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My dentist said he needed a hand like this...
3,526 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 1801 – 2000 of 3526 Newer› Newest»Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Mudge must be apoplectic tonight.
My, I dropped off the radar too long. I chose to focus on Doug Jones, the KKK bomber-buster rather than that kid-diddling cowboy perv with nerve.
For over a year, Mr. Hastings has been trying to set me up romantically, always with the same person. He finally succeeded and I've been spending a lot of time offline-- cooking, having tea and tisanes and other things, and he is enjoying an increased active social life now I'm out of the house a bit more without a crowbar needed.
We even have Thanksgiving planned with his family.
Today I saw somebody had posted a free kitchen sink to give away, as he was remodelling. I jumped on it-- right size, stainless steel, and my sink has scratches and chips on it (it's an enameled cast iron sink which just might be as old as the house) and the faucet recently broke. This one is slightly shallower, has a high faucet, a hose and all that. It's good. I'm very delighted with not having to buy a new sink, just for a plumber to install this one.
In all, a pleasant break from the news cycle.
Congratulations, HP, this is the best thing I've heard all day, and I don't mean the new sink, although that's nice, too. I'll keep my fingers crossed and thumbs pressed for Thanksgiving because family can be a bit overwhelming.
November 24-27 University of Hawai'i Press is having a sale, 30-50% off everything. Very good on tropical, Asian, Hawaiian topics. I liked the history of sugar on Maui that I got from them. (The last sugar harvest was last year.)
Hard to see Doug Jones winning. Any member of the tribe is better than anyone not. A discussion of that today here https://www.backgroundbriefing.org/
Gmbka, we are driving in by ourselves on T-day (Mr. Hastings ride shotgun) so that is a big load off my mind. Carpooling with family would be too much.
Otherwise, I'll be fine, we are both from large families of the same size with some similar health issues and he's said the sibling closest in sense of humor to him will be there. Looking forward to meeting her, then. I'll also bring a book or two in case things get dull or people need a break from my charm.
I'm more concerned about HIS stress level, and the way things are planned should be just fine now.
My own sink is one that the sink and plumbing store was selling at a huge discount. It's a German marvel, including its own drainboard. For such a marvel at an affordable price, a couple of dents are more than acceptable. I suppose I could have taken it to a body shop.
Eric Wemple's smiling face looks a bit happier than usual this evening.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/11/19/the-publisher-of-al-com-blasts-back-at-legal-threats-from-roy-moore/?utm_term=.fa893a7a3523
Jim, have you seen the latest polls? Jones is way ahead of Moore now. He nearly won the run-off. Unless the GOP in Alabama really cooks the elections (not impossible) it's not THAT hard to see him winning with full turnout.
Pup, I hope you're right. HRC was ahead of DT in the polls, too. Until people gave their REAL opinions in the voting booth.
HRC did win the popular vote by 3 million votes. Trump won the electoral college by what, 20,000 vote excess in key swing states that flipped, surprisingly.
I have a feeling we'll find the election was stolen down the line. In the meanwhile, hopefully we get to play indictment bingo again this week. A OK state senator (and chairman for Trump campaign in OK back then) has just pled guilty to sex trafficking. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/oklahoma-state-senator-and-trump-campaign-official-to-plead-guilty-after-offering-to-pay-teenage-boy-for-sexual-stuff/article/2641220
Yeah, we probably will find the election was stolen.
I'm lucky in that Los Angeles County voting is done via putting marks on a ballot card. Those go into a scanner that determines if the pattern of marks is valid (if not, like voting twice for an office, a do-over), and then it's added to the local tally. At the end, the local tallies go to the central office. Now, this can I suppose be interfered with, but each precinct has the ballot cards, which can be fed back through the machinery, or even recounted by hand. I really worry for places where the original document is computer bits, not a physical card/paper.
All German sinks come with a drip-board, which is not all that practical when you have little counter space.
It sounds like you should have a lovely Thanksgiving, HP! Very nice!
I seem to have become unable to forward a NYT article.
With a spacious counter, I love my built-in drip board. The German sink does get a bit elaborate about ensuring it won't overflow.
Thinking of the NY Times, it looks like a competition between the NY Subway and Washington Metro as to which is in worse shape. I think NY. Older, creakier, more money diverted into vanity projects.
pj,
any news from the knee?
Analysis of the Senate tax bill:
"We find the bill would reduce taxes on average for all income groups in both 2019 and 2025. In general, higher income households receive larger average tax cuts as a percentage of after-tax income, with the largest cuts as a share of income going to taxpayers in the 95th to 99th percentiles of the income distribution. On average in 2027, taxes would rise modestly for the lowest-income group,chang e little for middle-income groups, and decrease for higher-income groups. Compared to current law, 9 percent of taxpayers would pay more in 2019, 12 percent in 2025, and 50 percent in 2027."
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/feature/analysis-tax-cuts-and-jobs-act
The one percent gets the most tax relief, no surprise there.
For the first time in its history the Federal Republic of Germany cannot form a government. It's up to the president now to make a decision about a repeat election. But he only can do that after a chancellor candidate, Merkel, failed to gain an absolute majority of the parliament. Parliament has two weeks to vote again, and if she fails again the president can either decide to declare Merkel chancellor or dissolve parliament and order new elections within 60 days.
Interesting times.
gmbka,
I had an MRI on Saturday. I hope to hear the results today or tomorrow.
I saw the news about Germany. It sounds like that could be quite a mess, especially if new elections are called.
The local "road rage" fatal shooting is getting weirder.
It seems it started with the victim, A and another driver, B getting into some kind of interaction as A was leaving Target on a routine shopping trip at 7 pm. Very shortly thereafter, A, according to the shooter, C, threatened C in terms of "what's your problem? I'm gonna kill you." C claims to have been frightened and conveniently had his pistol handy, fired a bunch of shots killing A and hitting another car (no injuries).
C's name was released today. Looks like A has a history of violence but has been clean recently. He leaves behind a wife and kids. No particular info on C, evidently white, as was A. No info on B. Yeesh.
C almost immediately stopped at a nearby parking lot and called 911, saying he'd just shot someone and claiming self defense. He hasn't been arrested, at least not yet.
The victim's family is asking for donations to pay funeral expenses and is expressing outrage.
That's scary, Dave.
My doctor called me with a report on my MRI. I have a torn meniscus and also something called a fat pad inside my knee. I have an appointment with an orthopedist next Tuesday. I think I have surgery in my future.
pj,
please think twice before you consider knee surgery and if necessary get a second opinion. Mayo clinic says that torn meniscus can be healed without surgery, and the sports-medicine people who deal with the fat pads suggest conservative methods. Knees are difficult and the their healing process is long and painful, ask ftb. I hope you can get away with physical therapy.
I'm slow on the uptake here, I didn't make the page switch until just now.
pj, I met Scott a couple years ago when he was doing a performance (and lessons) at Archie's Barbershop. I have his album, and the weird thing... there's a non-trivial chance he's playing a slide that I made in that video. I was making glass guitar slides for a while and was selling them when Scott came through town. It's possible that's someone else's, but I haven't seen another that's tapered and has a round end. I experimented with a lot of different shapes, and found the guitarists all had different preferences. Along with varying sizes, it just just made the permutations pretty extensive... and I wasn't hanging around the barbershop as much, so my main customer base went away (or I left it). So I haven't made any recently.
Ok, maybe not, same slide pre-dates that show...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFymnrJSe8k
That's good advice, gmbka. I'll have to see what the doctor says. I know some arthroscopic knee surgeries are very easy. My brother had a torn meniscus when he was in England and had surgery done at a hospital about three blocks from his flat. He walked home the same day as the surgery and had no problems. The fat pads, which may be the bulk of my problems, may be the more difficult part of this to deal with. i saw some of the same things you did about handling them through therapy. I hadn't heard of fat pads until today, so I don't have any experience through others to go on.
That's very cool, HeadFool. I've known Scott most of my life. He lived a couple of houses away when we were growing up. I'm glad you ran into him and it would be really sweet if he played your slide! Which album do you have? (He has several.)
I have "Thunder's Mouth". It has Kevin Wimmer on it; who's a fantastic Cajun fiddler. I know him from several bands, he's now with Steve Riley. Kevin is listed as playing 'violin'; I commented to Scott that he doesn't play violin he play's fiddle. Scott replied "that's not what Kevin's mom says."
Scott's also on "Songs of Peace & Forgiveness" that Archie's Barbershop put out.
His most recent record is "The Last Shot Got Him" and has several Mississippi John Hurt songs on it, a couple of Robert Johnson tunes, and songs like "Ain't Misbehaving" and "Over the Rainbow." A varied collection built around a 1934 Gibson archtop guitar that he bought and paid a remarkably low price for. So he chose tunes from around that time. Songs that "the guitar would have known" as I think he put it.
