I just want to take a minute up front here to say how glad I am how well you guys keep this site afloat when I don’t have the strength or interest. Last week was really a tough one, and the one before that, ditto. And yet, has the world slowed down in his headlong rush to the abyss? No, I don’t think so. In fact, it’s rushing ever-faster. So I’m glad someone else here can keep the cocktail party buoyed with effervescence and, y’know, keening and moaning.
The Berkeley protests in particular seem almost impenetrable, although I have to admit, Twitter does a serviceable job of sketching out the particulars. Correct me if I’m wrong: There was a protest on Saturday, traditional tax day, as there was around the country. And the people in black showed up, and they’re called antifa, apparently because saying “anti-fascist” is too much work for Twitter. And the Nazi-symp shitheads showed up, and there were scuffles, and now there are GIFs all over of some guy punching a woman, and some other stuff, and it seems to portend something bigger, but as usual, much of the media is missing the whole thing.
On the other hand, this might be the greatest photo caption ever:
There was other stuff, too. I tried to stay away from the internet to the best of my ability, but my ability wasn’t entirely up to snuff. I caught the carriage story, which made me smash my head against the wall. But then the weather changed – abruptly, as in 30 degrees warmer in three hours – and so I just went for a bike ride. Fuck all this shit on the weekend when we celebrate the world’s return, is what I say.
In other news, we went to Ann Arbor to have brunch Sunday, and someone had painted the rock with “Christ is risen” in Russian, and I was able to read it, mainly because the phrase is the word for Sunday. We went to a vegetarian restaurant, and it was very fine, if a little too dependent on the cheeses and fats. But what is Sunday without some cheese and fat, I always say?
Feeling better, by the way. Let’s hope it lasts this time. Ten days of a 50 percent cold is no fun at all.
Not much bloggage today, just this: Remember Janesville, Fort Wayners? The place that gave us all the workers for the FW GM plant? It’s all over now, baby blue.
And into the week we go.
Basset said on April 16, 2017 at 9:44 pm
been looking at trips to take this summer. we may have to go to the Minnesota State Fair just to eat:
http://andrewzimmern.com/2016/08/24/new-foods-worth-trying-state-fair/
174 chars
Rana said on April 16, 2017 at 11:25 pm
What particularly struck me (and several friends) about the original article about the golden carriage thing was how it seemed to offer a blueprint for how to take “45” out. It’s astonishingly specific about the vulnerabilities of the vehicle in question. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trump-demands-gold-plated-welcome-xjnffdq32
334 chars
Crazycatlady said on April 17, 2017 at 1:40 am
Sometimes you just have to say “Fuck this shit, I’m out.” Ignoring the news in favor of good music and great reading. You have to disengage to refresh the soul.
160 chars
Deborah said on April 17, 2017 at 5:19 am
Basset, some of those Minnesota state fair food offerings looked and sounded disgusting and others made my mouth water. Mostly I marveled at how many offerings the blog writer tried. Hopefully there were lots of people along to share otherwise it seems like he’d have ended up quite bloated. All that food on a hot, sticky summer day sounds a little nauseating.
361 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 17, 2017 at 8:04 am
Воистину воскрес!
32 chars
basset said on April 17, 2017 at 8:20 am
I’m with you on that, Deborah, some of those fair treats are definitely more appealing than others.
The golden carriage… not polite for the guest to tell the host what arrangements to make. I’d just tell him “meeting’s at the palace at whatever time, you’re on your own, see you then.”
291 chars
Peter said on April 17, 2017 at 10:27 am
Basset, what gets me is that this isn’t the first time that the guests dictated terms to Her Royal Highness – it’s well documented that several conditions had to be met for Ceausescu’s 1978 visit – including the royal carriage ride, the presence of the Queen when the Ceausescu’s arrived at the train station, the big state dinner covered live on Romanian TV…you’d think at some point the Windsors would get wise to this.
