much money his parents make, and that did not have annual or lifetime caps.

    Kimmel accused Cassidy of repeatedly saying on television that the plan he championed would get rid of the lifetime caps and prevent insurers from raising rates for people with preexisting conditions, then continued asserting of the new Cassidy-Graham plan that it would indeed pass the “Jimmy Kimmel Test,” snapping, “With this one, your child will get the care he needs if, and only if, his father is Jimmy Kimmel. Otherwise, you might be screwed.”

    Kimmel said Cassidy had said of a health care plan he favored that he had wanted “Coverage for all,” “No discrimination based on pre-existing conditions,” “Lower premiums for middle-class families,” and “No lifetime caps.” Kimmel continued, “And guess what? The new bill does none of those things.”

    1. Juvenile Bluster

      Kimmel said Cassidy had said of a health care plan he favored that he had wanted “Coverage for all,” “No discrimination based on pre-existing conditions,” “Lower premiums for middle-class families,” and “No lifetime caps.” Kimmel continued, “And guess what? The new bill does none of those things.”

      I just want someone to explain how all of those things together are even possibly feasible economically.

      1. Chipwooder

        We can use profits from unicorn fart sales to pay for it.

      2. Grumbletarian

        Only racists and people who want little kids to die in the street next to their grandmothers care about fiscal solvency, shitlord!

      3. Spartan Dad

        Very easy…

        Catastrophic insurance. You can have all of those at a fraction of the price if people weren’t forced to only buy Cadillac style plans the cover everything under the sun.

        1. Spartan Dad

          Allowing catastrophic plans are the simple and easily achievable answer, but another more complicated one would be to get the government the fuck out of regulating healthcare. Let people buy their medication or devices without a prescription from overseas or anywhere they want. Let them choose whether to see a board licensed md or an apprentice or whoever they want.

          In this scenario, having insurance plans with all those conditions would be significantly cheaper than they are now.

        2. invisible finger

          Cadillac style plans are the doctors/hospitals way of drumming up business. People show up for care because they have the sniffles and their Accounts Receivable increases making their bottom line look better. They really don’t care who pays, just as long as people keep coming in for care they don’t really need. Welfare for the rich.

          That’s why so many of them favor single-payer – they want taxpayer money because they don’t have to actually work for it.

          And if we ever DID have single-payer/single-denier, they’d be the first ones to tell patients to shove off if the single-payer denied the claim. Then they’d cry poor and threaten to close up if Uncle Sugar doesn’t bail them out.

        3. robc

          Even catastrophic insurance would probably exclude pre-existing conditions.

          1. Spartan Dad

            They could but it really doesn’t matter other than increasing the amount it would drop. Keeping in pre-existing is a drop in the bucket for driving up . Case in point, business can’t exclude pre-existing conditions from company health plans and yet I notice their premiums were a fraction of the cost pre-Obamacare to what they are now.

      4. straffinrun

        Start by fundamentally changing human nature and get to people to stop reacting to incentives. Oh, and the unicorn fart theory works, too.

    2. Grumbletarian

      I’m sure Kimmel thinks all we need to do is make the rich pay their fair share. Jimmy Kimmel’s net worth is around $35 million. That’s pretty rich. Someone should tell Jimmy that all we have to do to afford Magic Healthcare is to drain him completely of his wealth, and that of about 100,000 other identical Jimmy Kimmels, to reach $3.5 trillion. That would probably pay for Magic Healthcare.

      For one year.

      1. kbolino

        Kimmel is incredibly tone-deaf. He’s touting the ACA for delivering to him what he could have easily paid for himself. If he weren’t signalling the right virtues, people might start to question why their premiums should be higher so that a millionaire’s are lower.

        1. Hyperion

          Guy is not getting ACA level care, he goes concierge, 100% guarantee.

          1. kbolino

            Maybe, who knows. He seems to recognize that he’s rich and famous and is treated differently because of it. The problem is that he seems to have no interest in paying for his fantasies.

