Trash Talk: It’s All Over But The Screaming
Golf widow here again. My seasonal widowhood has come to the end of the road.
It’s the last weekend of the golf season here in this bit of the Midwest. The final round is underway now. Hereforth the not-so-retired retiree will be home until golf’s pre-season begins next April.
Or until firearm deer season begins on November 15.
Or the pre-season preparation of deer camp over the weekend before the season begins.
In other words I have a very narrow window of opportunity to get honey-do tasks accomplished over the next five days, and even that has been shortened by a previous commitment to replace brakes and repair an A/C system on my son’s car.
As soon as I finish publishing this post I will be assembling all the tools and supplies needed for a whirlwind of chores. Let’s hope four days is enough time to get them all done.
What’s on your fall chore list?
~ ~ ~
Another season has come to an end, the boys of summer can go home: Houston Astros beat the Philadelphia Phillies last night. The final score was 4-1 in the sixth and last game of the Major League Baseball Championship series, with the Astros achieving best of seven games with four games to Phillies’ two.
There will be a lot of discussion about Phillies’ manager Rob Thomson’s sixth inning decision to pull pitcher Zack Wheeler and replace him with Jose Alvarado while the bases were full.
Astro’s Yordan Alvarez batted a home run on Alvarado and that was the entire ball game.
Wheeler’s made polite politic noises about Thomson’s decision but surely he must be gutted.
Feels like we should all be a bit more inured to lousy management decisions by now.
~ ~ ~
In NFL news, Miami Dolphins are currently up 28-25 against the Chicago Bears. Cooler weather isn’t deterring them.
This bit of reporting from CBS Sports made me snort:
Miami’s two-game winning streak can directly be tied to the return of quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as the Dolphins have wins against the Pittsburgh Steelers and at the Detroit Lions in his first two games back in action. He leads the NFL in passing yards per attempt (9.0) and passer rating (112.7) with the Dolphins amassing 2,340 passing yards this season, the most in the NFL. He’ll be going up against the NFL’s fifth-ranked pass defense in Chicago that allows only 188 passing yards per game.
It’s great that Tagovailoa has apparently recovered from his gawdawful injuries, but the last two games were against an AFC North team with a 2-6 record and an NFC North team with a 1-6 record. The latter – the Detroit Lions – really? Who couldn’t beat them?
~ ~ ~
Yikes – this Major League Soccer 2022 MLS Cup final yesterday between Los Angeles Football Club and Philadelphia Union was something.
Massive and scary moment with 10 minutes left in extra time of #MLSCup. LAFC GK Maxime Crépeau races off his line and is badly hurt after attempting to cut off Cory Burke’s path to goal
(via @FoxSoccer) pic.twitter.com/Hk06ZSwUUJ
— SI Soccer (@si_soccer) November 5, 2022
I shudder each time I’ve watched this.
The final came down to a shootout in which Crepeau’s substitute John McCarthy managed three saves.
~ ~ ~
After WNBA player Brittney Griner’s appeal was denied by a Russian court on October 25, the U.S. Embassy attempted to visit her.
They were able to check on her condition on November 3. She’s holding up as best she can all things considered.
I wonder how much Griner and the welfare of the other detained American Paul Whelan factored into the new report the Biden administration’s request that Ukraine remain open to negotiation.
It had better not have come about because of House Democratic progressives’ sloppy approach to this subject this summer.
Treat this as an open thread.
In other news, my oldest got her first ever deer this past week after Michigan’s bow season began. She’s offered to bring venison backstraps for Christmas dinner this year.
We always like to take the odd bits for jerky. There are few things better than venison jerky, you just have to trim the fat very carefully.
The Niners have a bye this weekend, so it is a low anxiety day. I just have to get a huge project finished by tomorrow morning. That should have happened Friday, but I spent the day in another dimension recovering from my bivalent vaccination.
Mr Pitcher and Pitcher Jr are crowing over Jr’s Fantasy Football genius. I can’t watch the NFL Red Zone, jumping from game to game makes me crazy.
Chili is on the stove.
I had my bivalent booster on Friday. Was fine for 12 hours afterwards, but had to lie down and have an early bedtime. No arm pain as with the previous 4 shots. Slept poorly, woke up with mild but noticeable headache and body aches. All cleared up after a few hours of that…
Neither madame punaise nor I had any inkling of an effect from the Pfizer booster this past week. Go figure…
I wouldn’t be surprised if the girl got herself another deer during firearm season. I’ll have to suggest jerky as a means of dealing with excess, though our family is more likely to have the oddments made into venison summer sausage.
Mmm…venison chili.
That just took me back 55 years to my great grandfather’s venison sausage. He would make 3 different flavors; one so hot it made me cry. My favorite was his breakfast sausage. He was the best cook I have ever known; I miss him still.
