Nothing special going on in my world today. How’s yours? I mean, if you’re a Vols fan, it must hurt to get relegated to Vandy status. The coach at NC State doesn’t want the job either.
In today’s on-going fallout from perv-land, Pelosi calls on Conyers to resign — so he checks into the hospital. Republican Joe Barton has decided to retire over dick pics.
Maverick has once again deigned Republicans worthy of his support after they kissed his ass enough to make him feel special. We will see if his undecided mini-me junior senator will tag along with daddy.
Interesting climate science. I have some quibbles, but its probably me not them.
Doctors can ignore directives literally tattooed on your chest.
Playa Manhattan had a special musical request.
Comments
620 responses to “Thursday Afternoon Links”
The avalanche is not slowing down.
Four men allege sexual misconduct by Massachusetts Senate president’s husband
“I was shocked to learn of these anonymous and hurtful allegations,”
Didn’t he get the memo? That shit isn’t going to fly anymore.
Who woulda thought that someone would fail to live up to the lofty standards of, um, Billy Bulger?
Faster, FASTER!
Bun dem!
As I age, I think fewer of these people are full of shit. Most people are, in fact, complete pussies who shrink from any and all confrontation.
I can understand freezing in the moment. It’s after the fact when you have had a chance to compose yourself, talk with people you trust, and maybe get professional advice that I don’t understand. At some point you either stand up for yourself, including with assistance, or you admit you will take whatever is dished out.
Seems like 2chili not so chill
https://twitter.com/JD_Tuccille/status/936049529735954432
Sounds a bit like that Heinlein quote
Sounds chill to me.
God I love that man.
He forgot ‘drive a manual transmission’. Otherwise, perfect.
As if there will be cars!
“Ride a horse”.
/Adjusts foil hat
Didn’t you see ‘Mad Max’?
*knocks off foil hat*
Weren’t they basically fighting over the last remnants of gasoline? Horse might be the better option.
I’ll need five gallons of diesel, and some high-octane guzzaline
Is he still at TOS?
I like that guy. A lot.
Still, it would take more than Too Chilly to get me back over there.
Like a douchy IT guy that has blocked you from Glib?
*has sad*
So the MBA program I’m starting in January requires me to complete an online precalculus class in order to register….man, I knew that I disliked math but not taking a math class for 23 years allowed me to forget just how intense that dislike is.
Precalculus as in…. not calculus?
I thought they called that algebra.
Trig.
Do you have to drag the Palins into everything???
I took Trig in 10th grade, “Pre-Calculus” in 11th and AP Calculus in 12th.
Don’t remember any of it.
I just remember the squiggly things. But hey, I passed.
Same here, only without the AP credit. That calculus class was the last math class I ever took – UVA only required 12 “math/science” credits if you were a liberal arts major, and if you had taken calculus in high school you could take candyass courses like astronomy and Physics: How Things Work. Physics without the math…..it was actually a really interesting class, though. Made national news for a cheating scandal not long after I graduated.
Hey, I took that astronomy class and hated the Prof. I still remember one of his true/false questions was “Tycho Brahe clearly believed ….”. I put true, the answer was false b/c he didn’t CLEARLY believe it. Somehow all the football players had the correct answer…
All I remember about astronomy was having to go out in the night to identify constellations (it was fucking freezing) and the prof sounded amazingly like Arnold Schwartzenegger despite being Cambodian.
Out late one night studying Uranus, and got frostbite on your Mars.
We did the stargazy thing too, which was kinda neat. Class was fine, but the tests were all about who could decipher his word games or had access to a catalog of his old tests. /not bitter
We had Algebra 1 & 2. I can’t remember which one was Trig, and which one was quadratics and complex numbers.
Algebra 2 usually has a trig component, although it’s sometimes broken out into it’s own trig/pre-calc class for slow learners…like me.
It is referred to as both precalculus and algebra in the course materials. I’M SO CONFUSED!!!
Fundamental Theorem of Algebra FTW
Math is super-easy. It’s included in this Teaching By Billiards series.
For a number of years, i would do that thing with my hands anytime i made a winning-remark
i stopped when no one understood the reference anymore, and thought i was weird.
Khan Academy, brush up. It’s surprisingly useful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRnSnfiUI54
Related
I went twelve years between calculus classes. I used “Professor E. Mcsquared Calculus…” (available at Amazon and others) to get me through calculus when I returned to grad school. It uses a comic-like format to help explain. I was cruising along with an A because of the book.
If you liked “How to Keep Your Volkswagon Alive” you’ll love the Prof.
Trig warning?
*prolonged ovation*
Just finishing up my Biostatistics course. I hated math in high school and undergrad, but have actually enjoyed this course.
Are you an R man then?
More a T&A guy (trig and Algebra)
More of a hazard model man myself.
It’s kinda ridiculous that the most valuable branch of high-school level math, quite unrelated to trig, calc etc, and they won’t let you take it unless you’ve done all the other stuff.
It’s one of the reasons nobody has an appreciation of the subject and are as prone to bullshit as they are.
That’s the funny part – I have to complete this algebra thing as a prerequisite for a statistics class I am required to take in my first year.
Statistics in business is going to be driven by heavy duty stat programs. I was just able to convince my boss that we need to upgrade to STATA. After years of PRISM, I’m excited about this acquisition.
I guess knowing the foundations and how to do these equations by hand is beneficial, but not nearly as important in learning how to correctly choose a test, apply the data, and interpret the output. Completely agree with Number.6’s point about that below.
*as learning
Are you implying that statistics is unrelated to calculus? As in most statistical tools are not calculus applied to probability functions?
Not unrelated, if you’re talking about studying statistics and deriving systems from first principles. But I see statistics the way I see a power drill, or better, a car.
There’s utility in knowing the principles behind how a car and all its systems work, because it makes you a better driver – but you don’t have to be a fuel physicist, tribologist, materials scientist, metallurgist etc. in order to gain the benefits of car use.
Not knowing the how and why is what leads to dumb shit like p-hacking. Not always needed but it’s somewhat useful understanding why a statistical value works and very useful to understand what has to be true for that value to have any useful meaning.
I agree. I think that users of statistical methods should be able to comprehend the limitations and comparitive virues of the methodologies they want to apply. Just to shift analogies here, I program in a number of languages, and over the years, have programmed maybe 20 languages, and I’m proficient in maybe 2 or 3.
Some of those languages have inbuilt algorithms for sorting. I don’t know the specifics of how any given implementation of a shell-sort in any of them was written, not the bubble-sort. But I understand the constraints and limitations of the methods, which leads me to an informed decision which I can then test and argue if I’m challenged, which i see as sufficient to make me a reliable user of the algorithm.
There’s a vast commercial appetite for statisticians who are competent selectors and users of statistical techniques who do not need to be ‘board certified statisticians’, but have to be better than “I just bought “R for dummies” – where can I download the code”.
You’re going to argue p-hacking is a consequence of ignorant researchers and not done purposefully?
I have a strong dislike for p-hacking arguments. While p-hacking does occur, the hysteria leads to journal reviewers asking for inappropriate steps like Bonferroni Corrections just to “do something” about a problem they can’t actually identify or articulate clearly.
I have no doubt that more patients are killed by lack of available treatment due to Type 2 errors than have ever been killed by Type 1 errors.
I’d argue that an adult population where 30% or so of the adults have some appreciation of mid-level practical statistics in addition to 4% of the population being highly adept in statistics is socially preferable to an adult population where 96% of the population have no appreciation whatsoever of statistics being led – unopposed – by the 4%.
Absolutely 6. I’m just saying that p-hacking is intentional, not done out of ignorance of how statistics work.
I don’t think p-hacking is a common occurrence, it is obvious when it is blatant. There is an extreme emphasis on showing significant results, which can lead to the impression of p-hacking. However, this is the natural consequence of the FDA approving drugs and devices based on perceived efficacy instead of only on safety.
In order to reduce the emphasis in publications on showing significance, the first step is to remove the extreme motivation for doing so. We’ve said on these pages for so many other things… you get more of what you reward.
I guess I didn’t need to bold perceived, sorry. I just see so many products approved with no real efficacy and other products rejected that have such potential.
P-hacking is more a mix of straight forward dishonesty, studies without objective that need to prove something to publish and weak math skills in non-math fields. It’s not like there’s a replication crisis or anything. But the point was that this kind of fraud would be less of an issue if there was better literacy beyond “it’s got a P-value so it’s probably true.” It’s almost like “journal reviewers asking for inappropriate steps like Bonferroni Corrections just to ‘do something’ about a problem they can’t actually identify or articulate clearly” is a side-effect of them not understanding the math in the studies they review. No doubt? P≤0?
If you’d read the linked study, it wasn’t just about medical studies but many fields where they were all showing a pretty strong incidence of p-hacking across fields. Can’t just pin the blame for it on the FDA. (FWIW Medical and Health Sciences was up there with “Multidisciplinary” and Biological Sciences for worst offenders so they could easily be a factor in why that field is more likely to have p-hacked.)
Spot-on regarding p-hacking. Made all-the-worse now that any hack with Excel can “analyze” data and spit-out a value. Look at me, I did a DOE!!
Hey pass, I did skim through the study. I’ve ready several other similar ones too. I went straight to medical studies because that’s what I do for a living so just have some experience with that. I would think grants for the other areas would provide the incentive that the FDA does for finding significance.
I certainly agree Reviewers and everyone involved with studies should have more education with statistics. I definitely do not want to give the impression that I’m against expanding knowledge. My original point was that if you have limited time, I think it’s infinitely more beneficial to understand which type of statistical test is appropriate for your data and how to correctly interpret the output than it is to learn how to recreate solving the equations manually by hand that the program is already more efficient at doing.
and threading fail
Patrick JMT was my personal favorite source of info when I was stuck on a concept.
Online?
Outsource it to an Asian neighbor kid.
Sadly, our only neighbors with school-aged children are Mormon and Egyptian. No Asian child labor 🙁
Well, the Egyptian could help with the algebra, and possibly some solid trigonometry.
“He is really good at triangles”
Or how to shop for pressure cookers online.
OMG DID I JUST SAY THAT!?!?
/voluntarily reports to UK authorities.
He did invent it, after all.
I’m not sure if Asians or Jews are rarer where I live.
But the Jews are tricky. You never really know where they are.
They’re not in the music class, learning piano, violin or cello, I can tell you that.
Go take a survey door to door.
My neighborhood is far too low rent to have Jewish neighbors, and the only Asians are first-gen immigrants. The second gen makes enough money to move to fancier digs.
Re: DNR tattoo
“When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
’The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’
’The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”
Are medical ethicists as bad as bio-ethicists? “Principle of not choosing an irreversible path when faced with uncertainty” seems not terrible.
The most amazing part: He signed it. It’s a signed document.
I would not want to be that hospital’s lawyer right now.
I can’t imagine the hospital’s team of lawyers weren’t consulted.
Well, now they’re going to get sued for assault. Probably.
Battery.
He was scared enough to get a tattoo.
Q.E.D.
It looks like they didn’t actually do anything that would violate a DNR request. And eventually found his on-file order.
Not sure if the bolded-bit is a violation though.
Easy peasy.
When he’s in his room, have someone call the cops and say there’s a guy here on drugs. Probably krokodil and bath salts. And definitely Oxycodone.
See? That’s me. I see problems, and solve ’em.
Googles krokodil…
Yaaahhh!