Making pumpkin gratin to bring over for Thanksgiving. Excellent savory dish and I find it is even better the second day, chilled. Pepin uses swiss, I use mozzarella and gouda cheese. I've cut the cream before and it tastes as good, but the full cream version is worth trying.
Note sidebar on right for the recipe, if interested. http://www.kqed.org/w/morefastfoodmyway/episode206.html
Errands beckon.
Well this is odd. Family and I are at a resort. We gathered together for my fathers memorial Monday and are staying for thanksgiving before returning home.
I was watching the chew making soup with thanksgiving leftovers. Suddenly C-span and a program on the future of Saudi leadership have taken over ALL the channels. Almost 45 minutes so far.
Pj what is the tiara ID and password.
I am not able to get in from the email. I always get in on the desk top so the iPad doesn’ Have any memory.
As if, not playing one week would affect my standing.
Pacifica,
Try these and see if they work.
https://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/pickem
Group ID#: 10996
Password: Boodle
Pj - thank you very much, got in and made my guesses. Only time will tell how successful I was.
Again, thanks.
I am with all my siblings and some of the nieces and nephews in Arizona. I wish all my invisable friends a most happy and joyous Thanksgiving. Now sister is planning tomorrow’s activities. Taking the bread out to go stale for dressing.
Monday was the last full day of work on the Botanical Garden's holiday lights. Rain on Tuesday curtailed further work, and there was some low-key activity today. Putting mailing labels on thousands of post cards has turned into a huge chore.
I did a video walk-through of the floodlighted forest areas. It's a lousy video but gives a reasonable sense of how this rather intimate area has been done.
https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=kkGBiYzL0cE
Still photos are at
https://flic.kr/s/aHsm8NvKAw
BBC radio news was running an attempt to figure out why so many women in the US, especially Texas, die in childbirth. Their questioning of a Texas official brought forth bafflegab about it not being a public health problem, but, to paraphrase, problems with those people.
Politically, the latest on the Paradise and Panama papers indicate that the Trump family were dealing with Russian oligarchs and their like, with of course suspicions that Jared Kushner's out on a financial limb with his New York building and that Donald, senior's fortune may be at least as overstated as Wilbur Ross's (Robert Baer's take is particularly nasty).
Now, there's the end of net neutrality, putting most of us at the mercy of the cable company unless the courts rule otherwise. To think that I can drive over to Orlando to worship Comcast at their Universal Studios.
It also looks like near certainty a tax bill will pass, with all sorts of destructive consequences. Russia, here we come. And by the way, Dmitri Hvorostovsky died. Wish I'd heard and seen him live.
NP, I hope your trip is (or was) enjoyable. You're going to post pictures, right?
HP, if Scott wasn't using a guitar slide you made, he should have been. I'm sure he meant to get one from you and just forgot or got distracted. Or something like that.
pj, I'm so sorry to hear about your knee troubles; I hope it all gets resolved. I've been lucky, so far, but knee issues are scary to me.
Dave, your Botanical Garden pictures are always lovely.
And Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
Despite a high probability of rain, were were dry, if humid today. Now, approaching 11, a downpour. Checked the radar. It's a tiny little cloud. Our own private cloudburst. Pity anyone who was setting up parking lot barricades at stores.
One of the all-time greats. "Jon Hendricks, master of vocalese and ‘poet laureate of jazz,’ dies at 96":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/jon-hendricks-master-of-vocalese-and-poet-laureate-of-jazz-dies-at-96/2017/11/22/651da090-cfd9-11e7-a1a3-0d1e45a6de3d_story.html
Thinking of singing, I made it to a movie broadcast of Sondheim's "Follies" from London's National Theatre. It's a huge show in terms of cast, what's demanded of the cast, and what's demanded of the audience, with a reunion of showgirls including spectral versions of their earlier selves. Big numbers, intimate quarrels. Lots going on and (as pointed out by the writer of the book) no particular plot.
No matter that the past must have been great, we're in an age of wonderful performing arts, of all sorts.
pj, I've shredded both meniscuses playing soccer. The first one, left, I figured would get better by itself, and it was months before I finally went to the orthopedist who served the UCLA football team. This was maybe 1981, before arthroscopes. The doc said that if I were 18 with a promising athletic career ahead of me, he'd fix it, but that would be a big deal and I'd have a zipper down each side of the knee. As it was, he said I should wait it out. About two years later, I resumed playing, baseball, figuring soccer would be too much. The knee was fine, and being left handed it was my push-off knee that gets most stress.
Then in the late 90s I'm back to soccer and ruin the right knee. This got high doses of Naproxen, and I was back on the field in a few months. Then the left knee got a second injury, a major knock on the kneecap, and an MRI which showed the original injury shredded the meniscus and largely tore the outer collateral ligament, and an arthroscopy resulted.
BTW, both knee injuries were from the same cause during a soccer game: abruptly reversing direction, with nobody else involved. Muscles stronger than the structure they were attached to.
Then after a few more years of soccer the right knee was pretty loose, and finally it got arthroscopy.
The left, that was allowed to heal itself first with essentially no intervention, is now the better of the two. They are both okay for walking around, but I no longer play any active sports, and don't think they would permit that.
Jim, speaking of UCLA, I thought you might enjoy this article, and perhaps even recall some such events (although you'd have been a mere child at the time, of course). "In an era of USC-UCLA pranks, one stood out. Sixty years later, its mystery is solved":
http://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/la-sp-usc-ucla-pranks-20171114-story.html
Wow, Jim. That's quite a set of adventures you have had with your knees! Many thanks for your comments. I remember folks who had knee surgery back in the 70s and 80s and it was a huge deal. Now those injuries would be fixed with arthroscopic surgery and they would have been mobile very quickly instead of being stuck in an ankle-to-hip cast for a couple of months.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!
seasea
Re: Jon Hendricks's death. This song is more Annie Ross than Hendricks or Lambert, but I always enjoyed the song "Twisted." Joni Mitchell also did a fine cover of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXwMgIlmoaM
NP, I remember the card stunt prank. Some kids from Cal Tech did the same thing at a Rose Bowl game a few years later, probably getting more visibility. I had recently "graduated" 6th grade at from UCLA's elementary school, run by the education dept, where a classmate was a ball boy for the football team.
My memory of the first orthopedist, Robert Watanabe, winner of five golds at Senior Olympics in track and field sprints, was of his waiting room: several kids who looked like high school football players, with crutches, and the place smelling of liniment. He first left me alone in his office with a picture book of a knee op, quite a bloody butchering, perhaps to discourage my asking for it.
From his LA Times obit: The doctor also excelled at woodcarving, claiming "there's a close connection between orthopedics and working in wood. . . . The orthopedist works with power drills and a wide range of instruments which are very similar to those used in cabinetry."
Is fake news (I mean really fake news, not what Trump complains about) being extended to a fake census?
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/21/trump-census-pick-causes-alarm-252571
The Trump administration and Congress have been defunding the Census, seemingly to ensure that easy people (Republicans) are counted, more difficult ones, not. Trump's nomination of an incompetent advocate of safe congressional districts confirms what's up.
That USC/UCLA card prank was awesome! I went to a high school that specialized in ingenious senior pranks -- parking the principal's car in the lobby of the scholastic building, dropping a tire over the flagpole out front, and so on.
The car had to be stolen, taken apart, carried in through the doors, and reassembled; and God alone knows how they got that tire up there. Well, God, plus the students who did it. That was an amazing feat of engineering!
I regret to announce that my graduating class didn't do anything. We had some important people visiting the school that day, and the dean of students solemnly (and rather desperately) asked us not to embarrass the school by pulling anything ingenious "as I, of course, know you could." Oh, well! It was a far, far better thing, and all that, and besides, I don't think we'd come up with a really good prank anyway.
We are having a gorgeous day, blue sky and 55 F. It provided a good opportunity to walk off at least some of those calories I took in out of mere indulgence yesterday.
Nice opening evening at the Botanical Garden. Some glitches.
The glitches usually are only noticed by staff and volunteers.
Second evening at the Botanical Garden was a near calamity. Early afternoon, electric in the main building, an old house, was off. Turned out a fuse had blown for reasons unknown. It was fixed about an hour ahead of opening time, after considerable effort had gone into emergency mode. A run to the store for battery lanterns to light the restrooms was narrowly averted.
On the plus side, rewiring the lights on the House to another circuit provided power for the computer that operates the programmed floodlights. Being a dry evening, this meant putting the computer and its radio transmitter on the house's balcony, which proved the most stable broadcasting location we've yet had. No problems at all with the floods becoming momentarily disconnected from their program.
Friday, we had 500 visitors, equal to last year's first two nights. Saturday, 1130, pointing toward 2000 on the busiest nights, a major parking challenge. The Moon Garden might possibly need crowd control. It's tiny and features bubbles. Everyone loves bubbles.
It must be very satisfying to see all the hard work being appreciated by so many.
That's a very nice turnout, Dave! With that many visitors it's especially good that you got the electrical problems solved before opening.
