When it comes to Mitch Albom columns, I’m getting harder to impress. I’ve become numb to week after week of hastily dashed-off I-was-just-thinkin’ or join-me-in-my-outrage-over-something-dumb or weren’t-the-good-ol’-days great, etc. I believe it’s been three consecutive Sundays that he’s been peeved about something having to do with the Internet, because the Internet is baaaad.
Sunday’s column, however, was beyond the pale. Couched as a ringing defense of celebrity privacy, pegged to Tigers first baseman Prince Fielder’s recently revealed divorce filing, it is positively Grandpa-Simpsonian, whining about “Internet morsels” and “cyberspace monsters” and how-dare-we (which is to say, you), and a truly bizarre section about the abuse of the Freedom of Information Act, which is weird, as the mere fact of looking up a person’s divorce filing has nothing to do with FOIA. You just go down to the courthouse and check the file. Never mind the irony of a guy who’s invoked his status as a professional journalist (as opposed to those wicked bloggers) who went to professional journalist school not knowing this.
But never mind all that. I read it and decided to just let it all go, or at least wait and see if I still thought he was full of shit after I went for a long bike ride. Fortunately, by the time I got back — 22 miles — someone else had taken it on. Very satisfying takedown. I’m glad he could do it, because 22 miles in the direct sun takes it out of you. Although I felt so good that I sprinted the last half-mile or so home. The pavement on my last leg was like glass, and I just felt like it. The app on my phone said I hit 19 mph. Take that, Lance Armstrong.
What a glorious weekend it was. Lovely weather, not too hot or cold, sunshine all the way. I failed to mow the lawn, but it’s stopped growing anyway. August. The driveway is covered with acorns, the markets are tumbling with peaches and tomatoes, and the light is coming in at a new angle. I want to enjoy every final minute.
So, bloggage:
I know lots of people run hot and cold on Bill Simmons, but when he gets rolling, I’m there for every word (if I understand what he’s talking about). His examination of a Showtime documentary on the Eagles is a great specimen. If you grew up in the ’70s, you will like it. Whether or not you like the Eagles.
Guess what I made for dinner last night? Corn and tomato pie. With a biscuit crust. Yum.
annie said on August 19, 2013 at 2:50 am
What a good writer Bill Simmons is! That piece on the Eagles documentary was so clever & laugh-out-loud funny. Even tho it was over-the-top from a male perspective, I enjoyed it tremendously.
196 chars
Dexter said on August 19, 2013 at 3:09 am
The Grantland article is too long to read this time of morning, but I’ll tackle it later. I have been hearing a helluva lotta chatter on satellite radio about this doc, but I am also a Time Warner Cable subber and as you know, Showtime and TMC have been pulled to punish us as TWC and CBS fight out their problems. I keep hearing the same thing, even if you hated the Eagles, watch this doc. I did not like the part about how Joe Walsh was paid a relative pittance , but he took the gigs because it was more than he could earn out on the road solo or with some lesser-known dudes.
The Prince Fielder story is none of my business. I have no interest in these athletes’ love and family lives, as they wouldn’t want us to be so concerned about them. I do enjoy watching Prince and Miggy crush homers like they did Sunday.
It did make me sad a couple years ago when the videos were released of Miguel Cabrera drunk , cuff-tied in a cop car in Florida. That I was concerned about, but nobody asked for my help, so that’s that.
Sports…a friend told a story once about when he was a kid playing baseball with neighborhood kids in a vacant lot in Philadelphia. An old grandma marched her fat grandson down to that lot and told those boys that they could only keep playing on her lot if lardass could play. “No problem, ma’am.”
As soon as granny was out of sight those boys beat the hell out of that fat kid. And that reminds me of what happened last night in Boston. Red Sox pitcher Ryan Dempster stuck one in A-Rod’s ribs, to the howling delight of the Fenway crowd. A-Rod is the most hated man in sports, playing on appeal, waiting a super-long PED suspension which may end his career. He’s a world-class scumbag, yeah. And I felt sorry for him as if he was being bullied! He’s like a snitch in jail, a man in the spotlight , so hated by everyone it just makes me sick. I think he just should have retired. This is a joke. http://theinterrobang.com/2013/08/a-rod-hit-by-pitch-against-the-red-sox-girardi-gets-ejected/
2036 chars
Brandon said on August 19, 2013 at 3:52 am
From last thread:
Brandon said on August 16, 2013 at 1:58 am
Today is also the fifty-fifth birthday of the most famous Michigander in the world, Madonna.
