April 20, 2020

At the Orange Glow Café...

CD1316FD-7314-4451-9B3D-CD1901D14655_1_201_a

... you can talk all night.

219 comments:

1 – 200 of 219   Newer›   Newest»
Anne-I-Am said...

My gracious, Ann without an e, but you take some lovely photographs!

Mark said...

Tholian Web was just on the other day. And McCoy hasn't become less of an ass in the meantime. If anything, in this repeat showing, he's even more of one.

Mark said...

But I'm watching embarrassing drunk Cylon Tigh and his embarrassing slut Cylon wife trying their best to destroy the remnants of society with his buffoonery and declaration of martial law.

Mark said...

Meanwhile, Starbuck back on Caprica does the whole "who played third base for the Tigers" bit when she runs into some rebels and she isn't sure if they are human or not.

narciso said...

Bones was always cantakerous, like maturin in the aubrey series?

Limited blogger said...

molten dabs of light

narciso said...

Yes our host is a very good photographer, when did she pick up the talent.

Mark said...

So I'm hoping when she gets here that Brown Paper Bag will tell us how the chicken and dumplings turned out.

Mark said...

Now that I know she is Bruce Kent.

narciso said...

Belgravia is warming up a little now thats its now firmly in the victorian era.

Mr. Groovington said...

Better Call Saul season finale coming up. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a dedicated weekly thread for the best show on TV.

Yancey Ward said...

Some could enjoy that orange photograph if it wasn't for this pandemic and that lying son of a bitch Trump.

Mark said...

Skinner: Good morning class. A certain...agitator...for privacy's sake let's call her...Lisa S. No, that's too obvious...uuuh, let's say L. Simpson has raised questions about certain school policies.

Lisa the Vegetarian really is a classic.

"You don't win friends with salad! You don't win friends with salad!"

stevew said...

One gets good at something by doing that something. So it is with our host and photog. Action and experiment, combined with a discerning eye. No glad handing here, recognition of what is true.

This photo is unique and different in style and composition.

Mark said...

AMC doesn't run free reruns except in a short period. So if you missed Saul when it first ran, it's hard to get into it.

Mark said...

Of course, orange is one of those hidden in plain sight indicators of impending murderous death.

Mark said...

Practically all of Part Two was shot with an orange filter and orange backgrounds.

narciso said...

How about on demand.

narciso said...

Gus fring was supposed to be chilean, come on!

Mark said...

Saul's only on netflix.

Spiros Pappas said...

If Latin American economies collapse, one hundred million refugees will flood into the U.S.

Mark said...

Gus Fring --

What I'd like to see rerun or available on demand is Homicide: Life on the Street, which was excellent until they started on the whole Bayliss is gay thing.

traditionalguy said...

Has neutral Althouse gone loyal Trumpist? Either that or it’s time for all good Ulster Orange men to Walk with their fifes and drums. Which was a custom the Ulster men, who composed most of George Washington’s Army, kept on doing here to the tune of Yankee Doodle Dandy. They hated the British King for just cause and fought his State for 8 years.

narciso said...

Its on amc, as well. The first two seasons didnt appeal.

hawkeyedjb said...

I highly recommend all the Harlan Coben mysteries on Netflix. In order of favorites:
-The Stranger
-Safe
-The Five

Binge watched 'em all.

Inga said...

Coincidence?

“Kentucky experienced its highest single-day spike in coronavirus cases after protests broke out in the state to lift lockdowns, according to reports.

Gov. Andy Beshear announced there were 273 new cases Sunday, bringing the total to 2,960, news station WCPO reported.

Around 100 protesters gathered Wednesday on the lawn of the Capitol building in Frankfort during Democrat Beshear’s coronavirus briefing, shouting “Open up Kentucky!” and “King Beshear,” the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.”

https://nypost.com/2020/04/20/kentucky-sees-highest-spike-in-coronavirus-cases-after-protests/?utm_source=facebook_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site+buttons&utm_campaign=site+buttons&fbclid=IwAR1mb1q_arzy5ePGKHmUNs03b4OHHOrET95COt6WSsGjbNYP0AFYmu2DHkU

Mark said...

So, the Harvard experts are saying we need 50 million tests per day in order to safely re-open. Worldometers doesn't have a total, but eyeballing the individual country numbers, it looks like there has been less than 30 million tests in the entire world to date.

