The Super Bowl is this weekend, which always reminds me to check my grocery coupons in the Sunday paper to see what the potheads at the Kraft and Pillsbury test kitchens have come up with to amuse us. Never do I get such a strong sense that drugs were involved than when I behold the recipe suggestions. A football field made of lime Jell-O, with yard lines of piped-on Cool Whip. A dip in a hollowed-out bread bowl in the shape of a football. Cheese-stuffed everything.
The year I was a journalism fellow, we threw a Super Bowl party for the overseas journalists, and i tried to come up with the most ridiculous possible nosh, and settled for something fairly pedestrian — guacamole in a low, rectangular dish, with sour cream piped-on yard lines, and PATS and PANTHERS in the end zones.
Of course, if cheese-stuffed deep-fried Doritos had been invented then, I’d have made those. I’ve been weirdly interested in this preposterous recipe for a few days, but I’m not invited to any parties this year, and there’s no way in hell I’d make them for two people. So another year will pass without experiencing cheese-stuffed deep-fried Doritos. I vow that I will pass the time trying to figure out how to add bacon to the recipe.
What’s your favorite Super Bowl food? Don’t say chili; it’s pedestrian.
So, Eric Zorn asked the other day if it’s sexist to describe Hillary Clinton as “shrill,” even if her voice does occasionally rise into the higher registers. I didn’t have to think for a second before thinking yes, it is sexist, and we should stop using that to describe not only Hillary but any woman. I think we’re just going to have to stop it the same way we stopped telling our black friends that they’re great dancers. Because “shrill,” even if it describes a person with a high, screechy voice, is making common cause with Rush Limbaugh and all his minions. You sound like the people saying stuff like this. Speaking of shrill.
Just one bit of bloggage before the weekend starts. Planned Parenthood was blocked from using public funds to serve poor women in Texas, and so had to stop serving them. Guess what happened? Pregnancies rose. Color me astounded, and I wonder what happened to the aboriton rate.
Whatever your Super Bowl plans are, I hope they include cheese. See you Monday.
alex said on February 5, 2016 at 6:22 am
My plans include only drywall mud and paint. And if the kitchen isn’t too trashed, maybe I’ll attempt to cook something, though this I doubt. Hubby announced plans to host Easter dinner for his ginormous family and so we have until March 27 to complete our pretty much total remodel of our kitchen and living areas because there’s no telling what the weather will be and we may have to hold the event entirely indoors.
It’s nice to have a deadline, but I hope it won’t have us cutting corners as the date approaches.
I agree it’s wrong to call Hillary shrill but I have no problem with anyone calling Carly Fiorina a conniving bitch, and it isn’t simply a matter of partisanship. Her dishonesty with regard to Planned Parenthood may very well have led to the recent massacre in Colorado and for all of the harm she has done to the organization’s good name she should be penalized.
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Deborah said on February 5, 2016 at 6:25 am
I have never been invited to a Super Bowl party. Gee, I wonder why? This was the weekend we usually go to NYC but we’re not going this year because my husband is in LA with his students. He’s teaching an urban design studio and they’re doing a project about downtown LA. So they’re there for a few days to get familiar with it. I was going to go too but decided not to since I really don’t like LA. The temps will be in the 80s there this weekend so I’m kinda regretting my decision.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 5, 2016 at 7:37 am
Call me a pedestrian, just give me the right of way to the chili crock. (I get to judge the chili cookoff every year at my wife’s church’s Super Bowl Party: mmmmmm.)
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Julie said on February 5, 2016 at 7:49 am
Pro tip: don’t decide to do Whole 30 during February…no cheese for the Super Bowl!
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Suzanne said on February 5, 2016 at 7:50 am
No idea what I’m making, if anything. We’ve tried Super Bowl parties a few times, but it doesn’t work well in the Eastern Time zone. Dang game doesn’t end til so late! And now, it’s tricky because you have to switch to PBS at 9 for Downton Abbey. Choices, choices.
As long as there is beer & Twitter, I have all I need to enjoy the game.
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Jolene said on February 5, 2016 at 8:02 am
I don’t think shrill is the right word for Hillary, but, as is suggested in the article linked above, she does shout into the microphone. She’s fine when she speaks in a normal voice, but I find her hard to listen to when she raises her voice. Am not sure whether this is just her, just me, a disadvantage of female voices in general, or sexism.
