Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on Twitter
Today I will ignore the news, play my regular Monday morning golf in the sunshine, bake bread this afternoon (I’m going deep into the sourdough world), and try to remember everything good in the world.
After Luigi, there was such a call for private security that the position of Private Security Staffer is now the 10th Fastest Growing job title in the country.
Even today, after all the verbal obeisance paid to corporations, C-suite members are still looking to surround themselves with firepower and steal from Americans rather than just doing good and contributing to society.
Also, at its peak valuation, the Trumpcoin had greater market cap than both Target and FedEx. Good times.
During today’s events, I wonder how much the great man’s name will be the months of people who don’t remotely share his actual vision.
I also look forward to being told by people who don’t remotely share his vision (and haven’t read or listen to God work in full) either that I am wrong about this.
Biden has issued a preemptive pardon for Dr. Fauci. While I continue to be distressed that anyone who has devoted so much of his life to public health would need that, I’m glad Biden did it.
My day will be spent baking and reading, with a walk later. I’m going to enjoy the snow and sun before it gets bitterly cold!
1) I will be watching my KODI media server today… I don’t think there is much on broadcast TV that merits attention.
2) My flag will not be flying half-mast today. It will be flying inverted.
3) I had previously lamented the loss of “My.Yahoo”, a customizable RSS reader that introduced me to OTB. If you are not familiar: the new owners of Yahoo decided that the RSS format is not what they want to pursue, but only “interest” subjects heavily interjected with adverts. Those who have used My.Yahoo for 20+ years are abandoning it in droves.
If anyone is interested in a good RSS reader, you may wish to consider https://www.protopage.com/ I found it to be a good modern replacement for Yahoo RSS. Now I have OTB, Memeorandum, BBC and others back on one page. Which is nice.
As a Windows / Edge person, I have Google search (stripped of the junk) set as my homepage, and Protopage pinned on my favorites bar. Protopage wants to be my hompage, but that would be far too easy for me to lose focus of what I really wanted to do online.
In yesterday’s discussion of Curtis Yarvin, there was much discussion of his former pseudonym Mencius Moldbug. I can’t say I’m interested in anything he has to say, but the one thing I’ve always wondered about it his penname. It sounds like it’s a play on some real person’s name, but I’ve never been able to figure out who it could be. Does anyone know?
@Liberal Capitalist: I will give that one a shot. I’ve been missing My Yahoo. Even the regular Yahoo got screwed the other day, they changed the format so it’s basically unreadable.
@Liberal Capitalist: I, too, discovered OtB on My Yahoo. I abandoned it early on though. Actually, I should say it abandoned me. I opened Yahoo and found the conspicuous My Yahoo button missing from my front page. I can no longer remember, but if I were going to speculate, I would guess it’s absence was related to some unwillingness to purchase some “value service” or another from Yahoo, but I really don’t remember.
For a moment there I thought I’d found a cold medication that works.
I caught a cold on Wednesday. By Thursday it was at full force, making me leak like felon white house staff. For unrelated reason I wound up at a pharmacy, and asked whether they had something that actually works. I got something that had three different kinds of pills, to be taken in pairs according tot he time of say (morning, noon, night).
I took the “night” pair, and was able to sleep well, without a stuffed nose keeping me up or getting me to wake up through the night. The “day” and “noon” pairs did nothing, but they lacked the orange pill for “night.” So I thought whatever’s in that one must work.
Not so much. I took the “night” pair every night about a half hour before bed. Symptoms wax and wane, and I guess they waned mostly late in the evening this time. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I slept well. Sunday not so much. I kept waking up with a dry mouth. By morning, a pile of used tissued littered the nightstand.
So, not in this lifetime while the war on drugs drags on.
@becca: Not very long. 😉 It’s “freeze your nose hairs” cold. There’s some beauty to it, the air is laced with ice crystals, but it’s better enjoyed from inside!
Still gotta go feed cows, though. Thank goodness for tractors with a cab and a heater!
