One of the things I really regret about not having a second child was missing the whole second-kid experience, from the neglected baby book right on through the casual attitude toward the necessity of properly supportive infant footwear and software that will develop a child’s “mouse skills” on the computer. (Both representing products someone tried to sell me during Kate’s infancy.) Even though I caught on early to this racket, I still feel like I flushed many dollars down the drain for no good reason, and I have the Infant Sleep Wedge to show for it. When you’re a parent, someone is always trying to sell you something. I looked forward to smiling and saying, “No sale.”
In this case, a little more is called for than just a flap of the hand. “Psycho” violins, maybe:
As a fitness coach in Grand Rapids, Mich., Doreen Bolhuis has a passion for developing exercises for children. The younger, it seems, the better. “With the babies in our family,” she said, “I start working them out in the hospital.”
What an amazing country we live in. I’d chase this woman away from my house with a gun, but she has identified a market niche, and is making a killing. Not only that, she’s killing childhood. And she’s being rewarded with flattering publicity. Sure, there are sports doctors and child-development experts in there disapproving, but she won’t read them, and even if she did, they won’t matter. Her business was just launched like a rocket. Her next brand extension will be fetal workouts, some simple manipulations done by mom, coupled with the soundtrack of NFL films piped in through belly speakers.
Today, half my Facebook friends have informed me, is Pay it Forward Day. Well, I’m doing my best.
I was reminded of the lasting power of the country’s rapidly dwindling major-newspaper presence last week, when I wrote a piece for my other website on John Durant, urban caveman. He was featured in a Sunday Styles section last January, another ridiculous trend story, joining the ranks of the Man Date and the Great Unwashed. Being featured in a story like that is like being hit by a freight train full of money, and he got extraordinarily lucky, landing on Stephen Colbert’s show as well. Now he has a book deal, with an advance “big enough to live on” (in Manhattan), and a burgeoning career as a lifestyle guru, with a lifestyle that essentially boils down to low-carb eating, interval training and barefoot running, with, admittedly, some thoughtful consideration of how our bodies evolved and what they’re adapted for. Still. I think it’s pretty obvious that stepping into that diorama at the Museum of Natural History for a dumb picture was the smartest thing he ever did. And he graduated from Harvard. So there.
Mama’s feeling a little testy this morning. Need more coffee.
People who are making me testy, coffee or no:
John Conyers. The conventional wisdom around here is that the venerable (81) congressman took a wife (Monica, currently imprisoned) late in life to quash persistent rumors about his sexuality, and that he is otherwise a saint, but I’m sorry, just because your kids came as add-ons to the deal doesn’t absolve you of any responsibility for them. And what the–? His personal, taxpayer-paid vehicle is a Cadillac Escalade? I believe in supporting the home team, but show a little restraint, man. You can tell how widespread the conventional wisdom is by all the snark in comments about the fruit not falling far from the tree.
Glenn Beck. He opposes the new food-safety law because he senses, yes, another government plot, “to raise the price of meat and convert more consumers to vegetarianism.” If he stuck to clowning it would be one thing, but…
Maybe a shift to the pleasing? OK:
One of these days, we’ll say the best journalism about the Great Recession was done by second-tier cable reality shows. Thanks, Hank, for this review of “Storage Wars,” which I think I’m going to have to watch.
This is very cool: Deconstructing “Gimme Shelter.” Of course, it doesn’t explain how, exactly, they unwound the individual audio tracks on the Stones classic, but it’s fun to listen to, especially Keith Richards’ part. Fun fact to know and tell: As I was 12 when this record was released, I believe I heard the Merry Clayton cover that came out a year later, first. For some reason it was played on Top 40 radio, briefly, and the Stones’ version only went on the prog-rock station. A great, respectful cover, but like the song says, the original is still the greatest.
Off to Wayne State. Feeling less testy after two cups of coffee. Better have a third.