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Connie said on February 5, 2016 at 8:12 am
Why make something like that when you can buy them at a 7-11? I have at least 4 7-11s within 5 miles of my house.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on February 5, 2016 at 8:27 am
If you’re a David Halberstam fan, you might enjoy my column this week, which I hope and pray sounds as un-Albom-y as possible. I tell this story at the start of the seminary class I teach in my denomination’s history & polity, and the story of our church structure from the 1960’s to today has some very McNamaraesque resonances, hence the connection (and Julie, I say and would argue that it’s a valid analysis across the “mainline” Protestant denominations more generally):
http://www.newarkadvocate.com/story/life/2016/02/05/gill-column-kid/79839508/
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Connie said on February 5, 2016 at 8:27 am
Not that I have watched the Super Bowl or been to a SB party for years.
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beb said on February 5, 2016 at 8:36 am
Are we even allowed to say “Super Bowl” without adding ™? Don’t these Super Bowl parties have to be called “Big Game” parties or maybe “Superb Owl” parties? And isn’t rooting for one team over the other any different for rooting for GM over Ford? I’d love to skip from Saturday to Monday except I hate Mondays so maybe I’ll just poison myself with lots of alcohol.
I’ve tried to work up a joke here about stereotypes concerning woman. None of them quite work. The weirdness of Eric Zorn’s comment is that in this day and age, after all this time he hasn’t caught on that “shrill” is a derogatory term.
So, Marco Rubio has come out saying that the enhanced surveillance of Americans should continue forever because…9-11. Because spying on Americans were so effective in preventing 9-11.
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ROGirl said on February 5, 2016 at 8:54 am
I think calling Hillary shrill is sexist, but what about $P? She is shrill.
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Julie Robinson said on February 5, 2016 at 9:18 am
Jefftmmo, agreed there’s a lot of kidding going on at churches these days. Too many folks think it’ll be fine if we just go back to the model of the 50’s and 60’s, while their own families belie that possibility. Sometimes I despair.
Just read the end of yesterday’s thread about self-driving cars, and I’ll tell you someone who would be a customer, my 83 YO mom. She was always a nervous driver and as her eyesight and other functions deteriorated she knew was dangerous. When she moved her she gave it up entirely, so now, if I can’t take her, she stays home. The buses don’t run where she lives and she’s wary of taxi drivers, so I’m it. Since I’m still working (part-time, thankfully) I can’t get her everywhere she’d like to go, and I worry about her being isolated.
That said, I’m not convinced they’ve got all the safety issues worked out.
Game? What game?
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LAMary said on February 5, 2016 at 9:33 am
I know someone who worked in the Kraft kitchens developing and testing recipes. She was anything but a pothead. I see her facebook posts and she shares recipes that involve ranch dressing or marshmallows a lot. The other theme is recipes to make things that look like minions.
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Suzanne said on February 5, 2016 at 9:41 am
Julie @ 12-“Too many folks think it’ll be fine if we just go back to the model of the 50’s and 60’s…” That or the other side of the coin which is a church trying desperately to be relevant, except that it’s usually what some mid-Boomers would have thought as relevant when they were 20 somethings (which usually involves middle aged rockers singing Christian rock songs that are 20 years out of date). It is sad to watch.
I think that’s why so many of the church leaders want to shout about religious persecution ove the least little slight. It’s following the Trump playbook in that even if it’s ridiculous, at least somebody is paying attention to us.
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Julie Robinson said on February 5, 2016 at 9:57 am
Exactly. Or maybe it’ll distract people from the real issues, and you won’t have to deal with them.
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Sue said on February 5, 2016 at 10:40 am
My husband and several relatives/friends go up north for superbowl weekend, and bring enough food to sustain, well, a football team I guess. I’m glad I’m not around for the, shall we say, replay.
Here’s the culinary item everyone is excited about this year: http://blog.bbqaddicts.com/recipes/bacon-explosion/
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nancy said on February 5, 2016 at 10:55 am
John Scalzi ate from a bacon explosion a few years ago, and described it this way: Oh, God, imagine there’s bacon on one side of my mouth and sausage on the other and they meet and have hot and angry make-up sex in the middle while a salt lick cheers them on.
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alex said on February 5, 2016 at 10:57 am
Now that I think about it, I distinctly recall George H.W. Bush being called “shrill” whenever he was on the defensive, so it’s not like the term is a sexist snub necessarily. One instance I’m remembering specifically was when he blew up at Dan Rather during an interview, and his voice must have gone up two octaves.