@Scott: I don’t remember changing out of the old format. I got one or two “samples” of new, told them I couldn’t navigate it, and that was the end of my experience.
I was finally able to make Microsquash Outlook‘s mandatory new format work for me but it took a week to set up the inbox to be navigable.
@Kathy: All cold medicines work on the same formula/pattern: take them with aspirin/equivalent for pain and fever, drink fluids, get plenty of rest, and by a week or so, the cold is gone.
I had a cold so bad one time* that the allergist gave me a prescription and told me to go home and stay in bed till it was passed. Good advice. I have no recollection of the first three days after I fell unconscious a few minutes after taking the medication and the out-of-body experiences the next two days were fascinating.
*As a lifelong asthma patient, I have low common cold experience, but sinus infection to sore throat from nasal drip to bronchitis or pneumonia is a common experience for me. And I probably had RSV 2 or 3 times during and post COVID-19.
I have three doctor’s appointments in the next three days. One with my primary, the others with my oncologist and a kidney specialist*. If I have no serious health concerns for the moment, Dear wife and I will be traveling to India next Monday. We’ll be back Valentine’s Day. Two more book signings, some sightseeing, and a visit to the set of where one of my books is being made into a motion picture.
DW** is watching the pre-inaugural stuff. I’m not and won’t be tuning in for Trump’s swearing in either.
My 1962 strat-o-matic replay is almost complete. I have 10 games left to play and I’ll do that before leaving for India. If anyone cares, the Yankees and Giants*** have already clinched the pennant.
At the moment, my writing muse is spinning its wheels. That outer space story I started on just hasn’t grabbed my interest well enough. Maybe I just need a break. I finished 5 books**** between Jan 2024 and my birthday aka January 12 this year.
DW is diabetic and for several years we been buying her needles through Amazon. We can’t do that any longer. I’m getting a ‘This item cannot be shipped to your selected delivery location. Please choose a different delivery location’ message.
*- I’m probably going to need a needle kidney biopsy at some point
**- My wife has always liked watching this kind of stuff plus parades and fireworks shows. When I was younger, I did too sometimes. Nowadays my interest is nil.
***- The actual winners that year but the Giants needed a three-game playoff victory over the Dodgers before going to the world series.
****- All of them were in various states of completion when 2024 began. The outer space story I began from scratch.
It’s SO cold that the Malamute that usually loves a 2-mile morning walk did not want to do so today. After we suited up for the weather, he made it down the driveway and a short distance into the open space and then decided to call it quits.
In the Denver foothills, it’s -10F real temp right now, with -20’s predicted for tonight. Just to the west of us, wind chills have been reported at -45.
MLK weekend is traditionally a HUGE tourist ski time in Colorado. I pity the Texans and Floridians skiing in jeans today.
I remember a time when OTC cold and flu pills did offer relief from a stuffed nose. This ended when one of the active ingredients, epinephrine I think, was banned because it could be used to make drugs.
These days they’re acetaminophen and placebo, and not a good placebo.
All cold medicines work on the same formula/pattern: take them with aspirin/equivalent for pain and fever, drink fluids, get plenty of rest, and by a week or so, the cold is gone.
I never take cold medicine. That’s just me. Don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t gamble on the ponies, don’t eat microwave pizza.
@JohnSF: I took it as a riff on “goldbug” but couldn’t see the purpose except as absurdist, maybe. It’s possible that it was simply 2 disconnected and arcane pseudo literary allusions, considering the person.
@Kathy: Yeah, pseudoephedrine getting restricted because it’s an ingredient in meth really put a dent in the decongestant business. Given that HBP is a common side effect of pseudoephedrine use, it’s probably a net good health wise, but overall it’s another “war on (some) drugs” loss.
ETA: Saline spray works in allergic rhinitis settings, but not well for severe or chronic situations. I don’t know if it helps with colds, though, and there’d be a reinfection risk.
Speaking of cold and flu and RSV, I was pondering the fact that I didn’t get a single cold between March 2020 and some point early in 2024. I attributed this at the time to using a mask.