It’s funny how sausage does that, recalls antecedents. Just learned this week we’ve lost the recipe to my spouse’s family’s Polish sausage which was made in a special custom batch every year. The owners of the butcher shop retired, selling the business, and the new owners *lost* the recipe. Ugh — generations of Polish family made and ate that recipe and now it’s gone. Won’t even have a chance to try to make it with venison.
My Filipino grandfather made a beef ribs dish with bitter melon and ginger that was out of this world. Both he and my Aunt knew the recipe by heart. I asked my Aunt to write it down, more than once. When she passed, I asked my Uncle for her recipes and no luck. I will never know WTF they put in that dish.
If I had to guess it’s a dish which is very similar to a Chinese one with bitter melon and ginger.
See this recipe: https://panlasangpinoy.com/ampalaya-con-carne-beef-stir-fry-bitter-gourd/
This uses beef slices; to make ribs I would marinate them with same ingredients overnight omitting the bitter melon and onion, then cook them in slow cooker or in Instant Pot before finishing with the prepared bitter melon and onion.
Here’s a Chinese variation in this video, a bit more complex because of the black beans: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_oZNRmNt88
We could figure it out, just need to be willing to experiment after finding a good supplier for bitter melon.
Grampa’s was more of a stew than a stir-fry and yes, fermented black beans were included. He braised beef short ribs with all the goodies. Chunks of ginger and whole garlic cloves were in there too. I always picked out the bitter melon and ginger but the flavor they add to the stew is essential. My grampa’s schnauzers loved the chunks of bitter melon and ginger I feed them under the table.
Was in Milan this past week, went to an amazing “creative” restaurant in the Porta Venezia area, had a dish called:
Tartare di Cervo Gentile
Roughly translated as “tartare of polite venison”. No gamey taste at all, lightly marinated, covered with a foam of bread and panko.
What is Polite Venison ? The owners sent me a picture of the packaging of the vacuum package – from New Zealand – of polite venison. Amazing.
Oh deer. LOL I’d rather have rude venison. I don’t think my kid could bear to shoot a polite deer.
Where Bambi goes nothing grows.
I’ve spent 30 years battling deer in landscapes. There is a crap load of plants that deer avoid or just plain aren’t interested in.
The hard part is making the landscape produce or at least look good with what the deer leave you.
Of course, a 7′ 700lb tinsel strength fence doesn’t hurt either…
In Comox, British Columbia the deer who spend a lot of time on the golf course use the cross walk to get to the lawn along the ocean. They’re very polite and wait their turn.
The deer do eat the plants, even the ones, the lists say they won’t. Deer can figure out traffic, but don’t read.
I saw Bambi as a child and am still not over it.
Hope the family has good hunting this season.
Not a recommendation, just a FYI. For the deer destroyed landscapers in the audience, there is a substance Bitrex. A chemist in one of the plant societies to which I belong uses it as a thoroughly effective deer/mammal plant eating deterrent. According to him it is the second most bitter substance known and not ingestible by mammals. The gag reaction is overwhemlming and memorable as he tried it to assess the effect by tasting. Do not try! Rain apparently doesn’t wash it away so post rain applications are apparently not necessary in the same year. Since deer remember their foraging locales and related menus, they will subsequently remember any avoid Bitrex location. Same for rabbits and hostas. My chemist/landscaper friend says they never come back. He always sprays down wind, doesn’t apply it anywhere near edible crops, and wears a mask and gloves for personal protection. A couple other hybridizers in the plant societies swear by it after losing some potentially valuable/rare grexes/crosses to deer, rabbits, and other mammals.
Bitrex has a website for those interested and Amazon sells it (of course!).
You’re a fan, then, of Bambi Meets Godzilla. Very pythonesque humor.
Never seen that, but am fan now.
It must be November, though in these parts I have to rely on cues from distant geographies to know this. The cue I enjoyed this weekend, just prior to opening your thread, is an episode of Garrison Keillor, yep the cancelled guy, and Prairie Home Companion from November 8, 1997. Aside from the nostalgic appeal of a date like this from the before even the before times, and my brother’s birthday at that, his monologue that day, as many have done, centered on the hunting shack, “guys weekend”, and the hunt, but mostly just the guys weekend. I am from that part of the world, and deer season, pheasant season too if you know the Dakotas, is as true a part of the year as there is. It’s a lifestyle and a way of life, probably foreign to most, but there’s nothing like it. Even if you’re not a hunter you probably love roast pheasant and venison chili.
Anything to divert my attention from the Sun Devils and the Cardinals, and our Suns’ Cam Johnson going down for the year with a knee injury! Oh the furies. Let’s go hunting, or at least backpacking! Now’s the time in the southwest.