423 chars
Deborah said on April 17, 2017 at 10:44 am
It’s just feels great to have springtime allergies on top of sciatica. That is all.
83 chars
brian stouder said on April 17, 2017 at 10:49 am
President Trump seems to be all about ‘arranging the deck chairs’ – rather than running the ship-of-state
(and yes – the Titanic allusion is on purpose!)
157 chars
MarkH said on April 17, 2017 at 10:52 am
Speaking of taking trips this summer, is anyone here planning a sojourn to your closest point in the path of the total eclipse Aug. 21?
As far as I know, only basset (Nashville) and I (Jackson Hole) actually live in the path. The center line runs about ten miles north of my house. Might be others and I’m sure some of you might live close enough for a day trip. As this thing is rapidly taking on a life of its own, towns in the path, like Jackson, have actually hired ‘eclipse coordinators’ (ours is being paid $100K for seven months work) to do *whatever* for the event. The Tetons have become a Stonehenge of sorts for viewing as there is a forecast for perhaps 300,000 more visitors than normal for that time of year. Accommodations have been sold out for two years and home rentals are supposedly going for big bucks, one here for as much as $30,000 for the week. It promises to be a significant event of short-term people migration nationwide. Here are a couple of links for details of the event itself.
http://www.eclipse2017.org/2017/maps.htm
http://earthsky.org/space/path-us-solar-eclipse-august-2017
1121 chars
Deborah said on April 17, 2017 at 11:12 am
The only problem with planning events and stays for eclipses is what do you do if it’s cloudy?
94 chars
brian stouder said on April 17, 2017 at 11:29 am
Hire a helicopter!
18 chars
Icarus said on April 17, 2017 at 11:33 am
I’m sure our in-laws in Nashville area would welcome a visit from us. August might be too hot for my liking but if we are going to re-locate there someday, maybe it would be a good trip to plan.
195 chars
Jakash said on April 17, 2017 at 12:51 pm
I appreciate the heads-up and the links, MarkH, so I hope this comment isn’t too obnoxious. However…
I used to be a fan of astronomical events, but if there’s one category of “happening” that routinely disappoints the dilettante, in my experience, it’s celestial events. I’ve witnessed solar eclipses before, and it was cool, but I wouldn’t plan a vacation around one, partly because it’s not THAT big a deal to me and partly because of Deborah’s point @ 11. But so many comets, meteor showers, etc., have been busts when we’ve gone out of our way to partake (going out of one’s way being pretty much required if one lives in a place like Chicago) that I’ve about had it with looking for fun stuff in the sky. Venus, Jupiter, a crescent moon — I can see those pretty well, and they’re reliable!
The other thing I’ve had it with is the over-hyping of so many freaking things in this society. $30,000 for a house for a week? Please.
Non sequitur alert! A person gets dragged off an airplane, and Surprise! — there was video of the event. That was terrible, but you’d think WWIII just started from the reaction. And WWIII is just around the corner, anyway — no need to jump the gun. Meanwhile, U. S. Steel leaked some hexavalent chromium into Lake Michigan last week, the drinking water source for tens of millions of people, as Coozledad referred to on Saturday morning, and that’s like a 1-day, ho-hum, page 6 story. While the ongoing debate is about how MUCH of this particular toxic chemical is safe for folks to drink along with their water, not about maybe trying to work toward making it NONE. Industry lobbyists are always more important than people, of course.
1692 chars
Julie Robinson said on April 17, 2017 at 1:26 pm
We have a nephew stationed in Korea, and according to his parents, in the first area likely to get hit. Which helps put it into perspective for me.
The Janesville story was a great read and I think I’ll look up the book it’s from too. My memory is that most people here seemed to think it was only fair we’d be drawing their workers, since the same thing had happened to us with International Harvester. The plant here sent most of its workforce to Ohio not too long after a protracted (over a year) and ugly strike had kept them out of work here. You’d have thought people would sympathize with Janesville, but surprisingly, they did not.