Pam said on December 1, 2010 at 10:22 am
Have you seen the Jon Stewart show about how Glenn Beck is ruining Fox? It’s very funny. While watching it, I thought “Yes! Jon Stewart has the power to overthrow the Beckster! Keep up the good work!” I guess I’ll have to write him to make sure he keeps applying the pressure. Jon Stewart is so important to us, isn’t he?
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Harrison said on December 1, 2010 at 10:22 am
Thanks for posting the deconstruction of Gimme Shelter, Nancy. I was a in high school when the album Let It Bleed came out. I played the hell out of it, and it was my favorite rock album until Who’s Next came out two years later.
The opening is spooky. After all these years, it can bring goosebumps to my arms.
It was a great song to open an album, and You Can’t Always Get What You Want Is a great song to close it.
And I remember hearing a version of the song by Grand Funk Railroad. I kid you not.
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prospero said on December 1, 2010 at 10:35 am
The baby-training produces freaks and anomalies like nine-year-old gymnasts and Todd Marinovich, with cautionary tales for adulthoods.
This is the latest installment in a superb Civil War series running in NYT. Very well done.
Spinmaster Bill. Pinhead? I believe so.
Rupert makesmore money from the Simpsons 1/2 hourSundays than from a week of O’Reilly’s maddog drooling every day of the week. Good luck, falafel fondler.
The unlikely duo of Keith Urban and Alicia Keys did a cover of Gimme Shelter at some save the earth benefit, with a few apt lyrics alterations. I know the guy is supposed to be a country singer, but he can shred. There’s one word for this song–ominous- and the riff has got Satisfaction beat all to hell. The only Stones song more full of foreboding is Sway.
Fairly great Patti Smith and Lenny Kaye version, that sound’s like my brother and me in our HS band.
And, a real treat, Detroit’s own Mitch Ryder (I think with the Detroit album band) blows the song to smithereens.
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LAMary said on December 1, 2010 at 11:00 am
How did you miss this?
http://gawker.com/5702580/maureen-dowd-saves-world-in-sexy-lingerie-in-comic-book
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Peter said on December 1, 2010 at 11:00 am
Pam, Louis Black was on Stewart’s show once doing a takedown on Beck and it was pee in your pants funny – I still remember him screaming that Beck shows more footage of Nazi rallies than The History Channel.
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Jeff Borden said on December 1, 2010 at 11:02 am
Oh, how I love Republicans. As the holidays approach, as winter begins to bite down hard on much of the nation, as the jobless recovery continues to inch along, they are opposing another extension of unemployment benefits.
It’s all in the name of fiscal responsibility, of course, as is their desire to make sure Paris Hilton’s tax rates stay low by extending the Bush tax cuts.
This is no longer a political party. It’s a bunch of sadistic nihilists who take pleasure in the pain and suffering of others.
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Deborah said on December 1, 2010 at 11:04 am
I think I’ll pass on Storage Wars. I happened upon Hoarders a couple of nights ago while channel flipping and my lord that was depressing. I couldn’t keep from watching once I started, like a car wreck. It was awful.
By the way I’m not about to attempt italicizing the names of the TV shows. Last time I attempted italics here was a fiasco.
Not being very mobile because of my fractured foot has put me in a slump. Not being able to walk has effected everything, my sleep, my skin tone, my digestive system, my mood, even my hair (dried out). I may have to try different eating habits, but I’m not sure I’m ready for the low carb diet promoted by the urban caveman. I’m all about carbs, like bread and pasta. Also, did anyone read the New Yorker article last week or two ago about fermented foods, like sour-kraut? I actually like sour-kraut, I used to watch my grandfather make it on his farm with no in-house plumbing. But some of the other stuff described in the article was truly horrifying.
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LAMary said on December 1, 2010 at 11:08 am
I caught a show a few weeks ago, I think on the RFD channel, called Hillbilly Hand Fishing. How could I not watch a show with that title? I keep looking for it to show again and I can’t find it. My sons think I hallucinated it.
