ZARDOZ’S SATURDAY NIGHT LINKS

ARE YOU READY TO SERVE THE VORTEX?

 

ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. ZARDOZ IS PLEASED…THE CHOSEN ONES HAVE BROUGHT THE SNARK, AND HAVE LET THE BRUTALS HAVE IT, RIGHT IN THEIR…. WELL, ANYWAYS, ZARDOZ SHOWS HIS CHOSEN ONES HIS FAVOR BY GIVING THEM THE GIFT OF THE LINK…GO FORTH AND SNARK!

  • DOES THIS REQUIRE A HOT SWEDISH BRUTAL AND A CAR CRASH? NO? OK, THEN THE GOLFING BRUTAL HAS A CHANCE.
  • ZARDOZ LAUGHS…. A DISTINCTION WITHOUT A DIFFERENCE. AS LONG AS IT ENDS UP WITH THE BRUTALS IN MISERY, ZARDOZ APPROVES!
  • LAUGH AT THE BRUTALS, LAUGH! ZARDOZ IS GLAD THE TABERNACLE IS THE LATEST AND GREATEST IN COMPUTING.
  • IF MANY BRUTALS ARE NOT SWEPT OUT TO SEA, ESPECIALLY MAYOR DEBLASIO, ZARDOZ WILL BE DISAPPOINTED.

ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.

Comments

269 responses to “ZARDOZ’S SATURDAY NIGHT LINKS”

  1. Count Potato

    ” AS LONG AS IT ENDS UP WITH THE BRUTALS IN MISERY”

    That’s a guarantee.

    1. Rhywun

      The reforms have slowed however in recent years amid fears they have allowed some Cubans to enrich themselves, fostering inequality, and weakened the control of the state.

      They need to restore Communism so nobody enriches themselves.

      1. Except the Party bosses.

        1. Rhywun

          Shhh! Ixnay on the apparatchiksway.

    2. Count Potato

      “This should give greater legal recognition to the micro businesses that have flourished in the wake of market reforms.”

      Except not recognizing them is the only reason they “flourished”.

      “Marino Murillo, the head of the Communist Party’s reform commission and previously one of the council of ministers’ vice presidents, was the only top figure omitted from the new lineup.”

      So get rid of the guy who let some people make money, because it was unequal and it wasn’t the governments doing?

    3. Chafed

      Yeah. I can’t tell if this is a baby step of progress or a rear guard action to maintain what they can of the status quo.

      1. Tres Cool

        I suppose my only question to people proposing socialism v. communism is…..”why not communism?”. Just put the pedal down and hold it to the floor, already.

        I mean, if I have an ache and want some aspirin, I can find a willow tree and masticate the leaves, twigs, bark, etc. to get the salicylates. Or I can just take a pill.

        To me, socialism : communism as willow tree : aspirin.

        1. Akira

          All the waffling about with “democratic socialism” is really disingenuous.

          I’ve always wondered: They say the government can provide healthcare better than the entire private sector. So why would they be opposed to the government running everything if they can handle something as complex as healthcare? If the profit motive just results in harmful cutbacks and unethical practices, why not have the government manufacture everything from automobiles to coffee mugs? Full communism would be a pure good, right?

          1. Don Escaped Texas

            USG: building the cars you want

            /designed by that bitch at the DMV that told me to stand in the wrong line for 42 minutes

          2. Tres Cool

            As a patient directly involved in the VA medical system, I have a couple things to say about “government-provided healthcare”.

  2. dbleagle

    Without the fear of the Swedish brutal catching him, the golfing brutal will collapse again.

    1. creech

      Face it, you would kill for the quality of pussy that’s throwing itself at Eldrick.

      1. …um, yes.

        *shrugs*

        1. Heroic Mulatto

          It’s a mulatto thang.

          1. Tres Cool

            Easy for you to say, but can you afford to buy your pissed-off ex an island in Sweden?

          2. Heroic Mulatto

            If by “island in Sweden” you mean “IKEA bookcase”, then yes.

          3. Tres Cool

            How’s your lie?

            Tiger’s as it turns out….wasnt good at all.

            /ZING!

  3. Sean

    I propose we send Jerry Miculek to Cuba to clean things up.

    Give him ~ 2 days.

    1. Count Potato

      Jerry Miculek seems like he wouldn’t hurt a fly.

      TEBA HERRORO WILL CLEAN THINGS UP AND BY CLEAN THINGS MEAN RAPE.

  4. Grumbletarian

    Duct tape bikinis

    I hope this is a trend that catches on and sticks around.

    1. But Enough About Me

      These are kinda a “thing” in the modeling circles I move in sometimes. They do look painful (and if done by amateurs, they are), but they can also be really amazing. It still depends primarily on the body shape of the model, though. There’s a couple of models in the Lower Mainland that would simply rock these. Mebbe someday…

    2. Rhywun

      It must be a trend given that I’ve seen this story like five times now.

      1. Tres Cool

        *coughs*

    3. Akira

      I won’t adhere to this custom of making silly puns about news items.

      1. commodious spittoon

        Stucco tape. Seriously: shit rips off easy.

    4. Rebel Scum

      Duct tape bikinis

      Looks good. But the prospect of peeling it off of them presents a sticky situation.

    5. Akira

      I don’t get why you guys adhere to this custom of making silly puns about news items.

      1. Akira

        Ok, there’s some funny shit going on with the comments, because I swear that previous comment was not there a minute ago. I assumed that the squirrels ate it or I just got distracted and forgot to click submit.

        1. *arches eyebrow, writes name on list*

      2. Why not? What better way is there to deal with nut-punches?

    6. Spudalicious

      Lol! The blond in the middle has that look in her eye. “Taking this off is really going to hurt.”