So no comments? All right. But I had to point out not just that it was Madonna’s birthday, but, considering this is a Michigan-centric blog, that she is the most famous Michigander in the world.
364 chars
Dave said on August 19, 2013 at 5:33 am
Dexter, don’t feel sorry for Joe Walsh, Don Felder, in his book, says Joe Walsh was content to work for wages and be an Eagle, that he had discovered that trying to be a big solo star was a whole lot of work. Felder also hates Henley and Frey.
244 chars
ROGirl said on August 19, 2013 at 6:39 am
Takedowns of the Eagles are always entertaining. Just put a camera and microphone in front of them and you have the whiny, petulant, egotastic reality of their collective existence. They are nothing if not predictable. Rolling Stone covered it starting in the 1970’s, and now a new generation can experience it.
311 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on August 19, 2013 at 7:38 am
Albom doesn’t have either the time, the discipline, or the self-critical awareness to get to the end of 700 words or so, re-read it, and go “Eh” and start over. He’s working in a think-out-loud manner on a topic that is of interest to most folks from some angle or another — how much do we really have a right to know about a public figure? I don’t think he confuses public records, he’s ineptly trying to slide between what we can know versus what should be made a subject of public conversation.
But as the Proprietor has already said, he winds up just sounding “get-off-my-lawnish.” If he’d gotten to the end, re-read, and said “Well, that comes across whiny, and doesn’t go anywhere worth spending eight column inches on,” he might have had a second draft worth calling a column where he could have asked us to consider the distance between what we can know (legally, electronically, officially) and what it means to actually know someone. The illusion of intimacy is one of the real hazards of getting sucked into celebrity culture . . . and Simmons riffs on this subject repeatedly, at length, especially about Don Henley. We think we know his essence well (supremely arrogant musician with incredible talent and poor impulse control), and then he picks up on a note that indicates that maybe we don’t.
My columns are worst when I don’t re-write, but just blaze it off and send it in. The fact that once in a while one of those are good doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to make it a habit. I’m betting Albom has organized his life so that he doesn’t know any other way to operate, and two hours before deadline he sits down and bangs it out, and hits “send.”
1668 chars
alex said on August 19, 2013 at 7:39 am
Brandon, Madonna makes people think of England.
47 chars
Deggjr said on August 19, 2013 at 7:51 am
Mitch Albom. I have similar feelings about John Kaas and David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune. Kaas rarely writes a column that would have required him to leave his basement and talk to somebody. David Haugh relays the Chicago Bears party line without attribution and occasionally the Cubs party line too.
There, I feel better which is the only purpose of this comment.
372 chars
coozledad said on August 19, 2013 at 8:17 am
Frey: People just aren’t aware how hair takes control of a band’s direction and lifestyleswitch to footage of Frey relaxing in a tub of steaming eels. We’d seen alopecia, and what it did to Elton, and knew it could happen to us any time, any where.
Henley: Right. And that’s when we started “the smoking”. It came to me one day when I was sunning on a lawn chair in Aspen. I thought, is the webbing on this chair compressing my hair?
Felder: Before some of the bigger arena shows, we’d draw straws and smoke a few grams of the short straw’s hair. That’s why Walsh was getting thin. His hair fucked you UP.
Henley and Frey rigged the draw. They threatened to kick my ass if I told anyone.
Walsh: Henley got caught at the airport in Singapore with a key of my old Rocky Mountain Wave strapped to his leg. Cyrus Vance had to spring him.
853 chars
brian stouder said on August 19, 2013 at 8:55 am
See, there’s a Warren Zevon song here, just waiting to be written
65 chars
Prospero said on August 19, 2013 at 9:19 am
Then again, we get whackos like this conspiracy loonycalling herself an “investigative journalist” on the internet. Bad for glass. Bad for everyone, but the self-proclaimed journo herself, who is clearly angling for the next open news bimbo slot on Fox&Friends.
brianA10: Randy Newman already wrote that song, twice:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b5LzCOc98E and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5SuDN58OsA
Randy even got Henley and Frey to sing harmonies on both songs, even though both claimed they knew he was mocking them.
Deggjr@9: Thing about Kass is he doesn’t recycle himself so much as he recycles the crapola columns Mike Barnacle fabricated in the 70s and 80s. I’m a tough guy and you aren’t. He just changes “Winter Hill Gang” to “the Outfit”. He’s probably competing with Kim Dvorak for one of those Faux News bimbo gravytrain jobs.
