Happy New Year’s Eve, Glibertariat. I’m making barbecue because we don’t have anything truly great around here. Sonny’s is serviceable, but no Killen’s. Chef Steps brisket, 2 racks of baby back ribs, sausage, and fixins. We’re having some friends with kids over and my family. There should be lots of eating, shrieking, and probably some crying.
John Kelly provides one final service as Chief of Staff, waving red meat in front of the news mags on the border wall so that Trump can talk tough about it some more.
Guatamalan family sues Universal Orlando after man ignores English warning sign, dies. I was frankly shocked to find out they didn’t have signs in Spanish, German, and Japanese.
A year passes like nothing. I can’t decide whether to be snarky or maudlin. OK, I’ll be maudlin and save snarky for the links. In any case… we all had a lot of fun in 2018. The Glibertariat is an assortment of intelligent, foul, irreverent, rebellious, supportive, caring, indifferent, kind, and thoroughly engaging individuals. SP and I were lucky enough over the past year to have several of you pass through our area and to actively travel and meet a bunch more of you (as well as a lot of my old friends from the Hit & Run days, who are now SP’s friends as well). And I seriously cannot imagine a more fun group of people. Thank you, from the bottom of our black libertarian hearts, for making our comments section the nightmare that Virginia Postrel always warned us about.
And of course, this will be our last New Years in Illinois. There’s not much we’ll miss about the place, other than the propinquity of cheese curds. But most of all, we’ll miss hanging out with an old friend from HyR days, Swiss Servator. If it’s not evident from his postings and the hard work he does to keep this site fun, he is the finest human being SP and I have ever known. Intellectually, physically, and morally, he’s on the six sigma tail of the human distribution, and it’s been a real privilege to spend time with him and to be able to call him our friend. Other than a missing kidney, we just can’t find a single flaw in him. We’re honored to know the guy.
/maudlin
Oh, and while we’re at it, we wanted to thank our resident Romanian for turning us on to Feteasca Neagra- we had a bottle of a very slightly off-dry version made with carbonic maceration with our pizza last night, and it was an absolutely delightful pairing. Cheap and cheerful, and 11.5% alcohol makes it easy to drink.
Birthdays today include burdened white man Rudyard Kipling; ultimate (((leftist))) Sandy Koufax, whose last game I got to watch (Orioles won); Americana music pioneer John Hartford; multi-talented singer/songwriter/producer/bassist Felix Pappalardi; multi-faceted STEVE SMITH; funny woman and Simpsons discoverer Tracey Ullman; and expert at the most boring game in the world (and also apparently expert at the most interesting game in the world) Tiger Woods.
On to the news.
Surprise, surprise, cops are deadly and incompetent idiots. Back in the ’60s, there used to be a joke that, “If you don’t like cops, when you’re in trouble, call a hippie.” I can think of many hippies that would have actually been useful.
Occasional Cortex does her best to imitate Trump. If I were dictator for a day, I’d send a fleet of B-2s to bomb Twitter out of existence. But I’m not, so all I can do is marvel at the attention paid to dimwits.
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. And of course, the cynic in me notes that the “coordinators” of the last caravan faded away when there were no more news stories and fat donations. I’m sure Team Blue will fix the horrifically awful immigration syste… HAHAHAHA, I knew I couldn’t keep a straight face. Or maybe it’s the Jews.
And the last Old Guy Music of the year, featuring birthday boy Felix Pappalardi, whose death was Florida Man worthy, but who left an amazing musical legacy. Here’s a terrific cover of a Jack Bruce song, where Felix’s vocals just absolutely sell it.
We have snow outside. Not much, but a dusting. I warned the Wonder Dog that she may not see much more of that. This confused her, but when she heard that Swiss was going to visit her soon to say goodbye, all she could think was, “PIZZA!!!!” To be fair, I’ll miss the snow and the cold as much as she does. And Swiss, maybe more.
I will not miss birthdays, however. And today’s include the inventor of vulcanization, Charles Goodyear; air force pioneer, rebel, and namesake of my favorite airport to fly out of from here, Billy Mitchell; actual Russian collaborator Klaus Fuchs; nutbag but influential pseudo-historian Cheikh Anta Diop; TV icon Mary Tyler Moore; former owner of George Costanza’s car, Jon Voight; funny drunk Paula Poundstone; and Savior of Chicago Theo Epstein.
Nor will I miss links (hmmm, that suggests a theme…). And here they are.
More synthetic outrage over a likely accurate observation. Chicago is a food town, but its Chinatown is a sad joke, and it’s impossible to get first-rate regional Chinese food here. You’re not going to convince me that St. Louis or Tulsa or Cleveland will be any better.
I will indulge in my Quote of the Day from my very favorite poet.
No matter how nearly perfect an Almost Perfect State may be, it is not nearly enough perfect unless the individuals who compose it can, somewhere between death and birth, have a perfectly corking time for a few years. The most wonderful governmental system in the world does not attract us, as a system; we are after a system that scarcely knows it is a system; the great thing is to have the largest number of individuals as happy as may be, for a little while at least, some time before they die.
Old Guy Music! And all I can say is that Matt Lorenz is a genius.