    7. JaimeRoberto

      Is the duck tape supposed to cover the quack?

  5. Rhywun

    Such ‘computer takeovers’ are increasingly used by criminals developing new ways of emptying victims’ bank accounts.

    “Being not stupid is one way to fight back,” commented an unnamed source.

    1. Chafed

      The voice of wisdom.

  6. Gilmore

    So… apparently Hillary spoke at “OZYfest” (Ozzy Osbourne is not related, sadly) today, in front of live crowd in central park….

    and it was live-streamed on youtube

    And it has ~400 views. ~30 thumbs up. and i have not seen anyone mention a single thing she said in media. Which.. given that i’m pretty sure all 400 of those views were by media-people PAID to watch that drek and find something to write about… should tell you something.

    But yeah, the election was totally “stolen” from this wildly-popular and interesting person.

    *for the fetishists, Hillary was preceded by a fat drag queen doing a live dating-game show . Wow that festival really like it had everything i can’t believe it wasn’t bigger than woodstock.

    1. Count Potato

      “and it was live-streamed on youtube”

      Sorry, I’d rather shove an enraged ferret up my butt than listen to 47 minutes of that.

      1. Gilmore

        “I’d rather shove an enraged ferret up my butt ”

        EXCLUSIVE: Count Potato is actually Richard Gere

        1. Count Potato

          It’s not bestiality, it’s inter-species erotica.

      2. [shoves enraged ferret up Count Potato’s ass]

        1. Tres Cool

          +1 Lemmiwinks

      3. Spudalicious

        Only if you live stream it on YouTube.

    2. Rhywun

      I’d rather see the fat drag queen dating game.

      1. Chafed

        Sounds like something Howard Stern would host.

      2. Tres Cool

        I guess you forgot the $1.98 Beauty Pageant.

        To be fair, Rip Taylor wasnt a drag queen.

      3. Tulip

        No kidding, that has a chance of being entertaining.

    3. Heroic Mulatto

      Described by The New York Times as “part music festival, part TED talk, part food fair,”

      Jesus Fucking Christ, it sounds insufferable.

      1. leonadasiv

        Really a good way to get some of the most insufferable people all together at once.

        1. Chafed

          Where are the brutal exterminators when you need them?

          1. commodious spittoon

            You don’t think rubbing shoulders with more of their kind is punishment enough?

          2. I am with Chafed on this one… ZARDOZ, I am looking at you!

          3. dbleagle

            What I would give to watched that gathering drenched in burning napalm. (Artisanal napalm of course.)

            Sorry NSA. No real threat is made or implied.

          4. Spartacus

            That’s an opportunity missed.

      2. Gilmore

        The live-chat comments (scrolling on the right) have a few funny moments

        (and because there’s like no one who watched it, they’re short. I’ve seen livestreams about video games which have like 10,000 live comments. this has like ’50’)

        Bryan Woah​ – jesus christ who goes to a horrible thing like this

        Bryan Woah – ​it’s like being forced to watch the CBS morning show all damn day

        maxxbot – ​VOTE?FOR?JEB?BUSH

        1. commodious spittoon

          Please clap.

    4. mexican sharpshooter

      Ozzy Osbourne is not related, sadly

      Sadly? Thank the sun god. If I have to cut out The Ozzman…what am I going to do? Replace him with Dio?

      1. Tres Cool

        Bruce Dickinson would like a word when you have some time.

        1. mexican sharpshooter
    5. whiz

      I looked at this long enough to give it a thumbs down. 🙂

  7. Rhywun

    The rent is too damn not high enough!

    “It’s an ethnic cleansing,” said Lena Melendez, 53, of Northern Manhattan is Not for Sale, an anti-rezoning group.

    She then added, “And it’s just as important to keep rents for all New Yorkers sky-high as it is to keep out wypipo.”

    1. Count Potato

      Christ, what an asshole.

    2. Grumbletarian

      Ethnic cleansing? Must be those damn Republicans who run New York City.

    3. Akira

      Lefties have this syllogism that since there is higher poverty among blacks and Hispanics, anything that costs money is de facto racist.

      But what’s really funny is how this logic never applies to things they like. They openly state that they want to make gun ownership and car ownership more expensive, just to name two things. But for some reason, these things are magically cleansed of the racism.

      1. Chafed

        Duh. Only white people own guns and cars.

    1. commodious spittoon

      Is that the movie with the father/daughter superhero duo? Because I don’t remember that scene at all…

      1. F. Stupidity Jr.

        He got the Wilson wrong. It was Patrick Wilson in Hard Candy.

  8. Rhywun

    IF MANY BRUTALS ARE NOT SWEPT OUT TO SEA, ESPECIALLY MAYOR DEBLASIO, ZARDOZ WILL BE DISAPPOINTED.

    Deblasio is more likely to be prog-splaining in another part of the country than to be in New York.

    1. He does seem to not want to be in his problem filled city.

  9. commodious spittoon

    Had a good chuckle at HM’s post at the end of the last thread, in case you missed it…

    1. HM makes the world better….period.

  10. leonadasiv

    New Dinosaur discovered

    Maybe too local, but my mother helped work as a volunteer in the lab that cleans off the rock from the bones of the dinosaurs.

    1. Count Potato

      Now that’s a euphemism!

    2. NEVER TOO LOCAL…

      Freakin’ Cool. L.

  11. leonadasiv

    So i’ve been kicking around some ideas for an Article. If i wrote it up, do i just submit it, or do i need to get ‘approval’ first before submitting?