Years later a volunteer where I was working told me about riding the bus to Ohio every day for a few years until retirement. Instead of moving, a group of employees chartered a bus and slept on it as they rode back and forth. They were established here, the kids were in schools they liked, and they didn’t want to move. Ugh–what an existence.
Incidentally, Lutheran churches were told to prepare for a huge influx of new members, as almost all the Wisconsin folk were Lutherans. It never happened.
1149 chars
jcburns said on April 17, 2017 at 1:48 pm
Attention citizens of the world: please avoid Atlanta for a while. We’ve just had a large rupture open on a totally different interstate. (From a gas leak on I-20.)
173 chars
Icarus said on April 17, 2017 at 2:11 pm
Did I say “someday?” Might be sooner than I thought
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-pitches-sales-tax-for-netflix-spotify-other-streaming-services/
159 chars
Danny said on April 17, 2017 at 2:20 pm
Speaking of taking trips this summer, is anyone here planning a sojourn to your closest point in the path of the total eclipse Aug. 21?
As far as I know, only basset (Nashville) and I (Jackson Hole) actually live in the path.
You’re so vain!
254 chars
Jenine said on April 17, 2017 at 2:22 pm
I’m within 80 miles of St. Joseph, Missouri which is on the path and will have one of the longest views of the eclipse. If the forecast is good I’ll take the kids out of school that afternoon and we’ll do the pinhole camera thing. Not sure if I’m willing to pony up for eclipse-safe glasses.
291 chars
Sherri said on April 17, 2017 at 2:31 pm
I hate Tennessee in August, but I’m sure family would be delighted to see us should we choose to come out for the eclipse.
122 chars
Rana said on April 17, 2017 at 2:33 pm
My parents live in the eclipse path (in Oregon) so my daughter and I are timing our summer visit to be able to see it.
118 chars
Julie Robinson said on April 17, 2017 at 2:40 pm
Icarus, in Indiana we’ve been paying sales tax on Netflix and Amazon purchases for several years.
I’ve talked with three people today who are working on their taxes.
169 chars
brian stouder said on April 17, 2017 at 2:56 pm
pssst – well, I think we find out this evening who gets to serve the remainder of driend-of-nn.c Mark-the-Shark
Whatever else happens, I’ll get to claim that I once “came THIS close…” to serving on the board, for the rest of my days!
238 chars
Sherri said on April 17, 2017 at 3:00 pm
This would dominate the news cycle if it were Obama or Clinton: https://mobile.twitter.com/politico/status/853999491279720457
126 chars
Deborah said on April 17, 2017 at 3:21 pm
Sherri #24 wins the best link of the day.
The last meteor shower I saw was spectacular, a crystal clear night in Abiquiu on the roof deck of the not quite finished cabin in October. Something I’ll remember for the rest of my days.
Jenine, wondering where you live, I spent many years of summer vacations as a kid at relatives in and around St. Joe, MO. My grandfather’s farm was about 40 miles north and aunts and uncles in between and south towards KC. Fond memories.
474 chars
Jenine said on April 17, 2017 at 3:30 pm
@Deborah: I’m in Lawrence (Fucking) Kansas. The 3 word expletive phrase is its nickname for some reason and LFK stickers are very popular. I didn’t grow up here but after 13 years I’m very fond of it.
200 chars
Sarah said on April 17, 2017 at 4:45 pm
Ok, I read the Janesville article, an take issue with their claim that they are the “oldest plant” of the largest automaker. I guess it all depends on how General Motors is defined. But Buick’s buildings in Flint dated back to 1908 (and they were, eventually, owned by GM), and AC Spark Plug in Flint was operating in the 19-teens (and was owned by GM). All the old Flint plants are now razed to the ground in the late 1980’s – but many were older than 1923. And, yes, I spent a summer working at “auto world” in my Flint hometown, and learned a lot of useless auto history.