988 chars
Prospero said on August 19, 2013 at 9:24 am
L’orange guy is probably considering calling the House back in to vote to make it illegal for the District of Columbia to do this, because…Obama.
Sorry about the three links.
362 chars
Dorothy said on August 19, 2013 at 9:32 am
Madonna? No one really cares about her anymore. Sorry Brandon. I couldn’t really work up any enthusiasm to think about it being her birthday.
Saturday was also my sister Diane’s 28th wedding anniversary. Best gift she could possibly get: finding out last night that her deployed husband is back on American soil! They should be reunited within two weeks or so. I believe he’s at a base in Texas for the after-deployment decompression that the Army requires. In six months I hope to be repeating this information about my son’s return. My brother-in-law and my son had hoped to meet up while they were both in the same country, but it didn’t work out. They are godson/godfather, too.
689 chars
brian stouder said on August 19, 2013 at 9:58 am
Dorothy – superb news, and Amen on the hope for the future
58 chars
Peter said on August 19, 2013 at 10:00 am
Dorothy, that’s great news, and I hope you will repeat this information in six months when your son comes home.
Brandon, of course I’m biased, but in my book Iggy Pop contributed more to music than La Madonna. Or there’s that Seger guy people tell me about. Or that Barry Gordy fellow.
On a part thread: Deborah, I know several people who worked in Mies’ office, and believe me, he was involved with every project in the office up until the later part of Illinois Center. Nothing left that office until he reviewed it. If he didn’t feel like working on a particular project, the office put it to the side until he worked up enough interest to go back to it, which could mean a delay of six months or more. Metropolitan Structures put up with it because they got a great design at low cost and could afford to wait; other clients (like IIT) just went to Skidmore and paid more to get it done faster.
909 chars
brian stouder said on August 19, 2013 at 10:05 am
And I recognize Skidmore as the designer of the somewhat revolutionary* Twin Towers, eh?
*aka willowy
104 chars
Pam said on August 19, 2013 at 10:06 am
Prospero @12 – Who is L’Orange guy? Boehner? If so, in this household we refer to him as Old Vodka Face. So puffy and alcoholic looking.
139 chars
Julie Robinson said on August 19, 2013 at 10:07 am
Hope the good news continues, Dorothy, and ditto about Madonna.
Is Mitch Albom married? Because, to me, it sounds like Mitch is dealing with off-field issues.
True confession: I read Albom’s most recent book, or at least I listened to it. I borrowed it just to hear the plummy narration of Dan Stevens, late of Downton Abbey. A couple of months later, I have no recall of the plot.
And here’s my review of Salvatori’s on Illinois Road (I think Alex wins the prize for guessing the place). It was fine, nothing spectacular but nothing horrible either. It’s in a strip mall and feels like it, despite some lovely stained glass.
The food was good but I wouldn’t drive that far just to have it again, the service was impeccable, and only the dessert truly memorable. It wasn’t very busy, and Sunday after church is a prime eating out time in this town. Meh. Next year it’s back to the Cork.
898 chars
coozledad said on August 19, 2013 at 10:11 am
Lady Gaga doing Stiv Bators as Peter Gabriel:
http://gawker.com/here-is-lady-gagas-artful-and-artistic-video-for-artpo-1166050909
130 chars
beb said on August 19, 2013 at 10:21 am
Our anniversary was over the weekend. We celebrated with fresh corn, peach pie and a big bonfire. My dad used to burn wood all winter in his fireplace but he’s reached an age where hes too unsteady on his feet to keep doing that. So he’s sold or given away what cut-up wood he had, leaving him with a collection of stumps. We got that started, watched for a couple hours that it didn’t get out of control before letting it smolder over night. Went out to look in the morning and all but one of the large stumps had burned down to ashes. We were impressed how through the fire burned everything but it also made me appreciate the guts of those forest fire fighters because near the blaze it was damned hot. I was there just to put out some grass fires, but – ofta – not something I’d want to do for a living.
Shocking story about Glenn Greenwald’s life partner being detained in England while flying from Germany to Brazil (their home) He was held for nine hours without charges and then they confiscated all his electronics. People who don’t think we are already living in a police state should think about that.
1116 chars
Prospero said on August 19, 2013 at 10:29 am
Is Puty-Poot going to send these track star sprinters off to share cells with Pussy Riot? He’d better expect a lot more of this at the Olympic Games.