    1. I pretty much just submitted mine,and several days later it was published.

    2. Heroic Mulatto

      Just submit.

    3. Mad Scientist

      I’ll approve it for $5.

    4. commodious spittoon

      I’ve been struggling to get published here for ages, all I can manage are overlong comments.

      And by struggling I mean struggling to write up something besides overlong comments.

    5. Count Potato

      Is there anything I should write?

      1. Tres Cool

        Anything people will read.
        Its like you dont even WaPo, brah.

        1. commodious spittoon

          What happened to Secret Nazi President, anyway?

          1. Tres Cool

            Mueller.

      2. AlmightyJB

        All of the different ways you can prepare potatoes?

      3. Count Potato

        Then fuck it.

    6. Screw you, Mad Scientist….I’ll edit and post it for $3!

      1. Mad Scientist

        $2.99!

        1. Damn your eyes! $2.79!!!!!!!!

    7. mexican sharpshooter

      It helps if you send them a picture of your ass.

      1. *nods solemnly*

  12. Rebel Scum

    Cuba aims to build socialism, not communism, in draft constitution

    Well, that fixes everything then.

    1. AlmightyJB

      As long as it’s a living constitution that can be changed on a whim.

  13. Rebel Scum

    OT:

    The gf’s favorite band is the Avett Brothers so I took her to see them last night. Is it just me or do nearly all of their songs consist of banal platitudes strung together with flowery rhetoric?

    1. Don Escaped Texas

      Clearly calls for common sense guitar control.

      Mrs Escaped is like that: at least she bought me Alison Kraus tickets last weekend and is more on the Decemberist end of the spectrum than Mumford and Shit.

      1. Is death an option?

        *drinks poison*

    2. AlmightyJB

      I don’t really listen to bands for their lyrics. The music either makes my feel good and nod my head and tap my toes or it doesn’t. I’m not expecting any profound message from a musician.

    3. juris imprudent

      I’d sure as hell rather listen to that than most of what is popular these days.

  14. Gilmore

    my home desktop pc is getting old (2014-2015 ish) and probably needs replacing. my music pc is faster but i don’t do anything else w/ it on purpose …

    anyone recommend any good PC games that might run on older machine? probably best from that time frame (2013-2016) to ensure slow card has chance of running it.

    last games i had which i ran smoothly was the last Fallout (2015)… and witcher 3 (which was great)… both on ~medium settings. if that helps provide some idea of what it can handle.

    im not big on those isometric things, or FPS. tho i dont really care, will give something a try if its interesting. tend to prefer games like above that have some plot and action. blowing people/things up is also always nice, soothing recreation

    1. Heroic Mulatto

      Try Tyranny.

      1. Gilmore

        thanks

        looks like ‘Dragon Age’. which i played first versions of years ago

        1. dbleagle

          Rome:Total War (The original version and not RTW II)

          1. Gilmore

            The total war series was my jam from like late-1990s to mid-2000s

            it was the only thing i played. my favorite was the Medieval one, for whatever reason i can’t remember. the last one i played was shogun II. i can’t remember the Rome one, but i’m sure i played it at some point. if they still make them i might try seeing whether i can play the newest-versions, so thanks for the idea.

    2. commodious spittoon

      Just Cause 3.

      1. commodious spittoon

        Spec Ops: The Line has a rich story, shit gameplay, but great voice acting and scenery and cut scenes. And it took all of 5 hours going by my playlist. Can’t imagine it goes for more than ten bucks on Steam these days.

      2. Gilmore

        Yeah i played those a few years ago. Liked all of them, but it was a bit repetitive after a while. once i started trying to slingshot random people into helicopter blades, i decided i’d probably plumbed the limits of the games.

        1. Gilmore

          ‘those’ i mean the first 2 JC games

          1. commodious spittoon

            I’ve only played JC3. I don’t think the first two had the wing suit.

          2. I only have JC2 on Xbox (I keep talking about picking up an XBONE for JC3 and other games, but then other friends keep telling me JC2 was the high point so far).

            May have mentioned it here before, but JC2 is an amazing slice of nostalgia for anyone growing up in SE Asia. Aside from the crazy mountain/desert islands – the little villages are idealized “kampungs” from most places I’ve driven through Indonesia and you can see a lot of the different regional architecture designs too. Then you have the Indian merchant types, the ethnic Chinese (“commie”) groups, the traditional Malay nationalists – with slang, lingo, accents, etc – perfect fit for the places I lived in Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia growing up. I’ll give a lot of the stupid stuff an instant pass because of how well they handled the “immersion”.

    3. Rhywun

      I know it’s missing one dimension but “Ori and the Blind Forest” (2015) is the best metroidvania I’ve ever played.

      1. Gilmore

        hmm. what’s that called? a “platformer”? like donkey kong + pitfall, but arty.

        i’ll give that a try. does it need game-controller?

        1. Rhywun

          does it need game-controller?

          Oh, yes.

          Platformer with like power-ups that allow you to open up more of the map as you progress. One of my favorite game genres.

          1. Rhywun

            And… I just hit a difficult part and rage quit the fucking shit out of that bitch.

            Fuck I hate games.

    4. Count Potato

      I don’t know about PC’s, but I used to run two users on OSX, one for music, and one for other other stuff.

      1. Gilmore

        The music PC has no video card by intent; most video drivers have direct very-negative effect on total-system latency and vst-processing efficiency, etc.

        its just a structural flaw in the way PC’s do real-time audio, so if you want a dedicated audio machine, you strip the video card out and use the default windows MB-based video chip drivers.

        1. Count Potato

          OK, Macs don’t have that problem.