Just googled it and it’s on Animal Planet. The next episode is on the 9th so I need to note that on my calendar.
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Rana said on December 1, 2010 at 11:21 am
Between moderating a minimalist footwear forum and having many friends in the nature-hiking-philosophy overlap, it’s hard for me to escape various discussions of human animality and what lifestyle choices should go along with it. I think the best take on the whole neo-paleo thing is the piece linked below; the guy writing it tends to favor a balanced approach to the whole thing.
http://blog.exuberantanimal.com/welcome-to-the-neo-paleo/
What I’m waiting for, in the Style Section, is for someone to write about people who go without artificial light at night. Judging by the chatter in the above-mentioned cohorts, this is a big New Thing. I have to admit I’ve been playing around with it myself, and there does seem to be something to it. Keeping the house dim after sunset makes it a lot easier for me to go to bed at a reasonable hour, and getting up is easier too. Strange, but true. (More links at my blog; scroll down to see the links and skip the self-indulgent handwriting exercise.)
Also, on the hipster trend front, I’m intrigued to see that whimsical mustaches and birds are still big, and that they are now being joined by a fascination with matroshki dolls. I figure it won’t be too long before someone comes up with a hemp messenger bag embroidered with mustache-wearing matroshki-doll birds.
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nancy said on December 1, 2010 at 11:22 am
Wow, Mary. I don’t know how I missed that, either.
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Connie said on December 1, 2010 at 11:41 am
LAMary, noting on your calendar is so yesterday. Schedule a recording on your DVR/TIVO instead.
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Connie said on December 1, 2010 at 11:44 am
The “Storage Wars” review makes it sound like everything is junk. Remember though, that someone once bought most of Martin Luther King’s papers in one of those storage auctions.
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nancy said on December 1, 2010 at 11:49 am
Not only that, someone also found Paris Hilton’s medical records and Valtrex prescription in one. How that girl continues to function in the modern world escapes me. She lost her stuff because she didn’t pay the bill. Her house was burgled because she keeps her key under the front doormat. She must be brain-damaged.
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Connie said on December 1, 2010 at 11:51 am
I took Valtrex for a while some years ago in an effort to put a stop to recurring attacks of shingles. It worked. So Valtrex doesn’t always mean genital herpes. Although in Paris’ case……
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LAMary said on December 1, 2010 at 11:51 am
I would have to own a DVR/Tivo to do that. I have a 15 year old television. It encourages the kids to go do something better than rot in front of the tube. I don’t see any upgrades coming in the near future so they will just have to keep finding stuff to do.
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coozledad said on December 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Tbogg already put this up, but it bears repeating. This is how one addresses Paris Hilton:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCHaUPDf1go
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Julie Robinson said on December 1, 2010 at 12:08 pm
No need to watch Storage Wars here, I lived it when I moved my sister and cleaned out her apartment. There was box after box full of crap that had been invaded by the south Florida trifecta of heat, humidity, and monster bugs. Nothing of any value except a few family photos, which were generally damaged beyond repair.
But here’s a really sad story about a storage war in today’s news: http://www.jg.net/article/20101201/LOCAL12/312019976. After Marine Jeannette Winters was KIA in 2002, her military medals and other items were put in a storage unit since her father’s home in Gary had been broken into during her funeral. Dad had a stroke and missed making the payments, and now the person who bought the items is refusing to give them to the family. Talk about a sleazebag.
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4dbirds said on December 1, 2010 at 12:11 pm
I put the people who buy lapsed storage units on the same level as tow truck companies. Dregs of society feeding off those worse off.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 1, 2010 at 12:23 pm
We started neglecting the baby book with the first child; I hope we didn’t skip a step.
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beb said on December 1, 2010 at 12:29 pm
My daughter not only watches Hoards, she’s go to “on Demand” to watch episodes she’s already watched. She also like Intervention and the TLC rip-off Hoards: Buried in Life.