I don't think I'll ever go to the botanical garden, but my membership expires in a couple of days, so I should renew it. Haven't gotten a reminder, though.
Will be getting the bill for a bus tour in April. The good/bad news is that it maxed out with 30 participants, cutting per-person costs but making for a herd. Mitigated by a number of people being old friends and more being extended family and such. It won't at all be a random bunch of strangers.
That's likely to be the only "major" travel of the year. Will do a quick run to Richmond next week to see the light show at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond, a 4-day mini vacation in January.
Miami had a bunch of fatalities this long weekend from people driving into ditches and canals.
I am not looking forward to Congress in December. Republicans are desperate to pass a tax cut, so hostages will be held in the Senate. Following one of the pundits (forget who), the tax cut will vastly increase the national debt, so the Freedom Caucus will boycott the giant continuing resolution or appropriations bills and raising of the national debt limit, making it essential for Democrats to provide votes. Successfully making this legislative marble cake looks improbable.
Bet one or both houses will be in session Christmas Eve, likely until nearly dawn.
Other pundit(s) have noted that Republicans, having claimed for years that the appellate courts have too many judges, suddenly found that the they need lots of new judges, about a doubling in number. I bet this will be carried out with the greatest legislative and Trump Administration efficiency next year. Next Thanksgiving, there may still not be an ambassador to South Korea, but there'll be a horde of new judges.
I went to an Aldi grocery store for the first time today. I remember when grocery stores here were that size. I bought some frozen shrimp and scallops at a good price. I also bought a German chocolate bar with hazelnuts. I don't know why, but they don't make hazelnut chocolate bars in America. I've only seen them from Europe.
Oregon hazelnut growers would like to correct that deficiency. Apparently Hershey thinks almonds are enough, with a few peanuts thrown in on the side.
pj,
Priano vegetable lasagna, frozen, is excellent, and also Deutsche Kueche Apple strudel, also frozen. Their organic salad greens are cheaper than those from Costco, but the amount is a bit much for me to eat within a week.
I stay away from the chocolate for the most part, it is good and I cannot resist once I have it at home. But I do get marzipan around Christmas time and sometimes nougat, when they have it. The scallops I also bought were excellent. Another of my favorites is their raspberry preserves.
Be careful with their fresh stuff, sometimes it is good, often not so much.
Aldi's German competitor plans on trying the US market, too. I am looking forward to it.
Have you seen the orthopedic surgeon?
Thanks for the Aldi suggestion, gmbka. Vegetable lasagna sounds good and I loved the apple strudel we had in Vienna. I like raspberry preserves, too. Some of the fresh produce prices were remarkably low. But some of it didn't look so good. I'll take a closer look next time.
I think I found an answer to my hazelnut candy question. The 2014 stats for world hazelnut production shows the US in third place but we produce less than 10% of what Turkey does. Italy is in second place. Almost all (99%) of our production is in the Willamette valley in Oregon. Since I was born there, maybe it's not a surprise that I like hazelnuts. I think I'll buy some today from the Made in Oregon site on Cyber Monday since I was also made in Oregon.
I see the orthopedist tomorrow.
This is a good story of someone who tried to sting the Washington Post with a false story about Roy Moore impregnating a young woman and her getting an abortion. The Post smelled it out.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/a-woman-approached-the-post-with-dramatic--and-false--tale-about-roy-moore-sje-appears-to-be-part-of-undercover-sting-operation/2017/11/27/0c2e335a-cfb6-11e7-9d3a-bcbe2af58c3a_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.b5d16889d579
I have a couple friends and FoFs that are Aldi fans. I'm not really a convert; though my local store just re-opened after a remodel and are handing out coupons like confetti.
My impression is Aldi is a 7-11 by Costco... relatively little selection all carried in on big palettes.
It's funny that you mention 7-11, HF. One of the things I wondered about in Aldi was the beer selection. When I saw it, my first thought was "I've seen a better selection in 7-11."
One of the reasons I went into Aldi was that they were supposed to offer frozen shrimp and scallops that hadn't been treated with the salt preservative that pumps water into the seafood and makes them harder to cook, especially sear. The packages I bought were only the frozen seafood with no preservative. I'll see how they cook.
pj,
the WaPo story is depressing because it shows how far people and organizations are willing to go in order to deceive, and how many people do that. Even at my age I still believe that people are basically good and based on my personal experience I have no reason to think otherwise. Sheltered life?
On my Aldi shopping list are also Bavarian sweet mustard, frozen pretzels, their red cabbage in a jar and I also used to buy smoked wild Alaskan salmon because spouse liked it. The problem with this store is that they don't carry everything at all times, so it's a hit or miss when I go every two or three weeks. When they happen to have what I want I buy in bulk.
A couple of interesting maps.
https://projects.propublica.org/represent/votes/115/house/1/566
https://projects.propublica.org/represent/votes/115/senate/1/179
Six House members *from Texas* voted against disaster relief.
I'm surprised that Florida's Ted Yoho voted in favor of disaster relief. He had been against any such thing. North Carolina's Walter Jones, who represents the constant-disaster Outer Banks voted against. The gentleman has been a relatively constructive senior member of Congress.
The Post's nailing of Project Veritas was quite an operation. Some righty will complain of the agents of Jeff Bezos descending like Seal Team 6 on a well-meaning little band of defenders of righteousness. Secret video! Snooping at the door! The horror!
The Hill reports that the Supreme Court declined to take an appeal of a decision to uphold Maryland's strict gun regulations. For now, at least, the Court isn't willing to expand second amendment "rights" beyond the somewhat infamous Heller decision.
Disney's Mexico at Epcot once had a "River of Time" that long ago was crudely invaded by Donald Duck. With Coco a big success, I'd like to see a quick remodel. It wouldn't take too much.
More gun stuff. A Florida guy had asserted a right to openly carry his gun around. After all, the Second Amendment guarantees a right to "bear" arms and that means carry them around, right? The Florida Supreme Court ruled that a state concealed carry license suffices to meet whatever constitutional requirement. The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal.
I suspect next year's session of Congress will expand the Supreme Court to 11 members.
Coincidence? Ya gotta wonder: Just as Donald Trump has decided to do an about-face after more than a year and now challenge the authenticity of that damning Access Hollywood tape containing his p***y-grabbing comments, co-participant/witness Billy Bush gets struck hard enough by a golf ball, yes a GOLF ball, to cause injuries requiring him to spend a night in the hospital.
Sounds as though our Golfer-in-Chief might be trying to send Billy a message, namely not to speak up and tell the truth about the Access Hollywood tape, or to incapacitate Bush physically from doing so. Didn't realize there was such a thing as a golf-ball sharp-shooter. Oh well, at least it wasn't a horse-head in Billy's bed (at least not this time...).
A review of McPhee's "Draft No. 4":
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-mcphee-method#!
I saw the orthopedist and he suggested physical therapy for my knee for now. He said the symptoms I was describing weren't consistent with what the MRI showed. I was experiencing pain on the outside of my knee, but the torn meniscus is on the inside. He thinks it might be arthritis that is causing a problem. He also said that at some point in the future, I'm probably a candidate for knee replacement. In the meantime, I'll try therapy and see him in a month. He also suggested weight loss, but I already knew that. Maybe this will help me do it.
Interesting assessment. The MRI shows a problem but it's not what's causing the current pain. I, too, need to work on weight loss.
Yeah, it is odd, Dave. Unfortunately, my knee feels good now. Every place where he poked my knee or turned the joint I had no pain. I wonder if I saw him two weeks ago when I had at least some pain whether he might have learned something and diagnosed it differently.
I am so glad that you landed an orthopedist who believes in treating conservatively. I am a firm believer in PT, it solved my problems with a frozen shoulder, back-and hip pain, and vertigo. I too have a joint replacement in my future, my right hip, or not if I die before. With daily PT exercises I can walk pain-free, without them I need Ibuprofen, as I found out. Oddly enough the exercises cause a little bit of pain. But my therapist told me as long as it is not piercing I have to keep going. I did not have to see him this year at all, which is a relief financially and time-wise.
Which brings me to therapists. I first was assigned to one whom I did not like because she did not pay close attention and provided sloppy assignments.(Do these exercises as often as you want.) It was difficult for me to do, but I did manage to ask for another one, and I fared very well with him because he observed me closely, corrected me and gave me a list of exercises with very precise instructions. Both worked in sports-medicine, something for you to consider, too.
Good luck.
We are having ongoing blue sky and mild temperatures, quite unusual for this city, especially in November. Is it wrong to appreciate certain aspects of possible climate change?
Maybe a decade ago, I had obvious osteoarthritis of the hips. The received wisdom was that replacement would come soon. The problem went away. No imaging, so no idea how the joints look.
My neck is a certified mess. Right shoulder's rotator cuff was apparently ready to snap when it did. Back pain went away. Knee pain shows up on occasion.
And yes, I've slowed down with age.
Improved imaging seems to have forced orthopedists to realize that "normal" older humans generally have dreadful-looking joints.