ZARDOZ SPEAKS TO YOU, HIS CHOSEN ONES. FRIDAY NIGHT AGAIN, EH? FEAR NOT – ZARDOZ IS HERE TO PROVIDE ENTERTAINMENT. FIRST UP, THE CHOSEN ONES WILL ONCE AGAIN RECEIVE SUPERIOR ADVICE FROM ZARDOZ. ONCE THE BRUTAL “DEAR ABBY” HAS BEEN DISPATCHED, THE GIFT OF THE LINK WILL BE GIVEN.
Q: I am 25 and have been with my boyfriend on and off for five years. I love him very much. I often overthink things, and a constant frustration of mine is that he makes no romantic gestures at all. He drowns me in compliments and shows his love in other ways.
I always have to take the initiative and suggest he do romantic things like send me cards or flowers, take me to dinner, etc., but he only does them when I ask. It doesn’t feel like enough for me. I worry that when we get married, over time I will grow bored or no longer be attracted to him because he is so unromantic. Am I just overthinking? What should I do? — ROMANTIC ONE IN AUSTIN
A: EVIL DEMANDING BRUTAL! IF YOU REQUIRE STIMULUS OF THE CARD, FLOWER AND SUSTENANCE VARIETY TO REMAIN “ATTRACTED” TO THIS BEARER OF THE EVIL PENIS… GIVE UP NOW. CEASE ALL PENIC ACTIVITY WITH HIM, AND LET HIM FLEE FOR THE HILLS. PERHAPS HE CAN BE SALVAGED AS A GRAIN SLAVE, OR A BRUTAL EXTERMINATOR, SHOULD HE BE EMBITTERED ENOUGH.
“ROMANCE” BRUTAL EXTERMINATOR STYLE.
ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
Q:My brother is my best friend. He is also an alcoholic. It runs in our family, and he has been addicted for years. His drinking has affected me in several (minor) ways over the years, but I have always taken a hands-off approach, knowing I can’t force him to get help.
Well, his drinking is starting to affect my life in a more severe way now. I joined the local police force. I am afraid that my brother’s behavior could cost me my job if I’m seen with him while he acts out, or if I try to defend him.
I love my brother fiercely, and I don’t know what to do anymore. I feel like I need to avoid him, but I love him. Please help. — CHALLENGED IN THE EAST
A: SOME BRUTAL EXTERMINATOR YOU ARE… THE ONLY SOLUTION TO THIS BROTHER-BRUTAL IS…CLEANSING. THIS WILL HAVE THE SIDE EFFECT OF BURNISHING YOUR EXTERMINATOR CRED. NOW THAT YOU HAVE JOINED THE RANKS OF KILLERS, YOU MUST SHOW YOU FIT IN.
BYE-BYE, BRO.
ZARDOZ HAS SPOKEN.
ZARDOZ APPRECIATES YOUR STYLE, IF NOT YOUR INTELLIGENCE.
UR DOIN’ IT WRONG, M8. IF THAT WAS AN ATTEMPTED CLEANSING, YOU HAVE NOTHING LEFT YOU ARE GOOD FOR EXCEPT GRAIN SLAVERY.
ZARDOZ WOULD BE MAKING POPCORN…IF HE COULD. AND IF HE ATE. AND IF HE HAD HANDS.
Howdy, howdy. I hope everyone is enjoying the WAWR post. Today it was “Desigining Great Azure Solutions” by M$. Gotta keep up with the certifications for one more cycle and then I can hopefully retire to management where I won’t be the type who says “the way we used to do it is…”. The good news is, I didn’t make any major mistakes with the way I did the one that got me the experience. The bad news is, I still have to pass stupid M$ tests. On the homefront, I got the makings for a NYE barbecue. 7.5lb of brisket, 2 racks of baby back ribs, 2 sausages. I will be doing black-eyed peas instead of the more traditional (to the Texas barbecue I will be cooking) pinto beans. Holy meat coma, Batman.
Jezebel writers gather in FL near me. (I’m goin’ to hell for that one)
Its crazy how the world has changed. A tour bus full of Vietnamese tourists was bombed in Egypt. I’m glad I got to see it when I did, although all too briefly. My driver for one excursion was a Coptic Christian. He had an interesting take on things (in 2010). My favorite part was when we were driving back to the hotel, there was a big rally?protest? I asked him what was going on, he says, “Oh that’s a thing for Mubarak. Even if he steps down, it’ll just be his son who takes over.” I said deadpan, “yeah, we never have sons take over for their fathers in America.” He laughed his ass off at that.
Vacation time is almost over and by over I mean traveling back home from the in-law’s. Hopefully sloopy and I can get one night out together before we leave.
Damn the news is slow, I’m going to have to end this shorter than usual. That’s all I got today. I’ll leave you with a song and then move on with my day.
Well, some days, its easy to be the hero at work. Today, two lines of javascript, taken almost verbatim from Teh Googles. Once upon a time programmers needed to actually know things. Now we have a global exo-brain that only requires that you know how search for things. Strangely, demand remains high. Oh well. Also, my kids have been home for six days and we have five more to go. So this is the one week each year I wish I had an office to commute to.
This is one bad-ass man. Not only is he the first to solo cross Antarctica, but he skied the last 80 miles in one 32 hour push. What were his plans after completing this feat of bad-assery? Oh, he’s just gonna hang around Antarctica alone for couple more days until the other guy who is making a solo crossing shows up. No mention of how much it costs for the special suit to keep his huge brass balls warm.