Yep, it’s pretty gross. We had a girl at the prison whose arm was all fucked up from that stuff.
Yes they are just as bad.
Re: the DNR tattoo.
I would have advised that we ignore it. There are very specific requirements for a valid advance directive, and that meets, well, exactly none of them.
Even leaving that aside, you don’t know if he even meant it seriously, or if it was a joke, or even if he meant it at the time, whether he still meant it. Tattoos aren’t known as the medium of choice for conveying binding, life-or-death decisions or communications. The tattoo is functionally a nullity when it comes to directing medical care.
Now, if he had a written and valid oout-of-hospital DNR on file (as it appears he did), that’s a different thing. It looks like what the hospital did (“antibiotics, vasopressors (to reduce elevated blood pressure), intravenous fluid resuscitation, and other measures”) was consistent with the DNR, probably. Out-of-hospital DNRs are intended for ambulance crews and emergency rooms. They generally come with a bracelet or necklace that you wear that notifies paramedics etc that you have one. OOH DNRs are usually standard because they are intended for first responders who aren’t going to consult the document itself. They usually only apply to cardiac resuscitation.
The trick with in-hospital DNRs (and advance directives) is that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all – they need to cover a spectrum of interventions, from cardiac resuscitation (the classic DNR) to all kinds of other stuff – artificial ventilation, nutrition, hydration, etc.
One other thing – out-of-hospital DNRs typically do not have any effect once you are in the hospital, for technical reasons. So, if your heart is still beating when you go from the ED to the cardiac unit, and then your heart stops, the cardiac unit can and probably should do cardiac resuscitation unless you have an actual advance directive at the hospital that says not to do that. I would have disagreed with the ethicists that the hospital should what a frickin’ tattoo says. If you just stand around and watch a man die because he has a tattoo, you have no defense to the wrongful death suit. If you resuscitate him in spite of the tattoo, you are in a much better position if anyone brings a claim.
He died in the ICU, so the OOH DNR was switched off (probably, don’t know Florida law). That means somebody wrote a DNR order on him without getting consent from a relative (that I could see from the story) and without a valid advance directive. There are ways to do that in most states, so it may be still be a valid order. A typical process involves two doctors saying the patient is terminal and irreversible (not the case with a cardiac arrest, BTW), and run it past the hospital ethics committee, but there’s a lot of variation by state.
Without knowing Florida law and the details of this case, my first pass is that the hospital probably fucked up and better get their checkbook out if any relatives bring a wrongful death claim.
“Interesting climate science. I have some quibbles, but its probably me not them.”
You wanna adjust the datasets? Fine! Two can play at that game!
I’ve been thinking a lot about something sloopy wrote this morning, about how politics and show business are “industries” that function on who you know/who you blow. All these sex scandals reinforce my argument for being libertarian. When you create environments like they have in DC and Hollywood, it’s going to bring out the worst in people, and the worst kind of people are going to be drawn to it. So the best bet is to just eliminate or limit that kind of environment as much as possible.
I hope I’m wrong, and this turns into more public backlash against the “elite” in our country. But I think after all the smoke clears, most people will still look to celebrities for moral guidance, and still look at politicians as selfless public servants, and the result will be some kind of laws or regulations that affect everyone except the actual guilty parties.
Really? Who does this?
Homework assignment:
How many followers does Kim Kardashian have on Twitter and Instagram?
Liking a celebrity and using them for moral guidance are two entirely separate things. I like the Dead Kennedy’s music, even if Jello is a dingbat socialist.
Oddly enough, despite being a Marxist himself, Jello performed two awesome songs mocking stupid leftists: Holiday in Cambodia and California Uber Alles
I can’t say a bad word about him. Love him and the Dead Kennedys.
Even when he decided to cave to BDS and not perform in Israel a few years back, he did it in a manner much unlike noted piece of shit Roger Waters:
Not as bad as a shitheel like Roger Waters, but not nearly as awesome as John Lydon:
He’s about the only one of my old favorites whose stature has actually grown in my eyes as I’ve gotten older and learned more about him.
Now there’s a guy who can appreciate nuance.
What did that prog Waters do?
Oh, Waters has had a hard-on for Israel for years, and he always loudly denounces any musical act that performs there.
Liking a celebrity and using them for moral guidance are two entirely separate things to me.
FTFY.
Those Entertainment Tonight type shows are still around, and people still watch award shows despite all the pompous lectures. So somebody looks up to them.
You don’t remember “I get all my news from comedians”?
“Who does this?”
Sheep.
Well yeah, they just need the right TOP
MEN????????????????????????????Well, the normal response is, they’re different, because the products they deliver aren’t like anything a business produces. But the reality is they’re industries.
And their product is power. Power that can be bought and sold, but somehow is more ‘ethical’ and ‘clean’ than a tank full of gas in a tractor, or coal in a furnace.
And just as you don’t really care if Bob or Jim delivers that gas to your local gas station, the public won’t care much if the guy who gave them free shit was named Clinton or Reagan.
That would be nice indeed to see the tax bill get passed. It is fairly weak, but at least a couple steps in the right direction. I can imagine that we will see a good continuation of growth if that happens and the regulation cutting keeps up.
Currie was the AD K-state he was widely hated for driving Frank Martin off to South Carolina. When it was announced he was going to Tennessee I laughed. They had no idea what they were in for.
I also hate him for driving Frank Martin to South Carolina.
/Clemson fan
Honestly in my opinion Frank is not a good coach but he is surrounded by guys that can recruit which attracts assistants that can cover for his lack of coaching ability.
I love Frank Martin – he’s the reason UVA ended up with Anthony Gill, who transferred out of South Carolina after Martin was hired.
So, TOS linked to Glibertarians in Matt Welch’s recent fundraising pitch.
Um, what?
What’s it like following every move Reason makes?
Hey, I don’t follow every move, just like…..hold on….I’ll get back to you, I think I saw a ENB tweet
Not every writer is trash. Where else am I going to get my Stossel fix now that he’s off FBN?
Whoa, srsly? What was the context?
“Sporadic” annoyance? Who’s he kidding?
Was it along the lines of “Donate to Reason or our site will end up like this other libertarian site that doesn’t have a budget” ?
Shorter Matt Welch:
“Abandon Hope, all ye who log in there”
Wait what?
Ohhh I’m getting all tingly in my naughty bits.
Link to Glibs bolded:
Oh, meow.
That’s fucking rich.
and to the sporadic annoyance of even some of our oldest friends, we try to keep our heads clear of hate and our feet grounded in fact, particularly in moments when others have become completely unmoored.
Oh, yeah, the cause of me no longer going to Reason was that they were just too darned clear of hate and delusion. Yup. It had nothing to with Nick declaring cosmopolitanism a key value of libertarianism. It had nothing to do with Robbie’s incessant “to be sure” followed by an unsupported endorsement of the moral superiority of the leftist position. It had nothing to do with ENB’s claim that “gender anarchy” (inevitably enforced by law) was a libertarian triumph. It had nothing to do with Dalmia’s insistence that speakers and those determined to inflict violence on speakers were morally equivalent. Nope. None of those things had anything to do with my defection. It was all about the fact that they were just too pure a breed of libertarian for my blood.
I’m pretty sure that “and to the sporadic annoyance of even some of our oldest friends” was a reference to the “Imperfectly” bit you mysteriously elided at the beginning of the sentence there.
I’m hearing the Unsolved Mysteries theme music in my head now, because it’s damned awesome.
That’s odd. I keep hearing “Ride of the Valkyries”.
Of course, jesse. I’m secretly trying to hide a reference that is all of three inches above my post. You got me.
I read the sentence at least twice trying to see if it was what you were saying (yes, that possibility occurred to me, as well.) It says “Imperfectly, and to”. That means the two things are separate. Otherwise it would read “Imperfectly, to”. Matt may be a lot of things. But, a bad writer isn’t one of them.
Now stop trying to be the Hugh Ackston of Glibertarians.
So, who’s the Hank Reardon of Glibertarians?
Or the Hank Phillips?
Secretly? Maybe lamely, I dunno. The sentence is unworkable if you read it the way you seem to think it does. I also would’ve structured it differently, but I think the meaning is clear unless you’re really itching to be shitty about it, which you seem to be.
I read it the same way wdalasio does, and I don’t really see how it can be read differently. As I read it, both “imperfectly” and “to the annoyance of …” are modifying the active clause “we try to keep our heads clear …”.
jesse, I explained exactly how I arrived at the conclusion I did. When you have to modifiers separated by an “and”, it generally denotes to separate, distinct, modifiers. Otherwise, you simply let the latter modifier describe the first. You can attribute that to bad faith (“mysteriously elided”, “you’re really itching to be shitty about it”) or stupidity (“lamely”) on my part to your heart’s content. Honestly, I really don’t care. Have a great evening.
It’s like Matt used the Second Amendment as a template for that sentence.
Now that’s my kind of dog-whistle.
It’s like Matt used the Second Amendment as a template for that sentence.
As I said, the alternate interpretation occurred to me. So, I certainly don’t ascribe anything other than a different interpretation to people who see it differently. Neither is inherently obvious.
Considering the context of the initial sentence of that paragraph, “we here at Reason are no exceptions to various strains of Derangement Syndrome”, I lean towards Jesse’s reading of the paragraph.
OTOH, they are wanting money, and so cynically I might interpret this as just their brand of pandering to the base to squeeze a few dollars from them. Then it’s right back to the “speech is violence” and cosmo-laced cocktail parties.
After reading the paragraph a few more times, I can see that interpretation. It’s just really poorly structured, if that was indeed the intent. I think reading it that way hinges not on the word “Imperfectly” but on the first two sentences of the paragraph, the fact that they linked here while using the word “friends”, and a helping heaping of perceived good faith.
That having been said, even if you take the shout-out clause out of the paragraph entirely, they’re really stressing the limits of disbelief. If their recent writing is them being “moored” and “grounded”, then one is really left to wonder what exactly is going through their heads.
….then one is really left to wonder what exactly is going through their heads.
I almost kind of get it. That’s what prompted my earlier response. Welch thinks Reason is grounded and moored – real libertarianism. Sure, they go off the rails on an article or two. But, that doesn’t change the fundamentals of his perception of Reason as libertarianism ground zero. He makes that clear with the second and third sentences. If you believe that, if you work from that assumption (It’s not mine.), then it’s us Glibs who’ve gone off track, who’ve compromised our libertarianism with the right. And from that, his assumption of our frustration with Reason’s purity (the annoyance from “and to the sporadic annoyance of even some of our oldest friends” is with their unwillingness to compromise their libertarianism). That’s why, to me, his statement wouldn’t make sense outside of my interpretation. He’s clearly not admitting Reason has gone off the rails. If that’s the case, I can’t see a way to interpret that other than as a dig at Glibertarians. I might be totally off base. If I am, I welcome an explanation of why I’m wrong.
I think there’s certainly room for your interpretation there (sorry I’ve had a shitty work day and am tanked, I recopied the paragraph for my own reading comprehension purposes), but the entire thing reads like a soft mea culpa to me. “We’re only human” and “imperfectly” are almost exclusively used in aspirational contexts. kbolino and Zunalter makes a fair enough point that they may be far enough from those aspirations to more talk than action, but I can’t read it as anything other than an olive branch to the glibertariat.
but the entire thing reads like a soft mea culpa to me.
You know what, jesse? I hope to God Almighty you’re right and I’m wrong. I’d really appreciate an olive branch. Two good libertarian sites to visit would be obviously better than one.