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nancy said on February 5, 2016 at 11:00 am
Everybody’s voice changes when they’re upset, but god help you if you cry. At least if you’re a woman. President Obama cries, and he’s showing emotion in a powerful way. But if President Clinton II does, you can bet we’ll hear all about weakness and women’s emotions getting the better of them.
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Icarus said on February 5, 2016 at 11:00 am
when we first moved into our house we made the Super Bowl our annual party thing. But now that Moose & Squirrel have arrived we won’t be going through the trouble for another year or two. Shame too because the weather is actually pretty decent for winter in chicago.
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Jolene said on February 5, 2016 at 11:05 am
Wow! That bacon explosion is a triumph of . . . uh, something. Just looking at it makes me think I should get an ECG.
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basset said on February 5, 2016 at 11:08 am
Never have cared about football, no way we’re getting invited anywhere, and plans for an anti-Super Bowl party didn’t work out, so I guess I’ll just read and drink. Might go for a walk.
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Sherri said on February 5, 2016 at 11:14 am
When a man makes a point with passion, he doesn’t risk being labelled ‘hysterical’ or ‘shrill’. When a man is successful in business, he’s unlikely to be labelled a ‘ballbreaker’, as if his success can only have come because he was aggressive and somehow emasculated his colleagues. These words subtly undermine powerful women and send the negative message to girls that there is something unattractive about achieving highly.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/sep/01/feisty-flounce-bossy-words-put-women-down
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Deborah said on February 5, 2016 at 11:16 am
If you try to talk when there’s a lot of noise around you, you can’t hear yourself so you raise your voice. Hillary gets criticized for screaming into the microphone as if she doesn’t realize the mic works. I did this a million times when I walked home from work say on Wabash when an el would go by right above me while I was on my phone. I’d scream my head off just to hear myself. The poor person on the other end would have sore ears. It’s weird to talk when you can’t hear yourself. It’s also weird when you hear yourself but with a slight delay. There was an exhibit at the Magic House (a place for kids) in St. Louis where you spoke into a phone and heard yourself a second or two later. It was impossible to continue for very long. And have you ever listened to someone singing along when they were wearing earphones? It’s hysterically off key and whiney sounding.
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Charlotte said on February 5, 2016 at 11:33 am
Since I live with a Bostonian, I’m looking forward to a Superbowl this year that ISN’T SO TENSE. No parties, we’ll probably just drink some beer and I’ll try to finish knitting this sweater sleeve that has been taking forever. Good times!
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brian stouder said on February 5, 2016 at 12:09 pm
Well, I genuinely enjoyed last night’s debate, and there was no shrillness – although I’d be tempted to accuse Bernie of displaying a certain condescension.
I say “tempted” only because, really, that’s what political debates are all about. By whatever means, one would want to communicate that not only one is smarter than the other person – but really, what the hell is that person even talking about, eh?
Anyway – it was meaty and informative, and it included Flint, and Rachel is always great in any case, and Chris Matthews said “shit” on the air (during the pre-game)…what more could anyone want, eh?
And leaving that aside, Jeff’s linked article is excellent
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St Bitch said on February 5, 2016 at 12:23 pm
At last night’s debate, Hillary was in her element; poised, sharp, tough. Post-caucus, it wasn’t just her shouting that was off-putting, but those widened ‘scary’ eyes. I’ve noticed some not-in-character, rather clownish body language in a few clips, and suspect her handlers are pushing her to ‘play’ to the electorate. Ironically, it’s the unscripted moments, when her vulnerability is captured, that makes her more accessible. She’s going to be attacked no matter what she does…but hopefully, those abrasive kinks will get ironed out as the campaign gains momentum and starts to exert more finesse.
I thought Bernie was strong in the lively debate, with his populace message sure to propell him further along. Ultimately, it can’t fly…but his idealism Is not toxic. I do think he provided ample fodder for anyone playing a drinking game…such as every time he mentioned the average donation of $27.50…
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4dbirds said on February 5, 2016 at 1:09 pm
No Superbowl for me. I’ll probably go play some poker. When I did watch football, my late son would make these outstanding wings. I don’t know how he did it, the perfect crunch and the best sauces. Hubby now goes out on football days, mainly to drown his grief but I can’t join in on that. It isn’t me. Sorry didn’t mean to make it a pity party but football was something we could all bond over, with those wings and now it is gone.