Mark said...

Sorry Callie, you can't kill Boomer. Instead, you just cemented her hate for humanity from here on out as she downloads into a new body.

narciso said...

How long does it take symptoms to manifest again.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Watching the network news (NBC), seems to mostly stories about people from blue states who've recovered from COVID-19. I suspect they'll all be clamoring for medals, soon.

Mark said...

Another hot zone like South Dakota -- Kentucky with 3050 cases and 154 deaths total.

Drago said...

From Inga's very own link (she never reads the entire or even very much of any article from which she cuts and pastes): "It’s unclear whether the protests had any impact on the surge of deaths reported Sunday in the state."

Too easy.

So go ahead Inga. Tell us how many protesters are a part of this latest infected group.

I'm sure your "logic" will be dizzying.

Mark said...

How long does it take symptoms to manifest again.

Some people never get over the covid fever. They just get worse and worse and start exhibiting new symptoms, like foaming at the mouth.

Inga said...

“How long does it take symptoms to manifest again.”

2 to 14 days after exposure.

Inga said...

“Some people never get over the covid fever. They just get worse and worse and start exhibiting new symptoms, like foaming at the mouth.”

Are you speaking from personal experience?

Mark said...

At some point, they run out of the capacity to keep manufacturing new votes, er, cases.

Drago said...

Inga: "Are you speaking from personal experience?"

Yes. He's seen you.

Mark said...

But let's get back to the more important things -- entertainment and food.

Inga said...

“So go ahead Inga. Tell us how many protesters are a part of this latest infected group.”

Here’s what is said...

“Coincidence?”

Why don’t you go ahead and tell everyone how you’re sure they’re not.

Drago said...

MIT Professor Jeffrey Harris produces study on the NYC Subway system seeding the virus throughout NYC:

http://web.mit.edu/jeffrey/harris/HarrisJE_WP2_COVID19_NYC_13-Apr-2020.pdf

NYC never shut down the subways....or Central Park.

As Inga might say: coincidence?

Drago said...

Inga: "Why don’t you go ahead and tell everyone how you’re sure they’re not."

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

As predicted.

Inga never fails to fail.

Meanwhile, New York City's subways keep chugging along......

Mary Beth said...

Coincidence?

“Kentucky experienced its highest single-day spike in coronavirus cases after protests broke out in the state to lift lockdowns, according to reports.


Increased testing = increase in known positive cases.

Inga said...

“But let's get back to the more important things -- entertainment and food.”

I made pasta carbonara today, delizioso!

Mark said...

Genuine carbonara? With just eggs, cheese and pancetta/bacon?

Or the Americanized version with cream?

True carbonara Italiana is tough to master.

Kyjo said...

Inspired by my MD friend’s scolding.

“We’ve reached a consensus that lockdowns are necessary. Though we have no reliable data on which to make tis recommendations, uncertainty in the face of the scariest possibilities demands it.”

“OK, out of an abundance of caution we’ll lockdown.”

TWO WEEKS LATER

“Our consensus is that the lockdowns must continue.”

“OK, but we’re keeping an eye on Sweden.”

“They’ll lock down, you’ll see.”

“If you say so.”

TWO WEEKS LATER

“Hey, Sweden didn’t lock down. They seem to be doing OK in spite of it.”

“Our consensus is that the lockdown is working and must be continued. Sweden is an outlier.”

“But, you know, they’re not really worse off than we are, and in fact they’re better off than many others.”

“Just look at Norway, Denmark, Finland. Sweden is a comparative hellhole. If only they had locked down, they could have avoided this catastrophe.”

“Do you have direct scientific evidence to support your consensus? Because these guys with relevant expertise are saying maybe not.”

“WE HAVE A CONSENSUS. THOSE GUYS ARE IDIOTS—PROBABLY DENTISTS OR CHIROPRACTORS. ARE YOU CREDITING THEM MORE THAN THE BRAVE DOCTORS AND NURSES ON THE FRONT LINES? SWEDEN HATES GRANDMA. YOU WILL LISTEN TO US OR YOU WILL ALL DIE.”

narciso said...

I was a fan of the novel get shorty and the film (largely because of rene russo) but this irish chili palmer type kind of works

Mark said...

A fifth model is revealed.

narciso said...