LOL You made me think of Jeff Daniels’ “Escanaba in da’ Moonlight.” It’s available to watch on multiple streaming platforms for free right now. I ought to set up a streaming party here for that.
ADDER: I found that Prairie Home Companion episode, would have aired a few weeks after my son was born. https://www.prairiehome.org/shows/58199.html
9ers on bye week and hope they all are healthy to start the second half of the season. The Warriors have off course but no time panic yet.
We’re hoping for rain & snow in Calif.
I think the Warriors will be OK. Biggest concern is whether Klay Thompson can find his groove (offense and defense) after two major injuries. Kinda done with Draymond, but he is still a key component. I like that Kerr started all the youngsters in the second game of a back-to-back – shows no panic, and the kids need to grow.
Got a decent soak out of the recent storms here.
Supposed to hit L.A. tomorrow and Tuesday.
nah, the Warriors are at home for a while after a long (and futile) road trip. :~)
University of Michigan is ranked 3rd with 2 first place votes in the coaches poll. Rival Ohio State ranked 2nd, but got zero first place votes. That’s 2 Big 10 teams in the top 3. In the AP Top 25 poll, unbeaten Michigan ranked 3rd as its defense held the opponent to 14 yards rushing.
Elsewhere, Bmaz was held pointless as Arteberry beat him 8-0 in their contest over equitable jurisdiction. Arteberry scored a touchdown and a 2 point conversion for posting a link to the US brief, clearly showing that bmaz had fumbled. Regardless, bmaz remains the favorite of mods and fans, including me. However, zero points are awarded for ad hominem attacks and table pounding.
Cosmo, I should not have to explain to you that poking the bear from another angle is still prodding an angry member of the Ursidae family and likely to result in an annoyed moderation team as a whole.
Lol. Except that is a false statement. Nice try though.
The accuracy of that line score is hilarious. Try actually saying what elements of an argument you agree or disagree with. While you let the table rumbling dissipate, try taking to heart your last line.
Leeway for contextual artistic license? Trash Talk has rules now? :~)
My only rooting interest in the World Series was for former Giants manager Dusty Baker to finally get a win, which he did. Since he came in to clean up after the Astros cheating scandal I think he gets credit for a clean slate.
Agree completely, but I still rooted for the Phillies. I hate cheaters. But I am very glad for Dusty.
I wondered if I would ever see Dusty take a team to the World Series and win. Was thrilled to see it happen. For the most part the games were well played by both teams — it was nice to see a series with two evenly matched teams playing some stellar ball. Obvs, I watched the SF Giants too much last season. I had to wait until the playoffs to see some good play.
Did y’all know that Dusty has a winery in CA?
punaise, Thank you for this !! You just took a Christmas present for friends off my list. They love wine and the Giants, so what could be better !
I’d call that a home run! Former shortstop Rich Aurilia is also in the winery biz – Napa?
Great pitching by the Astros, Pitching like that can dominate the post season.
Yes, Dusty winning was the consolation prize.
I suppose it must be mentioned for the record that it’s NOT all over but the screaming, but it pretty much IS all over except GOTV, and GOTV is AB-SO-FKIN-LUTELY CRUCIAL, so if anybody has some time on their hands for phonebanking or canvassing or rides-to-the-polls, it’s a way better use of time than doomscrolling.
Not exactly doomscrolling, but here is Tim Snyder’s video message to us citizens from earlier today:
https://snyder.substack.com/p/america-is-on-the-ballot
Tim’s multi-part Yale class on YouTube on the Origins of Ukraine is great.
Yes it is! I’ve seen every class so far…
“[T]he Detroit Lions – really? Who couldn’t beat them?”
The Green Bay Packers for one.
[Welcome back to emptywheel. Please choose and use a unique username with a minimum of 8 letters; emphasis on unique because we already have multiple Daves and Davids. We are moving to a new standard requiring 8 minimum letters to support community security. Thanks. /~Rayne]
You got me there and I’m sure the Pack feels pretty goddamned sheepish about it considering six other teams whomped the Lions.
Rayne, I was going to congratulate you about the Lion victory. Any time the Packers lose, it is a good day.
I try not to get too excited by the Lions any more. Been disappointed far too many times — like Charlie Brown getting sucked into kicking the football by Lucy.
Also have mixed feelings any time the only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports team loses, even if its quarterback is an anti-vaxx butthead.
It was bad enough for ESPN to start the whispers saying it’s now time for Jordan Love. The Pack is 5 games back of the Vikings in the loss column. Fundamentally, Rodgers’ problem has been his surrounding cast, where Davante’s departure (he’s hating life in LV now) left a serious hole and the line play I’ve seen meant Rodgers can’t sit in the pocket as long.