Maybe Shrub has some insight into this after he gazed into Puty’s eyes.
Yep, Pam that’s the culprit. He does apparently head straight to the bar as soon as he gavels the House of non-Representatives* to a close every day according to Wonkette and some other DC insiders. He also smokes like a chimney, apparently, which does nothing for facial skin tone.
*Because of extensive gerrymandering and the built-in disproportionality of the House, the last election in 2012 saw 3.5 votes for every House Democrat for every one vote for a House GOPer. That’s FUBAR in my opinion, and pretty far from what the guys that wrote the Constitution meant to happen. This is why so many GOPers would like to shitcan the 17th Amendment and go back to having state legislatures appoint Senators. Hell, why not just make it the state GOPers?
1103 chars
alex said on August 19, 2013 at 10:35 am
Julie, I was the one who guessed the Italian Connection. Credit for Salvatore’s goes to Brian, I think. So many new places to try.
130 chars
nancy said on August 19, 2013 at 10:38 am
I’ve said this before, and I’m saying it again: When I first moved here, I tuned into MA’s radio show a few times. And discovered that while I didn’t actually like-like it, he was tolerable. Talk radio is full of so many hideous gasbags, that his act — Mr. Average, Mr. Middle of the Road — played as something approaching sanity. But I don’t listen to talk radio as a rule, and I didn’t listen again for a few years. On my long drives to/from Lansing, I quickly grew tired of NPR and thought, hey, let’s see what Mitch is up to.
The difference in just the last few years was shocking. Where he once seemed eager to sound like your friendly neighbor, now he sounds bored. Bored, bored, bored. He has the requisite lackey co-host, and it was his job to be the friendly one. And everything was filtered through Mitchworld. Bad reviews for “The Newsroom,” starring his good friend Jeff Daniels? “Critics are just jealous, because Aaron Sorkin is such a big success.” That is a recurring theme. Critics of all sorts are just jealous, “because that’s what we do in this country — tear people down.” And so on. I notice the same phrases appeared in this Sunday column. (I think he’s been reading his reviews.) It’s safe to say he has nothing new to say about anything, that his claptrap-coated-in-sap act has run its course, but he’s now enough of a bigfoot that he won’t leave until he’s damn good and ready.
One of the jokes in the Deadline Detroit column was this line:
He’s probably, in his many hours in the Free Press newsroom over the years, heard his colleagues discuss “FOIAing” documents from state and local government.
The joke being, of course, that Mitch is NEVER in the Free Press newsroom. I’m told he’s sometimes not even in the radio studio at WJR, but broadcasts remotely from one of his several houses outside of Michigan. Which everyone is jealous of.
1898 chars
brian stouder said on August 19, 2013 at 10:40 am
Beb – scarey about Greenwald’s partner; and indeed, this is high profile enough that the goal of the detention and confiscation seems to be to send that “we’re watching” message to you and I (and the calculation might be that the folks in the cheap seats will support the intrusion upon civil liberties
…and the question arises whether that calculation is correct)
Julie – I would never have gotten Salvatori’s. There IS a small (very small) Italian place on Covington Road (near Freeman; other side of Rockhill Park) that Pam thought would be your place.
Didja see the review for the sketchy-looking (to be honest) place on Brooklyn Avenue – The Office? I’ve driven by there a million times – and it’s just a bar. But Fridays and Mondays they serve what the J-G’s food critic called “a very limited menu” – steak and twice-baked potato…and the reviewer literally raved over it! He gave it 4.5 stars (out of 5)!!
Still, I’ll probably never set foot in there
990 chars
nancy said on August 19, 2013 at 10:42 am
I love a good twice-baked potato.
33 chars
brian stouder said on August 19, 2013 at 10:48 am
I love a good twice-baked potato.