You might be setting your expectations too high. Welch at least seems to get one of the core contentions that led to this site. I think that’s great. He may even agree with it to a degree, which is even better, but I don’t know that it changes the direction of H&R.
I think Reason is still a great news outlet even if I don’t love all of their contributors….I don’t love all of *our* contributors, but I think there are few enough entities that think about, let alone care about liberty, that it’s worth taking the more charitable interpretation of that passage: “yeah we get it” even if it doesn’t change their current trajectory, someone further from the mark wouldn’t even grok why such a schism was possible.
Chet Anacreon’s write up of his visit to a Reason Foundation event and kibbitzing with the donors and staff illuminated to me why I am so turned off on them.
He said that only one or two of the foundation donors or staff he chatted with who were enthusiastic about libertarianism had heard of the NAP.
It’s like encountering a foundation promoting Christianity populated by people who’ve never heard of the trinity.
It explains two things:
1) Their analyses are doomed to be shallow, since they don’t really have an understanding of the framework they claim to be using to analyze issues.
2) They also are going to veer into serious heresy because they are oblivious to the premises of the orthodoxy.
It went really far to explaining why I found their coverage – especially on Hit and Run – to be largely juvenile, error prone, full of question-begging and material omissions that misinformed the reader. And this was even on issues I agreed with them on – for example the disastrous policy ideas promoted by Donald Trump. I should be reading their stuff saying “right on, man!” and I found myself feeling like I was reading Buzzfeed-caliber crap.
The Reason Foundation are the Unitarians of Libertarianism?
I’m a “backslid” Unitarian Universalist (UU) [“backslid UU” – oxymoron?] It’s been quite a few years since I was active, but a lot of my co-religionists probably knew more about the Trinity than the average Christian. [UU joke: At a fork in the road, one sign points to “Heaven.” The other points to “Discussion About Heaven.” The UU picks the road to the discussion.] Bottom line: I’m not thrilled with UUs being compared to the Reason Foundation. Maybe I’m just being touchy, so take it for whatever it’s worth. (Great handle, BTW.)
UU’s in the US are stereotyped by more orthodox types as prog Sunday meetups, Jesus optional. The passing reference to the Trinity made the comparison too tempting.
Understand the tempting comparison. Fun fact: the first real life libertarian I ever met was active in the UU church where my then-hubby was minister. He was an econ prof at the local university. His music prof wife’s best friend was thoroughly scandalized by his politics.
The closest UU church to where I live is absolutely festooned with banners that are word-for-word what antifa or BLM would be carrying.
… what a bizarre way to promulgate the faith.
… drat you, autocorrect. “promote”.
Years ago I went to several of their events. I found the donors to mostly be earnest in their belief that the NAP was the root of libertarianism.
Sure. There were a few single-issue people there and some people that were too open-borders for my personal taste. But by and large, they came across as earnest believers in the NAP.
DISCLAIMER: the last event was at least four years and almost a complete staff turnover ago. Many things have changed since then for the worse, IMO.
I think things have really gone downhill. About the time JD Tucille left, I felt like the place became juvenile. Something changed… :/
The only Reason shindig I ever went to had ENB as a headliner. Sometimes you think about stuff like that, and the Niskanen Center with Egg McMuffin and Wilkinson, and wonder if somebody is supposed to be honest-to-god controlled opposition. McMuffin sure as hell was.
“we try to keep our heads clear of hate and our feet grounded in fact”
Try harder.
Zunalter, you asked for a link to my thoughts on the Comcast-Netflix issue, here you go.
Thank you so much!
Read it, had a question:
But this is probably the biggest sticking point for many NN advocates. They don’t want the price to differ based upon what is being used, and they don’t want heavy bandwidth sources like Netflix to have to pay “intermediaries” like Comcast (Netflix has its own ISP which is not Comcast).
Since the consumers are paying for access, ostensibly unlimited (depending on the agreement) why should the specific companies that are being accessed also be paying because consumers are accessing them?
Network maintenance, depreciation, and upgrades aren’t free, after all.
It would seem that the ISP customer should be the one paying this bill, not the content provider.
Thoughts?
It gets complicated fast. Networks are only utilized to capacity during peak times. For off-hours running as much data as the pipe can handle has almost no downside. The premium to guarantee a minimum level service is very high and rarely offered at the consumer level since it reduces ISP flexibility. (Even the agreements ISPs want to ink with content providers usually do not include minimum service guarantees.) If you want to start charging a surge price, you’ll need to indicate it somehow to the end user dynamically or use a weak proxy for it that usually involves metered billing. Data caps, and usage billing are extremely unpopular and lead to comparisons about how data isn’t finite. I haven’t seen surge pricing tried for internet but it’s not exactly popular when it shows up for ride sharing.
Since the consumers are paying for access, ostensibly unlimited (depending on the agreement) why should the specific companies that are being accessed also be paying because consumers are accessing them?
The Internet is a network of networks. You’re paying for access to Comcast’s network, and through them access to other networks, which eventually leads you to Netflix. Similarly, Netflix (or their data center operator) has an ISP (or two) whose network(s) they pay for access to, and through them gain access to other networks, which eventually leads to Comcast’s network and then you. This is a bit simplified, but it gets the point across. Now, that’s all fine and good until somebody, like Netflix, decides to put much more strain on the network than anyone else does. Now you have traffic transiting over a bunch of intermediate networks, competing with other services for finite bandwidth, to reach Comcast’s customers. Who pays for the improvements that are necessary to remedy this situation? It’s not so much that every party needs to pay to play (they already do, each to their own ISP), but that a party which uses the network in a way quite different from most others is going to be treated differently.
It would seem that the ISP customer should be the one paying this bill, not the content provider.
I think that is reasonable, but that would mean that you’d be paying extra for improved Netflix performance. And it also means that, until enough people are also paying extra, to justify a major capital expense like building out bigger network links to Netflix, the only way for Comcast to deliver that improved experience to you, absent some arrangement with Netflix, is through traffic shaping.
Now, that’s all fine and good until somebody, like Netflix, decides to put much more strain on the network than anyone else does.
This framing kind of ignores that the reason Netflix sends that traffic to an ISP is because the data was requested by that ISP (‘s customers) and access to Netflix content is a big part of the reason that that ISP has customers in the first place. This is kind of relevant given that in 2014 there was a situation where the Netflix side of the connection had capacity to handle large data but the domestic ISPs did not. The side solution was a capital expenditure to put cache servers inside the ISP networks which several ISPs would not allow without fees. The technical deficiencies certainly seem one sided here.
I covered some of this already in the linked post.
The labeling of Comcast’s network as “technically deficient” implies the existence of some kind of established standard that they failed to meet, but there is no such thing. They built out (or bought out) network capacity based upon how things worked pre-Netflix and then Netflix came along and changed the game. Such is the nature of the market, and in places where Comcast has faced more advanced competition on like grounds (high-speed, low latency Internet access), they have generally lost business to those competitors (Google Fiber, Verizon FiOS, etc.). I’m not endorsing Comcast as engaged in a superior business model, only arguing against using the Comcast-Netflix issues as a justification for the FCC to impose “net neutrality” on ISPs.
I also think it’s worth noting that part of the reason for the disparity in “technical deficiency” between large content providers like Netflix and domestic ISPs like Comcast is that they are solving two totally different problems. The routing picture looks drastically different on Comcast’s end than it does on Netflix’s end. Netflix stuffs lots of packets down a handful of large pipes. Comcast delivers those packets through thousands of medium-sized pipes and then millions of tiny pipes. Delivering 1 MW of electrical power to a single industrial consumer is quite a different problem from delivering 1 kW to each of a thousand residential customers.
It is good to see adaptation, change, and market evolution, but it doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s not driven by Federal regulatory agencies.
I’m definitely not endorsing FCC regulation here but this wasn’t about internal routers. Comcast was using bottom tier edge routers for all connections to the network Netflix was on. They had better hardware deployed to other border connections. They would not allow Netflix to host cache servers on their network without getting a cut. Given the NBCUniversal ownership of Hulu that smacks of strategic decision making. I understand the issues with network maintenance which is why even a solution like local loop unbundling isn’t a panache but it’s not “poor Comcast only has best buy routers to connect to Level3” by a long shot.
I think part of the problem, and the ISPs shot themselves in the foot with this, is that service was sold on the basis of “speed” which implied to a lot of people that they had a link to “the Internet” at that speed. Anyone who had been familiar with high-speed Internet access (e.g., through a university) before it became common in the home likely would have known that your effective speed on a given site/download is often way below the maximum speed. But, when you’re paying for it directly every month, you start caring a bit more about this apparent discrepancy.
I also wonder how much prior experience with peer-to-peer sharing might have biased people toward expecting things to be faster. Downloading a widely shared file on a peer-to-peer network could easily saturate your high-speed home connection, but not any of the ISP’s links*, since you’re getting different parts from different places. Plus, you can download a video at off-peak hours and then watch it at your convenience. But when the content creation behemoth started getting lawsuit happy and forced everything through central distribution channels that they could control, like Netflix, the streaming model took over, and now everybody expects to get content at top speed on demand at all times.
Comcast was using bottom tier edge routers for all connections to the network Netflix was on. They had better hardware deployed to other border connections.
Did Comcast do this intentionally to force Netflix’s hand, or did Netflix pay bottom dollar for their network connections? If the former, then I’d be inclined to say Comcast manipulated its monopolistic position. If the latter, then it’s hard to lay the blame at Comcast’s feet. At this point, I feel like we’d have to get into detailed network diagrams and see correspondence between the two (or more) parties involved, and I doubt that sort of stuff is available to the public.
Downloading a widely shared file on a peer-to-peer network could easily saturate your high-speed home connection, but not any of the ISP’s links*, since you’re getting different parts from different places.
Missing asterisk: * = To a point, anyway. If enough people do this, the ISP’s links will get saturated, too.
They would not allow Netflix to host cache servers on their network without getting a cut.
On this point, I think Comcast had the perfectly valid argument that they did not want to have somebody else’s hardware/software in their facilities. In the best case, you’ve got a black box on your network that you just really hope behaves. In the worst case, you’ve got a backdoor into your operations, a highjacked security threat, a malfunctioning piece of equipment that nobody knows how to fix, or long hours spent on the phone hashing out who exactly is responsible for what and the proper procedures for doing something and yadda-yadda.
Welch is a lurker. I’ll bet the “Make Nick Gillespie an Insult Again” campaign makes him larf.
His turn will come.
Welch is the Nick Gillespie of lurkers
d’awwwwwwwwwww
I donated $1000 last year. This year, I’m donating…. hang on, I need to adjust for inflation…. ZERO DOLLARS.
A link isn’t going to change that.
Pink slips for ENB and Dalmia might.
Not even Matt Welch’s puppy dog eyes could get you to change your mind?
With or without his backpack on?
Ewww…Welch carries a backpack? God damn it, I always liked him. This changes everything. No grown man should be wearing a backpack, unless he rides his bike to work and keeps his clothes in the bag. Even then, its marginally OK
He brings his laptop with him everywhere he goes, and a backpack is a better choice than a man purse.
I’m going to have to disagree with you there. There’s this thing they invented called a briefcase. It works just as well
The only acceptable luggage other than a proper briefcase is a briefcase/bag that looks like Hemingway hauled around Catalonia, loaded with ammo, bourbon bottles and/or snake skulls.