Running for ones life makes for poor QB play as well as the snowball effect of ‘happy feet’.
As for Griner, Whelan and others held by Putin, they’re still stuck as pawns in an old fashioned Cold War standoff. As long as Putin thinks holding these chips will help him regarding the Ukraine war they’re not coming home.
on the dark and rolling sea down at the bottom of the ocean .. Alexei, pray the engines start so we can get out of this mess
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQCv22C5s40
NYT — “there are still signs that European resolve could yet soften under the weight of the economic toll and fears of a wider war or the use of nuclear weapons. Calls for peace have been a prominent feature of protests organized by the far right over high energy prices and inflation in Germany, where 60 percent of the population believes there is a need for more diplomatic initiatives. Even the moderate leader of the eastern state of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, from the former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, has pushed for negotiations and reconciliation. Some elements in the Social Democratic Party of Chancellor Olaf Scholz are also showing signs of gravitating back toward rapprochement with Russia. Rolf Mützenich, the head of the party’s parliamentary group, accused the foreign minister of not doing more to find a diplomatic solution, and argued that there needed to be a “balance” between the Ukrainian right to self-defense and the need for diplomacy.”
So vlad, these guys they actually wanna make a deal with you and Mephistophles. But then you’re way too busy shoveling all them young souls into his fiery furnace. Over here we have gotta keep on the sunnyside, always on the sunnyside. But when you do finally go we’ll dance a jig on your grave. There’ll be free beer and whiskey on cruise ships, banjos playing, you’ll be the star attrraction of a whole new line of pinata matryoshka dolls, and a big long line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x67opxzi234
Lions beating the Packers gives me a good feeling.😁
Fall chore list: I’m planning a set of raised bed gardens. First, I have to clear space for them which means I have to break apart a large bunch of limestone boulders. I’m drilling holes and using steel wedges. It’s exhausting, but I’ve gotten a lot stronger while working on it.
For perhaps the first time in my sentient recollection, I’m going to back-to-back concerts at the same venue (The Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, ostensibly an Americana -promoting institution, but really much broader than that). Last night was the brilliant Malian artist Habib Koite and his band Bamada. Tonight it’s old Brit Dave Mason (originally of Traffic and then many solo successes).
Freight and Salvage is a great place for live music.
One of Dave Mason’s most heard guitar parts is the 12-string acoustic on Jimi’s cover of All Along the Watchtower (still on of the best cover songs of all time, imho). Shimmery and pristine, it acts as the bedrock of the song. Brilliant.
The song’s author: Bob Dylan.
My favorite cover version is by the Grateful Dead.
But Jimi Hendrix is the greatest of all time.
He used to always tour with his sidekick guitar player Jim Krueger, but it looks like Krueger has been replaced by somebody named Johnnie Sambatero. Appears Krueger died in March of 2019. Krueger is the one that actually wrote “We Just Disagree”.
The “new” guitarist fit in quite well; I coulda sworn that Dave Mason said they’d been playing together for years. I’m no guitar geek, so the best I can do is say he (Johnie S) was spot on with rhythm on an electric guitar that somehow sounded like a pure acoustic.
Dave M played some killer leads, right down Broadway in terms of style and technique. But what a great catalogue to draw from. His vocals were not a strong point, but we wisely chose to let three other and mates carry some of the load (especially on the Winwood-dominant songs).
Sorry to have missed Habib. Have seen him a few times, last time was at the then recently opened Mondavi Center (UC Davis), excellent acoustics.
However, I did get to see Oumou Sangare at Freight & Salvage a couple of weeks ago. Have been to many shows with Oumou over the years, but this time was extra special – a relatively intimate venue and her only show on the west coast. Think it was because Mamadou Sidibé (from Berkeley) played, wrote and possibly co-produced her new CD, Timbuktu. She was ‘trapped’ in the US during lockdown and called on Mamadou to help her write and create.
It was great that everyone respected F & S’s mask protocol. Not so fun was the anxiety once everyone was up in the aisles dancing, but had to surrender to the moment. Well worth it to see, hear and feel amazing musicians and an incredible woman like Oumou Sangare one more time, in person. Hallelujah!
We’d seen him several years ago at Zellerbach Auditorium on the Cal campus – a much larger venue. He was touring the album Baro at the time.
A friend had recommended Oumou Sangare but I couldn’t quite fit it in. Glad to hear it was a good show.
Dave Mason kind of joked about the strict Covid protocols (vax status check, mask requirement): “you know, this is the last place in the country that’s still doing this…”
Brady pulled it out of his arse?
Hard to believe.
A delightful ending
I will refrain from asking what object was extracted from said anus.