Well, true enough; but I’m picturing a half-baked drunk saying to you “Hey – yer tater sure looks GOOD!!” etc, while you’re dining
174 chars
Charlotte said on August 19, 2013 at 10:51 am
Dex — that A-Rod moment was sort of terrifying. I had visions of the mob swarming the field and tearing him limb-from-limb. Ridiculous that they threw Girardi out and not Dempster, especially as Dempster went all to hell and lost the game. Just a cluster all the way around …
As for the Greenwald thing — he was also returning from visiting Laura Poitras in Germany so they must have thought he was what? dumb enough to be carrying a computer loaded with Wikileaks secrets? All you have to do is read last weekends NY Times Magazine piece on her to realize that none of them are carrying anything on their person anymore. Just plain harassment and intimidation. Here’s the link:http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-snowden.html?ref=magazine&_r=0
777 chars
Prospero said on August 19, 2013 at 10:51 am
Remember Scott DesJarlais? The TN Teabanger Congressman that admitted under oath during divorce proceedings to six affairs with colleagues AND patients at a Health Care center of which he was Chief of Staff? Virulently anti-abortion in public but admitted to pressuring both his wife and one of his patients he impregnated to have abortions? Still in the House and still has a license to practice medicine? Well, he also likes to bully children. Somebody should have beat his ass to a pulp, but instead, the Teabangers whooped, hollered and cheered, making it all that much worse for an 11 year old kid. The law’s the law, you scumsucker? Why aren’t you in jail instead of Congress? Why should anybody that voted for you ever be allowed to vote again?
868 chars
Julie Robinson said on August 19, 2013 at 11:07 am
It was a rare rave review, but steak and pan fried pork tenderloins wouldn’t attract me no matter how good the twice-baked potato.
130 chars
Basset said on August 19, 2013 at 11:09 am
Finally, Pros and I agree on something.
39 chars
brian stouder said on August 19, 2013 at 11:21 am
Julie – a quick “control F” on the last thread shows that Dave wins the prize for guessing your Italian place!
And it’s probably right next to that Ceruti’s I never knew was there, and which therefore lost me a free date-night with Pam. (so now I know there’s a black hole on Illinois Road…)
303 chars
Jeff Borden said on August 19, 2013 at 11:26 am
The Republican Party is completely lacking in empathy. The turd in Tennessee is the latest illustration of how cruel, heartless and mean-spirited the national party has become since the teabaggers arrived on the scene. I’m no more surprised that a room full of adults would celebrate the breaking of a little girl’s heart than I was when an active duty serviceman who is gay was booed during one of the Republican presidential debates when he asked about DADT.
These are just some rotten-ass people.
502 chars
Peter said on August 19, 2013 at 11:33 am
Brian, it was Minoru Yamasaki, of DETROIT, btw, who designed WTC 1 and 2. SOM would have never designed a building like that – they loved the wide open windows, and Minoru made the WTC windows narrow (20″ wide) for a couple of reasons – 20″ alternate windows and outer columns would work with a 5′-0″ grid (started by Mies and SO popular at that time), and he was afraid that people on upper floors would develop acrophobia with the wide open windows.
I did a few jobs at WTC1, and you could be 10′-0″ away from the windows and not be able to see a thing, even though the view from there was spectacular.
SOM has designed a lot of urban America – Gordon Bunshaft of the NY office did Lever Tower in NY and the Hirschborn Museum in DC, but Bruce Graham did the big boys – Sears Tower and Hancock in Chicago, among others.
827 chars
brian stouder said on August 19, 2013 at 11:44 am
Peter, regarding super-skyscrapers, I have a question for you. How do they do the water/sewer system? I’m guessing a progression of holding tanks/booster pumps (for the incoming water)…and some sort of network of down-pipes and sumps for the outgoing stuff, yes?
Or am I totally off in left field?
304 chars
Dorothy said on August 19, 2013 at 11:59 am
Nancy mentioned she had tomato and corn pie this weekend. We made that about 3 weeks ago. On Saturday morning before we went to the Farmer’s Market I went through my recipe box and tossed out a bunch of recipes I’d never made. But I also looked again at a few that I SHOULD have made. We decided to make one to go with our Cornell chicken later that night. Due to the magic of the Internet I actually found out when this was published (1999) and here’s a link. The yellowed newspaper clipping is at my office today because a co-worker wanted a copy. Hope you try it – it really was delish:
http://old.post-gazette.com/food/199906273rivers2a.asp
653 chars
Sherri said on August 19, 2013 at 12:29 pm
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, a search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
I think the modern Republican has given up the search and just declared victory.
272 chars
Prospero said on August 19, 2013 at 12:36 pm
brian stouder@33: As long they don’t use that cheap under-Code and undersized aluminum wiring. Steve McQueen and Paul Newman won’t be available to save their asses.