578 chars
Deborah said on April 17, 2017 at 4:48 pm
Hilarious, Jenine. Little Bird has a friend who is moving there from Santa Fe, because she’s going to go to the University there. She’s older, has been around but decided she needed to finally get a degree. I was in Lawrence a few years back, I had designed a donor wall for a woman’s shelter in St. Louis and it was being fabricated in Lawrence. They did a fantastic job and the donor wall won a few awards in the graphic design world. I thought Lawrence was quaint.
468 chars
brian stouder said on April 17, 2017 at 5:00 pm
Wasn’t there a movie wherein Lawrence gets flattened in a nuclear attack?
Apropos of nothing, of course….
110 chars
Dave said on April 17, 2017 at 5:11 pm
Great, I wonder how the outerbelt around the east side of Atlanta will be, I suspect we’ll be using it on Wednesday. I always dread Atlanta, anyway, maybe we should go through Alabama instead.
I felt for those people who got their lives disrupted when Harvester closed down and moved everything to Springfield, as well as the people from Janesville. I spent a few years chasing my job, until it all settled down and I acquired more seniority, but not on the scale and not as far away from home as those folks did, so I could relate on a smaller scale.
556 chars
Dave said on April 17, 2017 at 5:13 pm
Ah, make that the west side of Atlanta, couldn’t we have a ten minute edit period, I say this even before reading my remarks and hitting the submit button and THEN, I see that I’d written east side.
198 chars
Deborah said on April 17, 2017 at 5:31 pm
For some reason I’ve spent the last few minutes on google trying to see if there’s any explanation for the weird shape of the military headgear of North Korea. Seriously. Their dear leader’s hair-do and the hats have something in common, the splayed overly high crown that tapers down over the ears. In Kim Jong-un’s case he’s shaved his hair high over his ears, in a mushroomesque manner. It’s seems very odd to me, but what doesn’t seem odd about North Korea? I figure that’s what the US will be like after 40 or 50 years of the Trump regime. Trying to imagine what the idiosyncratic physical details of that will be. I feel sorry for the North Korean people, as I fear sorry for us, we’re in the beginning stages while they’ve had years to devolve.
751 chars
Deborah said on April 17, 2017 at 5:32 pm
feel sorry, but then maybe fear sorry is appropriate too.
57 chars
basset said on April 17, 2017 at 5:42 pm
Brian@29, that was a tv movie on ABC in the early 80s, “The Day After.”
I was working for the ABC station in Wichita at the time, so we had to go up there and do several stories about how the movie was going over in Lawrence, how empty the streets were, and so on, all fronted live by a reporter standing in front of the Campanile, a bell tower on campus and a Lawrence landmark.
11 pm approaches, the show starts, they’re about to come to him and all of our lights go dark – we were taking power from the Campanile and apparently it cuts off at eleven. Two of us ran like hell back to the cars and got battery lights, looked kinda homemade but we got through it.
672 chars
David C. said on April 17, 2017 at 5:47 pm
At least with the solar eclipse, you can be sure light pollution won’t be a problem. I have a solar filter for my telescope so I’ll probably just watch the partial through the telescope from here. We’ll be at about 85%. The 2024 eclipse is quite a bit closer, so if we’re still here (the existential here, not here in Wisconsin), maybe I’ll watch that one.
356 chars
Deborah said on April 17, 2017 at 6:36 pm
“the existential here”, that made me laugh David C, kinda sad though that laughter was my first response.
105 chars
Sherri said on April 17, 2017 at 8:43 pm
A conservative think tank (we need another term for those things) has decided it knows why there are so few African-Americans in baseball today: single moms. Evidently single moms just can’t teach a boy to hit a baseball, so she’s teaching him football instead.
https://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/2016/10/31/experts-dismiss-study-that-says-single-parenthood-killed-black-baseball.html
The rise of trump means they’re saying the things in their heads out loud now.
474 chars
Deborah said on April 17, 2017 at 8:51 pm
Why is there more than one democrat running in Georgia’s 6th beside Ossoff? Why? Why? Why? Why? Democrats I do not understand that. Makes no sense to me. Will someone explain this to me.