Ray romano as the gene hackman character less so.

rehajm said...

No wildlife safari this evening but a raccoon was in the front yard. He's been pulling the grate off my storm drain to drink or wash his paws in the water in the basin...

Kyjo said...

A Lesson from Decolonized History

ELDERS: The spirits have dried the land and held back the rain. We must perform the rain dance, as in days of old. We must dance daily until the soil is moist. Only then may we plant corn.

CHIEFTAN: I accept the wisdom of the elders.

TWO WEEKS LATER

ELDERS: The spirits are pleased with our dancing, and have sent small rain. We must continue to dance daily.

CHIEFTAN: News has come from the Loquum chieftan. They have received small rain from the spirits, yet the Loquum people do not dance.

ELDERS: Since they do not dance, their lands will harden like stone, and their corn will not grow. We must continue the rain dance.

CHIEFTAN: I accept the wisdom of the elders.

TWO WEEKS LATER

CHIEFTAN: The Loquum people do not dance, yet their lands have been watered with big rain, much as ours.

ELDERS: The spirits are pleased with our dancing. We must continue to dance daily. An evil spirit whispers lies into the ear of the Loquum chieftan.

CHIEFTAN: But their soil is moist, they have begun to plant corn. The Pequum and Naquum peoples dance, yet they receive less rain than the Loquum.

ELDERS: The Doquum and the Hiquum people dance, and receive more rain than the Loquum or we. The Loquum shall see their corn with wither, because they do not please the spirits.

CHIEFTAN: Perhaps the spirits are pleased with the Loquum, for they have given them rain. Perhaps the spirits are pleased with us, and our dancing neither pleases nor displeases them. Perhaps now we may plant corn.

ELDERS: WE HAVE CONSULTED THE SPIRITS, AND THEY DESIRE THAT WE DANCE. THE LOQUUM ELDERS ARE BLIND WOMEN. DO YOU ESTEEM THEM MORE THAN US? THE LOQUUM CHIEFTAN IS EVIL AND FILLED WITH AN EVIL SPIRIT. WE MUST DANCE OR WE SHALL PERISH. WE MUST NOT PLANT CORN.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

I don't know if it's a spoiler at this date, but Tigh's wife was not a Cylon. She also had a character arc making her a positive character by the time I gave up on the series.

Mark said...

I'd like to see some more (any) data on tracing and transmission. As in, how many (any?) cases of transmission through incidental contact as opposed to prolonged close-quarter exposure?

Yancey Ward said...

Wow, Inga, you went back to stupid with that comment. Kentucky reported 91 cases today, so I think it 99.999999999% certain the protests didn't increase anything except for Beshear's nervousness.

I wrote a comment about 2-3 weeks ago that Beshear had been making public comments about how Kentucky was doing all the right things and Tennessee, with a Republican governor, was doing all the wrong things, and that people who lived on the border shouldn't cross over to Tennessee to buy things that are still available because the lockdown was much softer in TN. The bragging comments got big play in the Kentucky newspapers. I pointed out that Tennessee only had more cases because they tested two times as many people as Kentucky had, and that the positivity rate was statistically the same- at that time, only different by about 0.2% at that time.

From Worldometers, here is Tennessee and Kentucky's relative "performance" against the virus:

Tennessee 7238 confirmed cases.......Kentucky 3050 confirmed cases
Tennessee 97,038 tests run.......Kentucky 32,820
Tennessee 152 deaths........Kentucky 154 deaths.

So, Governor Beshear, you were saying????????

Mark said...

Sorry Unknown, Ellen Tigh is a Final Five.

Inga said...

“Genuine carbonara? With just eggs, cheese and pancetta/bacon?”

Of course, it’s the only kind I make. It’s not hard to make at all. No cream, eggs give it a creamy sauce. You save some pasta water to add if it’s not creamy enough.

narciso said...

They borrowed the prenise of that gary sinise film (phillip k dick story) imppostor.

Yancey Ward said...

Hawkeye,

I have watched The Five and Safe- liked both. Will check out The Stranger after finishing with Bosch tomorrow night.

Yancey Ward said...

I thought Impostor was really good. I didn't see the ending coming, though maybe I should have.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

tonight's Althouse pic

the waters form a weave--
...the radiant light rends

At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. Mt 27:51

narciso said...