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Brandon said on February 5, 2016 at 1:15 pm
Color me astounded, and I wonder what happened to the aboriton rate.
abortion
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4dbirds said on February 5, 2016 at 1:15 pm
Ref women crying. I think one of the best scenes in any movie is when Meg Ryan is crying in Courage Under Fire and Lou Diamond Phillip’s character belittles her for it and she shoots back that crying is stress relief.
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Snarkworth said on February 5, 2016 at 2:03 pm
Julie@12, your mother’s new community might have a van or other transport service for seniors. I know people who are cutting back on their driving and use vans that pick them up at home and take them to shopping, library, etc. Might be worth looking into.
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Judybusy said on February 5, 2016 at 2:07 pm
Hi my nnc folks! Briefly emerging from my new job as disposition advisor in the public defender’s office. 6th day on the job and am learning so much every day about the intersection of the criminal justice system and chemical health and mental health issues. Got to to be very helpful today on a case in which the client is committed as mentally ill, and I clarified a couple things for the judge and attorneys. They know very little about the civil side of things and it’s been my bailiwick for 15 years. Having to learn lots of new names, so really using mnenomics. I have however, introduced myself several times to someone I’ve already met. There are dozens of attorneys in the office….So, so happy I took this opportunity, and it’s as busy as I’d thought it would be. Have a great weekend SBing or not!
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Connie said on February 5, 2016 at 2:17 pm
During his working years, and since his twenty year ago retirement, my 84 yr old dad has eaten breakfast every weekday since 1960 at the same downtown restaurant, at the same round “downtown businessmen” table. The last driving he did as his vision went was to that breakfast. Now his wife drops him off every morning on her way to work, and the senior bus picks him up at the back door every day at 9:30 and drives him home for $2.00.
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Kirk said on February 5, 2016 at 2:19 pm
I like watching the Super Bowl, but a party is the last place to be able to really watch it. We just stay home and have dinner. More than once (including this year), that has been Italian sausage steamed and browned, and then baked in a casserole with marinara sauce and a fair amount of Mozzarella. We’ll glop it all onto linguine and consume a bottle of Valpolicella or something like that.
For yesterday’s discussion on spelling, including homonym horrors, I saw this today in a magazine ad for one of the best restaurants in Columbus: “Enjoy Johnny’s special prefix menus …” Pitiful.
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Dexter said on February 5, 2016 at 2:27 pm
The only connection I can think of is I knew a man from work (a real asshole) whose best friend played for the Panthers for a few seasons…can’t remember the player’s name anymore. I remember the a-hole turning down week-end overtime because a few times a year the player would fly him down to Charlotte for the games. I have always hated the Denver teams starting back with the whole “Orange Crush” campaign…must have been 40 years ago.
I have been to many SB parties and hosted a few, but never more than three couples. I used to have a real knack for deep-frying chicken wings and I’d be in the kitchen frying more and more wings and miss some of the game. Now, I want nothing more than my thin pretzel sticks, a big jug of Diet Sprite, and a bag of wings in the freezer that require only an oven-pop for a few minutes. And, I want nobody around me so I can watch the game and commercials and halftime show. This year, Coldplay (Chris Martin). I never “got” Coldplay and Martin…the only song I have really heard of is “Clocks”, only because I keep hearing there are bets being taken as to if “Clocks” will lead off the halftime show. I used to think I did a fair job in attempting to keep up , albeit minimally, in current music. Like Green Day, yeah…then someone points out the youngish hip bi-sexual Billy Joe Armstrong is damn-near 50 years old. Say WHUT?
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brian stouder said on February 5, 2016 at 2:50 pm
4dbirds – your post touched me; reminded me of a Lincoln poem, and Uncle Google lead me to this –
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/poem/2010/06/firmness_in_the_write.html
an excerpt from the article:
Lincoln included “My Childhood-Home I See Again” in a letter, where he refers to it as “a little canto of what I call poetry.” The more ordinary part of the poem (published by newspapers after the assassination and omitting the more unsettling original passages) begins by describing a return to Lincoln’s childhood home in Indiana after 20 years away. These opening stanzas look back on the early years with an idealizing, though loss-conscious nostalgia, “as distant mountains please the eye.” Then, hearing about how many in the old place have died, he feels he is “living in the tombs.”
In any case, here’s wishing you strength and peace.