186 chars
David C. said on April 17, 2017 at 9:16 pm
Unless travel ball is cut down to size, nobody but the well off will be able to play. I know lots of kids who love baseball but can’t afford to be run all over hell’s half-acre to play. Most high school teams won’t even look at a kid who hasn’t played travel ball. They have to trim it way back if only to prevent 12 to 13-year-old pitchers from needing Tommy John surgery.
373 chars
alex said on April 17, 2017 at 9:26 pm
Deborah, the first thought that occurred to me re: Ossoff is a dirty trick right out of the GOP playbook. The Republicans are running someone as a Democrat to dilute the vote for Ossoff and ensure he doesn’t get 50% on election day.
232 chars
coozledad said on April 17, 2017 at 9:45 pm
The thematic unity of “conservatism” and its footsoldiers is always located in denial. As one candidate for local office in Person County put it “We ain’t no Nazis.” I heard him tell a voter “I don’t blame a rich man for offshoring his money. Why does anyone want to pay for people who don’t want to work?”
When they say what they ain’t, they’re saying what they is. And when they’re denying what they are, they know thy’re vile. They.Fucking. Know.They.Suck.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/17/sandy-hook-dad-on-performance-artist-alex-jones-s-trial-i-wish-i-could-be-there-to-stare-him-down.html
Until they show footage of Alex Jones shooting yams out of his ass in 1980’s Soho
or documentary evidence of him having someone shoot him in the arm, he doesn’t rise to the level of performance artist. He’s just another cracklicking Republican alderman.
875 chars
MarkH said on April 18, 2017 at 12:21 am
Danny @18 – Nah, not me. Don’t own a Lear Jet and never been to Nova Scotia!
76 chars
Crazycatlady said on April 18, 2017 at 2:43 am
My cousin and I are making a pilgrimage to Graceland. She’s never been there. I am excited to show her. I know, it sounds silly but it’s fun.
141 chars
Suzanne said on April 18, 2017 at 6:19 am
David C @ 39, that travel team crap is killing all youth sports except football and that has concussion worries. You are right. If a kid isn’t on a travel team by 5th grade or so, the HS career is probably not gonna happen. Volleyball is really bad for women. I have heard of people getting 2nd mortgages on their homes to finance all the travel expenses and team fees. If a kid does get a college scholarship, it’s far too often for minimal money or to a school the kid doesn’t even really want to go to.
A kid in my neck of the woods got hurt at an AAU wrestling tournament; neck injury that could have killed or paralyzed him. He is a 6th grader and 2 different people told me how sad it was because, you know, he was a superb wrestler and was unequivocallly going to get a college scholarship. Seriously. The kid is 12.
825 chars
basset said on April 18, 2017 at 6:28 am
Exactly. Youth sports aren’t about getting kids to play, they’re about selecting an elite few and moving them on to the next level.
132 chars
nancy said on April 18, 2017 at 8:16 am
Just popping in to say that I, for one, would enjoy seeing Alex Jones shoot yams out his ass. In 1980s Soho, or anywhere else.
(Confession: I once saw a stripper shoot pingpong balls out of her pussy.)
205 chars
Deborah said on April 18, 2017 at 8:34 am
“(Confession: I once saw a stripper shoot pingpong balls out of her pussy.)”
Now I can’t get that out of my head and I kinda want to know how that worked. Did she put them in one by one and shoot them out one at a time? Or did she come out with a bunch of them all up inside and had some amazing muscle dexterity to shoot them out. I’d google it but now thanks to the republicans my service provider is going to sell my browsing history and who knows what the result of that will be.
486 chars
nancy said on April 18, 2017 at 8:42 am
As I recall, she’d load it like a shotgun with a couple-three shells, then shoot them one by one. It was very impressive.
121 chars
Dave said on April 18, 2017 at 9:01 am
Wow. How do you leave a comment here after that?