        2. commodious spittoon

          See, I get where record player audiophiles come from. There’s a tactile experience putting the platter on the thing and the needle on the platter. It’s all the same to my ears, but at least get the boner for records makes sense in that regard. Is there something similar for digital hardware and drivers? Is your music PC optimized for digital audio? Or is it just a two-terabyte hard drive?

          1. Gilmore

            Is there something similar for digital hardware and drivers? Is your music PC optimized for digital audio? Or is it just a two-terabyte hard drive?

            eh. not really. “sound quality” isn’t the issue w/ DAW (digital audio workstations) at all.

            Your ‘recorded sound quality’ is basically a function of

            1 – “How much money do you spend on pre-amps (analog tech, which can be up to like $1000s-per-channel if you want the highest end stuff) and mics (if what you’re doing is recording live-music)

            and

            2- “how much money do you want to spend on AD (analog to digital – aka ‘in’)/DA(reverse -aka ‘out’) audio converter-chips?

            (which can be similarly expensive per-channel, but you don’t need many of if you’re only tracking few channels at a time)

            once the audio is ‘in the box’, its all just software at that point, and software has no sound.

            Macs have inherent advantages in the DAW world for 2 main reason:

            1 they have better/more-stable “word clock” timing (which guarantees blending many tracks of digital audio will be error-free); and they handled MIDI natively in the OS, which meant back in the 1990s, they were basically the only-option for pro-audio people

            2 – because of their pre-existing ‘only option’ status, most of the programmers of pro-audio software (like Protools+Logic, etc) has had far more intimate-relation w/ that platform, and basically saw the PC as “shitty, consumer-market” option. It wasn’t until like 10 years ago that software for PC-pro-audio really got good enough to compete

            and you still have to do lots of PC-tweaks to get it functioning optimally. in my own case i have a few older pieces of hardware (like Akai samplers from the 1990s) which had their own software for PC, which only runs on XP, so i need to run virtual XP environment (and old USB drivers and blah blah) to make them talk to each other. Apples still have less headaches like this.

          2. Gilmore

            *if your question was more, “Does anyone still just do it the old-fashioned way?” Like, w/ tape machines and consoles?

            yes, some people do. Steve Albini is famous for being like, “i never use computers”

  15. Spudalicious

    After working in the garden and running errands, I spent the afternoon watching Eldrick work his way around the links and drinking. Nice to seem him back in the game and with a little humility. Although when he was kicking everyone’s ass every time he played, he kind of earned the right to be an insufferable prick.

    1. Tres Cool

      “This wagyu aint gonna plant itself!”, amirite?

      1. Spudalicious

        No shit. Gotta get them cows in the ground!

      2. Steakplant?! *salivates*

        1. Tres Cool

          Clearly you need Milk Steak.

      3. commodious spittoon

        Weird… I saw ground wagyu at the grocery store just earlier. Going for three bucks over where 80% lean is now (which is already fucking atrocious, what is going on with beef?). Anyway, hadn’t ever seen it before.

        1. I blame straffinrun.

          1. commodious spittoon

            Ground beef was 2.97/lb two years ago. It’s $4.00 now. That’s greater inflation than healthcare, probably. And gas, don’t even get me started on gas. You have to use gas to cook beef. That’s more money for less beef. What is going on? MARKET FAIL, MARKET FAIL.

        2. Tres Cool

          Well, it kinda works like this. (Sits back, pours bourbon, lights pipe)

          Ya see, some years ago, the government thought that the US needed ethanol added to the gasoline. There’s a number of theories as to why they did this. Some said “reduced dependence on oil!”, others said “its cleaner burning!”, and still others said “Im an elected official from a corn-rich state, and we need subsidies!”. Either way, the government started getting in the business of making ethanol.

          Now, a lot of you kids would think that’s a brilliant idea. However, despite the largesse of the US and our corn-production, its a finite amount. So the corn produced that was generally going to things like cattle feed, or corn flakes, or even corn oil got diverted to make this magic additive for fuel. So supply-demand being the cunt that she is, demanded a correction on the demand side for the reduction in the supply side. There’s only so much corn.

          So when you see “10% ethanol added” when you fuel up, or perish the thought you’re stupid enough to buy E85, just remember the price you see at the pump reflects how much that beef costs in the store.

          Government.

          1. commodious spittoon

            Well, shit. Can’t we bulldoze more of Nebraska or wherever beef is grown? Fuck, what else are they doing out there?

          2. Tres Cool

            Im pulling this figure out of my butt (along with Ted’s ferret), but I want to say that something like 80% of the land west of the mississippi is owned by the government.

            Im kinda drunk, so feel free to enact my labor.

          3. I think that’s just Utah. (maybe if you include Alaska). Most of the land W of the Mississippi includes Texas, Kansas, OK, etc and other private land-heavy states. But yeah…looks like BLM has started auctioning off more packages – starting small…but it’s a start.

          4. dbleagle

            The state of Louisiana raises more beef than the entire 11 western states. The 100th meridian and the “rain line” makes beef production less lucrative out west.

            When determining range capacity east of the 100th the basic formula is Inches of annual rain per acre = 1 Animal unit (cow w/ calf). In the western states the formula is inches of rain per section = 1 Animal Unit. (1 section = 1 square mile = 640 acres)

          5. mexican sharpshooter

            something like 80% of the land west of the mississipp

            The Rockies.

            I think that’s just Utah

            NV, UT, AZ…
            http://www.businessinsider.com/federal-government-land-map-oregon-militia-2016-1

          6. Gustave Lytton

            And what the Feds don’t own, the State(s) & other government bodies do.

          7. Rhywun

            Government blows.