I worked for the engineering firm that did the mech/elec for the Hancock 60 story tower in Boston that carried Mies minimalism to a fault. No spandrels, very skinny mullions in a very skinny to the point of providing an airfoil shape building. When the tower twisted in the wind, the massive glass panes that made up the outer skin would just pop out and plunge dangerously to street level. Eventually, the guys I worked for did an ATC redesign that put sensors on the windows so that if one was about to pop, the room would go under negative pressure and the glass would fall inside instead of to the sidewalk. For a while there, it was raining glass on Dartmouth Street. Very bad situation for an insurance company. I do remember specing a bunch of specialty pumps. And an incident in which the sewage out backed up. Some poor plumber called in to fox it put a wrench on the pipe and the thing started vibrating and fractured, filling the basement with merde. Back Bay was not such a fancy neighborhood for a few days. Actualy the problem stemmed from the owner’s budgetary stinginess in insisting on tying into the old Hancock building across the street to get by a lot of complicated licensing requirements about EISs (It’s built on 18th Century landfill). All in all, I believe all the problems were worked out a long time ago, and it is a gorgeous building that provides reflected views of the Charles and wonderful neighboring architecture, including the “old Hancock Tower, which is much shorter, but quite striking in its own right.from various locations in the city.
The architect for the new tower was I.M. Pei.
Sherri @35: Nice. But aren’t you and JK being a tad judgmental?
2416 chars
alex said on August 19, 2013 at 12:39 pm
Brian, when I lived in a high-rise, there were giant boilers in the basement and water was pumped to the top of the building. Gravity took care of it from there. The water pressure was the best I’d ever seen, the hot water supply was infinite and the toilets flushed with such force that you couldn’t leave a skid mark.
319 chars
coozledad said on August 19, 2013 at 12:45 pm
The modern conservative has also managed to convince himself the historical Jesus wouldn’t just stomp his petulant graspy white ass into a greasy spot.
But it’s also more that they believe in nothing. And to quote Robyn Hitchcock, If you believe in nothing, honey, it believes in you.
287 chars
Prospero said on August 19, 2013 at 12:45 pm
I intended a ,(space) before various locations in the city.
The beauty of the Hancock in Boston to my eye is as much in massing and shape as in the seemingly all glass facade.
179 chars
Prospero said on August 19, 2013 at 1:13 pm
Here’s an interesting Frank Ghery apartment building in Hong Kong. Sometimes I think Frank Ghery is an acid casualty.
223 chars
Dexter said on August 19, 2013 at 2:03 pm
http://mitchalbom.com/d/sites/default/files/imagecache/slideshow//d/sites/default/files/albom_image_library/Radio/RADIO%20Mitch%205%20resized.jpg
Ken Brown, Mitch’s lackey. Not bustin’ yer balls, nance…but…isn’t “lackey” an uncomfortable choice of words here? Or am I all wet?
285 chars
nancy said on August 19, 2013 at 2:12 pm
Eh, OK. Toadying sidekick, maybe?
33 chars
Dexter said on August 19, 2013 at 2:29 pm
Much better. *sigh* …and I miss Rachel Nevada
http://hartforth.com/uploads/Rachel_Nevada.jpg
97 chars
Sherri said on August 19, 2013 at 3:00 pm
I’m not bothered by being called judgmental, Prospero. I’m especially not bothered by calling the actions of people like Scott DesJarlais and his fellow congressman from Tennessee, Stephen Fincher, selfish. You remember Rep. Fincher, he who used the Bible to justify his opposition to food stamps while taking millions of farm subsidies. I’ve got a Bible quote for him, too; Matthew 23:27. I’ve always liked the “whited sepulchres” construction of the KJV.
456 chars
Peter said on August 19, 2013 at 3:02 pm
Brian, Alex is right – they pump water up to a upper level tank, and let gravity do the rest. If you think about it, it’s like a rural water tower concealed in a building.
More often than not, the sewage piping doesn’t have any special features – but you can’t have one whopper pipe to take care of all of the toilets. Poop just doesn’t drop through the pipe; due to the Bernoulli Effect, the little cuties twirl around the perimeter of the pipe, mixing in with the water, until you get a big slurry at the bottom of the pipe. That’s why you’ll see a series of 4″ pipes rather than one big one.
600 chars
brian stouder said on August 19, 2013 at 3:12 pm
See – now I’ve learned something today!
(I can go on about the Venturi-effect, but the Bernoulli one is not normally a concern of mine!)
139 chars
Deborah said on August 19, 2013 at 3:25 pm
Peter,
I’ve been in the Yamasaki designed building in Detroit, called One Woodward Center or something like that (or it used to be called that?). It’s where the company I used to work for had their Detroit office. It had similar windows to WTC I think.