It WAS the Rams, however, even the Niners can beat them, twice.
Coach Dungy shredded them on SNF halftime, McVay needs a real DC.
Charles Pierce, always spot on:
Charlie’s the real deal. We’re all massholes and proud of it.
Deer meat sounds tasty, congrats to your daughter! I haven’t had that since I was a kid in Michigan.
Here in Alaska, my daughter caught 80 red (sockeye) salmon last summer dip netting in the Chitna and Kenai Rivers, so the kids are doing well keeping us fed:)) In terms of fall chore list, it’s currently shoveling snow:) (and for my husband, skiing, an early year, yayyy), and thinking of yummy things to cook, and stargazing… boy has Orion been gorgeous and Mars is amazing… and full eclipse, ‘blood moon’ on Election Day. On which I am holding out high hopes that Alaska will re-send a democrat to the House… go Mary Peltola! (it’s a potential silver lining for whatever other fuckery happens)
Thank you very much for your excellent and intelligent and fun writing, it is much appreciated! Will try to sit through a football game in the near future, and that’s my excuse for thawing chicken wings.
Regarding the honey-do list, I’d insist that the car air conditioning wait in lieu of an extra item on your list. (spoken from experience of similar competing priorities!)
I’d demote the AC repair but the repair has been put off since April already. I had to buy the kid a seat chiller to help him survive his hour-long commutes without AC. It’d be better if they did it while the car was on the hoist for other repairs and just get it out of the way.
I haz such envy for those salmon. Yum. I’ll keep my fingers crossed Peltola wins because we really, really need her as an indigenous member in the House.
Crossing my fingers for Mary too. Ranked choice ballots are already the new norm for me, I got to vote for democrat Pat Chesbro for Senator, and Lisa Murkowski 2nd. And vitriol between Sarah Palin and Nick Begich has slowed down, hopefully too late.
I’d trade you some salmon for deer meat next time (we didn’t really get 80 fish that was split between her and 2 friends who all got their limit). But was a treat!
Best of luck with all of the fall chores!
PS
Thanks for the link about indigenous members of the house, sadly only 8, including Mary Peltola
Unless the task in question is for offspring in good standing, as I’m sure Rayne’s are. Dad’s gonna do it for his son if he can (A/C repairs can be so expensive), and Mom’ll go along.
They might not even be wrong. :-)
Spent the late afternoon and early darkness (I already miss Daylight Saving Time) bagging leaves with my lawn mower.
Curbside leaf collection is tomorrow in my section of the town. I have multiple oak trees that thankfully did not produce very many acorns this season and finally dropped their leaves. Now I have 52 bags waiting to be picked up. I couldn’t do some leaf bagging sooner, because my massive maple tree, uncharacteristically, still had green leaves clinging to its branches last week. They turned yellow on Thursday and Friday, and only half of them are off the tree tonight.
I finally learned I have a Norway maple (5 main lobes to the leaf) and not a sugar maple (3 main lobes to the leaf). Sugar maple leaves turn bright orange and red in the fall like the red leaf on the Canadian flag. Now I know why my maple tree never makes it past the color yellow.
I also learned about the faux pas the Bank of Canada made proudly displaying a Norway maple leaf outline on its 20 dollar banknote (the Norway maple leaf appears to the left of Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait and directly below the word Canada! In Canada, the Norway maple is an invasive species).
Oh, Canada!
And nice polite try, Bank of Canada:
“Asked about what happened, eh, the Bank of Canada tells New Scientist that the image is a “stylized blend” of the various maples that grow in the country.”
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/01/25/170246389/whoa-canada-new-currency-has-wrong-maple-leaf
We have enjoyed venison over the years, taken from Western PA. It’s disappointing that chronic wasting disease (CWD), a prion disease like Mad Cow has been infecting the herds a little too close for comfort.
USGS has maps for where it has been found. A shame, because my husband and many other family members enjoyed hunting season for decades.
OK, Da Bears did lose, but what an exciting battle-of-the-young-QB’s game; Fields is gonna be great if he stays healthy (a particular issue, of course, for rushing QBs), and he set a record for rushing yards by a QB in a single regular-season game (178 yards!). He also had some exciting throws, including for 3 touchdowns. Tagovailoa thankfully looked healthy and played impressively, also.
I have no doubt that if Da bears get the (correct) PI call on that last play, they go on to win the game. Nonetheless, it was an entertaining game and Bears fans can be happy about the loss, after seeing significant development from many players. The team is heading in the right direction. Now, just keep Fields healthy!
Rayne @ 8:14PM
The answer to the Brady anus extraction query:
A yardstick measuring 100,116 passing yardage, or if my math is correct, 1,000 football fields
This NYG fan would simply like to say 18-1.