  16. egould310

    Made a big batch of slaw. Re-strung and wiped down my guitars. Just poured a big bourbon. Sitting back on the sofa, waiting for the wife to start steak and shrimp. Life is alright.

    *cheers*

    1. Don Escaped Texas

      guitars?

      makes, models, and your pet names, please

      1. egould310

        Nothing fancy. An Epiphone Les Paul Special II, and an Epiphone EL-00. Both in black. I’ve switched out alot of plastic parts for nickle/chrome hardware. I think they look badass. I don’t think I’d ever name them. But the acoustic has a little print of Joe Strummer floating around inside the body. And the Les Paul has a secret sticker honoring King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.

        Also, new strings make such a difference. Ernie Ball Regular Slinky’s on both guitars.

        You play? Make/models. Pet names, I guess.

        1. Don Escaped Texas

          main squeeze is an 1986 HD18….still mint

          there’s an SG copy around here somewhere for when Mrs Escaped is out of town

          1. egould310

            “…for when Mrs Escaped is out of town.”

            Mrs Gould will be out of town on business for the first half of the week. That’s why I put on fresh strings. I’m going to eat spaghetti, smoke dope, and play guitar until 1AM this week.

        2. Gilmore

          older Epis were all pretty good guitars. i have no idea what they’re like now (or if they’re even made)

          their Joe Pass semi-hollow was a particularly good buy, and often recommended by jazz guys as ‘worth more than it cost’. i still might get one of those.

    2. *salutes egould*

    3. Tulip

      What kind slaw? Recipe?

      1. egould310

        Half a large green cabbage, shredded. In a large bowl, knead kosher salt into the shredded cabbage, and let rest for 20-30 minutes. Squeeze/drain cabbage juice from bowl.

        Then add 2 carrots peeled and shredded.

        Dressing is beer, red wine vinegar, worcestershire, dijon mustard, olive oil, salt, pepper, dill, cumin, sliced green onion, minced garlic, and chopped cornichon. Mix into cabbage/carrot mix and let chill in fridge.

        After 2 hours, stir the slaw mix, and add some cheese. Mix and let chill until ready to serve.

        I used cotija cheese. But feta will work great. Or whatever cheese is on hand. It’s a beer vinaigrette, so cheddar will go well with it. Also, olives would be good. Or sun-dried tomatoes. And lemon or other acids/vinegar will be good in the dressing. Mayo. Sour cream/yogurt to make it creamy. Hell, substitute olive oil for bacon grease, and throw bacon chunks in the slaw.

        I don’t do measurements, because I just mess around with whatever is on hand. And I make a variation of cabbage slaw probably 3 nights a week. Other little jars of fancy condiments like artichokes in oil, capers, peppers in oil, pickled onions are great mixed into the dressing. After a while, you can figure out how to balance the oil/salt/acid. Lemon, of course.

        1. Tulip

          Sounds delicious. I love recipes that are just a list of ingredients.

        2. Take the onion out, and I might just ascend straight into Heaven, eating that!

          1. Tulip

            But, green onion is so mild. I understand not liking red onion, but green?!

        3. Rhywun

          Yeah, that is like mixed-everything-I-like. Except for the cabbage part but I guess that’s what all the other stuff is for.

        4. Spudalicious

          Huh. Interesting lineup. My mental palate is tongue tied with possibilities.

          1. “My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.”

            “God darnit, Mr. Lamarr, you use your tongue prettier than a twenty dollar whore.”

        5. Tulip

          I love salt wilted cabbage. Perfect for so many recipes.

    4. Spudalicious

      *tink!*

      Sitting on the patio, just poured myself another bourbon.

      1. *salutes Spud, blows raspberries at OMWC*

        1. CPRM

          “What is the entomology there?”

          “The word your looking for is Etymology”

        2. Rhywun

          you must use Miracle Whip and not real mayonnaise

          Oh my God.

          1. CPRM

            Well, not Miracle Whip per se, just the mayo that is labeled ‘whipped dressing’

    5. Akira

      I woke up at noon, ate a soba noodle soup with eggs and homemade ham, did some Tabata squats with a 25 pound kettlebell, cooked a Japanese-style Hamburg steak with peas and roasted potatoes, and played games of chess online between all those tasks. I have some bread dough thawing right now that will be made into a bun for a giant cheeseburger (yes, I’m eating ground beef patties twice in one day, but I got a 5 pound bag of beef for $20 from the butcher shop).

      Sometimes I think I need to do more productive shit. Years ago, I used to do little else besides read classics or philosophy and write paid articles; nearly 100% of my time was spent either learning things or making money. Somehow I fell into a rut of time-wasting activities. I’m going to go back to reading The Taming of the Shrew now.

      1. AlmightyJB

        We went with pizza chicken tonight. It was good.

      2. *ponders, wishes that he was Akira for a bit*

        1. egould310

          Yeah?

    1. AlmightyJB

      He’s always fun.

      1. Rebel Scum

        That’s what SHE said.

        1. AlmightyJB

          I hope he’s right that they’re burying themselves. I like to think so as well. It’s scary to think what would happen if this crap ever gets any real traction here.

          1. If it does, I will go out swinging.

            Of course, by the time it does, my kids will have moved on, so it will be quasi-cheap bravery on my part.

    2. Akira

      Is that guy a commenter on this site? I have that notion in my head for some reason.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Wouldn’t surprise me.

    1. Spudalicious

      That was good.

    2. Grumbletarian

      Freedom Toons is great.