The Guardian's story on Rex Tillerson is a Wonderland marvel. We're going to resolve a whole lot of conflicts, so the State Department no longer needs such a big budget. Yes, the Taliban will give up and Russia will return Crimea to its rightful owner.
gmbka, PT cured my frozen shoulder (rotator cuff), too. I realize it's not indicated for all injuries, but I was willing to try it rather than going directly to surgery (if I could possibly avoid the latter without causing further harm and pain to the joint).
Aging is certainly not for cowards.
Thanksgiving survived and all went well. Mr. Hastings failed to charm a rather aggressive and senile mini-pin so we did a nice walkabout after dinner, otherwise all went well.
Exhausting drive, though. I'd probably prefer to host than to cook and drive food over that far. Will see how things shake out for Christmas. Mr. Hastings failed to charm a rather aggressive and senile mini-pin so we did a nice walkabout after dinner.
The kitchen sink situation is now code blue emergency, and plumber will be in tomorrow for the swapout.
Also working on business learning stuffishes. Anybody running a home business feel free to advise me ;).
Haikucle Poirot
HP,
Ftb would be a good person to ask about how to run a home business.
gmbka, I haven't seen ftb on any of the comment boards in forever. If you message her, could you send her my best wishes and warm regards?
(I miss the Boodle.)
CS, I also miss the original boodle, however this child of boodle doesn't have trolls, which makes it a pleasant experience always instead of most of the time. We don't need a bunker any more, even though that's the title.
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton to be CIA chief. Pompeo to terrorize State.
There are so many "best" people to be hired that you have to replace them frequently.
"Twenty-six words we don't want to lose":
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20171122-twenty-six-words-we-dont-want-to-lose
The only one I'd heard of was Xanthippe, although I was familiar with the concept behind Mountweazel (the reason that small errors are inserted into road atlases).
gmbka, maybe that's part of the reason Anthony Scaramucci didn't last as long as the carton of milk in my refrigerator ;-)
If you missed Terry Gross's clear-eyed interview of Jane Mayer and Rebecca Trayster, you can catch it here. "For Years, Anita Hill Was A 'Canary In The Coal Mine' For Women Speaking Out":
https://www.npr.org/2017/11/30/567430106/for-years-anita-hill-was-a-canary-in-the-coal-mine-for-women-speaking-out
Apologies for being such a bunker-hog this afternoon. However, I thought some others here might also find this article interesting (although I have a higher opinion of Guaraldi's work than the author does). Guaraldi was so passionate about his piano-playing that died prematurely of a heart-attack between sets at a gig (the musical equivalent of dying in the saddle, I suppose).
"Deck the Halls with Vince Guaraldi":
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/deck-the-halls-with-vince-guaraldi
Calypso,
Did you visit Monica Hesse's chat today? They were talking about Christmas gifts and someone offered this:
"The Times and Tastes of Culpeper" [Virginia]. From the blurb: "This book has 300 years of history and 300 years of recipes in it — people came to the Culpeper area in the early 1700s and the recipes cover the entire timespan. Not only do these recipes have a rich history, but they are local — all the recipes in the book are from Culpeper or from cookbooks that would have been used in their day!" Listed at: https://vafoodheritage.org/category/books/
gmbka, I'm the guilty party. I do hope Calypso still has a few copies left to sell, though.
Okay, thanks NP. It didn't quite sound like Calypso, but I thought I'd ask. I also hope there are copies left.
Oops, pj, sorry I got the wrong name. She'd been posting earlier, and I wasn't paying close enough attention.
I was a bit irked that the chat was treating church cookbooks containing recipes dating back to the 1940s and '50s as though they were ancient *cough* *cough* -- when I suspect many are of the "can of condensed mushroom soup" ilk. A book going back three centuries is so much more special.
From the WaPo homepage right now. Words fail me.
Trump tells confidants that a government shutdown might be good for him politically
Meanwhile, all-night Senate voting on the tax bill was cancelled. Deficit estimates got on some nerves.
Congress has to jump through so many financial hoops in December that some kind of shutdown may be inescapable. Lack of appropriations is looking more likely than not to shut down government health insurance for kids, at least briefly, as states run short of funds and Congress doesn't seem in a hurry to pass the legislation.
Along with appropriations for at least another month or two, the debt limit needs to be raised. I suspect it'll be for some very short period, so the 2018 session of Congress might turn into constant skirmishes over keeping the government operating. Trump might be very, very happy to see the right kind of war, presumably Iran, not Korea.
As for Trump, he probably sees a shutdown as good, healthy chaos. I'm sure some of his stuff this week was deliberate distraction. The trouble is, his distractions are getting more frequent, more offensive, and are losing their novelty value, and so are generating fallout. I think he's been banned from Britain, including any upcoming royal wedding.
My father suffered from mild dementia for years before advancing to severe. I retired early due to mental performance issues related in part to sleep problems (and restless leg syndrome). It wasn't dementia, but tests were done to provide background for future testing.
I only see Trump when he's on camera or the written results of his tweets, but the repetitive stuff (Indians in the room? Pocahontas!), rolling around in online excrement, and what increasingly looks like a fantasy world with the same false notions repeating regularly, indicate the Republic is endangered by leaving him in office, no matter how effective Pence will be at enacting the Koch agenda to restore the federal government to President Buchanans's vision.
Gotta get rid of Lincoln's land grant colleges.
I've set up a quick trip to Washington in late January. Looks like there's plays at the Kennedy Center and Arena, but Arena's big Lyndon Johnson show is a bit later. The redone Freer-Sackler will be open. I've still never been to the Folger Shakespeare. Or, a whole bunch of others. Any gardens stuffed with hellebores?
A couple of titmouses, titmice are trying to tell me that it is winter and I should put out the feeder. Haven't they noticed that the temps are still around 50F?
I am compelled to share this comment from the Post coverage of the twitter war between Roy Moore & Jimmy Kimmel.
The Craven by Silence Dogood13
While I pondered, weak and weary,
At the ballot box so dreary,
Squinting at the ballot bleary,
Hoping respect to restore.
On the ballot was a jester,
Some said even child molester,
His election would just fester
Everything that we abhor.
Then in the window there appeared
A raven, with a screech he jeered,
And at my voter’s box he leered,
It shook me to my very core.
I asked the raven who he preferred,
If he would merely say a word,
And as I listened to the bird,
He gave the warning: “Never Moore!!”
“How could this be?”, my small mind wondered.
His charity he often plundered,
The court system he tore asunder,
I started looking for the door.
The raven stopped me, bird-like barking
While on my ballot he was marking,
As I was stumbling on the floor.
Quoth the raven: “Never Moore!”
Roy had campaigned, so weak and weary,
Saddled with a message dreary,
Making speeches not so cheery,
Looking like a foolish bore.
Then 9 accusers started talking,
And all the voters began balking,
But as we watched, ever gawking,
The raven muttered: “Never Moore!”
I took my ballot from the bird,
And marked it with no further word,
It would have been cruelly absurd,
To vote for such an oafish boar.
The bird was right, we should admit,
Our recent past we can requit,
If we take action, not just sit,
Our dignity we can restore.
So go and vote Election Day,
Don’t even try to stay away,
But hear the words the bird did say,
Quoth the raven: “Never Moore!!”
Thanks for sharing, HF, although this is a creepy as the original.
gmbka,
I have a friend who is heading to Germany next week for about 10 days to, among other things, enjoy Christmas markets. They fly into Frankfurt, head to Stuttgart, then to Berlin for three days, then to Dresden and Leipzig, and then back to Frankfurt to head home. A lot of traveling, but it sounds like fun!
Aside from Stuttgart to Berlin the distances are manageable, and between Stuttgart and Berlin runs a high-speed train, so it is not too bad. Only the unpacking and repacking is annoying. I hope s/he enjoys it.
One of my biggest pet peeves in Europe is having to pay for water, so I'm hoping this trend catches on!
"To Burst The Bottle Bubble, Fountains In Paris Now Flow With Sparkling Water":
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/12/01/567294632/to-burst-the-bottle-bubble-fountains-in-paris-now-flow-with-sparkling-water
HF - thanks, I actually snorted out loud.
Not my best look but I amused myself.
Watched a lot of MSNBC today, and repeated the maneuver. About fell out while watching t
The View, when they got the news.
If grandchildren were here today, it would have been a Disney, Nickelodeon, and cooking day.
The wave of accusations of "unwanted intimacy" has now reached the Swedish Academy. I am just astounded how pervasive this behavior is world-wide, and we haven't even heard yet from the less developed countries.
http://www.dw.com/en/nobel-literature-academy-cuts-ties-with-man-accused-of-sexual-assault/a-41524136
I'm imagining Trump going to prison, convinced that he's been done in by the same conspirators who let crooked Hillary go free.
From a Post book review:
"And Trump’s appetite seems to know no bounds when it comes to McDonald’s, with a dinner order consisting of “two Big Macs, two Fillet-O-Fish, and a chocolate malted.”"