The helmet catch heard around New England?
Helmet catches should have been already banned.
I’m reminded of a Raiders DB (Lester Hayes) who covered everything in Stickum until the league made him stop by banning Stickum with the rule that bears Hayes’ name, including a helmet catch IIRC. It might have been hands-free as well.
I repeat 18-1. And no Stickum involved.
Elmo continues to have trouble with his new toy. After discussing the new policy prohibiting people from impersonating others without explicitly saying they are a parody account, The Guardian notes this:
If I were one of those dozens of folks, I’d be very careful in coming back. For starters, if my work is so vital, let’s restructure my contract . . . double the income, and a $1M buyout if you want to lay me off in the next 12 months.
But is Musk screwing those workers by forcing them to accept the offer or risk any unemployment compensation? They may not have a choice if they need income.
He has *already* fired them, so they get their unemployment compensation. How long they will continue to receive it may be an open question, but they are already qualified for it.
If Musk is coming back to them on his knees, saying that he made a mistake in laying them off, they’ve got a helluva lot of power right at the moment. Use it while you can.
Not certain how CA’s unemployment works, but in Michigan if you turn down an offer for work which is comparable to the job you lost, you lose your ability to claim unemployment.
Worker seeking UI payment: “My old job had a stable boss and a pleasant work environment. The job I have been offered means that I would report to a highly unstable boss, whose policies and practices whiplash back and forth on a moment’s notice, who places workplace demands that are beyond unreasonable, and overall, has created an unpleasant workplace environment. This job I have been offered is manifestly *not* comparable to the one I had before.”
UI staffer: “When you put it like that . . . OK, you’re good.”
from an unchecked tweeter:
“Ken(neth)
@disasterlaster
Elon Musk right now is like if Elmer Fudd bought a website of Bugs Bunny’s”
Cool, more lawsuits he will lose.
Complicating the employees’ calculations is that Facebook is joining the RIF-frenzy because they can. Well, that and trying to pay for Zuck’s ‘Metaverse’ but the takeaway here is that there are fewer ‘name’ options available.
I have SO many Mastodon questions. Is this post able to take them? Setting up an account has not been clean cut.
Go ahead and ask — I’m working on a post related to this topic but I may not be able to finish it before this evening, too swamped here. But your questions may help my post.
Ask away.
ADDER: This site is the mack daddy of pointers on Mastodon — https://fedi.tips/
So I loaded the app. I went to open an account and the first two categories I selected had no account option. So I am receptive to an account category. suggestion.
My son introduced us to venison osso buco, cut the rear shanks into 2-3 inch sections, follow a good recipe, dutch oven for 4 hours, serve over brown rice. Absolutely delicous!!!
Punaise
Thanks for posting one of Charlie Pierce’s scorching and insightful political rejoinders.
He and Keith have kept me sane since 2016
Pierce left Massachusetts for college at Marquette and returned from Milwaukee with a unique perspective on beer and sports.
Pierce once described the city of Foxborough as “An otherwise sleepy little town south of Boston, just about on the upper bicep where Massachusetts flexes into Cape Cod.”
Long live the metaphors.
he sure can turn a phrase.
Live long and Meta Phors be with you!
A bit dated now, but Jim White finally shamed me into watching the WS. It only took until the bottom of the 6th (I think) – IN game 6. So, I flip it on and the very first play I watched was a THE pitch that landed 450 feet away in dead center – a three run home for the Stop. I turned the TV off and the rest is history.
Brady did not loose four in a row. I dunno who looks worse – the Bucs or the Rams. bmaz will say the Cards are worse than both and he may be correct.
The Cards have some really good players, but are truly poorly coached. They are just not very good right now, and yes I’d say both the Rams and Bucs are better.
Taking golf off for winter? Had a friend when I lived in Chicago who insisted we play golf together at least once each month all year. It was brutal in winter. Actually put plastic bags over socks to try and save toes from severe pain as defrosted at the bar. (Not over shoes like that IA Senator talked about.) Had some fun hollering at xcountry skiers to get off the green. Nice chip shots would not stick the green, but take tremendous bounces. Lasted two years before I said I had better things to do.
We don’t like to do that to golf courses. Traffic on dormant greens and fairways can damage the turf by compacting snow and ice, suffocating the grass. Playing when there’s frost can break growth off (hence the reason for frost delays).
When you’re friends with the golf course pro and owner, you might also want to maintain those friendships by staying off the course during the winter months, not to mention avoiding angry homeowners around the course who enjoy the golfer-free months.
Haven’t done this in 40 years. The courses were open for golf and took our money.
A few friends and I used to water ski every month of the year. But we were in AZ and had wet suits, so it really wasn’t that bad. Weren’t many ski boats out on the lakes in the dead of winter though.