Storage Wars, though, sounds more like American Pickers or Pawn Wars in which people look for silk purses in piles of pigs ears. Hoarders is about the collapse of people’s lives, when Pawn Wars is about the eternal treasure hunt.
The problem is John Conyers is that if he just wanted a Beard I’m sure how could have found someone quiet and demure but instead he picked the psycho bitch from hell w/ son. It reflects badly on Conyers’ wisdom.
I came across an interesting post on Slashdot.org about Project Gutenburg. For the last several years they have been reprinting SF from by the 50s and early 60s by name author with the statement that after a vigorous search no evidence of copyright renewal had been found. Apparently Greg Bear, author and son-in-law of author Poul Anderson objects, claiming that they have been “kidnapping” stories that aren’t in the public domain, reprinting stories by living authors, no less. Of course the only case they discuss involves one of Anderson’s stories published in a magazine in 1953 and reprinted as part of a novel a year or two later. Bear argues that the later reprinting of the story as part of a novel, a novel with a different title, supersedes the magazine’s copyright. However there is no settled law on this issue. magazine serial rights have always been distinct from book rights. The story was published as an independent story. So I would think that as long as Gutenburg is clear that they are reprinting from the magazine, I think they are in the clear.
Of course there are other questions. Bear appears to be speaking for a large number of authors, but what standing does he have to speak in their defense. And this has been going on for several years now. So why does Bear object now?
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Peter said on December 1, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Julie, the Tribune has updated the article – it seems Mr. Sleaze has been shamed into changing his mind. My problem is that the family didn’t contact this guy at all about the material until yesterday, although he’s had it for four years. It only came to light when the guy contacted a charity that’s opening a homeless shelter for women vet’s; the charity offered $1000 and 12 Bears tickets and he said not good enough.
That Maureen Dowd comic? eeeuwww.
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prospero said on December 1, 2010 at 12:54 pm
Right direction 4dbirds, but I’d say about half a rung up from payday and car title loan outfits operating outside of US military bases.
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Hattie said on December 1, 2010 at 1:24 pm
I think those white people are reallyreally boring. They are trying to get a life but can’t quite figure it out. There are legions of these fools around. I mean, we all do stuff. Big deal.
And I can’t listen to music much any more since I’m hard of hearing. I used to love the Rolling Stones but these days it’s all noise to me.
Grumble grumble.
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MichaelG said on December 1, 2010 at 1:30 pm
Hillbilly Hand Fishing, Mary? Sounds like some secret ritual that takes place out behind the Pastor’s out house.
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LAMary said on December 1, 2010 at 1:35 pm
The title draws you in. It seemed to be mostly about wading around in very muddy water.
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coozledad said on December 1, 2010 at 1:44 pm
This got me listening to the Stones again. It’s probably the only time I’ve felt a twinge of remorse for Mick:
http://powerpop.blogspot.com/search?q=start+me+up
(Sorry, Nancy, I’ve posted this here before. It speaks directly to my inner twelve year old)
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prospero said on December 1, 2010 at 2:21 pm
Practitioners of hand fishing call it noodling. You reach your blubbery redneck arm as far as you can into natural recesses and crevices along river banks and let 50 lb. catfish chomp on your wrist. Much PBR, or maybe Four Loko these days, is consumed, and the water swirls with Redman expectorant. Both males and females take part, but obesity, inebriation and chaw are universal. And, the more blood, the more hilarious the outcome.
It’s an incredibly stupid practice, because catfish nest in holes in riverine walls, so these drunkard crackers and inbred Appalachians and Ozarkians are actually depleting one of their own truly disgusting Major Food Groups by interrupting spawning.
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Dorothy said on December 1, 2010 at 2:34 pm
Couldn’t they just use one hand to locate the fish and then swoop in with a large net to bag the fish? Oh wait that would take some degree of thought. I forgot the demographic there for a minute.