But I kept on using a mask after the pandemic passed, precisely because I liked the idea of not catching cold. Just the same, I did. Now, it’s possible I caught cold since then because I got more relaxed in using a mask. It’s more likely that the restrictions in place during the trump pandemic, inadequate as they were and half-heartedly as they were observed, were far more effective against a variety of common cold viruses.
I wonder whether in countries where it’s common for people with a cold to wear a mask in public, the incidence of common cold is lower than in other countries.
Was I the only person in the world who thought the Ravens had converted 2 points? I swear form the angle I saw, I couldn’t see the ball was loose.
BTW, onside kicks are kind of dead. I don’t know whether it’s the kickers*, the certainty of the onside kick, or what. Likely not the second. Outside of surprise plays done for no clear reason, like new Orleans’ onside kick to start the second half of a super bowl, I’d say 99.9% of them were expected.
*Maybe it’s balance. place kickers have achieved longer range, so this balances by a lower percentage of successful onside kicks.
Lawmakers approved the requirements amid research that indicated older students are not getting enough sleep, affecting their academic performance and health.
“This is one of those pieces of legislation where we understand the ‘why’ very well,” Senate bill sponsor Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, said during a 2023 debate on the issue. “Studies, medical science, has shown that this is what’s best. What we’re doing now (with earlier start times) is not what’s best for our kids. For the adolescents especially.”
Sen. Jennifer Bradley, R-District 6, introduced Senate Bill 296 to reverse the new policies, freeing school boards from having to adhere to the fix times proposed in the previous bill.
This is the first of a few reports about SB296 I read. I only provided the link to be formal. You see, the text of the article does not include anything about the purpose of this reversal.
Weird. One would think that a legislator introducing a bill would immediately attempt to explain the need for the legislation.
So I looked at a couple more articles with zero luck. Until I found this.
It turns out that rural schools can’t figure out the logistics without elementary schools getting to the bus stop before dawn.
Also, the Small School District Council Consortium, which represents small districts across the state, is urging lawmakers to provide flexibility or waivers for districts where the start-time requirements are “problematic,” according to legislative priorities posted on the organization’s website.
So the adults in rural counties can’t figure it out. My guess is that they don’t have the funds to buy more buses and hire more drivers. (The lone comment on the linked Yahoo report claims a driver shortage.)
So the state legislature that less than two years ago passed a bill to put the health of students first, appears to be deciding whether the health of secondary school students is worth logistical and fiscal headaches suffered by the adults charged with educating them.
Was I the only person in the world who thought the Ravens had converted 2 points? I swear form the angle I saw, I couldn’t see the ball was loose.
BTW, onside kicks are kind of dead. I don’t know whether it’s the kickers*, the certainty of the onside kick, or what. Likely not the second. Outside of surprise plays done for no clear reason, like new Orleans’ onside kick to start the second half of a super bowl, I’d say 99.9% of them were expected.
*Maybe it’s balance. place kickers have achieved longer range, so this balances by a lower percentage of successful onside kicks.
I always had a theory as to why some great college placekickers failed at the pro level. John Lee, Bill Capece, and Steve Little for example
It was because they could no longer use kicking tees in the NFL
I find the QB puzzle far more interesting. But changing a fundamental aspect of how one applies a skill can keep displaying the same results.
Funny bit: sometimes when I can’t remember a password I use often, I’ll just try to not think and let my fingers type it. About 95% of the time it works.
I’d be more optimistic about this, were it not that back in 2011 I heard something similar about administering antibiotics inside carbon nanotubes. Nothing came off that.
Also, this thing is a protein found in a specific oyster species. Proteins don’t fare well in the digestive tract, meaning this will more likely be administered through injection, or intravenous infusion, assuming it works inside the body. And assuming it can be mass produced, with or without oysters.
@Kathy:
I think the success rate of onside kicks tanked when the rules changed so that the kicking team had to have 5 people on either side of the kicker. After that the success rate went down whether it was a surprise kick or not
Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho
That was the name of the president in Idiocracy. Maybe Trump could change his name to Donald Tesla Facebook $Trump. At least everyone would know his priorities.