Everything else cries out to have an NPR slogan on it that matches the cheap knock-off Yeti water bottle.
My God, you’re right
It could be a female lugging around bourbon and ammo in a pink purse and I’d feel emasculated.
This entire conversation is othering…I mean
*hides backpack, camera bag and
man-purseIDF paratrooper bag behind back*The only acceptable luggage other than a proper briefcase is a briefcase/bag that looks like Hemingway hauled around Catalonia, loaded with ammo, bourbon bottles and/or snake skulls
Are you referring to a messenger bag? Cause that’s totally not where I stash a pistol.
On the body is the only place to have a pistol.
No arguments of refutations are acceptable.
Just get one of those olive drab military pilot’s bags.
@Chipwooder
Ahem: IDF Paratrooper Bag
IDF Para bag looks like something you can get from WGBH Boston for a $20 donation during their fund drive.
Aha….I didn’t realize that was an actual item for purchase. I thought you were just hastily inventing the most boss-sounding bag you could think of.
I have that IDF bag, but in Hello Kitty.
Oh, I have one of these.
Looks better than it actually is. I guess it’s gonna last another couple of years, and I suppose I’ll have to pay up and get a proper Saddleback.
No arguments of refutations are acceptable.
It is when you have to leave the pistol in a 150+ degree car in the middle of summer and don’t want to burn your fucking hand. Also handy for taking multiple pistols to the range without walking around the with a sign that says, “shoot this guy first.”
Well duh, except a range bag, of course.
I foolishly assumed the comment was about toting your carry piece in a bag.
It has the slot for it, may as well use it. Otherwise the new employer officially prohibits firearms.
This. Anything without a shoulder strap is a non-starter for me.
Fuck that, Just. A backpack is superior to a briefcase in every way. What are you, 90?
An IDF bag or a briefcase are acceptable. A backpack is for school boys. That’s just science, man
A true libertarian would know to keep both hands free.
Yeah, it’s like he wants to get punched in the face while he’s defenseless.
I will probably renew my subscription but that’s it. $25.00 for a magazine that is still mostly good and I can sneak it into the lobby reading material.
“lobby reading material”
That’s weak. Lobby reading material is stuff like The Wall Street Journal or GOLF Magazine. Your clients must hate you
I was going to suggest a printed collection of Sugarfree stories.
Venezuela needs that subscription more than you do!
I can’t give up the magazine. I’ve been reading it since I was 15. Thankfully, most of the recent nonsense doesn’t make it into print.
“Brokeback Journalism”
My lobby material is supplied by the other attorneys, which is amusing, since two of them are repubs, and the other is a lefty. One of the repubs is a big gun fan, and also stocks “Alaska” adventure magazines. So — not what you’d expect from a typical lawyer’s office.
Hmmm…. disguising guns with nature… it’s brilliant!
Christ, I wish your law firm was in my town. I’d give you folks ten grand just as a retainer.
. . .
Don’t worry, you’d end up earning it.
Are you Matt Lauer?
Wow, there’s some outstanding trolling in there.
Whoever you are, keep it up.
Purity?
Random!?
It’s like nobody ever ran a group blog before ….
Bless his heart!
Bastardized????
You know who else wanted purity?
Ivory Soap?
Patrick Bateman?
Coke heads? Libertarian drug dealers in general?
Margaret Sanger?
Gen. Jack T. Ripper?
What? we’ve had georgism talks, current events, beer, random career facts, gender explained, all sorts of cool stuff.
…and guns, lots of guns.
there are an awful lot of guns here.Book and movie reviews.
Cunts. Cunts everywhere.
Nazis and Beer!
Which of you magnificent bastards is OpenBordersLiberal-tarian? That’s some of the best damn trolling I’ve seen in forever, and I would love a weekly piece by him. Or daily. It’s like STEVE SMITH and Zardoz combined.
I just wandered over and laughed my ass off in that thread.
are we spitting?
And they’d better hire someone before Jimbo finally makes up his mind and decides to go to Texas A&M and then Willie Taggart goes from Oregon to FSU, opening up another (better than Tennessee right now) job.
May Jimbo take all the success he’s enjoyed this season to A&M with him. \m/
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2017/11/29/man-accused-threatening-kill-congressman-over-net-neutrality/907653001/
This is normal
I linked that in the morning links.
The voicemail he left is … weird.
This is the new normal for Progressives.
They’re unhinged lunatics.
What an odd thing to get all death-threaty over.
random thought in my head: there’s zero chance the temporary personal cuts in the tax bill will be made permanent over the intervening years. it guts the left’s base of negative tax payers and urban high-tax states. and then we’ll be stuck with permanent personal tax hikes in 2027. and everyone will be equally miserable.
thoughts?
I should start buying bourbon by the case.
Hey, Sean, I took your advice and headed to my local Trader Joe’s for some of the Bacon Cheddar Ranch dip. You’re right – the stuff is wicked good. Got to go back and try some double bock they had at a good price.
My girlfriend does a little happy dance when eating it. It’s adorable.
?
I aim to not be a taxpayer by then.
I booked my “Do not resuscitate” tattoo appointment about 30 mins ago.
I think they may have a chance. Any tax raise, even if it’s a passive raise (ie, letting cuts expire) is unpopular with the voters.
My 401K likes it (Dow up over 331 today).
In 2027, I will be retired. 10 years worth of tax breaks is all I need baby.
Apparently Trump is considering firing Tillerson, making the current CIA director the Secretary of State, and making Tom Cotton head of the CIA.
Cotton as head of the CIA is arguably worse than Sessions as AG.
Well, his second choice is Ernst Blofeld, so count your blessings.
Third choice? Bo Gritz.
Fourth choice? Terry Schaivo.
Stiff upper lip on her.
This would be stupid. That said, i wouldn’t put it past him.
I also think the media tends to spread rumors simply to fuck with the people in trumpland that they don’t like. Him being one of the top ones.
18 year old student from Berkeley just contacted me on a dating app. Should I simply block her or set fire to the whole phone? Need answer quick.
Need pic to decide. Send pic
I mean, like, really? What the hell is Vhyrus thinking? I don’t think I’ve been this disappointed with a commenter around these parts for a long time.
Seriously. The answer is going to come down to the pic. He’s not thinking
For a Berkeley chick? Do you realize how likely it is that she neither bathes regularly nor shaves?
Very. But still need pic
She’s not bad but she has that lefty nerd girl look to her.
“Oh, Vhyrus, we don’t you get rid of all these icky guns?”
You know that’s coming.
um… why is she telling me what do instead of giving me head or making me a sandwich? You make no sense.
OK, let me put it another way. This girl is, in the very best case scenario, a slightly younger ENB.
why is she telling me what do instead of giving me head or making me a sandwich? You make no sense.
Isn’t she from Berkeley?
Let me guess, problem glasses and blue hair?
You got 1 out of 2.
You can always get her to dye the hair.
Nope, the other one.
A crumb of comfort.
LSD wears ‘problem glasses’. Not trying to give you ideas though (he says, racking his Mossberg)
So, a lefty nerd girl girl look from Berkeley.
Do you want to get accused of sexual harassment? Because this is how you get accused of sexual harassment.
Too late for that. Her seeing him on the app opens him up to an accusation. Fucking shitlord.
His very existence opens him up to an accusation.
That’s how shitlords roll, man.
Please tell us if you have any pet bunnies. One of us can care for it while you’re dating this girl.
The idiots are still a numerical minority, if vocal.
Give the poor girl a chance to experience the company of an utter shitlord. She might like it!
Why arbitrarily preclude what could be the love of your life or just an afternoon?
update your profile to include: ammosexual
Play along. Let we, the peanut gallery, determine your responses…
From the city, or the university?
Also, didn’t you just mention having a girlfriend not 3 days ago?
God you act like a guy can’t have more than 1….
Now if you’ll excuse me, I hear NBC is looking for a producer.
Take your own lock picks and a taser.
Wear clean underwear too, in case something happens.
It’s definitely a dude.
So, I do find the whole ENB writing for the NYT’s interesting. I mean, more from the perspective that some of the good work she did involved exposing one of their hit stories as bullshit (Asian salons). The NYT’s refused to address her work on the grounds that Reason was too biased as a libertarian outlet (ie beneath the lofty NYT’s). I’d have to think that basically got her that gig. But, really, what the hell is the NYT’s going to let her write from a libertarian perspective?
Weigel must be crying himself to sleep. He was only hired by the Post.
They’ll give her a regular slot, titled “The Nazi in your Subdivision and why you should punch them”.
She isn’t going to write shit from a libertarian perspective. She’s going to write articles about how us yokels are worse than hitler and how we turn into nazis.
It’ll be a series of articles along the lines of “I was a libertarian, and here’s why they suck….. “
This right here. You know those articles they always run that say “I am/was a gun owner, and gun owners are satan”? Replace gun owner with libertarian. I can’t wait til she talks about get molested by Gillespie.
There’s no shortage of “I used to be a libertarian” articles, they used to be a semi-regular feature in the H&R comments.
That would be the Nick Gillespie of conversion-from-libertarian stories
Jesus fucking Christ I can already see this in my head, and it’s disgusting. The absolute odium I have for these well-paid fake libertarians…
If we’re already worse than Hitler, then what’s left to turn?
People who reheat fish in an office microwave.
… lower body count than Mao …. just saying.
What’s the body count for Smallpox? That’s how bad we are.
I thought we were chlamydia. *shrug*
Malaria has killed more people than any other disease in human history.
Yeah, but the mosquitos take a lot of the blame there, so malaria lacks both agency and ‘ugh’ factor.
Can we compromise and maybe agree on something like herpes?
“Glibertarians.com? That place is literally herpes”
I would have preferred something like an exotic, degenerative prion disease, but herpes is always welcome!
No problem.
*pages Vhyrus*
Well, we’re kinda new and still establishing our reputation, so we could go for HPV?
“Glibertarians.com? Those people are literally Human papillomavirus”
Libertarians: Now worse than Malaria!
This is what I get for not hitting refresh.
How about a hard to kill mutation of a disease that has been around for awhile but no one takes seriously? MRSA?
Carbapenem-Resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae. It’s gonna kill us all.
It’s always MRSA. Isn’t it?
Her redeeming factor is that she’s not a socialist, and the NYT piece proves it. If she can convince a few NYT readers to temper their hatred of capitalism, I can’t say I have a problem with it. Outreach is tricky business, but you can only do it if you speak their language and share some of their values.
Libertarian by injection.
Worked on my fiancee.
She’s moved on from Reason? how nice for her. godspeed.
Just block her. No need to set the phone on fire since she’s actually a bot.
I haven’t read the previous chat threads today, but the Daily Mail has a bunch of bitchy comments from NBC people attacking Megyn Kelly for not pretending to be distraught that Matty Iwewater Lauer was fired.
I mean, it’s almost amazing to me how un-unselfaware these people are.
Weren’t there stories of Lauer treating Kelly as if she had the plague? I could see how she might feel less than compelled to offer the standard “Oh my goodness I can’t believe this!” bromide.
Supposedly he was pissed at her level of compensation relative to his.
Check out where his hand is in the photo of the two of them together. What a fucking creep.
My college roommate works for the Luntz Group and has been on Fox a bunch of times. He says she’s fucking spectacular looking and TV doesn’t do her Justice.