You’ve probably heard that Skidmore, Owings and Merrill were referred to as “three blind Mies”.
355 chars
brian stouder said on August 19, 2013 at 3:28 pm
Gotta LOVE it when you get let in on an ‘inside joke’!
And even though I barely get it – it made me laugh!
109 chars
Deborah said on August 19, 2013 at 3:30 pm
I will second Alex’s description of the powerful toilet flush. In Chicago we’re on the 27th floor and the flush action is amazing.
130 chars
Prospero said on August 19, 2013 at 4:03 pm
What a world: Alex and Deborah get mighty flushing action in high rises and poor Rand Paul has spent 20 years trying to get working commodes.
On Breaking Bad:
Jesse Pinkman is on suicide watch.
Who believes that Walt would deliberately leave evidence in plain sight, or that Hank would ever open a book of poems by Walt Whitman?
Walt is crazy as Ahab and Klepto Marie has big sister baby envy, since she and Walt can’t manage one, and Skyler was always the pretty one. This has been an issue before for Marie–remember when she shoplifted the ridiculous baby tiara?
Sherri@43: Didn’t expect you would be. And Donnie Baseball managed yesterday to do what the rest of the NL hasn’t been able to do lately, beat the Dodgers. Dumbass pitching decisions straight out of Joe Torre.
I just opened a jar of McClure’s pickles, the label of which says Pittsburgh and Detroit. Very good pickles and hot as hell in my mouth.
1031 chars
brian stouder said on August 19, 2013 at 4:19 pm
Prospero, that Rand Paul/potty-mouth link is the link of the day. He comes across as genuinely loopy (if not poopy)
I’d say “Everyone Must Go Read it, Now!!” – but we’ll be seeing the video of this for the next 3 years, if that maroon’s quest for the Executive Mens’ Room gets off the ground!
295 chars
Deborah said on August 19, 2013 at 4:52 pm
Wow, just wow! Comparing a woman’s right to choose to the purchase of a toilet. What an idiot.
94 chars
Deborah said on August 19, 2013 at 5:00 pm
I might add to the flushing action comment, that our toilets in Chicago are original 1957 models that were specified by the Mies office. In my bathroom it’s coral colored, my husband’s is grey. They are the kind that have no visible water tank. Maybe Aqua Buddha has something right about toilets from the good old days.
321 chars
Kirk said on August 19, 2013 at 5:05 pm
You mean Rand doesn’t have a two-holer out back, with a bag of lime and a shovel?
81 chars
Deborah said on August 19, 2013 at 5:06 pm
I must say that I’ve been on my own for a bit here in Santa Fe since Little Bird went to St. Louis for her high school reunion. She does most (all) of the cooking and since she’s been gone I haven’t eaten much, haven’t been hungry, really. But that tomato corn pie recipe set my stomach to growling and that’s all I can think about. Little Bird if you’re reading this, can you guess what I want when you get back?
413 chars
Dexter said on August 19, 2013 at 5:16 pm
Deborah, Alex, Peter, Brian…take two minutes and view the best toilet-flush movie scene ever:
http://movieclips.com/wt89-the-conversation-movie-scene-of-the-crime/
166 chars
Dexter said on August 19, 2013 at 5:27 pm
and…and you must be an adult to view this one, the best/worst toilet-that-does not flush-scene in history.
This is a really great movie, but it also delves in showing us horrible dead babies and well, this:
http://movieclips.com/QHRn-trainspotting-movie-the-worst-toilet-in-scotland/
293 chars
Prospero said on August 19, 2013 at 5:27 pm
Rand thinks that low flow toilets mandated by the EPA deny him of his Constitutional right to choose among consumer goods. I don’t know where that one shows up in the Constitution. I wonder if he feels the same way about the rights of people living in Section 8, HUD-standard public housing? Any guesses? Probably not, since he thinks the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is unConstitutional. He’s in the lightbulb brigade too, which is an even bigger loser, since incandescent lamp manufacturers were spurred by the performance specs to produce incandescents efficient enough to meet the current standards. Of course, they still get broken filaments and don’t last very long relative to fluorescents, and the quality of light is glaring in comparison, so that’s a rather stupid choice to exercise. This is another case of GOPers attacking good GOPer accomplishments. Does Rand realize the EPA was a Nixon achievement? So, add Tricky Milhous to the list of GOPer saints with Raygun as guys they wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole these Teabanger days. Those tanks are in the wall and are a whole different shape to fit, which might explain the whoosh boost. It’s a ridiculously expensive construction detail, since framing them in is similar to framing in a window or a door.