My sister was determined to make her son some sort of sports star. He did the travel teams and was on different teams going back to at least fifth grade and probably before. He’s now 18, soon to graduate from high school, he’s had surgery on his knee and has a recurring sore shoulder from pitching. He’s very good, at least at a high school level, not major college good, but I don’t think her dream of stardom for her son is going to happen. Then there’s the screwing up of his young body part, too.
I should add that his older brother, who played football and one year of small college football, got out of his mother’s grasp, and gave it all up.
They also have a younger sister who has been doing cheerleading and gymnastics from a very young age, who knew that there are cheerleading clubs and competitions, we certainly didn’t.
She and her husband have spent a lot of money on this that we suspect they really didn’t have. It’s crazy, when your home air conditioning quits, and you go without it for a couple of years but go to Orlando and other places for cheerleading competitions, all I can say is that was never where our priorities were.
1216 chars
coozledad said on April 18, 2017 at 9:02 am
I just hope the judge in this case calls the lawyer to the bench and says “I knew Karen Finley. Your client is no Karen Finley.”
128 chars
Dave said on April 18, 2017 at 9:06 am
Oh, and crazycatlady, I’ve always wanted to go to Graceland but have had more than one person tell me that when they got there, they were so disappointed. They had a “Is that all there is?” moment.
Did you, by chance, watch the recent Sun Records eight part drama that was on CMT? I have to say that’s the first time I ever watched anything on CMT.
353 chars
brian stouder said on April 18, 2017 at 9:19 am
We (Pam and I) can attest to the worthwhile-ness of visiting the Biltmore estate; it was genuinely fascinating.
And, not to Ping-Pong around in this thread, but – happily! – the FWCS board spot, created by the resignation of Mark-the-Shark (aka GQ) has been filled by an eminently well-qualified woman, and I can still enjoy the view of the proceedings from the cheap seats!
I honestly thought they’d select the young lawyer guy; the woman they selected was the one candidate I never got to speak with, as she was interviewed first, while the rest of us were gabbing in a meeting room.
In any case, the process was interesting – and more than a little thought-provoking
679 chars
Danny said on April 18, 2017 at 9:32 am
MarkH, I seem to recall a story a few years back where a fan won a prize from Carly Simon where she revealed to whom she was referring in that song. I think the deal was that the rest of the world gets to know after Carly passes. Do you remember that?
251 chars
Danny said on April 18, 2017 at 9:42 am
Okay, I looked it up. Looks like the song refers to several men, but Warren Beatty was one of them.
99 chars
Judybusy said on April 18, 2017 at 9:44 am
I am seriously considering and October trip to Iceland in hopes of seeing the Aurora Borealis. Living in the city, I’ve never seen them. I loved Reykjavik when we were there in June 2016. My wife is also considering a trip to Rwanda as part of a medical team that does fistula repairs. Originally, we had plans to go to somewhere in Europe together, but she’s been wanting to do a medical trip for a long time, so I told her to go for it! Reykjavik is my consolation prize.
473 chars
brian stouder said on April 18, 2017 at 9:47 am
I’ve always heard that it was Warren Beatty (aka Clyde Barrow) – and Ms Simon’s song leapt to front-of-mind when (it seemed to me*) that he (seemingly*)threw Faye Dunaway under the bus at the Oscars… but – who knows?
*Pam disagrees with me on that interpretation, and she’s usually right, so there’s that
309 chars
MarkH said on April 18, 2017 at 9:58 am
Danny, my recollection from somewhere in the past is she did indeed come clean that it was Beatty. FWIW.
104 chars
coozledad said on April 18, 2017 at 10:07 am
The Republicans elected this stupid son of a bitch. They’re all this goddamn dim from using every minute of their worthless lives sucking someone off for a dollar.
https://twitter.com/anamariecox/status/854151226572890112
The sum of Republican reading is like one of those yard sales where the only books are Judith Krantz novels and some venture capitalist’s vanity blowjob.