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LAMary said on December 1, 2010 at 2:38 pm
You need to watch the show, Dorothy. Prospero is on the right track.
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Dexter said on December 1, 2010 at 2:48 pm
I am so glad I played the Stones iso thang before ABKCO nixed it.
My fave album , all-time, is Let It Bleed, so this was right up my alley.
Wow, those vocals as well as Keef’s guitar made this a wonder to hear.
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brian stouder said on December 1, 2010 at 3:39 pm
The classy version of “hand fishing” would be Cary Grant and Leslie Caron in Father Goose (a truly wonderful movie, btw), although there it is in fairly clear salt water in a lagoon on a South Pacific island during the second world war.
Grant is instructing Caron in the art of hand fishing, and he says something like“when she comes to you, flip her right out of the water”, whereupon Caron asks how he knows the fish is a female, whereupon Grant looks at her with disdain and says – “because her mouth is open!”
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moe99 said on December 1, 2010 at 3:41 pm
When you have one child, you can double team him or her. Two children? Man to man defense. Three? You move to (a very porous) zone defense. I have holes in my memory of those days, which is probably a good thing.
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Bitter Scribe said on December 1, 2010 at 6:06 pm
moe99: My neighbors across the hall have five, all under age 8. In a three-bedroom condo. What kind of defense should they play? Kamikaze?
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prospero said on December 1, 2010 at 6:07 pm
When you have one child, you can hope she will oppose authority. You can hope she thinks for herself. You can hope shelltell people to fuck themselves at least as smart as you and her mother are. When my dad was talking about how people reacted. He figured everybody wanted the best outcome. He was a Catholic and believed in continuation of life. Nobody k ows better than somebody that knew ahead of time.
If it is not clear that those that insist on the birth are the exact same despicable bastards that think the baby is a bastard and worthy of opprobrium, sorry, but these people are absolute scum. They can’t claim it’s biblical. Funny thing, it’s an absolutely alice cooper.
I had the one kid. We were parents Not really. I was always responsible, even ewhrn I thought that was heinous.
tell you the truth. First time her mom ever approached me, it was ’67 and Alice. Gueas what you fucking moron. Give it a run. You qre qn qwh0l3 5hq5 lied like it was going out of school. You lied your ass off/
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Bitter Scribe said on December 1, 2010 at 6:07 pm
And I’d like to introduce Glenn Beck to the loved ones of some of the people who have died from tainted food. Does this guy actually believe his own crap?
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Bitter Scribe said on December 1, 2010 at 6:09 pm
prospero: Put a little more water in it next time.
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prospero said on December 1, 2010 at 6:35 pm
YOU QRE SQYINF n’6n c9n34 w44.nYou qre q k78ht wqx 9rn wy85.
aAArw you afducking moron?Had it with these moronGlenn Beck? .He makes thisbizarrw shit, he’s nuts and he 3qn5w 50 fuck 0v34 5y3 c97n546/ )f ypimddpm’5 5yhino4y8w, 697nq43 qnb9e905
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prospero said on December 1, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Who ar3 5h3w3 q43 c499i, Ho sure shit. %h3w3 q43 w8qr7qq48bfoi56 q843
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Harrison said on December 1, 2010 at 7:02 pm
well, prospero, if you insist. are your revels now ended? and is that such stuff
as dreams are made on? seems more like nightmares to me.
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prospero said on December 1, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Are you so stupid youd blame me?
5y343[wm n lookk me, if you don;t getHANK
dokworth, you are an idiot.
and amd you have ti be what everybottuft ri,
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prospero said on December 1, 2010 at 7:25 pm
When you have one child, you can hope she will oppose authority. You can hope she thinks for herself. You can hope shelltell people to fuck themselves at least as smart as you and her mother are. When my dad was talking about how people reacted. He figured everybody wanted the best outcome. He was a Catholic and believed in continuation of life. Nobody k ows better than somebody that knew ahead of time.