        2. kbolino

          Hmm, reading a little more deeply, it seems he has found a way to deflect this criticism. Yet oddly his “Jimmy Kimmel Test” doesn’t seem to involve him contributing anything to the cause…

    3. Hyperion

      Shit like this really pisses me off. These people are completely out of touch. The only way socialized healthcare affects people like him is that he’s going to be leaving the country to get good privatized healthcare. The people who will pay the highest cost both in terms of taxes and lowered quality of life will be the middle class. The poor will not bear costs, but will also suffer from poor quality rationed care. Every time some celebrity stands up and social signals like this, they should have to back it up with a 50% of their net wealth donation to the government. Effective immediately. You make that rule and they will shut their fucking yaps up right the fuck now.

    4. Raston Bot

      how many people die on the wait list for open heart surgery? Kimmel’s clout as an on-air personality would have no effect whatsoever on his son moving up that list.

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1574305/

      Results

      The median waiting time for surgery was 10 weeks (interquartile range [IQR] 15 weeks) in the high-severity group and 21 weeks (IQR 30 weeks) in the low-severity group. One percent of patients died before surgery: 54 in the high-severity and 26 in the low-severity group. For 58 (72.5%) patients, death was related to CVD (acute coronary syndrome, 33; chronic CVD, 16; other CVD, 4; and sudden deaths, 5). The overall death rate from all causes was 0.61 (95% CI 0.48-0.74) per 1,000 patient-weeks, varying from 0.62 (95% CI 0.45-0.78) in the high-severity group to 0.59 (95% CI 0.37-0.82) in the low-severity group. After adjustment for age, sex, and comorbidity, the all-cause death rate in the low-severity group was similar to the high-severity group (OR = 1.02, 95% CI 0.64-1.62). The conditional probability of death was greater in the high-severity group than in the low-severity group both for all-cause mortality (p = 0.002) and cardiovascular deaths (p <0.001).

  44. The Late P Brooks

    Also he thinks he wants a computer related job for a career path, not sure if that means programming, coding, or IT support yet.

    Buy him as Raspberry Pi to play with.

    *I hear* that’s a good learning tool. I was watching some show where they were talking to one of the developers, who said they intentionally tried to recreate the feel of the early days when guys like Wozniak were learning-by-fucking-around. If I had any sort of aptitude for it, I’d get one for myself.

    1. Number.6

      The Pi is a great toy. Ideally though, you need to have some objective in mind, because, really, it’s like a normal computer, but more frustrating.

      The first one I built, I set up as a firewall/VPN box, which I have here right beside me, and is working great. It’s very good if you’re the kind of guy who’s excited by the Internet of Things, because there’s so much you can do with it.

      1. Scruffy Nerfherder

        The future is teledildonics.

        1. AlexinCT

          Go on…

        2. Q Continuum

          It’ll never replace the real Raspberry Pie.

          1. Number.6

            Or Cherry Pie, for that matter.

  45. The Late P Brooks

    I just want someone to explain how all of those things together are even possibly feasible economically.

    Easy- a 97% inheritance tax on any estate greater than $28,000.

  46. The Late P Brooks

    you need to have some objective in mind, because, really, it’s like a normal computer, but more frustrating.

    Don’t tyhey have a bunch of project kits (poor terminology) to use the P{i for things like robot controllers?

    To be honest, what I would do, if I thought I were capable of making it work, would be to use it to run a bare bones engine management system. You need an air volume measurement/calculation, temperature compensation, spark timing and fuel control. feedback from exhaust gas temp and detected pre-ignition should get you pretty close.

    However… a man’s got to know his limitations.

    1. Number.6

      They do have kits, it’s true, but even if you get one with – for example – a ‘robot control kit’, you go out and get some Fischer Technik, some steppers etc. There’s only so much fun in making yet another miniaturized jelly-belly moving robot.

      The engine management project would be a great project – you need a processor system that is genuinely real-time (i.e. not like a GHI Fez) – and you can get CAN2, I2C interfaces built on Linux pretty easily.

      In fact, (and this is outside my areea of expertise) – couldn’t you hook into an existing OBD scanner interface and at least do your reads using the native sensors?

      1. Unreconstructed

        I’m quite sure you can – there are hardware bits out there for connecting Pis and Arduinos to the OBD port for just such a purpose.