Biden commutes sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier
In the 1980’s Leonard Peltier was incarcerated at the Marion Federal Penitentiary about 20 miles from my house. The prison which opened in 1963 is notorious since it was built to replace Alcatraz.
“The facility also has an adjacent satellite prison camp that houses minimum security male offenders.” (WikiP) This is where Pete Rose served time.
Another infamous convict was John Gotti.
A lesser known current inmate is White Power junkie Matthew F. Hale who was convicted for soliciting an undercover FBI agent to kill a Federal Judge. The only reason that I am aware of him is that he was in law school at Southern Illinois University the same time that my ex-wife was attending classes there.
@Kurtz: School buses making 2 runs–for earlier start high and middle school and for later start elementary has been a thing in a lot of places for 30 or so years. Probably longer–we didn’t have school buses in Seattle until after I graduated in 1970. Some of it has to do with school buses being fairly costly relative to other stuff, some with needing to be able to offer enough work to attract workers (2 runs usually makes a 3 or so hour shift rather than a one-hour one). And yes, everyplace I’ve lived since I started teaching–in 1992–has perpetually advertised for school bus drivers–especially substitute drivers (spotty money, very irregular work).
The problem with this is that it’s going to be confused as a chauvanistic insult – see “girly men”, rather than “no you aren’t going to be done with this pronoun ‘nonsense'”
I think the thing that nauseates me most is this “Daddy’s Back” bullshit. These are grown ass adults, I mean…..tell me you have unresolved childhood trauma without telling me you have unresolved childhood trauma. It’s so gross and….weird.
The school I attended between pre-school and junior high school, had two entry times: 8 am for elementary school through high school, 9:30 am for pre-school. And three exit times: 1 pm for pre-school, 2:30 pm for elementary school and high school, and 4 pm for junior high school. Students lived all over town, and the school managed it without delays most days.
I wonder how they manage now. The school moved from near the city center to the west edge of town, and traffic is a lot worse these days.
They believe in not respecting a person’s pronouns. I see no reason to keep from following their lead and honor their disrespect as it applies to them. Sure, madam felon rapist and congressman Mace may find it infuriating, but who gives a damn?
Trump has mass-pardoned January 6 insurrectionists, and commuted the sentences of the worst of the worst, including Enrique Tarrio who had been serving 22 years for seditious conspiracy.
Is it going to keep being like this, every thing worse than the thing before? Is this going to be the next four years, shittier and shitter with every shitty stinking day?
@Mikey: Short answer…..yes. Currently looking at cattle ranches in Canada. Fuck, I’d truck them across the ocean if I could get away from this bullshit.
I actually thought things might wind up like this all the way back in late 2019, when the rapist was let go from the first impeachment.
My hope is the rapist won’t live to see the end of 2025, but I don’t think nature loves us that much. I suggested two ways to prevent all this, and was told not to say such things. In any case, it’s too late now.
In an apparent flub, no bible at all. His wife stood next to him holding up two bibles—one from the family plus the Lincoln bible. But his arm hung at his side the entire time. I don’t suppose he found the oath of office so inspiring that he gave no thought to what his left arm was doing.
Today I will ignore the news, play my regular Monday morning golf in the sunshine, bake bread this afternoon (I’m going deep into the sourdough world), and try to remember everything good in the world.
Stay peaceful out there friends.
– Tony
After Luigi, there was such a call for private security that the position of Private Security Staffer is now the 10th Fastest Growing job title in the country.
Even today, after all the verbal obeisance paid to corporations, C-suite members are still looking to surround themselves with firepower and steal from Americans rather than just doing good and contributing to society.
Also, at its peak valuation, the Trumpcoin had greater market cap than both Target and FedEx. Good times.
During today’s events, I wonder how much the great man’s name will be the months of people who don’t remotely share his actual vision.