“Interesting climate science. I have some quibbles, but its probably me not them”
Interesting indeed. I met with John Christy for about an hour one time and found him to be level headed and straight forward. Our discussion wasn’t about climate change so maybe that’s why, but each time I see him on tv or read an article he’s quoted in it’s always “here is what the data shows.”
A bit of an old story but it’s new to me.
http://www.newsweek.com/judge-forces-trump-allow-trangender-troops-join-military-724114
What’s the chance of this ruling standing considering Trump’s CINC and all?
I’m still mystified as to where a civilian court derives authority over military policy.
My wife has a happy hour today with clients. At Ballast Point.
She’s going to pay dearly for this.
Tasty. The beer.
The food and view too.
BRO, have you been to Ballast Point in SD, there’s a whole cluster of breweries in an industrial/commercial space in Mira-something (was drunk). Worth checking out. The BP facility was gnar-gnar.
#I’mPrettyDrunk…#I’mPrettySoberToo
Nice!
I still have Reason on my Derpbook. They’re trotting out some quality content this week, but this story really caught my eye:
Apparently, an actual quote.
Identity politics FTW!
Saw the gif on twitter this morning – pretty funny. Looks like the whole clip here: https://www.metrotimes.com/news-hits/archives/2017/11/30/michigan-attorney-general-candidate-i-will-not-show-you-my-penis-because-i-dont-have-one
ENB?
Riley Dennis?
Hitler?
Not completely unacceptable, given his … problem.
Genius. That ad will definitely stick in people’s minds. I am reminded of Nikki Haley’s nut cutter ads.
These girls seem… smart.
https://archive.is/9qYgW
3, 7, 12, 32, 42.
1 is nice, 25 could scratch my tummy anytime, but 47 is the winner. Bonus points for the smile.
Apparently my IT dept caught on to your shenanigans cause now archive.is is listed as ‘adult’.
Which sucks cause that is what I was using to get around the NYT paywall at work.
I get around it by never clicking a NYT link.
Crude, but effective.
Seriously? I’m honored!
Now that is awesome. Also why I’ve been using my phone for Q’s links.
All woodies, but some of us guys are a tad older. QC, do you have any photos of hot GMILFs? Helen Mirren, Patricia Heaton, there’s lots of over 50 y.o. babes that have the bods and the experience to send us off to our bunks.
I’ll look into it.
Don’t forget Elizabeth Hurley while you’re looking.
Great grandmas
Derailed at 3. Will need to regroup and check rest later
I’m not feeling too well today. I’ll just take #3, 4, and 6.
Came back to hotel to find that the bottle of bourbon I had left behind was missing. Went down to front desk to complain. Seems to me I should get my room comped. They found the booze in the lost and found, but in the meantime the manager told the bartender that drinks were on the house.
I’ve been ordering expensive scotch after expensive scotch.
They’re going to regret not just comping me the room.
Laptop out, bartender looking nervous. I’ll teach them to meddle with the booze of a man with an iron liver!!
Lagavulin.
Tell me more about your expensive scotch(es).
I’m about to go quaff expensive single malt with a Serbian. Who happens to be female. We are chaperoned.
I AM MIKE PENCE!
My google image search of “Serbian chicks” encourages you.
Tell me the chaperone is another chick… C’mon.
“chaperoned”
IYKWIMAITYD.
It’s Kramer.
Yes, the chaperone is a Danish chick.
Oh, and in late-breaking news, not Serbian, but Albanian because “explaining where Albania is gets tiresome”, although home was only about 12 miles from what became Serbia in the 90’s.
And compares quite favorably with a duckduckgo search for ‘Albanian Women’ since Riven’s being so curious.
Drunkposting tasting notes would be entertaining.
Yes, please!
I started doing that just now!
“Smells like socks and sadness.”
Genius gbob. Cheers!
Lightweight evening – I had to send the girls back to Brooklyn and they had to be borderline sober. So, what went down?
New York bar attached to middlin’ restaurant, so the pickings weren’t great. Kick off with a 15 YO standard Speyside, Glenlivet. yeah, gimme a break, I had no way of knowing what kind of “bottom” these ladies have.
Then went to a surprise, Jura Prophecy, which i never had before and which was a bit of a disappointment. Medium-level peatiness, more intense than ‘standard’ jura, finished in what I think were sherry casks. Further confirmed for me that in the main, making whiskys in flavored barrels is a delicate art, and usually disappointingly. When I want Jura, i want a lightly peated islay, thankyouverymuch.
Finished up going to the Highland Park 15. I know what I like and i like what I had. reaffirmed my beliefs in whisky-flavored whisky, cementing the Ultima Thule of single malts, All the anticipated chocolate, toffee finish in the 18 year old that restores ones confidence in a friendship that has been dormant too long. Wasted on the ladies who seemed to want to go powder their noses or something.
Highland Park is one of my very favorite distilleries. There’s always a bottle of the 12 in my cabinet, just as a standard “I feel like a dram” fallback.
They’re “hotel expensive”, not “I can’t afford to pay for this at a store” expensive. Menu lists some of these at 12-18 bucks each. I have to drink 150 bucks worth of scotch. Doing the match, this is going to be a battle between me and the bartender.
Started off with the Laphroaig Quarter Cask. Look, this is my go to buy at the store. I probably buy six or seven a year. Love it. This was the first real scotch I ever had. Smells like socks and sadness. Tastes like Unicorn rainbow farts and erections. Love this shit.
Next up was Caol Ila 12. Never cared for it, but the price on the menu was stupid. Its good. Too light. Too..I don’t know. It’s missing some shit.
Then it was Lagavulin 16 Year. Really good. Now, normally I don’t swap scotch in mid-stream. There’s a warm glow to each variety that you only really get after a couple of the same bottle. That’s not how this is played, tonight, however. Nope. This is about busting the bar budget since the bastards didn’t give me a comp on the room. Anyways, it’s good. Fucking good. Stop looking at me like that.
Johnny Walker Blue- Overpriced crap. I should have ordered this first, just to set the tone, of ordering most expensive to least, but I hate this crap. In the land of booze in general (including what I make every day at the distillery) this may be hot stuff, but in the scotch field? It’s crap. It’s the Nick Gillespe of scotch.
Macallan 10 year- I like their scotch, but not that much, you know? It’s like the girl who seems really pretty as the bar is closing down. You know she’ll make somebody else really happy, but it ain’t like you’re going to write sonnets about her.
On to number six!
You’re a better man than I. Those Islay scotches put me right on my ass. I haven’t tried Lagavulin at all, but the couple Laphroiags I’ve had have me avoiding anything Islay nowadays.
I will second your rating of “Overpriced Crap” on the JWB. Of all the Johnny Walkers, the only one that I’ve found worth a damn is the green, but it’s hard to find for something that’s not too expensive. Agree also on the 10-year Macallan. It’s OK. … Just OK.
I should try that Caol Ila 12. Sounds like it might be up my alley.
Caol Ila and ‘normal’ Jura really aren’t very peaty at all.
this is great.
Thank you for the review
This needs to be a standalone article.
Man. I’m mad envious, yo.
*golf-claps*
Well I’ll definitely pick up some glibs merch in the future – but also a reminder – despair.com is having their Cyber Monday procrastinators sale starting tonight. Definitely picking up another calendar….and I think one for my Dad too.
Lefty racism update.
https://www.thecollegefix.com/post/39489/
At least some of us know to keep our whiteness in our pants.
Um…ok?
I honestly wonder how some of these characters passed high school (even with how pathetic K-12 education has become).
I’ll bet she’s fun to hang out with.
On a daily basis I am seen as a threat
Does she go around shanking people every day?
Well … now you ask ….
Riiiiiiight. White people are never seen as a threat. Why, we exclusively treat each other like magical men from Happyland in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane.
The two scariest people I have ever seen in person were not black. One was White, one Injun…feather, not dot. I am talking piss your pants on sight scary.
Hildog and Warren?
Rob Zombie?
He’s a pretender.
Oh, I forgot. I have to add a Polynesian to that list. His teeth were filed to points and he had shark eyes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUuH4TEmgLo
LOL.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/street-artist-targets-al-franken-altered-greatest-showman-billboard-1062925
Normally, I’m not a fan of vandalism, but that’s gold!
You can see in the photo that the Franken sign is just hanging on top of the other. Pretty funny.
this is something I think I’m perfectly fine with. It costs basically nothing to remove it, so I can’t really call it vandalism.
Franken grabbing memes are going to be the new hotness now.
I prefer the image search of “biden anime”, but I bet that Franken shows up on a lot of stuff.
I have to think someone else already brought this up, but Reason has an article up saying to donate to them because the NYT “digs them”. I spit out my Jameson and ginger ale when I saw that. (I still get their daily emails).
There have been several references to that today but I haven’t gone over to see. It doesnt surprise me. The NYT has been openly fellating communism lately. I always suspected some of the writers over there were closet lefties, but geez.
4.3 earthquake in Dover, De. Talking heads nattering on and on and on about it on the news for an hour now. No damages except to listeners’ IQs.
Expect “Dover Strong” and “We WILL Rebuild” t-shirts any day now.
No gibberish about fracking or global warming?
Not yet. Lester Holt says he will cover the quake on the national news so standby. (Penna. has plenty of fracking, just like Oklahoma.)
Lester Holt will be the first bot to be taken down by #Metoo
Joe Biden will show us the way.
a 4.4 barely rattles windows.
It does on the East Coast. Shallow bedrock.
Today’s Golden Facepalm Award goes to these two:
***
Two American tourists in Thailand are facing charges for exposing their buttocks in front of religious temples.
Joseph and Travis Dasilva, both 38, were arrested Tuesday after they took photos of themselves with their pants down while standing in front of the Wat Arun, one of Thailand’s most famous Buddhist temples. But Thai authorities found the married couple’s photos on Instagram and put them on a watchlist. And when they tried to catch their flight at the Bangkok airport to return home, they ended up in a Bangkok jail instead.
…
The Dasilvas are San Diego natives and reached out to San Diego City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez for help.
“Though I am very disappointed in their actions, I am talking to U.S. government officials to see what assistance we can give them,” Murray-Ramirez told San Diego Gay and Lesbian News.
Pol Col Choengron told the Bangkok Post that tourists should have simple good manners and show respect for places of cultural, historical and religious significance while in Thailand.
***
To me, the funniest part is there is a very high chance these two self-describe as open-minded liberals, complete with coexist stickers on their Prius.
Fun fact: many other cultures respond much more harshly to insults than US conservatives.
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/11/30/Thailand-arrests-US-tourists-for-taking-nude-photos-at-Buddhist-temple/3761512020088/?utm_source=sec&utm_campaign=sl&utm_medium=12
San Diego? 80% chance theyre progs.
Getting arrested in Thailand at all is impressive, considering the main reason tourists go there is to get plastered and screw cheap whores.
Doesn’t Thailand do corporeal punishment?
Singapore- there was that US frat boy who got caned for graffiti.
Getting arrested in Thailand at all is impressive
While my knowledge is entirely third-hand (at best), I thought if you started talking politics with the locals, you run the risk of being accused of lèse-majesté, which the authorities are total assholes about enforcing. And, despite the name of the offense, apparently even talking mildly bad about the elected officials can be considered “insulting the king”.
Just don’t insult the king. Bang all the hoes you want.
God Save the King?
Yep, that’s precisely what they told us when I was in Thailand – never, ever discuss Thai domestic politics or government because almost anything could be construed as criticizing the king.
Having lived there for 5 years, yep. You don’t fuck around with lèse-majesté.