  17. Gilmore

    If Derptologist is out there…

    … about once every other month someone mentions Nathan J Robinson (or some garbage he wrote) as example of ‘smart socialist’ and i just roll my eyes at what a pompous moron he is… but i can never remember ‘best examples of his worst shit’ other than the “perhaps the Govt should be able to take your organs by force” thing he wrote for Huffpo…

    can you refresh me – what’s, for you, the most epic-retarded thing he ever said? i feel like ‘any random sampling’ of his stuff should expose his fatuousness to anyone w/ a brain, but apparently that doesn’t work.

    1. Count Potato

      I think Derptologist is busy with the military.

      1. Gilmore

        oh right.

      2. *dusts off O-5 ID*

        NOTHING could be dumber than the “handover the organs, citizen” piece.

    2. Brochettaward

      Derpy is off the net. On a mission.

  18. Tulip

    I’m thinking of building an ark. Anyone got plans? This is day 1 of several of predicted rain and my sump is running almost continuously.

    1. AlmightyJB

      Detailed plans in The Bible.

    2. commodious spittoon

      The plans are in cubits, so.

      1. AlmightyJB

        Metric is for heathens.

        1. Spudalicious

          Fuck metric with a rusty chainsaw. This is Muhrica.

          1. Tres Cool

            Way to go, Heather.

          2. Rhywun

            What’s your damage?

          3. Tres Cool

            Only if he did it gently.

    3. Rebel Scum

      It’s supposed to rain/storm in central Virginia for the next three days and chances for storms for the next week. On the one hand I have an excuse to avoid yard-work. On the other hand, I miss doing the yard-work. On the third hand, a weed that I am unfamiliar with has taken hold on my yard. It is advancing and replacing the grass, but it is green and does not grow tall. I might as well let it go until fall, then kill the remnants and replant grass.

      1. Tulip

        It has been pouring in northern Virginia since about 10 am. My phone is blowing up with flood watches, warnings, and road closures.

        1. Rebel Scum

          I drove through it from Norfolk to Richmond this morning. It never let up. It was like we were being chased up 64 by a rainstorm.

        2. commodious spittoon

          If it makes you feel any better, we had 14% humidity earlier… and it’s a little stormy up north at the family land, which desperately needs it.

          I’d cough awkwardly, but I can’t spare the moisture.

          1. Rhywun

            we had 14% humidity earlier

            Fuuuuck. I didn’t know that existed.

            92% here – every surface in my place is sticky now. At least the temp is low but the forecast is more of the same for the next 10 days at least.

          2. commodious spittoon

            Yeah, see, if I leave the southwest, it’s to move down the temperature/humidity scale… I’ll freeze my ass off in the Dakotas, or worse. I’ll find solace in hewing wood and my sweat freezing on my brow.

          3. dbleagle

            If it drops to 80% humidity here people start complaining.

          4. Tulip

            Argh. I’d get nosebleeds at that level.

          5. commodious spittoon

            Man, I think you people are crazy. Dry is where it’s at. So dry that you sweat from osmosis, because you’re hydrated more than your outside. Maybe, I don’t know. I sweat a lot here. Maybe I’d be better off finding a less saturating heat at some other nexus of humidity and heat… but moving up north sounds easier. Hewing wood in Ottawa. Could somebody find me a job up there? My needs aren’t many and my demands are cheap. I’ll find a wife, a real ice queen, I’ll make her the happiest ice queen you could imagine. She’ll leave me in a year for some southern trucker, I’ll be so cool. I just want a place where I’m forever chill.

          6. Rhywun

            Dry is where it’s at.

            I *hate* humidity. Unfortunately, it’s a part of life where I live.

          7. Tulip

            I don’t like high humidity, but 14% is way too low.

          8. CPRM

            I preferred 111 in Las Vegas to 80 in Wisconsin because of the humidity, but sadly life didn’t let me stay there.

          9. Gustave Lytton

            I love that low humidity. Crank up the temperature because you just don’t feel it. And you don’t have to spend much time toweling off after a shower.

          10. The Bearded Hobbit

            Dry is where it’s at.

            You and me, bro. I love the decadence of driving around in 105 temps with the windows down and the A/C blasting. Get me in humidity and I wilt.

            … Hobbit

    4. Don Escaped Texas

      Epiphone’s Korean plant used up all the gopherwood.

    5. trshmnstr

      Got 9″ so far in the trashcan. Probably will hit 10 before tomorrow morning.

      A whole month’s worth of rain in a day, and it ain’t letting up.

      The north-south road near us is flooded out a few miles south of us. I don’t doubt that most of the roads heading east are flooded out by bull run. We may even be corralled west by a tributary. I’m thinking the only passable direction may be north. Too bad there’s no civilization in that direction.

      1. Tres Cool

        “Got 9″ so far in the trashcan. Probably will hit 10 before tomorrow morning.”

        Braggart.

  19. Tulip

    I’m also thinking of making a pie tomorrow.

    1. Tres Cool

      If you mean Sarah Huckabee…..oh, nevermind.

      1. Spudalicious

        I didn’t know Pie swung that way.

    2. SP

      I am toying with making my World Famous Cherry-Blueberry Pie tomorrow. But it requires a trip to the grocery store on a Sunday, so….

    1. straffinrun

      Over 160 companies working in artificial intelligence have signed a pledge not to develop lethal autonomous weapons.

      Prisoners Dilemma.

    1. Gilmore

      i feel like that website must be some attempt at a Buzzfeed parody, or something

      iow, like “Clickhole” vis a vis “Upworthy”

      1. Rhywun

        It does seem fake but… who knows any more.

  20. Rebel Scum

    It’s All About The Pentiums

    Incidentally, I may be drunk.