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Suzanne said on February 5, 2016 at 4:04 pm
Peace to you, 4dbirds.
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Fritinancy said on February 5, 2016 at 5:14 pm
Greetings from the land of Super Bowl L, or, as we call it here in the Bay Area, Super Bowl Hell. I recently heard that not a single elected city or state official will be attending the game, and we civilians are either protesting in the streets or pretending the whole thing doesn’t exist.
This pretty much sums it up:
“San Franciscans are quickly discovering that the worst part about hosting a Super Bowl isn’t the prevalence of $8 crap beer, the Rambo-style security, the hokey corporate booths, the garish black-and-gold bunting detracting from our terracotta-and-stucco facades, or even the giant football made out of Bud Light cans. The worst part is being forced, as a city, to don the alien exurban drag of mediocrity — and, while we’re at it, pay for the privilege.” http://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/story/editorial-the-super-bowl-making-san-franciscans-feel-strangers-their-own-town#sthash.NcIKLAFM.dpuf
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Suzanne said on February 5, 2016 at 5:24 pm
Fritinancy, I have a relative who lives in Phoenix. He had about the same assessment of the big game being there last year. He said he couldn’t wait for it to be over.
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Deborah said on February 5, 2016 at 5:29 pm
Good to hear from you JudyBusy, glad your new job is going well.
4dbirds, those are good memories to have. Thinking of you.
MichaelG, I realize Sacramento isn’t that close to San Francisco, but do you have any perspective to add to the whole Super Bowl 50 spectacle?
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Jolene said on February 5, 2016 at 5:44 pm
As you may have heard, Steven Colbert is doing a live version of his show immediately following the Super Bowl. Has some good guests–Tina Fey, Key & Peele, and others. Could be fun.
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Hattie said on February 5, 2016 at 5:58 pm
We are planning to go on a hike with the other people we know who don’t watch the Super Bowl.
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LAMary said on February 5, 2016 at 6:14 pm
I know this sounds very boring, but I will be spending my Sunday organizing my jewelry. I have all sorts of earrings and bracelets and pendants in assorted containers. Now I own a nice big wooden jewelry box with lots of compartments and a glass top. So I’m going to be matching up earrings and laying out chains. None of this stuff is valuable. There are some beads and earrings with stones that are (must be read with a Gollum voice) semi-precious. Turquoise, jasper, garnet. That sort of thing.
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Charlotte said on February 5, 2016 at 6:28 pm
4dbirds @29 — that’s how I feel about rodeo now. It was a thing my late brother and I did together, after a childhood spent kicking around horse shows — and although I tried for a couple of years after (we have a really good rodeo here every 4th), I finally had to admit that it’s just over for me. I miss it, but I miss him. So thinking of you …
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Andrea said on February 5, 2016 at 6:33 pm
4dbirds, my condolences to you. Grief has no season or timetable, does it?
Grace and peace to you.
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David C. said on February 5, 2016 at 6:39 pm
I treat Super Bowl Sunday the same way I treat New Year’s Eve. I go to sleep when I normally do, and when I wake up it’s over and I’m not stuffed or soused.
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susan said on February 5, 2016 at 7:12 pm
Sooper Bowel is a great time to go to Costco. Or, as per the Trader Joe discussion…but the closest one of those is more than 150 miles away.
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MichaelG said on February 5, 2016 at 10:53 pm
Deborah, the 49ers have moved to Santa Clara. They train there, they play there and their HQ is located there. They are not the San Francisco 49ers anymore. The super bowl will be played at the stadium in Santa Clara which, by the way, is situated 54 miles from San Francisco as the 101 flies and 5 miles from San Jose. It’s easy to see why the residents of San Francisco, who have supported the team for decades, are upset. The NFL is cynically claiming that the 49ers are a San Francisco team after allowing them to move over 50 miles away from SF. The NFL doesn’t give a shit about anything except money and short term gain at that. I’m an old time San Franciscan and to my mind and to the minds of the people in SF, the 49ers have severed their ties with the City.
I’ll watch the game out of habit, but as time goes by, I’m getting less and less interested in the greed head NFL.
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Brandon said on February 5, 2016 at 11:27 pm
I used to think I did a fair job in attempting to keep up , albeit minimally, in current music.
@Dexter, it can be easier than you think. http://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100
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basset said on February 6, 2016 at 8:43 am
i just looked at all 100, didn’t recognize any of the songs and only a very few of the performers. Who the hell is Fetty Wap?