The country with a famous hard-on for prosecuting Lèse-majesté that shares a land border with the country that bans chewing gum? Sounds like the perfect place to let it all hang out. Can’t tell but are they flipping the bird in that picture too?
Thailand doesn’t border Singapore. What planet do you live on? Besides gum isn’t banned – just be careful where you chew it and make sure you don’t spit it out where people are walking – and don’t piss in the elevators.
Only $1000? They let those bastards off cheap for that.
It’s generally considered a “lower class” crime
Yup, flubbed that. Even a quick double check seemed right. Sorry Malaysia, I’m sure you’re equally draconian about random acts of boorishness.
#Bringourballshome
Trump should move heaven and earth behind the scenes to get these guys back just like Lonzo.
The next time someone calls him racist or homophobic he can say
…..Whuuuuuuut ?
Not the US Embassy? Not the governor of California? A city commissioner??
Methinks the diplomatic reach of a San Diego City Commissioner isn’t an especially long one.
Yay ten hour workdays…
Slacker.
What do you expect? I’m a State Employee.
Live Update of Tax Debate
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/tax-bill-2017
Looks like the tax increase triggers are not going to be allowed, and three establishment repubs appear to be a having meltdown (in all seriousness) on the floor.
Worthless sacks of shit. How about a provision that cuts spending automatically?
Fuckwits.
Dude, it we lowered spending by a trillion dollars, the world would end the next day!
“Revenue”.
Real Kabuki often ends with ritual suicide. Fingers crossed.
He was presumably referring to a proposed provision that would increase taxes automatically in the future if the economy doesn’t pick up and revenue comes in below expectations.
Kicking the economy while it’s down. What genius came up with this?
These fuckers could screw up falling off a log.
Fuck you, cut spending
Was just overhearing while wifey was watching the evening Globo news. Theresa May was on the TV. I would say she’s a blathering idiot, but that’s being too kind.
She started out doing so well too.
https://youtu.be/IAYGk4XP23M?t=638
https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/flbp-busty-girls-women-15.jpg?w=500&h=666
https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/monday-flbp-38.jpg?w=500&h=662
https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/flbp-big-boobed-girls-39.jpg?w=500&h=749
http://ind5.ccio.co/dE/a1/7F/61bcf10cd60c46085058d2a25dafee32.jpg
https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/sexy-girls-pictures-22-768×1024.jpg?quality=85&strip=info&w=600
I was a glutton for derp today. I was reading an anthology of Tom Friedman columns from 2001 to 2003. He wrote that one of things he did the day after 9/11 was sing along to the Battle Hymn of the Republic when he was driving.
He has the soft features of a man unaccustomed to violence of any sort. And he thinks he knows how to win wars? Pathetic and absurd.
He’s big fan of nation-building, but he always skips over the part about demolishing cities by the dozen and killing millions of people.
The US and the USSR installed different systems in the countries they occupied, but they both used massive amounts of violence to get to that point.
I don’t know how you are still alive consuming derp the way you do. I’d be catatonic at best.
I suspect he comes here and clicks your boob links to restore his sanity.
And distract myself from derp? Not a chance, especially when Ezra Klein has a new essay:
The case for normalizing impeachment
Man…I wish we could upvote/thumbs up comments here. Any chances of options for that Glibs?
Thumbs down.
Down twinkles
Never heard this line of argument before ever.
And the problem is that we don’t impeach enough?
Reminds me of how marxists sometimes have interesting critiques of systems but are really terrible about prescribing solutions.
Failure to form a government and multiple PMs in a year aren’t considered problems in countries where that happens? Never mind parliamentary systems are designed very differently so unless the proposal is literally rewrite Articles I and II you can’t say “it works for this completely different system so it’ll work for ours.”
Of course the next time a (D) is in the White House, talking about impeachment will be tantamount to treason again.
Then make government less powerful.
Cunts. Cunts everywhere.
(i)
Today in pot-calling
All Muslims are often blamed for single acts of terror. Psychology explains how to stop it.
Muslims and progs never condemn large groups of people.
No comment.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2017/11/30/victorias-secret-models-fire-singing-n-word/
Oh, ffs. Fuck off with this VERBOTEN MUHJICK SWEAR WORDS nonsense. Intention matters, as does context. Reading either of those things into a situation makes you the ass, not them.
(General you, not you, Q)
The grievence machine needs outrage to fuel itself – so it will attempt to extract it from any source – even those where there should be none.
No prob.
Miss New Mexico 2015.
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2353687.1442289743!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/gallery_1200/new-mexico-marissa-livingston.jpg
Christ. No wonder we rank bottom of the list on, like, every list.
Anyone here know much about single barrel Bourbons? I tried today to buy a bottle of Blanton’s and tried the 3 biggest stores near me, all sold out and not sure when they’re getting more. Has anyone knowledgeable on this topic tried Rock Hill Farm single barrel? My son-in-law is visiting next weekend and he’s wanting to try a good bourbon and I’d like to find something nice to share with him and gift a couple bottles. I’d really appreciate any good suggestions. He’s bringing me 2 bottles of top shelf Cachaca and I have to reciprocate.
Life imitates The Onion
The Washington Post Laments the Rising Cost of Condoms in Venezuela
***
The situation in Venezuela is getting worse. As the Washington Post reports on its Snapchat news channel, the rising price of condoms and birth control has forced some sexually active Venezuelans either to resort to extreme safety measures or abandon them entirely. “I inherited my best friend’s condoms when he left the country to move to the United States,” reads a quote from Andres Rodriguez. “Sometimes we just share them between friends. This is the sharing economy.” Thankfully, even though the used condom malfunctioned, Rodriguez’s girlfriend did not become pregnant. “Can you imagine?” Rodriguez asks. “In this economy? What a disaster.” Yorlenis Guiterrez was not so fortunate. She “couldn’t find birth control, but . . . wasn’t going to stop having sex,” and now, the Post sympathizes, she’s pregnant with “a second child she can barely afford to feed.” Though the Post laments the tragedy, still absent is an admittance of its cause. Venezuela, the paper suggests, is merely undergoing ‘a recession.’”
***
That’s state capitalism for you.
… pre-used?
That’s just wrong.
Which is the worse way to reuse? Outside-out and hopefully but not fully cleaned out, or inside-out with potential cross fertilization?
Well, she’s obviously not a virgin.
You see, capitalism is so flawed that even the very best TOP MEN can’t control it.
Cool link, bro.
Recession. Really. The sort that kicks off with round after round of industrial nationalizations, leaves people starving rather than merely laid off, devalues the currency to worthless, but somehow leaves fear leader one of the wealthiest women in the world. That sort of recession.
Ugh. Dear leader’s daughter
It’s a good thing that doesn’t happen anywhere but Venezuela.
fixed link
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/454234/venezuela-financial-crisis-washington-post-focuses-rising-cost-condoms
Here’s the article link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/even-sex-is-in-crisis-in-venezuela-where-contraceptives-are-growing-scarce/2017/11/27/5d970d86-b452-11e7-9b93-b97043e57a22_story.html?utm_term=.966fe239e4a9
Who could possibly have foreseen this outcome?
BTW – Gordilocks! Thinking about it today – curious – does driving for a mega-corp like UPS or FEDEX or someone else with really tight scheduling, “Free” you up from some of the paperwork – or are those guys even harder? Specifically with the necessity to make tight deadlines, etc? And pickups at non-regular hours from airports, etc?
I’ve been thinking of writing a short, semi-fictional autobiography: The Man of Derp.
Heart of Derpness.
The Derp and the Fury
Brave New Derp
Lord of the Derp
Moby Derp
A Farewell to Derp
Catcher in the Derp
Sanity in the Time of Derp.
The Great Derpby
The Unbearable Lightness of Derping
Derpity’s Rainbow
The Red Badge of Derpage
To Derp a Mockingbird
Tess of the Derpervilles
Blood Mederpian
The Derp of The Mohicans
The World According to Derp
Long Days Journey Into Derp
The Derp and the Fury
The Derp Also Rises
Rememberances of Derp Past
100 Years of Derpitude
The Agony and the Derp
The Sum of All Derp
Profiles in Derp
The Rise and Fall of the Derp Reich
Maybe that should’ve been The Derp of All Fears? also,
Children of Derp
Atlas Derped
Derp Kapital
Planet of the Derps
Wow, I must say that even I am shocked at the absolute insanity of SF jurors on this one. They let the scumbag off that killed Kate Steinle. He will spend at most 18 months behind bars for her murder. He was aquited of all charges except for illegal possession of the stolen firearm that he did it with.
how the f does that work?
*googles*
Looks like they believed the gun fired itself.
random thought
The US won WW2 without satellites, smart bombs, night vision, computers*, and many other technologies that are considered essential today. And it faced powerful, sophisticated enemies with millions of soldiers and thousands of tanks, aircraft, and warships.
Today, the US faces an enemy that is somewhat stronger than a large US street gang. Yet the war drags on.
*aside from a few primitive ones
oopsy. I Gilmore’d.
In WW2, we had the will to put and end to them.
Today, we’re pretty much ‘meh’.
I think will is only half the story. The wars the US are currently fighting are asymmetrical against non-state actors, which is an entirely different paradigm from a standard war. The last time the US military fought a regular military force, the war was over in less than two weeks (Iraq War – 2003), but fighting insurgents/terrorists has taken far longer than defeating a regular army. This is normal. It is far harder to fight a decentralized enemy than a centralized one. As for insurgency, it is difficult to pacify a people that oppose you; even the Nazi’s, who were not known for restraint, were unable to quell the various resistances in their occupied territories (especially France). As for terrorists, unless you know where they are, you can’t get at them, so the fight becomes disproportionately intel-gathering as opposed to combat; it’s like fighting a needle in a hay stack.
OK, but guerrilla wars are not new. The word guerrilla (little war) dates to the Napoleonic era. When the Spanish army collapsed, the Spanish people continued to fight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_warfare_in_the_Peninsular_War
The US took 2 years to defeat the Moro insurgents in 1900. The British had a similar campaign against the Boers.
In both these actions, the strategy was: herd the civilians into safe areas, flood the region with troops, set up free-fire zones, and use scorched earth tactics.
It was brutal, but it worked.
We should be to most of the “enemy”
Did the prosecutor think he had a cop on trial?
comment gold from the SFGate article
***
ololo3 Rank 117
He has a second grade education. He probably doesn’t even know what a gun is. He probably just thought it was a bowl of ice cream.
AllTheWayLive Rank 5829
@ololo3 Well he didnt point a bowl of ice cream at someone and pull the trigger.
***
And the fool’s gold:
***
It may also be the case that the jury had, before being seated on this jury, picked up on the feeling that many people had already judged the accused to be guilty of either murder or manslaughter.
Those who expressed their prejudices here may be part and parcel of the reason why the accused got off so lightly. You must be so proud.
…
If past and current behavior is any indicator, the white supremacist right-wingers will never allow facts and reality to prevent them from using their imagined version of events to promote racists policies and continue to aggravate the poor family’s grief for as long as they can manage to do so.
***
I saw take off and nuke it from orbit.
dammit – say, not saw
Saw it off AND nuke it works too
So to those who run glibertatians.com I don’t want to be persnickety, but why on earth do you imagine anyone will be buying “womens t-shirts or youth large items?” For years the bands I was in ordered these type of t-shirts. And at the end of the tour we had all of them left. It’s unlikely RIVEN can buy up your stock. But then again, maybe she will!