  47. The Late P Brooks

    I can’t even type a comment without screwing it up- there’s no way I could “write code”.

    1. Number.6

      Fuckin’ BND, what a shower.

    2. straffinrun

      He’d gladly pay the Jizziya.

      1. *strongly narrows gaze*

  48. Hyperion

    “This guy gets it! Taxes are bad. It shouldn’t be a revelation, but at least somebody is saying it.”

    I’m thinking that what these FL residents need to help with that cleanup is some mulching devices.

  49. The Zenome Project

    You know that Scott Pruitt is doing yeoman’s work at the EPA when members of the bureaucratic swamp are sending death threats to him:

    The Environmental Protection Agency is pulling is pulling EPA law enforcement officers away from other duties to protect Administrator Scott Pruitt, according to a new report.

    Officers from outside Washington have had to serve two-week stints on Pruitt’s security detail since he started at the EPA in February, taking them away from environmental crime responsibilities, The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing current and former employees.

    Unlike his predecessors, Pruitt has around-the-clock security that requires of team of up to 18 officers, the Post reported.

    The EPA spent more than $800,000 in a three-month period on Pruitt’s security earlier this year, and has requested more funding for the operations. Officials have also sought an exception to the administration-wide hiring freeze for Pruitt’s detail.

    Patrick Sullivan, the EPA assistant inspector general for investigations, told the Post that his office has seen an increase in the number of reported threats against Pruitt, compared with previous administrators.

    “A lot of correspondence we have reflects that people are unhappy with his perceived unenforcement of environmental laws,” Sullivan continued. “When Ms. [Gina] McCarthy was the administrator, some of the threats involved people being upset because they were enforcing them too much.”

    1. kbolino

      environmental crime

      WTF does this even mean? And why does the EPA need a police force?

      people are unhappy with his perceived unenforcement of environmental laws

      If only the EPA stuck to the law instead of writing law by fiat through regulation.

      1. tarran

        This article should explain the critical role the EPA plays in encouraging environmentally good behavior and suppressing environmental crimes.

  50. The Late P Brooks

    In fact, (and this is outside my areea of expertise) – couldn’t you hook into an existing OBD scanner interface and at least do your reads using the native sensors?

    It’s well outside my area expertise as well (the scanner interface hadn’t even occurred to me, but I’m thinking a stand-alone system, from scratch), but I am assuming you could use off the shelf Bosch sensors and run them into the Pi. I don’t even know how many channels of input/output the Pi would support.

    1. Number.6

      That’s what CAN2 and I2C do – they’re a data interface that lets you daisychain devices on a single circuit. It’s basically a simple serial port, with a well-defined communications standard.

      For giggles, you could even get an OBD cable that brings all the signals back, pre-processed, to a USB Interface, with one of these (get one without software, that’s cheating) – if you’re more interested in software than interface engineering.

  51. straffinrun

    For you bulimics that want the same effect without having to jam your finger down your throat, I offer you this.

    1. Scruffy Nerfherder

      Bastiat looms large.

    2. Gilmore

      “Sanctimonious Posturing” has become a business. You simply can’t lose money by very ostentatiously *caring* (more than everyone else; half the ‘caring’ involves wagging fingers and shaking your head at all those damn uncaring people – aka ‘you’.)

    3. Number.6

      I wonder what his blog post about Elian Gonzales said …

    1. straffinrun

      The panty lines are all they up to her under boob. Eeeeww.

      1. Q Continuum

        Corollary to this is that if all white people are racist and always will be, no matter what, then what’s the point of getting woke? Nothing you do will ever matter or change anything. It seems then that progs are giving you two options:

        1. Shut up and do what you’re told
        2. Suicide

        I choose the sane person option and say “fuck you racist fucks, I reject your entire worldview” then continue on with my life.

        1. straffinrun

          No offense Q, but I couldn’t listen to her. All I saw was the Jolly Green Giant’s left testicle muttering something.

          1. Q Continuum

            When the Jolly Green Giant ejaculates, everyone pays attention.

          2. STEVE SMITH SAY “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!”

          3. Number.6

            Dear god, that’s a whole lotta woman.

            Sign up for that, if you want to atone for your white, male heterosexual privilege.