Quite a lot of distancing, and attempted underbussing going on at the OK trial.
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1589651194582122497
11:09 AM · Nov 7, 2022
https://mobile.twitter.com/Brandi_Buchman/status/1589670075715702784
12:24 PM · Nov 7, 2022
And that was one of Elmer’s *good* days.
https://twitter.com/rparloff/status/1589671670847266816
12:30 PM · Nov 7, 2022
Marcy:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/05/31/crystalizing-conspiracies-fourth-superseding-james-breheny-pumas-gopro-redacted-and-the-willard-hotel/
I don’t know, but it sure seems like RHODES is getting clobbered.
https://twitter.com/rparloff/status/1589711667499511808
3:09 PM · Nov 7, 2022
https://twitter.com/JordanOnRecord/status/1589712900520038400
3:14 PM · Nov 7, 2022
No real idea without being there and seeing the testimony live (not even on TV). But generally this is why defense attorneys are usually loathe to put crazy ass defendants on the stand. I would have requested a signed acknowledgement that I had so advised to be kept in the back of the hard file. Barrack was a different matter, but even that was probably a much discussed issue with him and the defense team.
OK: peak [hopefully] TRASH-y:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Brandi_Buchman/status/1589729408285573120
4:20 PM · Nov 7, 2022
Uh, what??
“crazy ass defendant” on display!
I guess. But, still, jeebus; you don’t want the jury to hear that said, much less your wife. Stunningly bad testimony.
love this comment, bmaz! (@5:15)
Election Day Evgeni Prigozhin news (although anyone with 2 braincells to rub together already knew this)…
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/07/putin-ally-yevgeny-prigozhin-admits-interfering-in-us-elections
Did Prigozhin ever file to get his dick pics back from DoJ?
Or is this admission of illegally interfering in US elections bound to extend the time DoJ lawyers have to review his selfies?
Here’s to hopes Kevin Stitt will be dethroned in the Oklahoma governor’s race.
My fall chores involve snow and hay.
I’m tending an elderly horse (human equivalent of 96 y/o) as well as a young whippersnapper mare of human equivalent 67) so ice, snow, hay, moving by products, and giving medications is on my list.
Also moving my vehicle to the open. A very sturdy branch fell from a tree right where my small truck had been parked in the previous 30 minutes. We only have 1 body shop in 100 miles, so the wait would have been a wait.
I get bonus points for composting.
The Lawnboy is fighting “spongy moths” (Paper Birch is Romain to the buggers) using dormant oil and tangle foot tree wrap. I can say I have been very successful this year helping my favourite tree.
I also climb as far as Mrs. Lawngirl can stand to find egg mass and remove. Not to worry, the rock wall climbing harness and tech keeps me safe. November is ideal bc they are very easy to see and destroy. Mechanical methods are planet friendly and for the most part I use soap on insects.
Be sure to use the oil before the Forsythia blooms.
This has been a public service announcement .
Best of luck with your battle against the insect formerly known as the gypsy moth! I was a forester in a former life and worked on a spongy moth study in white oak stands above the Delaware River. Even after more than 40 years, I can still see the dappled sunlight on the forest floor because more than half the canopy had been eaten and hear the falling frass that sounded like rain.
Geo: When I was climbing trees, an old “feller” told me that ” there are two kinds of people in tree work, the newly wed and the nearly dead”…
” And the dead guy is the owner”!
That was 1981 beside the Love Canal…
File in the “sure to piss you off” folder is Ron Wyden’s under-the-radar release of the DHS activities in Portland:
https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-releases-new-details-about-surveillance-and-interrogation-of-portland-demonstrators-by-department-of-homeland-security-agents
Among Wyden’s revelations:
– Department of Homeland Security (DHS) surveillance of Portland protesters in 2020 was far broader than previously known;
– DHS Dossiers of 2020 Protesters Included Lists Of Friends and Family, Travel History, Social Media And Other Records Unrelated to Securing Federal Property or Homeland Security
– DHS officials proposed developing dossiers, known as Operational Background Reports (OBRs), for everyone who attended protests. Although DHS did not follow through with that plan, it did create dossiers on people arrested for nothing to do with homeland security, and officials appear to float conspiracy theories about who was supporting the protest
– OBRs included past criminal history, travel history, derogatory information from DHS or Intelligence Community records, and publicly available social media. Draft dossiers included friends and family of protesters as well.
– DHS Intelligence and Analysis officials debriefed or intended to debrief detained protestors, which raises serious concerns about intelligence officials seeking information from Americans who are in custody
The original reports, previously released with heavy redactions were quietly re-released with much less redactions which Wyden bases his review on:
https://www.wyden.senate.gov/download/ianda-and-ogc-portland-reports
It’s some must-do but certainly not feel-good reading that will all but stress anyone out as to extent that protesters were surveiled.