What, no French fries, Dave?
I was looking at the Post story on making concealed-carry permits issued in one state valid nationally. Florida issues such permits without asking about residency, just about US citizenship. So if Congress passes the legislation (seems a sure bet), perhaps vacations to Orlando will include going to the tax collector and perhaps taking a short qualification course for a nationally-valid permit. Like the Nevada divorces of old. Note that permits are issued by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
https://licensing.freshfromflorida.com//firearms/prequal_questions.aspx
Nosy, I too wonder about that omission. I couldn't finish a single Big Mac. I can handle a Little Burger from 5 Guys with no fries.
Thinking of which, the 5 Guys on the Champs-Élysées surprised me. My hotel, with the Sorbonne part of the street scene from my window, was close to the Notre-Dame de Paris tourist area, which was somehow still fairly French. I think a fair number of hungry college students.
Trump's eschewing of vegetables is well-known, so perhaps he counts even fries in that category. I wonder if he also removes the lettuce, pickles and onions from his Big Macs...
Owe, the humanity!™ "House Republicans Prepare Contempt Action Against FBI, DOJ":
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-03/u-s-house-republicans-prepare-contempt-action-against-fbi-doj-jaqegooo
Blue sky and sunshine in the neighborhoods with the word hill in their names, thick fog down at the rivers. Long lines at Aldi and not many of the products I hoped to buy were on the shelves. I made up for that by getting some chocolates and cookies, supposedly for Christmas. If they don't survive that long it is due to fact that today is only the first Sunday of Advent, which also provides a perfect excuse to eat sweets.
The other day I was at a friend's house and found it overstuffed with Christmas items and a huge tree. She herself is not even a Christmas fan, but her Jewish friends insist she do it because they cannot get enough of it. I prefer Chanukah, which only requires e menorah.
Have a nice Advent time everybody. I'll light the first candle today.
Buyers' remorse? 7% of Brexit supporters now regret their vote.
http://www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2017-12/great-britain-brexit-eu-remain-english
Increasingly looks like Roy Moore will be elected to the Senate and won’t be subjected to an ethics investigation. Bet he’ll do something to get expelled within a year.
Dave of the Coonties
Dave, if Moore should win, then my hope is:
Elected + No Ethics Investigation + No Expulsion From Senate =
Albatross Around Republican Necks in 2018 Elections
My guess is that Moore would be to the Senate as the two "monsters," No-Face and Stink, that crash the Bath House of the Gods in Studio Ghibli's anime, "Spirited Away." Except those two monsters turned out to be rather nice and glorious, respectively.
Back from the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond. The light show is astounding; huge volunteer work force. Now to edit photos.
Russian athletes get banned from the Winter Olympics in South Korea next February because of doping. Some athletes can compete individually as an "Olympic Athlete from Russia."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/russia-banned-from-2018-olympics-following-doping-allegations/2017/12/05/9ab49790-d9d4-11e7-b859-fb0995360725_story.html?utm_term=.3b88e94d776f
gmbka, only 7%?
It seems to me, that if I were a UKer I'd like to be able to weigh-in on the deal that May works out with the EU. That could be via a vote, or through representatives. But it just seems strange that the result of the Brexit plebiscite should be "go leave the EU" whatever the costs. Shouldn't the public get to weigh in on the deal once details are known?
Latest evidence that I'm old: Reading the latest obits, I recalled immediately who Christine Keeler and Johnny Hallyday were.
HF,
if those 7% had thought it through before they voted, Brexit would have been rejected.
What I find bizarre is that UKIP, the Irish nationalist party Theresa May had to invite into government to get a majority, now torpedoes Brexit negotiations when it comes to an open border with the Republic. Their reasoning: An open border with the Republic of Ireland would give them economic advantages not enjoyed by the rest of the UK. Being part of the UK and suffer the consequences of Brexit is more important to them than the harmonious coexistence with the Republic. That kind of thinking makes my head spin.
On another note, Vox sentences had these points that represent a serious apology for sexual misconduct:
"An apology should include an explanation of the harm done to the person or people receiving the apology.
It should include an admission of the perpetrator’s role in causing that harm, an “acknowledgment of personal responsibility and avoidance of denials or minimizing.”
Perpetrators should express remorse.
They should explain which behaviors they are committed to stopping now that they understand the harm they’ve caused.
Finally, they should explain what they will do to make amends."
Verbs like objectify, demean, abuse of power for personal gratification, to be ashamed did not yet appear in any of the apologies we have heard.
gmbka,
7% would also swap the results of our election. And that is the number US News found in November of Trump voters who would switch their vote (5% would stay home).
https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/2017-11-09/poll-few-trump-voters-regret-their-2016-vote-but-some-could-switch-in-2020
Still, the number seems unconscionably low.
Take THAT, Drumpf! "Time’s Person of the Year: ‘The Silence Breakers,’ for speaking out against sexual harassment":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/12/06/times-person-of-the-year-the-silence-breakers-for-speaking-out-against-sexual-harassment
Not a single one of our dogs (or cats), which I wear as a badge of honor! Nor Hastings...
Top 100 Male and Female Dog Names of 2017:
https://www.rover.com/blog/2017-top-100-dog-names/
The whole world speaks about Trump, again. In children we call this attention getting behavior. Sigh.
Near the end of Ann Hornaday's 4-star review of the new film The Post, she comments:
It’s up to individual viewers to decide the present-day relevance of a story in which a touchy, overweening president can be heard going after a newspaper he deems a personal enemy [...] or in which a working woman encounters endless, patronizing slights and condescension...
Gee, ya think???
https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/forget-the-subtle-slow-boiler-the-post-romantically-rouses-the-ideals-of-the-fourth-estate/2017/12/06/d1d32a3c-d47c-11e7-a986-d0a9770d9a3e_story.html
Looks like the campaign to defund Medicaid and Medicare is underway. The Florida legislature is expected to make a big deal out of cutting state spending on Medicaid, which might get tricky considering the amounts that are spent on long-term care for the aged. And perhaps the need to upgrade some of them to be more resilient to hurricanes and perhaps even routine power outages.
Trump's campaign against the FBI is getting pretty loud.
Book department: From Princeton, "The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease & the End of an Empire" by Kyle Harper. It seems to fit pretty well with recent suggestions that early agricultural civilizations were wildly unstable. Rome was far later than that, but bubonic plague was a big challenge a thousand years after Rome. With Trump running the government, we might get an epidemic of our own.
Rupert Murdoch's 13-acre spread in Bel-Air, Los Angeles, survived a wildfire, barely.
For a moment, it looked like a Winter Olympics with no Russians, no Americans. Strange.
Not only the quantity of Trump's lies, but also the nature of so many of them. "I study liars. I’ve never seen one like President Trump":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/i-study-liars-ive-never-seen-one-like-president-trump/2017/12/07/4e529efe-da3f-11e7-a841-2066faf731ef_story.html
I spent the first two decades of my career as a social scientist studying liars and their lies. I thought I had developed a sense of what to expect from them. Then along came President Trump. His lies are both more frequent and more malicious than ordinary people’s...
In Trump’s first 298 days in office, however, he made 1,628 false or misleading claims or flip-flops, by The Post’s tally. That’s about six per day, far higher than the average rate in our studies. And of course, reporters have access to only a subset of Trump’s false statements — the ones he makes publicly — so unless he never stretches the truth in private, his actual rate of lying is almost certainly higher.
That rate has been accelerating. Starting in early October, The Post’s tracking showed that Trump told a remarkable nine lies a day, outpacing even the biggest liars in our research.
But the flood of deceit isn’t the most surprising finding about Trump...
The most stunning way Trump’s lies differed from our participants’, though, was in their cruelty. An astonishing 50 percent of Trump’s lies were hurtful or disparaging. For example, he proclaimed that John Brennan, James Clapper and James Comey, all career intelligence or law enforcement officials, were “political hacks” ...
The sheer frequency of Trump’s lies appears to be having an effect, and it may not be the one he is going for. A Politico/Morning Consult poll from late October showed that only 35 percent of voters believed that Trump was honest, while 51 percent said he was not honest...
That's a result Politico would come up with. I would not say that it is wrong, but by merely rephrasing the questions you may have a different result. But I am pretty sure that large parts of the population think of him as a liar. More interesting would be how many Republicans think that.
At the NYT, Timothy Egan explained how Trump will fire Mueller. Egan didn't comment on whether anyone at Justice might resign if ordered to do the firing. My guess is, no one.
I suspect the children's health insurance program is dead. We'll hear some stuff about how the program intruded into the proper realm of private charity.
Dave, the most depressing part is that Egan's dystopian view seems plausible.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/08/opinion/trumpocalypse-russia-democracy-.html
Egan is by no means the only observer expecting the firing. As he points out, Trump-friendly media are throwing flower petals and palm fronds on the path. Mueller's obtaining of (apparently carefully selected) Trump financial records from Deutsche Bank was a violation of Trump's don't-do-it command, so amounts to a firing offense even if it's not mentioned in the official statement.