I also look forward to being told by people who don’t remotely share his vision (and haven’t read or listen to God work in full) either that I am wrong about this.
Biden has issued a preemptive pardon for Dr. Fauci. While I continue to be distressed that anyone who has devoted so much of his life to public health would need that, I’m glad Biden did it.
My day will be spent baking and reading, with a walk later. I’m going to enjoy the snow and sun before it gets bitterly cold!
MLK must be looking down and shaking his head.
Three things:
1) I will be watching my KODI media server today… I don’t think there is much on broadcast TV that merits attention.
2) My flag will not be flying half-mast today. It will be flying inverted.
3) I had previously lamented the loss of “My.Yahoo”, a customizable RSS reader that introduced me to OTB. If you are not familiar: the new owners of Yahoo decided that the RSS format is not what they want to pursue, but only “interest” subjects heavily interjected with adverts. Those who have used My.Yahoo for 20+ years are abandoning it in droves.
If anyone is interested in a good RSS reader, you may wish to consider https://www.protopage.com/ I found it to be a good modern replacement for Yahoo RSS. Now I have OTB, Memeorandum, BBC and others back on one page. Which is nice.
As a Windows / Edge person, I have Google search (stripped of the junk) set as my homepage, and Protopage pinned on my favorites bar. Protopage wants to be my hompage, but that would be far too easy for me to lose focus of what I really wanted to do online.
Zenkit To-Do helps keeps the focus as well.
In yesterday’s discussion of Curtis Yarvin, there was much discussion of his former pseudonym Mencius Moldbug. I can’t say I’m interested in anything he has to say, but the one thing I’ve always wondered about it his penname. It sounds like it’s a play on some real person’s name, but I’ve never been able to figure out who it could be. Does anyone know?
@Liberal Capitalist: I will give that one a shot. I’ve been missing My Yahoo. Even the regular Yahoo got screwed the other day, they changed the format so it’s basically unreadable.
We officially have our first -32 of the winter.
We need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity- MLK.
The $trump cartel makes a mockery of all that is decent in the world.
@Jax: And I thought 7 degrees with the wind chill factor was bad… how long can you stay outside and not, you know, freeze to death?
@Jax: I’m an old fart. I switched Yahoo Mail back to the old format.
@Liberal Capitalist: I, too, discovered OtB on My Yahoo. I abandoned it early on though. Actually, I should say it abandoned me. I opened Yahoo and found the conspicuous My Yahoo button missing from my front page. I can no longer remember, but if I were going to speculate, I would guess it’s absence was related to some unwillingness to purchase some “value service” or another from Yahoo, but I really don’t remember.
For a moment there I thought I’d found a cold medication that works.
I caught a cold on Wednesday. By Thursday it was at full force, making me leak like felon white house staff. For unrelated reason I wound up at a pharmacy, and asked whether they had something that actually works. I got something that had three different kinds of pills, to be taken in pairs according tot he time of say (morning, noon, night).
I took the “night” pair, and was able to sleep well, without a stuffed nose keeping me up or getting me to wake up through the night. The “day” and “noon” pairs did nothing, but they lacked the orange pill for “night.” So I thought whatever’s in that one must work.
Not so much. I took the “night” pair every night about a half hour before bed. Symptoms wax and wane, and I guess they waned mostly late in the evening this time. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I slept well. Sunday not so much. I kept waking up with a dry mouth. By morning, a pile of used tissued littered the nightstand.
So, not in this lifetime while the war on drugs drags on.
@Jax: Congratulations! I guess…
@becca: Not very long. 😉 It’s “freeze your nose hairs” cold. There’s some beauty to it, the air is laced with ice crystals, but it’s better enjoyed from inside!
Still gotta go feed cows, though. Thank goodness for tractors with a cab and a heater!
@Scott: I don’t remember changing out of the old format. I got one or two “samples” of new, told them I couldn’t navigate it, and that was the end of my experience.
I was finally able to make Microsquash Outlook‘s mandatory new format work for me but it took a week to set up the inbox to be navigable.