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Connie said on February 6, 2016 at 9:13 am
On NPR, Renee Montagne chimed in, reporting that “before dawn on Sunday morning, dozens of the Globe‘s reporters and editors fanned out and delivered the papers themselves. They carried flashlights and GPS.”
The above is copied from http://www.salon.com/2016/02/05/america_runs_on_undocumented_laborers_and_our_news_media_is_complicit_in_their_exploitation_partner/. Here’s my question, especially for you writers. The reporter is quoting an audio report. How do you think Renee actually said GPS? Is it not plural in this sentence? Would she not have said GPSes? And no matter how she pronounced it what is the plural of GPS? I assume she meant gps units and apps. Or was there just one?
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Connie said on February 6, 2016 at 9:15 am
Wasn’t done. Last thing. The sentence just reads wrong wrong wrong to me. What am I missing?
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MarkH said on February 6, 2016 at 10:10 am
basset — isn’t that amazing, that two old college radio guys could look at something that was a sort of bible back in the day, and now might as well be trying to read Sanskrit.
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alex said on February 6, 2016 at 10:14 am
Connie, it didn’t strike me as odd at first blush. “Carrying GPS” is, to my eyes and ears, sort of the same as “using EZPass” and “listening to satellite” while driving. Which is sort of the same as “watching TV.” But carrying flashlights and GPS is, on reflection, a bit awkward, like “carrying passengers and Fox News” if you’re speaking of shuttle buses. The verb is a bit overworked but makes for an economical sentence.
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basset said on February 6, 2016 at 12:32 pm
Sure is, MarkH. Meanwhile, Paper Lace, Greenslade, and Redbone appear to have faded into the ether.
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Dave said on February 6, 2016 at 12:39 pm
I’m not an old college radio guy, MarkH and basset, but I find it funny that I not only fail to recognize most of the songs or artists but I don’t much care to listen or learn about them. Truly, my younger self never would have thought that day would come.
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Dave said on February 6, 2016 at 12:41 pm
Oh, and Coldplay, the halftime show for the Super Bowl, I don’t know anything about them, either, but I hope they give a better show than some of the artists of the past, I think first of The Who. Artists past their prime.
If we had an edit button, I would have added to my comment above rather than having two postings. Once again, I miss the edit button.
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Deborah said on February 6, 2016 at 12:49 pm
The only thing I know about Coldplay is that the lead singer was married to Gweneth Paltrow, they have a couple of kids. I don’t know any of their music. I listened to a bit of it yesterday and wasn’t impressed. I won’t be watching either the game or the halftime show.
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MichaelG said on February 6, 2016 at 1:26 pm
I drove past Trader Joe’s this AM on my way to Corti Bros. and was reminded of the other day’s comments. One reason I don’t go there the parking lot which is insane. It’s just impossible to get in, park and get out. The other thing is that TJ’s really doesn’t have anything that I can’t get elsewhere cheaper and fresher. Their wine prices and selection are nothing to write home about. I think Sacramento must be one of the best towns around in which to shop for food and wine and all the other stuff that goes with them. For price, selection and freshness it’s hard to beat.
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Brandon said on February 6, 2016 at 2:25 pm
Coldplay is like middlebrow Radiohead.
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Dave said on February 6, 2016 at 3:35 pm
And there it is, a reference that means nothing to me. Basset? MarkH?
Sorry, Brandon, I couldn’t help myself.
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Deborah said on February 6, 2016 at 4:54 pm
I do know and like Radiohead, one of the few relatively recent groups that I paid attention to.
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Deborah said on February 6, 2016 at 4:57 pm
I just got back from Trader Joe’s and it was crowded, the parking lot waa jammed and treacherous. I envy you MichaelG, I bet the wine values you get in Sacramento are spectacular. I still like TJ’s, I need to remember not to go on Saturday though.
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Laurie said on February 6, 2016 at 5:39 pm
I went to TJ’s today, too, and at 12 noon, as my mother used to say, you would have thought they were giving it away. Five and six in line at each register, and when I stepped two steps away from the line to look at something by the register (my handbasket still in line), a woman ducked in ahead of me. She only had two items and I didn’t feel like a confrontation, but my thought was, That’s Maryland for you.