Washington Monthly has three pieces on now former congressman Trent Franks by their regular bloggers. Weird.
We got lots of rain during the night. The last bits of showers are leaving. I've brought a few plants inside to escape the oncoming cold. Will be at the Botanical Garden by 3:30 to help get things working for 5:30 opening. Should be getting cold by 9 pm closing.
Coming up for air again. Last week was hectic with lots of furniture moving and rearranging. Now my living room is cozy and my kitchen is in better shape.
Lastest addition is a yogurt maker! I have a goodly amount of greek yogurt in the fridge. I often bake with it instead of sour cream or cream; enjoy tzatziki sauce and other yogurty things. Captain Hastings also loves greek yogurt.
Tried to do Christmasy stuff today, a bit burnt out from the cold, but the nativity petting zoo was nice; first time I've gotten to pet a camel, and Captain Hastings sure did get his kiddie, animal and puppy fix. I think HE's happyish although he would like a burger or something to cap the whole day off.
It's a good time to nap/have tea now; dinner will be later.
Gifts mostly bought, tree up but no ornaments on it, just lights. I like lights. No concrete Christmas plans; more like what I know won't be Christmas plans. Ah well.
Whew, I just added a dozen new pages to my website this evening, and now I feel as though I've been "drug through a knothole." Hope I can manage to stay awake for the new SNL tonight.
Mr. P made a simplified version of Jacques Pépin's Tomato Velvet Soup for dinner (substituting his home-canned tomato purée for fresh tomatoes), to accompany grilled cheese sandwiches.
Each year just before Thanksgiving our neighbors across the road decorate their evergreen shrubbery and front windows with masses of twinkly little yellow-white lights, which a timer turns on at dusk and runs them all evening. For me, it's sort like rage against the Winter Solstice darkness. Can't wait for Spring ;-)
One of our neighbors decorated the shrubbery in front of his house with strings of tiny yellow lights which remind me of forsythias. Can't wait for spring either, and winter has not officially begun yet. Sigh.
Adrian Higgins has an article about new varieties and colors of poinsettias. There is a nice slide show showing the new plants. Dave has already made a comment on the article.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/reinventing-the-poinsettia-a-classic-christmas-flowers-colorful-new-looks/2017/12/05/7eb7716c-d6bd-11e7-b62d-d9345ced896d_story.html?hpid=hp_weekend-chain_hg-feature2-1209%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.b367f240236e
It's impressive to see poinsettia TREES in people's yards and in botanical gardens, in mild climates where the temperature doesn't drop to freezing. I recall seeing some that were as much as two stories tall, potted gift plants that were transplanted years earlier following the holidays! In the outdoor setting, however, they don't "bloom" until late January or so, as opposed to potted holiday poinsettias that are "forced" so they'll be ready for holiday marketing. What would Poinsett think?
Disney's building a gondola system (10 people per car) to connect the attractions and some Resorts not on the monorail. Gondolas have been spreading, though I don't think we're going to get any urban ones in Florida anytime soon. Though Universal might want a system to connect its main campus to what promises to be a new theme park a little distance (and a lot of congestion) away.
Bromeliad trees are best. Our botanical garden's tree is modest compared to the deluxe ones featured at Bullis Bromeliads, a big Miami area grower.
http://bullisbrom.com/applications/
Headed down to Bburg yesterday to help the folks move. I was surprised (but not surprised) to see a huge Confederate Battle Flag flying on a hill adjacent to the highway.
Aside from the weather, Florida is quite an unpleasant environment. But then again, it is snowing here.
My family fled Florida 23 years ago vowing never to move back. The immediate goals were to move above the gnat line so my wife's legs could seasonally heal from bug bites and to move to an area with decent public schools. In the intervening decades, Florida has only gotten worse. Other factors besides a genuinely intolerable climate against Florida include but are not limited to:
Alligators
Sinkholes
Lovebugs
Crumbling and inadequate infrastructure
Low pay scales
I could go on.
But like Michael Corleone, every time you think you're out, it drags you back. I was just in Florida last month for my sister's wedding. Last week I was there to watch my mother-in-law die from a stroke. And next month I go back to settle some of her estate. That is three trips in a three month period which is three too many.
Florida is a place of eternally misery and the less I have to deal with it, the happier I am.
Florida does fairly well with bridges. Interstates get rebuilt, but state laws prohibit building non-toll local limited-access roads. So Orlando gets new "arterial" streets that turn into new-style shopping strips, leaving the old ones to rot.
Miami has been in a state of transportation suffocation as long as I've had anything to do with it. The heavy rail metro system was deliberately designed not to go to the airport because the taxi people objected. That was finally remedied just recently.
More or less unregulated charter schools are taking over from the public ones. In Pinellas County, the publics were efficiently re-segregated. A major exception is St. Johns County, which in most respects looks like a prosperous metro country from the Northeast, transplanted to Florida. Back in 1964, St. Augustine had historic civil rights demonstrations (the town has historic plaques), but since then, the county's black population has shrunk even as the white population boomed--people exiting Jacksonville's school system.
For some reason, we had a big outbreak of biting midges (sand flies) a year or so ago, not much this year. I do not sympathize with the people dumb enough to do horribly expensive Disney/Universal vacations in summer. Or more than a few days in winter. You don't have to do every last ride, and visiting Epcot for the restaurants is major-league silly. Orlando has actual good eateries off the reservation.
I'd move if it weren't for proximity to family. Medical care is an expensive mess (would rather deal with Kaiser Permanente),and homeowner insurance is a major expense. One more serious hurricane and it'll be unaffordable.
Yello, I am so sorry about your mother-in-law. I hope your wife is coping.
Other than to Florida, did you go to interesting places recently, the photos of which you could show us?
Hello, best wishes in settling your mother-in-law's estate. I need to get that "Swedish death cleaning" book about minimizing the stuff so you don't have a big mess when downsizing becomes inevitable, and later on when relatives have to deal with belongings.
By the way, Tampa Bay is stuck with a relatively recent bridge at its entrance that's too low for the latest cruise ships. So a new port is needed seaward.
Our Thanksgiving trip was to Minneapolis to see our son. We spent Black Friday brewery crawling which will eventually merit a photo essay but my heart's not in that right now.
The Swedish death cleaning phenomenon hits hard. My mother-in-law had slowly descended from moderate into severe hoarding. Her kitchen was basically unusable with both the oven and dishwasher filled with stored cookware. The refrigerator and freezer were packed and had open partially eaten food in places. Her bedroom had a walkway from the door to the bathroom but little other room to maneuver. We filled the driveway with contractor trashbags of trash twice just clearing debris.
Her closets were filled with unused kitchen appliances including multiple rice cookers, food processors, hot plates, and the like. Most of this was just piled in a corner and given to other family and members of the community on a first-come first-served basis. We did squirrel aside one luxury juicer.
The only pristine place in the house was a spare bedroom she had converted into a Buddhist temple/prayer room. All that statuary is being given to the religious order she worked with. All the remaining furniture will be given away or hauled off as junk.
My wife was on the deed and she has put the unit for sale as-is. The sooner we can be rid of it, the less we have to deal with Florida except that my increasingly frail parents live there as well.
My mother was ruthless about removing nonessential stuff, a blessing at the end.
I've done some purging of the kitchen, more is needed (gadgets and some quite nice stuff that doesn't get used). Books need to be purged. Linen closet has about 50% too many towels. And so on. There's several piles of stuff waiting for the thrift shop or the library's book store.
I picked up my house on the cheap because heirs needed to get rid of it. Essentials were in excellent condition, but there were odd problems with ceiling fans, light fixtures, and everything was in sore need of repainting. Yard was a mess.
Alabama's looking like a narrow Moore win. The good news, perhaps, is that younger voters seem to have gone heavily for Jones. Given the state's low life expectancy, that might mean a loss of Moore majority in a decade or so.
Perhaps Moore and a hookworm outbreak might scare that Toyota-Mazda plant away.
WaPo is projecting Jones to win. All relevant digits now cramping from having been crossed for so long tonight.
If the lead holds, then doubtless Trump will tweet-explode, claim fraudulent voting, blah-blah-blah.
Surprised & delighted. An Alabama court decision didn't require local voting officials to preserve electronic voting records, so perhaps a recount might not be so easy to do? I'm sure the experts will tell us by morning.
Watched Jones's final speech yesterday. The man radiates niceness and concern for the state's future. It needs it. Looks like sizable chunks of the state are going backwards in terms of living standards, health, education, whatever. Rural Florida (and big chunks of urban Florida) are no better. We need a program to forward Puerto Ricans to more promising places.
Dear yellojkt family, My condolences to you on the death of Mrs. jkt's mother. I know it's really hard to have to clear out a home while grieving (as we had to after my father's death). It sounds as though you're all making good progress handling the estate, as it will be one form of relief once that's done. Hugs to Mrs. jkt, whom I feel as though I know from all your travel photos. NP.