@Lucysfootball: Saw a meme on Balloon Juice; a portrait of MLK with “Worst birthday ever!”
@Kathy: All cold medicines work on the same formula/pattern: take them with aspirin/equivalent for pain and fever, drink fluids, get plenty of rest, and by a week or so, the cold is gone.
I had a cold so bad one time* that the allergist gave me a prescription and told me to go home and stay in bed till it was passed. Good advice. I have no recollection of the first three days after I fell unconscious a few minutes after taking the medication and the out-of-body experiences the next two days were fascinating.
*As a lifelong asthma patient, I have low common cold experience, but sinus infection to sore throat from nasal drip to bronchitis or pneumonia is a common experience for me. And I probably had RSV 2 or 3 times during and post COVID-19.
@wr:
“Mencius” was the old Anglicisation of the name of Chinese philosoher Mengzi or Meng ke.
As for “Moldbug”, I have no idea.
I have three doctor’s appointments in the next three days. One with my primary, the others with my oncologist and a kidney specialist*. If I have no serious health concerns for the moment, Dear wife and I will be traveling to India next Monday. We’ll be back Valentine’s Day. Two more book signings, some sightseeing, and a visit to the set of where one of my books is being made into a motion picture.
DW** is watching the pre-inaugural stuff. I’m not and won’t be tuning in for Trump’s swearing in either.
My 1962 strat-o-matic replay is almost complete. I have 10 games left to play and I’ll do that before leaving for India. If anyone cares, the Yankees and Giants*** have already clinched the pennant.
At the moment, my writing muse is spinning its wheels. That outer space story I started on just hasn’t grabbed my interest well enough. Maybe I just need a break. I finished 5 books**** between Jan 2024 and my birthday aka January 12 this year.
DW is diabetic and for several years we been buying her needles through Amazon. We can’t do that any longer. I’m getting a ‘This item cannot be shipped to your selected delivery location. Please choose a different delivery location’ message.
*- I’m probably going to need a needle kidney biopsy at some point
**- My wife has always liked watching this kind of stuff plus parades and fireworks shows. When I was younger, I did too sometimes. Nowadays my interest is nil.
***- The actual winners that year but the Giants needed a three-game playoff victory over the Dodgers before going to the world series.
****- All of them were in various states of completion when 2024 began. The outer space story I began from scratch.
Just a note on the cold…
It’s SO cold that the Malamute that usually loves a 2-mile morning walk did not want to do so today. After we suited up for the weather, he made it down the driveway and a short distance into the open space and then decided to call it quits.
In the Denver foothills, it’s -10F real temp right now, with -20’s predicted for tonight. Just to the west of us, wind chills have been reported at -45.
MLK weekend is traditionally a HUGE tourist ski time in Colorado. I pity the Texans and Floridians skiing in jeans today.
@just nutha:
I remember a time when OTC cold and flu pills did offer relief from a stuffed nose. This ended when one of the active ingredients, epinephrine I think, was banned because it could be used to make drugs.
These days they’re acetaminophen and placebo, and not a good placebo.
@just nutha:
I never take cold medicine. That’s just me. Don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t gamble on the ponies, don’t eat microwave pizza.
@JohnSF: Okay, thanks. So apparently he’s not even worthy of the tiny bit of credit I gave him.
@JohnSF: I took it as a riff on “goldbug” but couldn’t see the purpose except as absurdist, maybe. It’s possible that it was simply 2 disconnected and arcane pseudo literary allusions, considering the person.
@just nutha:
Poe’s goldbug symbolized wealth and promise. “Moldbug” is just someone trying to be cute, I think.
@Kathy: Yeah, pseudoephedrine getting restricted because it’s an ingredient in meth really put a dent in the decongestant business. Given that HBP is a common side effect of pseudoephedrine use, it’s probably a net good health wise, but overall it’s another “war on (some) drugs” loss.
ETA: Saline spray works in allergic rhinitis settings, but not well for severe or chronic situations. I don’t know if it helps with colds, though, and there’d be a reinfection risk.