381 chars
Danny said on April 18, 2017 at 10:19 am
Allan Holdsworth has died:
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/sd-et-music-holdsworth-obit-20170416-story.html
You know, I never really liked much of his work because for all of it’s innovation, it just did not posses a melodic center. It was alsmost like as soon as he got into a song, he just thought “melody is my enemy, I must smite it.” Someone years ago had a similar observation about Robert Fripp of King Crimson syaing something along the lines that Fripp was the greatest guitarist who you would never want to listen to.
A blurb from the article:
But it was his conceptual approach that truly made him unique.
“I realized that most guitar chords are only four notes, though it’s possible to play six,” Holdsworth told the Union-Tribune in 2002. “So it made me look at the whole thing in a different way, and I started looking at chords as coming from scales, and not the other way around. Then, when I was in my early 20s, I figured out a system to catalog every combination of notes. I used basic math to make a catalog of all these scales. And then I would name them differently, using symbols.
“After each symbol is a huge diagram of the whole guitar fingerboard. It’s just based on recognizing the differences between intervals. It took me two to three years to compile, and I have this huge catalog that is five phone books high. But I don’t use any form of math in the music at all; this (catalog) is the work part to learn things. The way I play is the opposite of that. Other musicians look at it, and then look at me like I’m kind of crazy, which I probably am. But they are curious about it.”
Amyhoo. I knew Allan lived a few miles away from me and that he was a bicycling enthusiast, but I never ran into him on the bike paths.
1801 chars
Kim said on April 18, 2017 at 11:27 am
From the tweet Cooz@57 referenced: Change their names to Kim Jong Dead and Kim Jong Alive.
That made me laugh but, like most of what this clown says, is not actually funny.
175 chars
Sherri said on April 18, 2017 at 12:06 pm
On travel teams: they’ve become a huge part of college recruiting in many sports now. There are more and more stories in basketball, both men’s and women’s, of AAU coaches using top players to get jobs in college.
AAU basketball teams are often sponsored, so at least it’s possible for kids who can’t otherwise afford it to play. NBA players have teams, or the well-off suburban dad needs a good team for his basketball-playing son, and foots the bills.
A friend’s daughter has been playing travel soccer for years, and is currently on a team that travels around to showcases where college coaches will be, working on college recruitment. She’s good enough to play D1, but not at the very top level programs, or this all would have happened a year or two ago. She’s lucky to have suffered no big injury, though she’s probably starting to enter the danger zone for ACL tears.
Of course, I live in an area where people hire pitching coaches for 10 year olds so that they can get a chance to pitch on their Little League team. There’s practically an industry around training the young athlete, and the physical therapy practices to match.
1146 chars
Deborah said on April 18, 2017 at 12:39 pm
Injuries in sports seem to be quite pervasive, for kids on up. The place where I’m going for physical therapy has a whole division for sports injuries. This is a 20 something story building that’s all physical rehab, not all sports of course. It’s where former IL senator Kurt something (? having a senior moment, can’t remember his name, he was a republican and was replaced by Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat) went there for rehab after his serious stroke, lots of that goes on there. Also head injuries, limb loss etc. But I had no idea sports injuries were such a big deal, probably because I don’t pay attention to sports.
623 chars
Jakash said on April 18, 2017 at 12:50 pm
Brian,
Sorry about the FWCS board spot, but kudos for giving it a shot, and for your good attitude about the process and result.
I remembered somebody having mentioned “You’re so vain” with regard to Beatty after the Oscars, which was the first I’d realized that he was the subject of the song. Wasn’t sure if it was here or in some article. Anyway, I agree with your wife. It seems clear to me that he wasn’t throwing Dunaway under the bus — just trying to share with her why he was confused. I gave my long, tedious analysis of the incident at the time, but will spare everyone a recap. ; )
Deborah,
Mark Kirk, but close enough for government work, I suppose. ; )
685 chars
Sherri said on April 18, 2017 at 1:00 pm
Brian, not being selected is a disappointment but not as bad when you’re happy with the selection made.