If it is not clear that those that insist on the birth are the exact same despicable bastards that think the baby is a bastard and worthy of opprobrium, sorry, but these people are absolute scum. They can’ Major lieague liar.t claim it’s biblical. Funny thing, it’s an absolutely alice cooper.
I had the one kid. We were parents Not really. I was always responsible, even ewhrn I thought that was heinous.
tell you the truth. First time her mom ever approached me, it was ’67 and Alice. Gueas what you fucking moron. Give it a run. You qre qn qwh0l3 5hq5 lied like it was going out of school. You lied your ass off/
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 1, 2010 at 7:25 pm
I can see how “5y343” is “there” on the QWERTY keyboard; perhaps the problem is touchtyping while working in low light conditions. It’s the fault of those darn CFL bulbs. Get the man an incandescent!
Never mastered touch, I still have to look at the keyboard. Not as much as I did before computers, but just about every third word.
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LAMary said on December 1, 2010 at 8:57 pm
CFL bulbs bug me. I have asked for a non CFL reading lamp for Christmas. I think I have a problem with fluorescent bulbs as a light source for stuff like reading or threading needles. I already have reading glasses so it’s not just that I’m ancient.
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Deborah said on December 1, 2010 at 9:00 pm
OK then moving on. My husband and I listened to the isolated tracks of Gimme Shelter just now and it is amazing to listen to. And you’re right Nancy especially the Keith Richards track. I finished his book, the last 50 or 75 pages were painful but the rest was pretty darn entertaining and informative, especially when he got into the nitty gritty of the music. At first I thought it was boring but then I was captivated.
What a great era, I’m glad I lived through it at an age when it was motivating to me. I ask you what is the equivalent today?
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Connie said on December 1, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Well Deborah I must still be in the boring part. Although the Stones are just getting started.
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Deborah said on December 1, 2010 at 9:34 pm
Connie, it is off and on, admittedly, but the part where he describes his early musical philosophy about the blues was mind boggling to me. It’s what I’ve been thinking about design, my bailiwick for awhile. That it’s more about the body than the mind.
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brian stouder said on December 1, 2010 at 9:38 pm
I ask you what is the equivalent today?
Pearl Jam, baby!
‘Course, they’re not all that new, anymore.
I’ll tell you one newer group that captivates me – Florence and the Machine. Superb, superb
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Deborah said on December 1, 2010 at 9:53 pm
Brian, while i appreciate pearl jam I don’t see the same complexity.
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Little Bird said on December 1, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Deborah, Nirvana. They were pretty good. Short lived, but good. And ushered in a new genre of music.
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brian stouder said on December 1, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Yes – Eddie and Jeff and Stone over there at Pearl Jam owe an incalculable debt to Kurt and that other guy at Nirvana; that was all good stuff.
I am not equipped to discuss complexity or whatever else, with regard to grunge; but I liked it (even though it was only grunge).
I suspect that folks who liked the Rolling Stones back in the day would say the same (while original Beatles fans would scoff!).
My nickel opinion is – it’s just like people who love wine. Aficionados can (and certainly will) seek out and explore all sorts of complexities and subtleties – which are utterly lost upon me (and which may indeed be observer-created, but we digress)
But I will say, rack up Eddie Vedder’s cover of Last Kiss – and I will sit in rapt attention to every nuance (even as Eddie himself quipped that Pearl Jam always seems to do well with songs about dead teenagers)
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Deborah said on December 1, 2010 at 10:50 pm
I’m all for nirvana and pearl jam but my question still remains what is the equivalent today?
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 1, 2010 at 11:13 pm
Nirvana and Pearl Jam on your iPhone.