I think they’re made to order? could be wrong.
glibertarians.com Jesus, I can’t even type. Anyway, I want a speedo with a monocle. I may be on the beach sometime soon.
Glibertations: It’s the emancipation of the Glibernation, as first decreed by Glibernation’s first Supreme Shitlord, none other than the Hyperion! Shut up, shitlords or you won’t be considered for the first hooker/blow Czar.
I thought it might be part of “Greeting and Glibertations!”
Anyone here tried home blacksmithing as a hobby? I never knew that was a thing before, but I saw a demonstration of it this past weekend and I found it rather fascinating. Plus my wife finds it very sexy and manly, so that doesn’t hurt.
here ya go
you can use a loaf of bread.
so that doesn’t hurt
Hot steel does.
My brother has done some smithing; he was also a machinist so he is used to hot metal bits.
You know what hurts?
Molten metal.
*sits cross-legged and waits for story time quietly*
my favorite story
Pastebin? Is your story just links to dark-web goats-who-have-not-reached-age-of-goat-majority porn?
See, I was going to copy the whole thing, but I thought “I don’t need to be the next ken”
I can’t fault your logic, but I’m unenthusiastic about being sent to a site known as a trading post for illicit pornography and stolen account credentials than its literary epics.
Fair enough.
I was shooting heroin and reading “The Fountainhead” in the front seat of my privately owned police cruiser when a call came in. I put a quarter in the radio to activate it. It was the chief.
“Bad news, detective. We got a situation.”
“What? Is the mayor trying to ban trans fats again?”
“Worse. Somebody just stole four hundred and forty-seven million dollars’ worth of bitcoins.”
The heroin needle practically fell out of my arm. “What kind of monster would do something like that? Bitcoins are the ultimate currency: virtual, anonymous, stateless. They represent true economic freedom, not subject to arbitrary manipulation by any government. Do we have any leads?”
“Not yet. But mark my words: we’re going to figure out who did this and we’re going to take them down … provided someone pays us a fair market rate to do so.”
“Easy, chief,” I said. “Any rate the market offers is, by definition, fair.”
He laughed. “That’s why you’re the best I got, Lisowski. Now you get out there and find those bitcoins.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m on it.”
I put a quarter in the siren. Ten minutes later, I was on the scene. It was a normal office building, strangled on all sides by public sidewalks. I hopped over them and went inside.
“Home Depot™ Presents the Police!®” I said, flashing my badge and my gun and a small picture of Ron Paul. “Nobody move unless you want to!” They didn’t.
“Now, which one of you punks is going to pay me to investigate this crime?” No one spoke up.
“Come on,” I said. “Don’t you all understand that the protection of private property is the foundation of all personal liberty?” It didn’t seem like they did.
“Seriously, guys. Without a strong economic motivator, I’m just going to stand here and not solve this case. Cash is fine, but I prefer being paid in gold bullion or autographed Penn Jillette posters.”
Nothing. These people were stonewalling me. It almost seemed like they didn’t care that a fortune in computer money invented to buy drugs was missing.
I figured I could wait them out. I lit several cigarettes indoors. A pregnant lady coughed, and I told her that secondhand smoke is a myth. Just then, a man in glasses made a break for it.
“Subway™ Eat Fresh and Freeze, Scumbag!®” I yelled.
Look, if someonme reported it to the private police, they probably have a pre-existing service agreement, and he should have to shake down a crowd to find a patron.
TL;DR, jeeze new Ken, did Trump tell you to build that wall (of text)? How do you feel about Rand Paul, anyway?
I knew it!
*runs out sobbing*
*runs out sobbing*
First it’s commodius with the rugby players, now you with this?
This is worse than the fappening.
I needed a safe space. I went back and looked at that plane video.
I’m back, baby!
I’m not going to story time this one.
As you well know, I’m not a book learner.
I spent a couple weeks fascinated by hobbyist miner/smelters like this guy. But then I got into people doing chemical reactions. There was one guy who went through the stoichiometry step by step, but I can’t remember who it was.
A couple guys at my gym are into it – hear their discussions sometimes. I think they started off watching some youtube videos and decided it was up their alley. I think the initial startup cost is the prohibitive issue – if you can get past that and the fuel – and work on minor productive projects, give it a shot.
Me…I still want to get into a welding program – just nothing local 🙁
I do some. Like Lt. Fish said, the startup costs are somewhat high if you’re just going to dabble, but you can get away with a homemade charcoal forge and an old section of railroad track to use as an anvil. You can make a charcoal forge out of an old brake rotor or old grill and a hair dryer, and you could probably find a section of old railroad track on Craigslist for like $40 or $50, depending on how big it is.
The least expensive step up from railroad track and homemade forges would be something like a stake anvil and a two-burner propane forge:
https://www.oldworldanvils.com/4-x-4-stake-anvil
http://www.majesticforge.com/2-Burner-Knifemaker-Economy.html
That’ll put you in the $500 vicinity, not including tax or shipping.
Getting into actual anvils starts to get pricy. You can expect to pay easily $3 or $4 per pound for a good used steel anvil, but most likely higher. Cast-iron anvils are generally to be avoided since they’re much softer than the metal you’ll be working (and your hammer for that matter …).
There is ton of information available on YouTube. I took a few classes at the Appalachian Center for Craft but mostly I’ve just looked stuff up on YouTube if I can’t figure it out.
holy shit. “2 wingsuit flyers BASE jump into a plane in mid-air”
Thanks red bull, you crazy fucks.
That propeller really ups the stakes.
yeah, come in a little too hot and you’re up for a good haircut.
Damn!
Holy Shit! I have no words for that bad assness
WTF?
Well, finally, it’s not only the cops who can shoot someone dead and face almost zero charges, now it’s also illegal aliens in CA who have been deported 6 times already.
The gun fired itself and killed that woman. It’s a tool of the patriarchy, after all.
And they really stuck it to Trump by letting him get off, amirite? #Resistance!
The thing is that the Public defender went all of 10 seconds before making digs at Trump.
Hey dumbasses, if you really wanted to stick it Trump you would have just had the guy plead down to manslaughter and proved that the system works, even in sanctuary cities. Instead you just proved that you’re cool with illegal aliens killing US citizens if it is politically convenient.
You just gave the Trump 2020 millions of dollars worth of in kind contributions trying to stick it Trump you schmucks. You have given Trump his Willie Horton. Now every time the wall, Kate’s Law or anything else having to do with immigration pops up, Trump can point to you and your client and point out how the current system is broken, and he will have fucking point, because you made it for him.
It’s San Francisco Hype.
I wonder what ever happened to the BLM officer who’s gun it was?
He was promoted a few months back.
(No, I am not joking.)
https://ww2.kqed.org/news/2017/10/20/federal-agency-promoted-ranger-just-months-after-his-gun-was-stolen-and-used-in-steinle-killing/
I just shouldn’t have fucking asked, should I. I need a whiskey – no, not a glass, the whole fucking bottle.
I’m getting bummed here KSue
Blame prosecutorial overreach. They should have gone for manslaughter instead of murder.
They gave the jury the option of murder one, murder two, or involuntary manslaughter. They choose none of the above.
The prosecutor fucked up the case the way the Casey Anthony prosecutor did. They went full bore on murder one and didn’t bother to try to prove the elements of involuntary manslaughter, which he probably would’ve been convicted on. First (or even Second) degree murder was an overcharge. Whether you think that the prosecutor did that on purpose is up to you.
Meet the UK’s official Arabic envoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOukuNt2cEY
As you can see, he struggles a little. His accent is understandable, but overly formal.
The anchor asks him about the position of western countries in negotiations with Iran. and whether they are close to an agreement.
He says the talks are in the final stages and emphasizes that the UK is committed to cooperating with its Gulf partners on regional security issues, such as the Iranian nuclear program.
It’s categorized as “comedy”, so I guess the Arab who posted this finds his accent as funny as I do.
Well, he speaks Arabic better than me. I’ll give him that.
Also WTF… it’s almost 10PM and I’m still waiting for UPS to deliver a package that was put on the truck 13 hours ago. And it’s perishables.
Smells fishy?
Nah, beefy.
Rugby players should be stored slightly above room temperature with plenty of air, water and sufficient protein to maintain muscle mass. Rugby players should not be vacuum sealed, bubble wrapped, or stored in hermetically sealed boxes or other containers.
What about wrapped up in the arms of several other rugby players?
God damn it, commodious, I have things to do and trying to figure out how you got into my spank bank should not have to be one of them.
I haven’t watched a whole lot of rugby, but the plays seem to always end up with sweaty, beefy, hairy scrums of men collapsing in on themselves.
God damn it, you DID get into my spank bank.
*cocks shotgun, gets distracted by sweaty rugby player, completely loses track of time*
You Guys, I Tells ya 😉
If only…
Delivery date was just pushed to tomorrow. What kind of shady operation are they running here.
Meh, ask again when it’s UPSP. I have stories.
Just tell us what it is.
The subject of an epithet-strewn letter to UPS, I suspect.
It’s Stiglmeier beef and sausage products. They freeze them and ship them out with “2 day” delivery which now becoming 3 days as my food sits in a warehouse somewhere not cold.
Oh no. I haven’t had any problem receiving stuff from them.
They tend to pack well. I noticed even in the hottest of weather my stuff is cold enough that I don’t worry about it.
Hopefully your stuff arrives and arrives still edible.
But your a Chicken, how would you know? Frozen Meal worms maybe?
If I haven’t said it before – you rock! We order Stiglmeier often, and my son uses for his Food Truck (Weisswurst and Knockwurst). Had some Krakauer this evening.
Your son has a food truck???? Could you get any better???
Playa and RAHeinlein sittin in a tree, putting this on s-u-b-s-u-b-s-c-r-i-p-t-i-o-n
#IReallyNeedToSetUpAnAffiliateLink
I’m an indulgent parent…what can I say?
You’re a smart guy – I’m sure you have guessed my “real” profession by now…
Josh? or John? were they Good?
Yes, but I’ve refrained from asking you questions that are too specific.
I fear the other commenters would revolt if I started asking about maltodextrin.
Hmmm…. Jesse, you used my name.
How many drinks have you had tonight?
Fuckity Fuck, too many. Already switched to seltzer water.
This whole sub-thread is confusing the hell out of me.
Jesse used my real name, and then totally thought he stealth edited it.
He should go home, he’s drunk.
Isn’t it like 8PM where he is? Dayum.
Most of that is true. I didn’t think I stealth-edited though, I legitimately fucked up and attempted to limit the scope of my failure.
*drunkenly apologizes incoherently for three hours*
Isn’t it like 8PM where he is? Dayum.
Yes. Hurtful. Today was brutal at work and my favorite brewery on the way home does growler fills but doesn’t sell bottles so I started drinking vodka at 5pm. AND NOW HERE WE ARE/
^THIS is why we can’t have nice things.
I WAS going to have pork & veal bratwurst for brunch tomorrow. Oh well.
If it’s cured, I’d let it be.
Uncured? Refuse delivery. Send that shit back.
It’s all cooked and vacuum-packed already, I’m not worried. Just pissed at UPS right now. My street must be at the very end of their route because I *never* get anything before 7PM when they always start delivering at 9AM every morning. But this is the first time they ever just said “fuck it, I’m done for the night”.
Late November is when they staff up for christmas, so they’ve got seasonal and green drivers slowing them down. I only ever see pairs of delivery people around this time when they’re training up the seasonal labor.