    1. MAY?! I AM drunk.

    2. commodious spittoon

      True fact, despite growing up at the height of Buffyism, I didn’t know who Sarah Michelle Geller was except for that song. I still haven’t watched much, or really any, Buffy.

      1. CPRM

        Blasphemy!

      2. Rhywun

        I couldn’t tolerate that song long enough to find out what the connection to Buffy is.

        /weird al only works for me if i am familiar with the source material

        1. Tres Cool

          +1 Amish Paradise

          1. Rhywun

            I like that one. And I appreciate the source material.

            This one is just blech.

        2. commodious spittoon

          It’s a one-off midway through the song about looking up pictures of Sarah Michelle Geller, and honestly, I was more into Gillian Anderson.

          Well, not “into.” But my parents were more permissive of X-Files. So she’s what I grew up on.

          Never did idolize her much, though. The first real sexual damage I got was a Playboy dad had. Featured Naomi Campbell. Man, she did a number on me. To this day, black chicks get an immediate pass. Especially if they’ve got that well-rounded Playboy body. Especially if they’re pouring milk on their tits.

          1. straffinrun

            My first porn was the silouette of the chick on the Doan’s Pills box.

          2. CPRM

            My uncle had a beer can/bottle collection. He had a couple bottles where you could scratch off the woman’s clothes like a lottery ticket; none of them have the scratch off part anymore due to me.

          3. straffinrun

            The good old days. There used to some where the chick got naked as the bottle drained.

          4. CPRM

            My uncle had one of those pens to, of course I took it. But now that he’s old and I’m taking care of him it was uncomfortable when we were cleaning out his dresser and found a beta porno. And man was it uncomfortable when he and my aunt told me the story about back in the late 60s/early 70s when porno was mainstream for a bit and he took my aunt to show without her knowing what they were going to see. Old folks were pervs when they were young to, a fact I knew, but didn’t want to hear about.

          5. Gustave Lytton

            We requested my Catholic grandpa’s (WWII era) military file. It mentioned treatment for STD prior to enlistment (and prior to his marriage).

          6. CPRM

            He got it from a toilet seat, get over it Gustave.

          7. Gustave Lytton

            And drunk driving arrest.

          8. CPRM

            Yeah, my mom harped about sex before marriage, then when we got old enough to do math and realized my oldest sister was born before my parents got married, made my siblings backlash against those morels when they were older, but I just saw it as flawed humans, and I could be less flawed.

          9. Akira

            backlash against those morels

            What, they’re more portobello kind of people?

          10. CPRM

            Yes, portobellos are superior.

          11. CPRM

            And another weird fetish found.

    3. CPRM

      By the by, that looks like Drew Carey in that bit making fun of Puff Daddy. Is that him?

  21. CPRM

    Twice in the last week I’ve turned off sports radio shows because they went political, these are all shows I’ve listened to for years and never found them pushing too far, but the disease seems to be spreading.

    1. Rhywun

      I just watch the sports – never got sports “shows” except the rare soccer show but they never go political which is a relief.

      1. CPRM

        Talk radio passes commute times faster than music, and I don’t care much anymore for political talk radio, so if I’m not listening to my mp3 player I’ll usually just turn on sports talk, try to gleam some news.

        1. KSuellington

          I’m on the same wave. I drive a ton for work and it’s usually talk radio. Also switched to mostly sports talk as the level of political talk I can only handle for a few minutes at a time now. The last thing I want to hear is some guy who couldn’t name the three branches of government give a lecture on politics. Back to the Taylor Swift song.

          1. Gustave Lytton

            Same here with the driving. I like SiriusXM a lot. End up discovering or rediscovering a lot more than regular radio these days.

            Somewhat related, was listening to Gordon Lightfoot and thinking how adult contemporary has been totally washed out by youth driven pop crap.

    1. CPRM

      The first time I clicked on Glibs link and it was exactly what I thought it was going to be; you suck at Glib linking. Good song though.

  22. Akira

    Finished Atlas Shrugged yesterday.

    You guys were right; it did kind of drag, and Rand could have used an editor to strip out all the unnecessary phrases in the text. What spurred me to read it in the first place was Tom Woods’ recommendation to read it “for Galt’s speech, if nothing else”.

    Part of the appeal for me was to finally read a book that has libertarian ideas. So many “classics” range from downright socialistic (The Grapes of Wrath) to vaguely anti-business (the “epic of the wheat” by Frank Norris) and while these may be excellent works, it was a bit refreshing to read a book that illustrates the perils of “good intentions” and trying to force an ideal of charity.

    I don’t agree with Rand on everything, but I think she did a good job of elucidating one point: No human exists as a ‘means to an end’ for another human; a person’s enjoyment of his own life is an end in itself.

    1. CPRM

      Besides the stilted dialogue the character actions in regard to ‘romance’ is where the book lost me. Sure you are free to do as you choose, but the heroes come across as assholes who value sex over their own commitments, meaning you couldn’t trust any of them at their word.

      1. Akira

        Yea, I wasn’t really on board with the idea that marital fidelity was somehow the same as submitting to an oppressive state.

        I might read some of her other works, to evaluate them for myself if nothing else.

        1. Mojeaux

          Read Anthem. Short, sweet, to the point.

          1. Akira

            Yes!

            I did read that in high school English class… Come to think of it, that teacher might have been some kind of undercover libertarian. It almost makes me feel bad for behaving like such a shithead in her class (as I did in all my classes).

            I might read it again; you can often see literature in a different light at age 17 and age 30.

      2. Mojeaux

        Regarding the stilted dialogue: I didn’t notice till I went to see the movie, which was absolutely awful. Awful storytelling, awful acting, awful decision about making it some period piece/futuristic hybrid, awful awful awful.