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prospero said on December 2, 2010 at 12:10 am
Nancy, I posted those Grande links a long time ago, and I appreciate your revisiting. Since you brought up the Stones, it is kind of spectacular that in all of that nobody ever mentioned Mick Taylor. To me, the deal with the Stones is just that evil eye, got me in its sway. And that innocent was in a bad situation. I saw him play this, and I think crediting this guitar solo to keith is absolute horseshit. I saw an amazing performance of Sympathy for the Devil at Joe Louis Stadium. Whatever they say. It’s wierd. TIt’s like the best guitar player in the history of the Stones just never exiated,
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Dexter said on December 2, 2010 at 12:40 am
I agree with LA Mary; I prefer incandescent light bulbs and I won’t even buy a cheap HiDef teevee until my old ones conk out, which I believe will come soon enough. And if Fran Lebowitz can drive a 1978 Checker Marathon car (she bought it new when she had her book published and had money for the first time) , I can drive my old Pontiac van until it dies, too.
I always day-dream of living in New York but I know I’d complain a lot if I had to pay $1800 to $3600 a year to park in a garage.
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prospero said on December 2, 2010 at 1:39 am
Dweter, incandescents are not better light bulbs. Not in about a million years. It’s a scientific fact, pretty much. Sometimes hard facts actually rule. Tax cuts for rich people do not,ever, produce jobs. This is an immutable fact, but assholes will try to to tell you this isn;t true while they reap profits from tax profits that will not benefit the economy.
These assholes are robbe-=barrons. How is it that the great unwashed champion the party of privilege? Do they think they’re getting a portion? It is difficult to believe anybosy is that stupid, These people are being screwed over big time. If that’s escaped them. they are too stupid to be allowed to vote.
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prospero said on December 2, 2010 at 1:55 am
Dweter, incandescents are not better light bulbs. Not in about a million years. It’s a scientific fact, pretty much. Sometimes hard facts actually rule. Tax cuts for rich people do not,ever, produce jobs. This is an immutable fact, but assholes will try to to tell you this isn;t true while they reap profits from tax profits that will not benefit the economy.
These assholes are robber-=barrons. How is it that the great unwashed champion the party of privilege? Do they think they’re getting a portion? It is difficult to believe anybosy is that stupid, These people are being screwed over big time. If that’s escaped them. they are too stupid to be allowed to vote.
How do the Tea=baggers and the great unwahed of the Republican party think that John Boehner or Kyl or Ensign or that whackjob from SC that depended on the Appalachian Trail, you know, that guy But you know, Ensign How about all of those gifts to his campaign friends from his mom and dad? Shit. That wasn’t suspicious ar all. Rangel” Well, McConell did the exact same thing, for way bigger cash. That is a facts.
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prospero said on December 2, 2010 at 2:55 am
Sorry for the oiuble-post But that thing that is so heinous Rangle did with CCNY or whatevever, Mitch McConnell did esactly the same thing at Louisville. Ecactly, but for a spectacular larger amount of cash. Guess that’s OK in the Senate but not in the House. Pleasesome Republican asshole, esplain to me how there’s a difference. There isn’t.
Now Rangel’s rent controlled propertkes? What about CStreet? Do these hypocrites really want to bring this shit up? That’s not rent-control, that’s some special interests paying rent for these assholes.
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Deborah said on December 2, 2010 at 5:31 am
Dexter, we pay about $1,500 per year to park our car in our building and we rarely drive. And that’s a bargain compared to other buildings around here. One place we looked at wanted $275 per month. In our building attendants park your car for you. And we tip them.
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Julie Robinson said on December 2, 2010 at 8:11 am
I could ask my hipster daughter but I know she’s been raving recently about Mumford & Sons. Most of the time I’ve never heard of the groups she listens to, but then, after Simon & Garfunkel I haven’t followed any popular music.
Hate! Hate! Hate! the CFL bulbs. We have them all over the house for energy saving but not by my reading chair. Their yellowy tone makes my eyes jump around. I already can’t read without three lights on around me. But start hoarding incandescents because they are being phased out of production.
Wow–just read this and realized I have truly become an old fart.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 2, 2010 at 8:22 am
No low-flush toilets! No low-flush toilets!