How long does an irradiated piece of vacuum-sealed meat last at room temperature, I wonder. I guess you can’t guarantee there’s not contamination between the irradiating and the sealing, but if you could, would you have a piece of non-decomposing meat sitting in its own juices inside a hermetic bag, forver?
It’s like you don’t believe in spontaneous generation or something. Why do you hate science?
My SIL rolled over in her sleep and woke up vomiting in pain. Something about her neck. Sounds like a pinched nerve to me, but I’m not a doctor.
You’re a good BIL to be next to her and notice.
LOL
Nah, my only input was to walk into the house much later, notice her supine on the couch staring at me from the corner of her eye, and ask, “What’s up with you, lazy?”
meningitis
Nah, there’s no illness and it’s happened to her before. The last time it happened the doctor recommended chiropractic.
I mean, that’s fine, but nausea is a 9 on the Mankoski pain scale. if she has that level of pain from some kind of cervical dysfunction* she needs to have an MRI and see a neurologist.
*possible exception with a history of migraines, “stress headaches” or situational hypertension, but if that’s the case she needs chiropractic *and* something else.
You know, that’s potentially worrisome. She has been complaining about chronic headaches. She had an MRI a couple weeks ago, but is waiting for the results. I only just put those together.
You should get radiology reads in 24 hours.
No, turns out she was just bored
Gotta renew the passport. It’s easy, you can do it by mail! Of course you have to buy an international money order from the Japanese post office. Documents up the ass to get one. Assuming that’s thanks to FATCA. You can do it at the embassy. It’s easy! Please call first and make an appointment. “I’d like to make an appointment”. “Sorry, you have to do that on the website”. *Rage rising*. Go to the website and it’s a mess. Deep breaths, deep breaths.
Sorry to hear that.
Why do so many Glib have to renew their passports this year? Or did some merely lose them?
White flight?
Need to dig mine up – should be somewhere in the house. I know I’ve seen it since I moved in last year….gotta clean up my office boxes anyhoo…one more excuse for “work” over the holidays….Need to prioritize this leftover paperwork BS before the new year.
I keep letting mine expire and then every time it’s a bigger song-and-dance than the last time to get another one. Last time I had to bring a witness to the Federal Building to vouch for me. And that was… my god, in 2001. I can only imagine how much worse it is now.
I got mine in 2012, and it wasn’t that bad.
Maybe it was because it kept lapsing the Bureaucrats decided to fuck with you.
No, they fucked with me because I have a NY “ID Card” rather than “Drivers License” and they claimed that the ID card was less rigorous with documentation requirements, which was a bald-faced lie. The requirements are exactly the same.
You have to take a driving test for the ID card?
The requirements for proof of identity are the same. Birth certificate etc.
You don’t need to take a driving test to get a passport.
Overseas orphans.
I’ve been using my passport ID card to buy beer since I lost my wallet. I got this thing for a cruise down the Baja coast in 2013, and it’s good through 2023.
If I tried that, the staff at the store would go “That’s not a real ID”
I always wonder, but nobody’s declined it.
Come to think of it, the current New York driver’s license looks fake too.
Now I’m wondering if it’s used here to get around the interlock license that DUI offenders in New Mexico have to get. I don’t think it prevents you from being served, but it’s got to be embarrassing to present it to servers. So you apply for a federal passport ID and present it instead, and if people do it often enough it’s familiar and accepted… and now everyone I’ve shown my passport ID card thinks I’m a drunk driver.
So, that’s great.
I should say DUI defendants, not offenders. You’re required to get the interlock, and the license, as soon as you’re alleged. My boss got some of his marginal clients off.
It’s kinda infuriating that the guy you’re paying 3 to 5 grand to represent you is only expected to mitigate the inevitable penalties, and one of the biggest penalties is sine qua non to the whole exercise: you’re branded a drunk driver. Sure, the charges pile up, but the guy who has his seventh DUI is materially different than the first-time barely .08 driver. So what do your attorney’s fees get you? Well, a dice toss (if he’s good) that some discrepancy in your arrest gets you exonerated. Maybe that happens, but you’re probably going to trial. At which point you’ll have some plea bargain hammered out in which you’re accepting maybe 80% of the penalties you’d have faced with a public defender. And you’re now a couple grand out of pocket for the privilege of having been represented in a show trial.
So, I wandered into Charles Schwab today to do things with an IRA. Found out that CS closed the account almost immediately after it was opened. I and my employer have both been contributions for a year, but it wasn’t being invested. Was told that I had been sent a letter. I never received a letter. Maybe the management company did, but I never did.
Query: do I have a lawsuit against someone?
Where is the money now?
I asked for it, they’re sending me a check. Since it’s under two years, that’s a 25% penalty, but I didn’t see the point in keeping it in there, not making interest a for another year. Thinking that penalty should be included in the lawsuit
Wait…. Penalty?
THEY closed the account, right?
Charles Schwab closed the account, but I think that just means it wasn’t being actively managed. I’ve been paying in, and my employer was paying in, and they paid me 0.1% interest on it. It was closed almost as soon as it was opened. I suspect CS never received instructions on how to invest it, but I remember filling out a paper asking me what risk level I wanted.
The account had the untaxed contributions, and since it was less than two years before I asked for the disbursement, it’s a 25% penalty, even if I roll it over.
I assume you have one with whoever has that cash.
He’ll get the cash. The law on that is pretty clear.
However, the market has done….. very well this year. That’s where the lawsuit comes in.
This is pretty funny (with a few serious things thrown in):
http://projects.dailycal.org/2017/where-we-cry/
Call me a heartless bastard, but if you completely lose your mind over a joke, or who is sitting in the White House 3000 miles away, you are not sufficiently mature to have any business in college. Go pick tomatoes for a couple of years and GROW THE FUCK UP!!
Pick tomatoes? Let them grow up, send them to Kentucky to cut and house tobacco, that will make men and women out of them all, if they don’t get bitten by a rattle snake, run a steel spear through their neck or fall off a tier pole from the top of a barn and land on their stupid head 30 feet below. I’m willing to take the chance on them.
There’s some reasonable stuff in there, but… a fair amount of mental illness and cognitive disorders too.
I’m still bewildered as to why anyone would care where and when a stranger last cried.
A stranger crying anywhere is my responsibility. It’s how I roll.
I remember that episode of Sliders.
I barely remember sliders existing, but inexplicably thought Jerry O’Connell was attractive at some point in my youth.
I liked Sliders a lot and he was attractive during a brief window that included that show.
*takes extensive notes*
I can agree with that entire sentence.
It was one of my favorite shows. The early seasons, anyways.
Like a cheap Keanu Reeves
Might be the other way round, not sure.
Oddly enough, the only episode of Sliders I can really remember involved them travelling to a dimension run by women and where men were treated as second class citizens. Indiana Jones’ friend calls BS on the whole system and starts a men rights group with obvious parallels to feminism.
He gets a large enough following of men to nominate him for president. The rest of the group points out that by he’s way behind in the polls, and they don’t want to stay in that lousy dimension, so he tries tanking his campaign by openly crying on air.
Only for the big twist at the end was that crying on air gave him a huge boost of support, enough to put him over the top and win the election, only for them all to leave right before the election results came in.
Kinda digging this band Milky Chance. They did the song Stolen Dance that gets a ton of airplay, but a lot of their stuff is worth nodding along to. Not super memorable, but I like the harmonica in bits. They’re like a low-budget OK Go, without the terrific music videos (obviously).
I had a Service call at Camp Pendleton today, 180 mile drive for a 10 minute diagnosis, but the Scenery, Flights of V-22s, Assault Helos everywhere, and my call was right next to to the Mechanised Museum. I am going back next week and will bring worthy camera, going to check out the Museum, and maybe post a Pictoral or something,
I’m starting to suspect you do not drive a KIA at all.
Or, indeed that your name is Yusef.
of course my name isn’t Yusef, his name is Yusef! You fail at threading blue clay british porn gun guy the sixth!
Took a sec, I Larfed
I Am Bob the Builder, I drive a 1 ton V10 Van, I have killed many with it, as ZardoZ desires, and if you cut me off , I will kill you too
/reality check off, Back to Yusef, 🙂
Do you van surf like Teen Wolf? Or play flame guitar like that Mad Maxina movie?
No , they are on top, I just drive
OTOH i wear Flame Vans and play a red Telecaster, maybe that helps
What I sent up with the Russian Kia? Are you guys related?
is up
when my dad died we tore that DNR tag off and threw it across the room before the ambulance arrived…that didn’t work.
My Dad gave his to my Brother
/Fucking Saint My DAD!!!!
Wha?? (DNR tag is a Do Not Resuscitate order, that would be a shitty thing to give to your brother)
Maybe his brother is a Bernie Bro
I’m an unfeeling aspie, but that seems harsh to me. Oh well, back to counting toothpicks…1…2…3…4…
INT–OBAMA’S CHICAGO HOME–NIGHT
Through bleary eyes Ted sees Michelle arguing with Harvey…Images fade in and out like a light is swinging across the screen…A large duck is punching a teddybear…Chewbacca is arguing with a penguin…Toadstool is screaming at Mario…Michelle is arguing with Harvey…A turtle is laying a purple egg…
Can’t sleep. Clown will eat me. Can’t sleep. Clown will eat me. Can’t sleep. Clown will eat me.
Shut up Bart! Didn’t you see the post just above you was a tease for more A Path To Wellness?
I’m just saying, watch the amount of LSD you use before you write this shit.
The amount of LSD is, as it has always been, zero…now alcohol mixed with Tramadol, that is going on in big quantities, not to mention the lorazopam…
extra early links
Nathan Robinson doesn’t like Ben Shapiro one bit.
***
Shapiro doesn’t actually seem to grasp what the left argument about gender actually is, or what it is he’s actually supposed to be disproving.
Here is the actual argument that is made: the traditional conception held by people like Shapiro has treated “sex” and “gender” as synonymous. You’re either a man or a woman. Which one you are is defined by your chromosomes. And because chromosomes are part of biology, and can’t be altered, you can—as Shapiro says—no more change your sex/gender through your state of mind than you could change your age.
…
The argument made by the left is that this simple story doesn’t account for something important: in the real world, we don’t form our understanding of whether someone is a man or a woman by their chromosomes. Instead, we form it by how they look and act. What people mean when they say that “gender is a social construct” is not that “chromosomes are a social construct” but that in practice, gender isn’t reducible to chromosomes.
***
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/12/the-cool-kids-philosopher
More Current Affairs derp
***
If your loyalty is not to a label but to some consistent set of principles, you have nothing to fear from D’Souza exposing the history of the Democratic Party as a history of slavery, eugenics, and terrorism. Yes, it’s true, if you’re invested in proving that Woodrow Wilson and FDR were admirable, a lot of the facts in the book may make you uncomfortable. If you want to salvage the reputation of Harvard and the New Republic, you’re going to have a tough time. But if your starting point is “Racism, slavery, murder, and totalitarianism are bad things,” then this book’s criticisms do not affect your kind of leftism in the slightest.
***
***
He even advocates using every arm of the government as a means of political repression, saying that Trump should “deploy the IRS, the NSA, and the FBI against the Left” and should stuff the Supreme Court with as many openly ideological justices as possible. All of this is justified, he says, because it is exactly what the “left” does, and anything is justified in beating them. It’s a chilling conclusion.
***
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/12/who-are-the-real-nazis