Assuming Jones' plurality holds, there must be joy Chez Vukovar tonight. Is anyone in touch with V, to extend our congratulations?
I assume that even if Mueller is fired, he has arranged for his findings to be safeguarded, and the most damaging ones to be disclosed promptly, to ensure someone else, such as a Congressional committee, picks up the thread.
That recount decision would permit the election to be stolen (AL has some electronic voting machines without paper record) and nothing could be done. Hope it doesn't happen.
YJ, I've been to FL three times. Twice to the Cape for Space Shuttle. That of course is a foreign colony on FL soil. And once to Miami to interview the FPL capacity planner for systems analysis. That's engineering, which I don't think even the FL politics could interfere with too much -- ? Those visits meant I dealt with sensible people. I guess I missed the real FL, Carl Hiaasen novels (the best airplane books!).
With 99.3% of the votes counted, Jones leads Moore by 1.1% (although the military absentee ballots have yet to be counted). "Alabama Recount: What Are the Laws & Procedures?":
http://heavy.com/news/2017/12/alabama-recount-laws-procedures-trigger-senate/
...According to Alabama election law, a recount is automatically triggered if the margin is less than or equal to 0.5 percent. The losing candidate could submit a written waiver of the recount...
The recount would be “commenced within 72 hours after certification of the results of a county election by the county canvassing board and within 72 hours after certification of the results of a state election by the state canvassing board.”
If the recount is triggered automatically, it would be paid for by the state...
[cont'd.] ...If the results are close, but not within 0.5 percent, a losing candidate may petition for a recount of any or all precinct returns within 48 hours, according to state law.
“The petitioner must be prepared to pay the cost of the recount and shall give security to cover these costs. The canvassing authority shall set the amount of the security based upon an estimate of actual costs,” state law says. “The costs shall be kept to a minimum by using county personnel or volunteer workers whenever possible. However, the recount must be conducted under the supervision of a trained and certified precinct election official. Representatives of opposing interests shall be given at least 24 hours’ notice and shall be invited to participate in the recount.”
Recount procedures would be the same as if it was an automatic recount. If the recount changes the results of the election, then the state or county would pay for the costs.
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill told The Young Turks that it is rare for a recount to occur.
“A recount cannot just be ordered because somebody felt like there needed to be one. Somebody needs to pay for it [in that case],” Merrill said Tuesday. His office would oversee a recount if it occurred...
Yello,
My condolences to you and your family. I understand the number of family visits near the end. I have been to Arizona three times this year, the second trip was a week before Dad’s death, and a trip over Thanksgiving for his memorial. My poor brother from Philly spent almost three months there before and after dad’s death while stepmother regained her health, getting both of their affairs in order.
There are many reasons why primary elections are stupid, such as the parties lose control over the candidates, leading to Donald Trumps. Roy Moore is another example. The guy he defeated in the primary would likely have won the general election.
Jim, I'd tell the GOP this: Ya live by the primary, ya die by the primary.
Oh, and in case no one's said it to Roy Moore yet, "{Forget] you, and the horse you rode in on!"
NP, the point about primaries applies to Dems as well. Not just Roy Moore.
Exactly, Jim. Just that this time it was the Democrats' turn to benefit.
BTW, how's that open primary system working out in California, where the two highest voter-getters (regardless of party affiliation) run in the general election?
Oops, I am rubbing my eyes. I am not used to good news any more.
Yello, so sorry you have to trek to Florida for your MIL's estate settlement. I'm glad your wife could put the place up for sale immediately thanks to the deed. I did the clean-out ritual and while it wasn't a hoarder maze, it was a big house with a lot of stuff.
Glad Doug Jones won; he seems like a very solid choice in any scenario. I had a feeling it might be another Ollie North-for-Senate debacle but of course since Trump one can't be quite fully sure that common sense must win. And it was a 21K vote victory out of over 1 million votes cast.
Poinsetta trees... makes me wonder if poinsetta-snacking cats are quickly removed from the feral feline breeding pool in those 'hoods.
Jim19, Luther Strange had his own scandals and he was already tarred with the GOP/Trump brush.
There was no primary, but a run-off election. Doug Jones fell slightly short of the majority he needed to win conclusively; It was a three way split among the GOP candidates, Moore getting the most votes, Strange well behind. Rumor has it the run-off was fixed just enough to make sure Jones did not win outright.
To be honest, I do understand why people voted for Moore over Strange-- between the two scandal-ridden GOP candidates might as well vote for the one not already in office and is more colorful too. A solid eff you to the establishment, if you have to choose between two bad choices. Of course, this was well before the kid-diddling came out.
"Were 'Black People in Birmingham' Caught Voting Multiple Times With Fake IDs? / A so-called "satire" site published a story falsely claiming black voters committed fraud in Alabama's special election":
https://www.snopes.com/birmingham-caught-voting-multiple-times/
Sigh. It would be satire if the story were that thousands of whites were caught voting multiple times in Tuesday's election.
Bill Mitchell and Dinsesh D'Souza are already peddling the voter fraud story using a very disingenuous "Just asking a question..." strategy. Of course, the real story is that the Democrat won despite massive voter registration hijinks such as rampant miscategorization of people as "inactive" which requires a higher level of voter ID.
Every accusation is a confession.
Joel is in his element with some 22,000 other attendees at the American Geophysical Union. What other journalist would write:
When a keg exploded Tuesday and shot a geyser of beer 20 feet high in the poster hall, a voice called out, “Can someone model that?”
"Every accusation is a confession." IOW, projection. That's one of Trump's stocks in trade.
Whew! I've been worried sick for days about an elderly widowed colleague/friend who lives in Carpinteria, CA., and has avocado groves, as I'd heard nothing from her. Until now: She reports that her home and trees are all safe, although firefighters had to work an entire night in order to save them. And she mentioned how heartbreaking the firefighter's death is.
Clarification: The firefighter who died was NOT one of the ones saving my friend's home. It's just a matter of general principle, that she's so grateful to firefighters in general for all the hard work they do.
One interesting paper at the Geophysical Union conference says flood risk is often a lot more than currently recognized. That would interest insurance companies.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42169462
It does not help that, in the St. Louis area, developers were busy building levees just a year or two after a particularly big flood. I've had hydrologists as office neighbors in the past. I would not be surprised if there's lots of new methods to model flow (and flood) probabilities from somewhat limited gauge data.
Coastal storm surges would be a different set of worms.
In any case, FEMA, apart perhaps from some efforts to relocate some flood-prone neighborhoods, looks like a financial disaster for the federal government.
Yes. I wonder if that voice belonged to Joel Achenbach himself, don't you?
Glad he's on the cozy science beat. This is a good year to be well away from politics reporting.
Too bad this wasn't published in time for Hax's annual Holiday Hootenanny. "That mean, awful gift you got? It was deliberate":
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/that-mean-awful-gift-you-got-it-was-deliberate-2017-12-15?reflink=MW_GoogleNews&google_editors_picks=true
With some ghastly examples (so I won't reveal any spoilers)! 5 kinds of inconsiderate presents:
Confrontational
Selfish
Aggressive
Obligatory
Competitive
Most of the RWMJ alternatives I've come up with I wouldn't list here, so as not to impose on Jumper's hospitality.
"CDC gets list of forbidden words":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cdc-gets-list-of-forbidden-words-fetus-transgender-diversity/2017/12/15/f503837a-e1cf-11e7-89e8-edec16379010_story.html
The forbidden terms are “vulnerable,” “entitlement,” “diversity,” “transgender,” “fetus,” “evidence-based” and “science-based.”
So how can I reword this sentence? My evidence-based conclusion is that fetus-brained Trump and his transgender-looking wife appear vulnerable to a science-based backlash from a diversity of voters despite his sense of entitlement.
SCC: RWNJ.
Found this exchange on Alexandra Petri's chat:
Q: Bandersnatch Cummerbund
Hey, I coined that name on Lisa de Moraes' online WaPo reader chat!
A: Alexandra Petri
YOU ARE A TREASURE TO US ALL!
It is the only true name for this person, and the Post Style Guide accepts no other.
It's now canon.
Yes, 'twere I who wrote in to Alex, after Bandersnatch Cummerbund was mentioned in the chat. Thanks to an overreaction at the time by the Poynter Institute to both my coinage and the Divine Ms. Lisa de Moraes' of "Seabiscuit" for Ryan Seacrest https://www.poynter.org/news/washington-post-writer-turns-benedict-cumberbatch-bandersnatch-cummerbund it's become doubtless the apogee of my pop culture career (since I never was able to measure up to Byoolin's wit and zing in the Celebritology™ comments). And since I posted it under a nom de blog, I won't even receive the credit (or blame) in my obituary, which I hope will be later than sooner, though. Sob!