I spent most of the weekend (and today) getting ready for the election. I’m the judge in our precinct. Lots of prep always.
First time I’ve asked for a constable.
First time I’ve been concerned about our safety.
First time I’ve laid awake at night planning how I was going to calmly and professionally deal with the crap I anticipate that the election deniers will throw at us.
First time I emailed my team and told them that if they felt threatened or were harrassed they needed to come to me right away.
For those of you reading this who plan on voting tomorrow – great! Poll workers will be there for you. But please, vote for the people who are on the right side of this – we can’t survive as a country under this blanket of fear – when the people who are doing the right thing are punished for it.
Thank you for being the glue that holds our democracy together. I’m sorry you and other poll workers are dealing with so much crap. The rest of us need to do more to make it safe to vote, and safe for you as poll workers.
thank you so much for all you and your team do! i can only imagine the challenge of walking into election day with the new threats hovering over all. may your day go with minimal disruption and maximum turn-out.
Thanks for the encouragement – update – yesterday was very busy – which is great news! We had our share of sanctimonius whiners (election deniers) and some rude people who wanted to make some kind of political statement, but we hung in there and got it done. Numbers were presidential election-like. Overall, we were safe and we always try to keep in mind, we do this for the voters, but especially the quiet ones, who just come, contribute to the democracy and then go back to their lives. That is the way it should be.
Just got back from 5 days in Cozumel.
I’m moving…
I can always tell when people start shooting deer in our neighborhood. The dogs stop eating the high-end kibble wee buy them, and start eating carrion they find on the hill-sides of the farm. Which is really wooded hills in SW West Virginia. No fields to mow here, just woods. We spooked a deer just 60 or 70 yards from the house when we drove up this evening coming home from Wife’s PT workout this afternoon.
The dogs gain a lot of weight in the late fall and early winter — their vets give us a hard time, and we explain that we don’t control their diet once hunting season creeps up on us. We let people hunt, telling them to not shoot at the house!! but otherwise good luck, as the deer tear up Wife’s planting intentions to no end.
We early voted last week, straight Democratic as usual. No telling if that does any good this year. Locally many county offices are usually filled by Democratic candidates, but state-wide the R-Fascists appear to win a lot lately. Sad!!
Thanks to everyone at Emptywheel for all the work you all do, even bmaz the angry.
Oh, I am not angry. Frustrated occasionally.
Love you, bmaz!
Agree: Love you, bmaz!
From the Daily Beast,
https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-enemies-of-kremlin-meet-in-poland-to-plot-violent-elimination-of-vladimir-putin
“Russian Enemies of Kremlin Meet to Plot Violent ‘Elimination’ of Putin
The anti-Kremlin group, which includes several former Russian politicians, met in Poland and discussed staging a civil war, taking up arms, and killing Vladimir Putin.”
Just thinking that this whole fiasco with Elon Musk and Twitter should be called “Elongate”, just to stretch a label to describe it.
Tesla recalls 40,000 U.S. vehicles over potential loss of power steering assist
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-recalls-40000-us-vehicles-over-potential-loss-power-steering-assist-2022-11-08/
Sure glad I don’t drive a Tesla. On the other hand, I got a great upper body workout when the power steering on my old Vibe conked out–well, dribbled out–a few years ago.
Also on the subject of hooved ungulates, semi-mythical California superhorse Flightline won the Breeders Cup Classic Saturday. Owners retired him to stud the next day. Comparisons to Secretariat must come with an asterisk: yes, Flightline never lost, but he only ran six times.
Secretariat he ain’t, but holy cow, Flightline ran a truly incredible race. And against worthy competition. But darn if he was not still accelerating away from the field when he crossed the line. Truly impressive.
Yes. Had to explain to hubby that those other horses included the Derby and Travers winner, to say nothing of poor Life is Good who set a brutal pace–albeit one that Flightline just coasted away from like it was a stroll in the park.
I only wish we could see him again. But no.
Yes, exactly. I know putting them to stud is extremely profitable, but that horse looks like he could win more races, and probably another Breeders Cup. Would love to see that.
And, yes, it was certainly not a field of scrubs Flightline ran away from.
Self-inflicted voting near fails:
1. Madame punaise and I were filling out our ballots last night but inadvertently switched mail-in envelopes, which once signed were useless.
2. OK, no problem! We’ll just saunter over to our local firehouse and vote in person in the morning. But that polling place has been closed (fewer polling places due to lack of poll works + so many people voting by mail?). Our bad for not checking ahead of time.
3. Walk back home. take the car to get to the new polling place.
4. Vote.