I still say somebody should arrest Rand for the AquaBhudda kidnapping. There is no statute of limitations on kidnapping in most jurisdictions. I hope the victim shows at some of his campaign stops.
1470 chars
Rana said on August 19, 2013 at 5:48 pm
Is Mitch Albom married? Because, to me, it sounds like Mitch is dealing with off-field issues.
Julie, that thought occurred to me as well.
I also noted the irony of a man wittering along about how all these people are calling attention to Fielder’s divorce and writing about it and oh gosh isn’t that terrible… while himself using writing about the divorce as a way to get out his column inches for the week.
431 chars
brian stouder said on August 19, 2013 at 5:55 pm
Dex – my all-time favorite toilet flush scene is in the movie Dr Strangelove; or, How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (or whatever)…George C Scott and his mistress, phone call from the President…”Can it Wait?” – etc!!
234 chars
Deborah said on August 19, 2013 at 6:07 pm
Dexter, The Conversation is one of my all time favorite movies, I watched it for the umpteenth time a couple of months ago. Gene Hackmann is superb in that film. The toilet flushing scene is hitchcockian in suspense.
216 chars
Prospero said on August 19, 2013 at 6:38 pm
Professional boorish dolt and Michelin Man Erick Erickson called Wendy Davis abortion barbie. I’d call Erickson a living, snuffling, grunting advertisement for responsible condom use. Or, the other white meat.
The conversation is one of the most intense and suspensful movies ever. I’ve watched it through at least ten times. I think it might be Gene Hackman’s best. Interestingly, he sort of reprised the character in the Will Smith movie Enemy of the People, which is pretty good as Will Smith movies go.
618 chars
Kirk said on August 19, 2013 at 7:20 pm
Brian, I work with a feller who strongly resembles President Merkin Muffley. Behind his back, we just call him “The President.”
127 chars
coozledad said on August 19, 2013 at 9:51 pm
My former state senator (before Republican gerrymandering) decides to fight smart, and start working to diminish the impact of McCrory’s poll tax.
http://www.bluenc.com/after-dark-386
Republicans are not merely bad people, the jelly in their heads is off.
261 chars
Julie Robinson said on August 19, 2013 at 10:21 pm
Here’s one for the birthers: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/08/19/cruz-will-renounce-canadian-citizenship/
133 chars
MarkH said on August 19, 2013 at 11:10 pm
“Brian, I work with a feller who strongly resembles President Merkin Muffley. Behind his back, we just call him “The President.””
Kirk, if I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were describing Bob Smith!
212 chars
Dexter said on August 19, 2013 at 11:56 pm
Deborah, I remember going to see “The Conversation” in 1974, not knowing anything about it, just going because Hackman was in it. It also was another winner for the late great John Cazale. I think every film John Cazale was in won some kind of Oscar. When I left the theater, I had no idea I would remember this film nearly 40 years down the road. It definitely was a keeper. Another great Hackman film (besides all his blockbusters) was “Scarecrow”. You gotta see it if you missed it. I think nance commented a few years ago about how the studio poured a ton of dough into cleaning up Scott Fountain on Belle Isle for a scene in “Scarecrow”, ft. Al Pacino.
665 chars
Brandon said on August 20, 2013 at 4:02 am
Thanks to all who commented about Madonna, for good or bad. It’s getting late so I’ll post something more later on.
115 chars
Minnie said on August 20, 2013 at 9:20 am
Coozledad, your former state senator is one of the reasons NC became a thriving progressive state. I hope her intelligence and drive to overcome the present regime will counteract some of its more egregious policies.
216 chars
coozledad said on August 20, 2013 at 9:46 am
Minnie: Ellie is a treasure. I got to talk to her in 2010, and she was describing the blackshirts from AFP flooding the legislature and disrupting it. Art pope and the Koch brothers were already hard at work dismantling the modern state that more forward thinking rich like the Dukes and George Watts-Hill had helped to set up.
She’s 81, and sharp.
351 chars
brian stouder said on August 20, 2013 at 10:20 am
She looked great on Ms Maddow’s show last night.
She got her inning after Rachel hammered the Koch brothers’ pile of slag in Detroit, and the black dust that blows off of it and into many Michigander’s (and/or Michiganian’s) homes.
So if a politician accepts all the money and support that AFP and the Koch brothers offer, wouldn’t that make all of them Koch-suckers?
374 chars