On dignity and United Airlines (and other users of a
160 chars
Sherri said on April 18, 2017 at 1:01 pm
Sigh.
Other users of algorithms: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-18/united-airlines-exposes-our-twisted-idea-of-dignity
139 chars
Sherri said on April 18, 2017 at 1:20 pm
When you sell your soul, you seldom get a good price: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-18/valeant-drug-company-benevolence-and-the-silence-of-the-sick
166 chars
Jeff Borden said on April 18, 2017 at 2:13 pm
As a fair – minded progressive, I must give the Orange King credit where it is due. Recall during the campaign when he asserted America had become a global laughingstock?
We’re in the middle of two weeks in Spain and the S.O.B. was correct. Pretty much everyone we’ve met thinks we went bananas by electing him.
BTW,anyone paying attention to the dropoff in foreign tourism since he was elected? It’s already in the tens of billions.
440 chars
Deborah said on April 18, 2017 at 2:26 pm
I think it was ROGirl who linked to the most recent This American Life broadcast. I wasn’t able to listen to it then but I just did and it’s well worth it. There are 4 segments about Russia, each different, but all very interesting. It’s very suspicious indeed.
261 chars
Sherri said on April 18, 2017 at 4:29 pm
Why putting generals in charge of things might be a bad idea: ‘Just shut up and assume we following the law.’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/dhs-secretary-kelly-says-congressional-critics-should-shut-up-or-change-laws/2017/04/18/8a2a92b6-2454-11e7-b503-9d616bd5a305_story.html
303 chars
Sherri said on April 18, 2017 at 6:15 pm
Steve Ballmer has discovered that all sorts of people he might like are, gasp, government employees!
http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/steve-ballmer-data-mines-the-government/
Too bad he didn’t figure out that the government was good for something before he spent over $400K of his own money and threw Microsoft’s heft behind defeating an income tax proposal in WA several years ago.
397 chars
Dave said on April 18, 2017 at 6:41 pm
I seem to remember that Carly Simon revealed it was more about studio head David Geffen.
88 chars
Julie Robinson said on April 18, 2017 at 8:09 pm
Fort Wayne peeps, if you haven’t been to Foster Park yet this year, the tulips have bloomed early. We were there today and it’s prime viewing time.
147 chars
Deborah said on April 18, 2017 at 8:25 pm
On the same topic tulips are in bloom on N Michigan Ave, spring has sprung here and my nose knows it.
Thursday will be decision day for surgery or not.
154 chars
Crazycatlady said on April 19, 2017 at 2:36 am
Dave, I was told it was a rather small house for a King!Going to Graceland is fun for me because I love retro designs in Interior Decorating. Seeing the place as it was the day Elvis left the building for good. The late 70’s idea of Chic. Mirrored glass walls in The Piano Room with stained glass peacock entrance to the piano area. The old fashioned kitchen where Elvis ate his Peanut Butter, Bacon and Banana sammiches. The Jungle Room he decorated for Lisa Marie with green shag carpeting and A large stuffed toy gorilla. The acoustics were so good he recorded some music sessions there. The basement has a rumpus room and a Television Room, which has three period televisions showing news shows from the time period. Outside in the back was The Colonel’s business office, Lisa Marie’s playground swings and the horse stable where he kept his horses on the property. The Record Room and the Trophy/awards room are in a separate building on the property. Around the back and to the side is the Graves of Elvis and his parents, along with Elvis’ twin that died at birth. I was not disappointed with it at all. And my 16 year old daughter who went with me just to go found a new found respect for The King. Memphis BBQ is nothing to sneeze at either! A good time. Saw Sun Records where he recorded his first record. They also have a very nice zoo in Memphis.
1358 chars
LAMary said on April 19, 2017 at 5:29 pm
That’s one of the best captions I’ve ever seen. A baroque pearl of a caption.
77 chars