The tragic AMTRAK crash near Seattle, on the first operational run for a new route, is roughly as bad as a plane crash on opening day for a new airport runway. I expect the fallout to be ugly.
Seems like human error is the cause. I guess Shriek is there by now.
The black box is reported to show the train was going 2x the speed limit when it went over. How do you flub that badly on the inaugural run?
How does the train jump the tracks on the inaugural run?
A. They didn't know the route very well and weren't aware of the spots where they had to slow down.
B. They were trying to impress people with the speed they could do.
C. They were trying to make up time and get back on schedule.
These are not mutually exclusive.
80 mph in a 30 mph zone. The numbers seem very similar to an Amtrak crash in Philadelphia. The Seattle track had been refurbished recently.
Uh-oh, THIS could really alienate the Trumpistas from their hero! No doubt Donny will tweet something like "Fake news. Sad!"
"Pet-less Trump seen as classless for report he called Pence 'low-class' for having pets":
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/pet-less-trump-seen-as-class-less-for-saying-pence-is-low-class-for-having-pets-20171218.html
The train derailment is so sad. Train enthusiasts on the first run. I suppose it's a wonder that more people didn't die.
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/Deadly-train-derailment-Silence-then-screams-12440733.php
http://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/Mayor-Predict-Amtrak-Crashes-12438820.php
There are lots of troubles with trains here during the winter, usually because of mudslides that close the tracks. Not many derailments that I can think of.
Hope everyone has safe travels and a good Christmas.
seasea
Florida strawberries (mostly from around Plant City east of Tampa) are available and abundant despite the cold snap.
The citrus crop is an unmitigated disaster. Irma added to fruit loss. Valencia oranges fared less badly than almost everything else. There's hope for disease-resistant varieties and also for ways to kill off disease-spending psyllid insects.
PSA: David Sedaris with Santaland will be on Morning Edition tomorrow.
Just saw on the tube that the UN voted to condemn the Trump Jerusalem decision 128-9 in spite of the Trump/Haley bullying. Worse than bullying really, it seems like a Mob shakedown. Is Trump going to take his ball and go away? I wouldn’t be overly shocked if he tries to withdraw from the UN. And I fear much of the Republican Party in Congress would not object.
Turns out there are more than seven words or terms. George Carlin would've had a field day with this.
"Trump administration targets certain words, and the bureaucracy pushes back":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-administration-targets-certain-words-and-the-bureaucracy-pushes-back/2017/12/20/3c9bc6c4-e42e-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html
HF, it seems that Trump thrives on stirring up hornets' nests, just for the sake of the attention it garners him.
Trump's promoted narratives of the US being taken advantage of by wily foreigners, or simply sold out by idiot Democrats. I haven't looked at what he says at rallies, but most Americans seem to think the US government spends unbelievable amounts on "foreign aid" and should cut it back, except, of course, to Israel.
Budget plans were to drastically cut foreign aid, so additional cuts to punish incorrect votes on Jerusalem would just be icing on the cake.
Dave, even if US foreign aid were eliminated entirely, it would still constitute a savings of less than 1% of the Federal budget.
I’m not sure much of Trump’s base particularly cares about Israel, except perhaps as a bulwark against those Moose-lambs.
The general public seem to think that foreign aid is at least a quarter of all federal spending.
I have no idea what the Trump base thinks of Israel, except that some are bought into wacky versions of premillennialism in which Israel leads up to the Rapture, so the role of Israeli Jews is merely to serve as a springboard to heaven for the elect. A variant was that red heifers were needed for sacrifices in the restored Temple, so people have set up projects to supply red heifers. Not to be confused with Heifer International, the charity that supports sustainable farming.
With the tax bill passed, some are noting that the IRS is severely lacking staff and resources, and that its budget will be cut. The official signing date for the bill is being set for January so that mandatory budget cuts (no congressional action needed) won't take place until after the 2018 election. In the unlikely event that both houses go Democratic, they'll get blamed for cutting Medicare.
Dave,
This American Life from 1999
https://m.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/125/apocalypse
Classic.
Did anyone ever get the thing about not ever attempting to force the hand of God?
Admittedly the Christian project is supposedly to promote the Kingdom of Heaven. That justified all sorts of things, perhaps including slaughtering Albigenses and Huguenots, certainly shutting down saloons.
Dave usually posts items like this. Today I will. I got a flyer in the mail today from the Oxford University Press for their Holiday Sale 2017. Save 50% sitewide*.
*exclusions apply
www.oup.com/academic/holiday2017
A trip there could get very expensive very quickly!
Two Christmas-related articles from today's Washington Post. The first is a history of the Williamsburg house decorations that are popular and, I think, very tasteful. It turns out that the colonials didn't put fruit outside on their displays. That's a 20th century addition. I still think they are quite pretty.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/the-history-of-williamsburgs-beloved-but-not-very-colonial-holiday-decorations/2017/12/19/0e24a5fe-c59d-11e7-aae0-cb18a8c29c65_story.html?utm_term=.5e4c1e3fcf53
The second is a review by Michael Dirda of "Christmas: A Biography" by Judith Flanders, a social historian. It sounds like an enjoyable read.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/stop-grousing-that-christmas-has-become-too-commercial-it-has-ever-been-thus/2017/12/20/b4d2e1de-e412-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html?hpid=hp_regional-hp-cards_rhp-card-arts%3Ahomepage%2Fcard&utm_term=.68608acd2783
The local classical music station started playing Christmas music on December 1st, and I was tired of it after about 10 days, sooner than usual. But tonite it's Messiah (LSO, Colin Davis), which I always like!
The Williamsburg decor is, as Dirda points out, a good example of Christmas bringing the world as it might ideally be, not as it was.\
In more of a black mood, someone at The Hill wrote about Republican efforts to "set fire to the FBI building." Metaphorically, of course. I perhaps foolishly commented that the real FBI headquarters isn't in such good shape. If I were a conspiracy buff, I'd be suggesting it as a perfect locale for a Reichstag fire, or perhaps a Götterdämmerung for the lousy, corrupt, Democratic old FBI, making way for something new, Republican, and utterly friendly to the alt-Right.
A photo of two little Syrian refugee kids reminded me of this painting of the "infant Savior" from the National Gallery.
https://www.nga.gov/Collection/art-object-page.41682.html#history
Firefox won't launch and Windows 10 calls it incompatible... and it was my preferred browser for many reasons.
That grump and a cold aside, it's an interesting run-up to Christmas. I'm cooking a lot in preparation to host a Xmas Eve dinner. Mr. Hastings has been enjoying extra ham as I have been trying to clear my fridge and freezer to make a smidge more room.
This month I've tried baking rosemary potato sourdough (came out like a dense Italian bread), plantain sourdough with whole wheat and flaxseed-- this was delicious but I do seem to be allergic to cooked plantain now, so I passed it on to my new companion who has a greater capacity for eating carbos relative to me.
And yes, Rugbrod (slash through the o). Danish rye bread-- or based on it anyway. I used multigrain rice as I did not have cracked wheat and rye on hand, although I had the sunflower seeds. I skipped the beer one recipe suggested, and used fennel and orange oil. But I used the really long double rise recipe.
http://denmark.dk/en/lifestyle/food-drink/recipes-baking-that-dark-sour-bread
It's delicious, a good rye and seed bread, I've made it twice and am making a third time-- an extra-large batch for a few loaves. I prefer the one I topped with cranberries in addition to oatmeal, so will do that again.
This time I added in flaxseed and pepitas, too. Should see how it turns out tomorrow night or Saturday morning once I've baked it. (Will top with cranberries this time... dried ones.)
At the Post, another Terrence McCoy story, photos by Bonnie Jo Mount.
Although I would have some difficulty with holding a job, I'm more or less free of pain and the cardiologist wants to see me only once a year. A recent study on green leafy vegetables looks reasonably persuasive about the need to keep plenty on hand, even if only romaine.
Thanks to medication for atrial fibrillation, I'm supposed to be very cautious about pain medication. I was reminded this year of just how effective a single ibuprofen a day can be. Later on, I wasn't surprised to see a story on someone's study to the effect that opioids aren't necessarily more effective than our taken-for-granted NSAIDs and the surprisingly hazardous acetaminophen (it's safe within limits, but it's relatively easy to take too much).
One of my college friends became an orthopedic surgeon along the Kentucky-West Virginia border. She hated motorcycles. I never asked about ATVs, but those should have been obvious.
Addendum: The Post's coverage of Obamacare enrollment shows a solid demand for health insurance. Not quite stated is that this runs counter to the need to cut spending on health insurance. I'm sure ways will be found to make those cuts through executive-branch actions.
Especially for HP. "An Ode to the Home Office":
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/an-ode-to-the-home-office?google_editors_picks=true
Mine's in the opposite end of the house from the TV viewing area and the kitchen, which spares me a goodly number of distractions. I try to remember to get up and walk around once every half-hour (or at least once an hour at minimum), to reduce risk of stiffness in muscles/joints.
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