@CSK: Ayup.
That was my thought.
Well, Donald J. Trump is now 47th president of the United States.
Shit.
Speaking of cold and flu and RSV, I was pondering the fact that I didn’t get a single cold between March 2020 and some point early in 2024. I attributed this at the time to using a mask.
But I kept on using a mask after the pandemic passed, precisely because I liked the idea of not catching cold. Just the same, I did. Now, it’s possible I caught cold since then because I got more relaxed in using a mask. It’s more likely that the restrictions in place during the trump pandemic, inadequate as they were and half-heartedly as they were observed, were far more effective against a variety of common cold viruses.
I wonder whether in countries where it’s common for people with a cold to wear a mask in public, the incidence of common cold is lower than in other countries.
My thought on president felon
https://photos.app.goo.gl/oED3B2hgpU1qH2jSA
Was Trump sworn in on a Trump Bible?
@CSK:
At best, he’s the pretend president of the extreme GQP base.
Also convict in chief, and first rapist.
This is going to be the longest 4 years in the history of 4 years. I can’t believe we’re doing this again.
@Sleeping Dog:
When I click on this, it closes OTB and I don’t get anything else.
Was I the only person in the world who thought the Ravens had converted 2 points? I swear form the angle I saw, I couldn’t see the ball was loose.
BTW, onside kicks are kind of dead. I don’t know whether it’s the kickers*, the certainty of the onside kick, or what. Likely not the second. Outside of surprise plays done for no clear reason, like new Orleans’ onside kick to start the second half of a super bowl, I’d say 99.9% of them were expected.
*Maybe it’s balance. place kickers have achieved longer range, so this balances by a lower percentage of successful onside kicks.
Trump seems to think that asylum seekers come from insane asylums.
@CSK:
I think I still have your email addy, I’ll send it along.
@Sleeping Dog:
Got it. That’s great.
Florida Floridaing in a more Florida manner than Florida has ever Floridaed.
In 2023, the Florida legislature passed a bill restricting start times for Florida schools.
Well:
This is the first of a few reports about SB296 I read. I only provided the link to be formal. You see, the text of the article does not include anything about the purpose of this reversal.
Weird. One would think that a legislator introducing a bill would immediately attempt to explain the need for the legislation.
So I looked at a couple more articles with zero luck. Until I found this.
It turns out that rural schools can’t figure out the logistics without elementary schools getting to the bus stop before dawn.
So the adults in rural counties can’t figure it out. My guess is that they don’t have the funds to buy more buses and hire more drivers. (The lone comment on the linked Yahoo report claims a driver shortage.)
So the state legislature that less than two years ago passed a bill to put the health of students first, appears to be deciding whether the health of secondary school students is worth logistical and fiscal headaches suffered by the adults charged with educating them.
@Kathy:
I always had a theory as to why some great college placekickers failed at the pro level. John Lee, Bill Capece, and Steve Little for example
It was because they could no longer use kicking tees in the NFL
@Bill Jempty:
I find the QB puzzle far more interesting. But changing a fundamental aspect of how one applies a skill can keep displaying the same results.
Funny bit: sometimes when I can’t remember a password I use often, I’ll just try to not think and let my fingers type it. About 95% of the time it works.
Interesting. Oyster “blood” proves effective in killing antibiotic resistant bacteria, in particular in combination with antibiotics.
In the lab.
I’d be more optimistic about this, were it not that back in 2011 I heard something similar about administering antibiotics inside carbon nanotubes. Nothing came off that.
Also, this thing is a protein found in a specific oyster species. Proteins don’t fare well in the digestive tract, meaning this will more likely be administered through injection, or intravenous infusion, assuming it works inside the body. And assuming it can be mass produced, with or without oysters.
@Kathy:
I think the success rate of onside kicks tanked when the rules changed so that the kicking team had to have 5 people on either side of the kicker. After that the success rate went down whether it was a surprise kick or not
Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho
That was the name of the president in Idiocracy. Maybe Trump could change his name to Donald Tesla Facebook $Trump. At least everyone would know his priorities.