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brian stouder said on February 6, 2016 at 6:37 pm
Laurie – I confess that the entirety of time that I’ve spent in Maryland probably equals about one week (and then mostly all in western Maryland) – but let me just say, if it’s possible to have a ‘crush’ on a state, I’ve always crushed on Maryland!
Firstly, it’s breathtakingly beautiful (at least in Hagerstown/Sharpsburg/Mount Airy); plus, it’s loaded with history; and – y’all have a very cool state flag
Just sayin’…!
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basset said on February 6, 2016 at 6:51 pm
Same for me, Mark@60, not familiar with either of em.
in Home Depot this morning I heard sone 90s pop playing on the ceiling speakers – singer was in Mrs B’s weight watchers class here in Nashville a few years ago.
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Sherri said on February 6, 2016 at 6:56 pm
One thing to keep in mind about wine prices in California: wine taxes there are lower than in many states.
(Excise taxes are on my mind thanks to retail marijuana!)
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Julie Robinson said on February 6, 2016 at 7:18 pm
Taxes…just got ’em done! We’re headed to Florida this week and I wanted that off my list. Kind of a small refund this year; I know that’s what financial advisors recommend but it’s always fun to get a nice big refund check. Or, these days, refund direct deposit.
Remember the Virginia is for Lovers campaign? A college friend had a shirt that said Maryland is for Crabs. Ba-dum-bump. He rode a unicycle all over the rolling hills of IU.
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Deborah said on February 6, 2016 at 7:36 pm
I’ve only been in Maryland a couple of times, around Baltimore. I found it beautiful. Never in the inner city though.
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Sherri said on February 6, 2016 at 9:51 pm
Just a little tone deaf: http://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2016/02/see_the_cake_michigan_governor.html
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ROGirl said on February 7, 2016 at 5:41 am
The peasants don’t have water? Let them eat cake.
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David C. said on February 7, 2016 at 6:58 am
Then Claudia, who was also working on the cake with me, looks up and sees Rick Snyder on all the photos in the room, and so we put two and two together.
All the photos?
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MichaelG said on February 7, 2016 at 11:25 am
That may be true about taxes, Sherri, but consider what a major agricultural product and export wine is for California. And the relatively low prices also hold true for imports from other states and countries. I would guess that high taxes on wine in most states would be one of their sin taxes.
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Deborah said on February 7, 2016 at 12:12 pm
Wow, that cake is embarrassing. Imagine if that kind of consumption is what you were known for, how superficial. Snyder’s wife must be Hilton daughter or something to warrant that.
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brian stouder said on February 7, 2016 at 2:53 pm
Well, considering the title of this post (“Dip?”) – I’d say the answers are:
Rick Snyder – yes, dip!
Dr Ben Carson – indeed, double dip!
Didja see him at the debate? Forget captaining the ship-of-state; he couldn’t even navigate his introduction to the debate stage last night! It looked just like a Saturday Night skit (they even had a stage hand visibly waving him on – which he obliviously ignored) – and sure enough, SNL then simply ran the footage an hour later, on their show’s “Weekend Update”
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Deborah said on February 7, 2016 at 3:55 pm
The saga of our neighbor with the errant dog continues. Now that the snow has mostly melted we can see 11 piles of poop all around the yard. We had some leftover poop bags from when we still had our cat (we used them to clean out the litter box daily as she was very persnickety). So today we put a note in the neighbor’s mailbox with a roll of bags and the dispenser for the bags and told her she was welcome to dispose of the poop properly and to keep the bags for future use. Our upstairs neighbors called animal control about the dog because sometimes in the mornings when they’re taking their 5 year old to school the dog comes roaring out barking and scaring the kid. The dog’s owner remains either clueless or mean.
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Deborah said on February 7, 2016 at 4:09 pm
And Brian what about Rubio’s panic attack under pressure, where he repeated the same canned response 3 or 4 times? I almost feel sorry for him. One time I was making a really important speech in front of potential clients for a project the company I worked for wanted badly. It was a few months before my retirement, I wanted to go out with a bang. I was so nervous that at one point my mind just went blank, completely blank and I stammered until I was rescued by one of my colleagues also at the meeting. I felt horrible, it was so embarrassing. We still got the job but it was no thanks to me. It’s still one of those cringe moments that I think about at 2am.
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ROGirl said on February 7, 2016 at 4:10 pm
Another day, another musician is gone. Dan Hicks has died.
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David C said on February 7, 2016 at 5:10 pm
Aww hell, The Hot Licks were one of my favorites.