        1. Akira

          Yea, that’s one of those books that I couldn’t ever envision as a good movie. I have no interest in seeing any film version of that.

          1. Mojeaux

            It could’ve been done a lot better than it was, but it got botched. Nobody’ll ever touch it again.

    2. Mojeaux

      I read Fountainhead first. Um, okay, that was interesting.

      Atlas Shrugged next. Wowzers! I loved it. But I have a few problems with it, the biggest one being that Rearden > Galt. But I digress.

      …time passes…

      Somebody quotes Fountainhead at me as a pick-me-up (it worked), so I went back and re-read.

      The second time I read Fountainhead, it really spoke to me. It’s rougher, a prototype of Atlas Shrugged. You can see where she’s still developing how to work out her philosophies in fiction (although she did it better in Fountainhead than AS because she felt she had to explain everydamnedthing to the reader in AS, whereas she let the reader draw conclusions in Fountainhead). So anyway, I have a very odd view of Roark that has gotten me pummeled out of a couple of Objectivist places (that’ll larn me) whose denizens don’t get that Rand doesn’t get to dictate how anybody interprets her work. “She says in XXX that you must read it like YYY.” Yeah, sorry, that’s not how literature works, pal.

      This is another case of “Please don’t tell me anything about the artist because I don’t want their baggage dragging on my entertainment.”

      1. straffinrun

        The art stands alone. I still got a lot out of her explaining how to interpret the book. The explanation stands alone. What does Reardon>Galt mean? Galt is the epitome of a Rand hero.

        1. Mojeaux

          Galt was the epitome of a Rand hero, yes. Exactly. I, a random reader not really knowing what she was getting except a thick book on a long road trip, did not find him as compelling as Rearden, who was flawed and had some depth, whereas Galt was an idea of a perfect man. In short, I didn’t like him as much as I liked Rearden.

          1. straffinrun

            I see what you mean. Dagny seems to have a bit of hypergamy going on. Rearden putting up with his brother in law’s bullshit for so long kind of soured me on him.

          2. Mojeaux

            Okay now I’m speaking 25 years out from having read it, but …

            I believe that all those places where you go, “Rearden, c’mon, dude,” she dragged him out to widen the chasm of Rearden’s inferiority to Galt. I don’t think it was organic or true to the character she originally set up.

            May be time for a re-read before I go showing my ass anymore, though.

          3. straffinrun

            Been 10 years for me. Read Fountainhead a couple months ago. What I liked about AS is that I remember thinking, “Damn, can’t believe anyone has the balls to say this.” That always counts for something in my book.

          4. Akira

            @straffinrun:

            Yes, I think one of the best things about Rand is that, for all the flaws in her works, she successfully put libertarian ideas in the spotlight of mainstream entertainment.

            Shortly after I finished that book, I listened to the Tom Woods episode about Ayn Rand, and they quoted somebody (I think Rothbard) who said that libertarian ideas need to be represented in books and movies, because people aren’t just going to pick up a copy of Mises or Bastiat out of the blue.

            Ayn Rand serves very well as a sort of “gateway drug” into the broader spectrum of libertarian ideas. Without her, a lot of people may have just been stuck within the Overton window forever. Sure, a lot of people hate her with a passion, but those are probably the people who have a strong emotional connection to “progressivism” and would never give a fair hearing to libertarianism in the first place.

          5. straffinrun

            Mises says that exactly in his letter to Rand. There are a lot of people that want to hear that striving for perfection for your own sake isn’t evil.

          6. Mojeaux

            Dagny.

            I liked Dagny. I loved the scene where she wore Rearden’s bracelet to the party (I would love to have that bracelet). But her hypergamy didn’t bother me. What bothered me was that NONE of those dudes ever actually resented the next one up the ladder. Francisco didn’t resent Rearden. Rearden wrote, “I’ve met him. I don’t blame you,” WTF dude?! Seriously?

            So there’s where Rearden went off the rails for me.

          7. straffinrun

            Having appreciation for those who reach a higher level of competence and understanding of the world is central to her philosophy. I’m surprised we weren’t treated to any gay sex.

          8. Mojeaux

            Yes to your whole comment.

          9. Longtimelurker

            Death thread but…
            Yes! I wanted that bracelet so much.

        2. Akira

          I did think that Rearden was better developed as a character. Galt is just kind of… There. The mythos around him is extensively built up through that phrase “who is John Galt”, but we never learn much about his life, his motivations, or how he came to be who he is. He’s just a guy who worked at a motor company, invented a motor, and developed Objectivist philosophy at some point. And he has a major boner for Dagny.

          1. Mojeaux

            Yes! Akira, thank you! That is exactly how I see him.

  23. Gustave Lytton

    Finally done for the day. Painted a hallway today and fixed the wifey’s car. Coat #2 tomorrow.

    Now drinking a Hot Irish Nut for dessert. Homemade whipped cream is so much better than the fake aerosol stuff. Or Cool Whip. *shudder*

    Local American Legion post is doing their chicken BBQ this weekend so dinner tomorrow night is already taken care of.

  24. Go home guys. You’re drunk.

    1. CPRM

      IMAsn notas drunkkk; urea drunkk/Iiii sleap onow….

    1. Chafed

      Meh. Not my thing.

  25. F. Stupidity Jr.

    If I ran the world, if there were situations where protesters surrounded a vehicle and the driver of that vehicle ran them over, the driver would not be charged with so much as a misdemeanor. I’m so tired of seeing that shit.

  26. Gustave Lytton

    Night all. I’m tapping out.

    https://youtu.be/FPpYQkkOO6k