Biden commutes sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier
In the 1980’s Leonard Peltier was incarcerated at the Marion Federal Penitentiary about 20 miles from my house. The prison which opened in 1963 is notorious since it was built to replace Alcatraz.
“The facility also has an adjacent satellite prison camp that houses minimum security male offenders.” (WikiP) This is where Pete Rose served time.
Another infamous convict was John Gotti.
A lesser known current inmate is White Power junkie Matthew F. Hale who was convicted for soliciting an undercover FBI agent to kill a Federal Judge. The only reason that I am aware of him is that he was in law school at Southern Illinois University the same time that my ex-wife was attending classes there.
Thinking about Trump supporters reminded me of this Kids In The Hall sketch, one of their best, which is also great if you just need a laugh.
https://youtu.be/wPs_Rh_Vl0Y?si=n-SseVO7blvgfPJH
Here’s another:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2yrhiu
You know, right now I feel like I want to spend the next four years using “she” and “her” as the pronouns for Trump.
@Jay L Gischer:
Aren’t you afraid that will make it mad?
@Kurtz: School buses making 2 runs–for earlier start high and middle school and for later start elementary has been a thing in a lot of places for 30 or so years. Probably longer–we didn’t have school buses in Seattle until after I graduated in 1970. Some of it has to do with school buses being fairly costly relative to other stuff, some with needing to be able to offer enough work to attract workers (2 runs usually makes a 3 or so hour shift rather than a one-hour one). And yes, everyplace I’ve lived since I started teaching–in 1992–has perpetually advertised for school bus drivers–especially substitute drivers (spotty money, very irregular work).
@Kathy: Afraid? I *hope* it will make her mad.
The problem with this is that it’s going to be confused as a chauvanistic insult – see “girly men”, rather than “no you aren’t going to be done with this pronoun ‘nonsense'”
I think the thing that nauseates me most is this “Daddy’s Back” bullshit. These are grown ass adults, I mean…..tell me you have unresolved childhood trauma without telling me you have unresolved childhood trauma. It’s so gross and….weird.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
The school I attended between pre-school and junior high school, had two entry times: 8 am for elementary school through high school, 9:30 am for pre-school. And three exit times: 1 pm for pre-school, 2:30 pm for elementary school and high school, and 4 pm for junior high school. Students lived all over town, and the school managed it without delays most days.
I wonder how they manage now. The school moved from near the city center to the west edge of town, and traffic is a lot worse these days.
@Jay L Gischer:
They believe in not respecting a person’s pronouns. I see no reason to keep from following their lead and honor their disrespect as it applies to them. Sure, madam felon rapist and congressman Mace may find it infuriating, but who gives a damn?
Trump has mass-pardoned January 6 insurrectionists, and commuted the sentences of the worst of the worst, including Enrique Tarrio who had been serving 22 years for seditious conspiracy.
Is it going to keep being like this, every thing worse than the thing before? Is this going to be the next four years, shittier and shitter with every shitty stinking day?
@Mikey:
It looks that way, doesn’t it?
@Kathy: Mmmmm, Nancy Mace is a much better target, I think.
@Mikey: Short answer…..yes. Currently looking at cattle ranches in Canada. Fuck, I’d truck them across the ocean if I could get away from this bullshit.
@Mikey:
I actually thought things might wind up like this all the way back in late 2019, when the rapist was let go from the first impeachment.
My hope is the rapist won’t live to see the end of 2025, but I don’t think nature loves us that much. I suggested two ways to prevent all this, and was told not to say such things. In any case, it’s too late now.
@Tony W:
Hard to imagine, but Vance might be worse.
@CSK:
In an apparent flub, no bible at all. His wife stood next to him holding up two bibles—one from the family plus the Lincoln bible. But his arm hung at his side the entire time. I don’t suppose he found the oath of office so inspiring that he gave no thought to what his left arm was doing.
@Eusebio:
Possibly he feared they might burst into flames if he touched them.