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alex said on February 7, 2016 at 5:15 pm
We’re not watching the Super Bowl, not only because we don’t give a flying frick about football but we’re also in the midst of a messy home renovation. Our plans to plaster and paint this weekend got pushed back by the realization that we had some major rewiring to accomplish. The way some of this stuff was rigged in the past is pretty scary — sixty-year-old ungrounded wiring original to the house; wires taped together instead of joined with wire nuts; circuits containing way too much stuff, some of it at opposite ends of the house and without any rhyme or reason. About 200-plus feet of Romex wire later we’re about to put up new all new drywall in our family room. On the bright side, literally, we have all new LED light fixtures and these should be a great relief to both our energy budget and our fading eyesight.
I had said I wasn’t cooking anything for Super Bowl Sunday, but I’ve relented. So that we can stay home and continue working, I’m preparing a big pot of Tuscan white bean soup with chicken. It’s a white chili, essentially.
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David C. said on February 7, 2016 at 6:26 pm
Rehabbing and old house is rewarding, but so frustrating, isn’t it Alex? I think the worst of the human race are those known as previous owners. Our first house was a nightmare of 4 layers of shingles (that the inspector didn’t catch), bad plumbing (that the inspector didn’t catch), bad wiring (that the inspector didn’t catch), paint slapped over the trim without proper preparation so that when you looked at it crossways it came off. The next two houses were new, so we had bad builder problems in each. Damned if you do…
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MichaelG said on February 7, 2016 at 6:40 pm
When did the National Anthem become a country and western song? Why can’t anyone sing it straight? It’s not a friggin cover song.
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Deborah said on February 7, 2016 at 6:46 pm
You guys are scaring me, we are in the process of buying a new (smaller) place in Chicago. I haven’t mentioned anything about it previously because we are in negotiations about it every which way possible, selling and buying. My poor husband has been having to deal with so much while I’m here in Santa Fe. I’ll be glad when it’s over. I’ll be back in Chicago on a couple of weeks which is my first dive into the fray.
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Deborah said on February 7, 2016 at 7:44 pm
Apparently our neighbor found our note about the dog poop but only cleaned our front yard of the poop, there’s actually mores than half of it in the back and side yard. There are still 7 piles for her to clean out. Not expecting miracles but am glad she at least cleaned our front yard.
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basset said on February 7, 2016 at 8:25 pm
Many of my past neighbors… not the current ones, have to make that clear… would have thrown the piles up on our front porch. Good to see that yours are more cooperative.
Meanwhile, Mrs. B. continues to watch the annual mass bonding experience in the next room, waiting for the commercials to come around. No Budweiser puppy yet this year, though.
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Joe K said on February 7, 2016 at 8:43 pm
Thought the gaga lady did a nice job, respectfully done, not sure I like cold play, Beyonce looks like her legs belong on a linebacker, but Bruno Mars has some moves.
Pilot Joe
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MichaelG said on February 7, 2016 at 10:30 pm
MVP(person) has to go to Bum Jr. Nobody will accuse Kubiak of clever play calling. Of course, it looks as if there’s nothing clever in the play book. Elway needs to hire somebody who has a clue about offense. Still, they won.
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Sue said on February 7, 2016 at 10:35 pm
David C., our house is well over 100 years old and we refer to everything as being “elmerized”. Previous owner was named Elmer. It’s just an old house, nothing special, BUT. All the old woodwork is gone except for one room. We found two doors in a corner of the basement – they had been replaced by green plastic accordion doors. Beautiful hardwood floors were covered with cheap linoleum. One closet in the whole house. One bathroom the size of a small closet; it might actually have been a closet at one time.
We bought the house for the nice, big yard, perfect for a young family with kids, and I’ve come to love the house over the last 30+ years. I love the wavy glass and the stupid fieldstone basement that my husband can’t stand up straight in. I really wish I had the money to treat the house the way it deserves. My husband has done so much but there’s no way we can treat it as we should.
I’m especially sad that we’ll probably have to get rid of our old tub, which is rusting out on us. The plumber says the style hasn’t been around since the 20s.
Last fall I was digging in the garden and found an old compact, went online and it apparently is from the late 20s, early 30s. As is appropriate for an old house built for practicality and not much else, the compact is a seemingly cheap version of the brand. It seems no one who lived in this house ever had a lot of money; at least that’s a tradition we’ve kept going.
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