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brian stouder said on December 2, 2010 at 8:27 am
Agreed on the lights and the toilets. (Imagine being stuck in a bathroom with a low-flush toilet, CFL illumination, and an out-of-date Newsweek. Ahhhhhh!!!)
So before the holiday, the strange and interesting David Lynch movie Mulholland Drive came up in the comments hereabouts, and then this Hollywood agent/murder/investigation/suicide-still unfolding tale springs into the news. Hollywood is a strange world, indeed.
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nancy said on December 2, 2010 at 8:38 am
I’ll take the devil’s side on the toilets. Alan installed one in one of our bathrooms last year, and I haven’t had a single complaint. My sister also put one in during a remodel, and feels the same way. I think it was Peter, our architect here, who said the problems with early generations have been worked out. I believe his words were, “I have sent some real depth charges down there, and it’s handled everything just fine.” As a refined lady I won’t belch and say, “Fuckin’ A,” but that’s what I’m thinking.
The best part about them? They refill SO FAST. In the middle of the night, you don’t need your plumbing singing for three minutes. Thirty seconds is plenty.
Hate CFL bulbs. I’m holding out for tunable, color-balanced LEDs. If anyone’s feeling generous, the blogger’s wish-list lamp is now below $400.
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Mark P. said on December 2, 2010 at 8:46 am
Yeah, low-volume flush toilets work fine and have been doing so for at least five years. That’s about when I put them in our new house, and we have had no problems at all. The main problem with them around my area is the idiots who renovate and then throw their old toilets off the side of the road. These are the same primates who believe they are superior to chimps.
CLFs are stop-gaps. I am not sold on all of their advantages. They work well and last longer in some places but not in others. LEDs? Maybe. They have advantages and disadvantages, too.
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basset said on December 2, 2010 at 8:54 am
Prospero, you can’t just take whatever you’re doing randomly… you have to craft your buzz, consider the power and effects of the various compounds and combine them wisely. Think of it as medication.
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Pam said on December 2, 2010 at 9:05 am
Jeff, we are remodeling our half bath, er refreshing our half bath. We spent the morning on the Toto web site comparing the benefits of low flow toilets with SaniGloss and PowerFlush. Although on the former, I thought my husband said we should get a SaniClaus toilet and I died laughing. They even offer a toilet seat with a built in butt washer for a mere $1400. How is that saving water? So much toilet technology is out there! The decision making process is now very complex, not just picking the right color.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on December 2, 2010 at 9:08 am
That’s the problem — ours date to the build, so they’re 11 years old. I have heard they’ve improved the design in newer LFTs as my contractor buds call ’em. My young son constantly clogs ours, and more I will not say.
Except that there’s a plunger in both bathrooms. We’re well off enough to own two, even if not in the market for new commodes.
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Connie said on December 2, 2010 at 9:33 am
Spectator’s Bar and Restaurant in Saugatuck has the butt washer/dryer toilet in the women’s handicapped stall, and we stand in line to use it even though the other stalls are vacant. Among your options are front wash, rear wash, and blow dry. There is a big ad about how you can get your own on the inside of the door.
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coozledad said on December 2, 2010 at 9:48 am
The creek behind our house is filled with smooth stones suitable for butt-cleaning. Whenever I find traces of Occanechi hunting encampments I usually find a few of these butt-rocks, too. I’m under the impression a lot of the world still uses this method.
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Jolene said on December 2, 2010 at 11:09 am
Have been watching the DADT hearings on C-SPAN. Have to say that I am taking a certain evil pleasure in seeing John McCain squirm as the tide turns against him. James Webb, my fairly conservative (former Marine, former Secretary of the Navy) Democratic senator, complimented Jeh Johnson, the DoD General Counsel, and Gen. Ham on the quality and thoroughness of the study. Would be a great signal to the Marines, which is where resistance is highest, if he votes yes, as he is, I believe, still very respected as a man of arms.
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