Well the logic of a phillip k dick suggested it, it a digital platos cave.

J. Farmer said...

@narciso:

I was a fan of the novel get shorty and the film (largely because of rene russo) but this irish chili palmer type kind of works

One of my favorite movies based on Leonard's novels, though I don't believe it was particularly well-received, was 52 Pick-up with Roy Schneider and Ann Margaret. I'm a sucker for film noir. The adaptation of Rum Punch into Jackie Brown is my favorite Tarantino movie.

I wish more of Carl Hiaasen's novels had been adapted for film, but unfortunately Strip Tease with Demi Moore and Burt Reynolds was one of the most godawful adaptions of a book I had ever seen, probably only second to reworking Anne Rice's BDSM novel Exit to Eden into a tits-and-ass, buddy-cop sex comedy with Dan Akroyd and Rosie O'Donnell.

narciso said...

That was a decent adaptation, there was also one of cat chaser i forget who was the star in that. John glover as the oily villain in 52 pickup was choice.

Gahrie said...

If Latin American economies collapse, one hundred million refugees will flood into the U.S.

They'll be met at the border with gunfire long before the number reaches 100 million.

narciso said...

Peter weller was in it, along with charles durning.

Mark said...

THAT is eerie. I was just thinking about Eb as I turned on Green Acres.

And a notice popped up on MeTV announcing he has died. Today.

Smerdyakov said...

My niece is a surgeon. Right now all she does is put in catheters and ports for coronavirus patients.

She says most are either very sick or very old or both.

In other words the virus is greasing the skids for those who already have a boarding pass to elysium. Sorry about mixing metaphors.

We are shutting dowm our economy to delay their departure.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Sorry Unknown, Ellen Tigh is a Final Five.

Really? Wow. I don't recall her as one of the ones in the Bob Dylan episode, which is when I gave up. Oh well.

Mark said...

Always liked Eb. He was always just a decent kind of guy.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Hopefully next time around he will get to be a brain sturgeon.

J. Farmer said...

@Smerdyakov:

In other words the virus is greasing the skids for those who already have a boarding pass to elysium. Sorry about mixing metaphors.

We are shutting dowm our economy to delay their departure.


I can't help but recall the moral outrage of 2009 over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act when Sarah Palin coined the phrase "death panels" because "the elderly and ailing would be coerced into accepting minimal end-of-life care to reduce health care costs." It didn't take much to get us from there to "ready the ice floe!"

I'm just screwing around. I actually take your point and don't intend this as a rebuttal.

Sebastian said...

Sm: "We are shutting down our economy to delay their departure."

That was obvious from the outset. Hence the need to adjust "fatalities" by life expectancy, at least.

In retrospect, if we just assume one million deaths as the alarmist had-to-shut-things-down-or-else bad-case scenario, and generously assume an average life expectancy per case of 10 years, what will turn out to be the cost per life-year saved? $1 million? That would be about an order of magnitude more than is common; by UK standard, about 30 times what NICE reckons.

Delaying their departure suggest of course that a large portion, say the half above the median age, had a much lower life expectancy, hence the average cost per life-year saved would be much higher still. And equally of course, the one million was a BS number to begin with. Go down to 240 (Birx prediction)-60 (Birx adjustment)=180K deaths prevented, and assume an average life expectancy of about 6, and you get into mind-boggling costs per life-year.

And this leaves entirely aside the collateral damage to the health and well-being of the healthy young population.

rhhardin said...

My parents were amused in the early 50s that there was a powdered milk called klim, which is milk spelled backwards. I see it's still made.

The classics never grow old.

rhhardin said...

Biden to replace Kim Jong Un as NK president.

chuck said...

Where is Danaë?

narciso said...

He should have stuck to linguistics,

Mark said...

In D.C. in a typical year, about 420 people die each month (based on 2017 rates). So far, 105 have died of covid in the last month.

For Maryland, it is 4110 and 582. Virginia -- 5640 and 300.
Michigan - 8040 and 2468. Pennsylvania - 11180 and 1348.
Florida - 16740 and 830. Illinois - 9030 and 1349.

Anne-I-Am said...

Just a few more episodes of Fauda...then I will finish Bosch. Thanks for the tips on the HC adaptations. I really like his novels; he is compulsively readable.

J Farmer,

I have a rough theory that the division between the reds and the blues fits nicely with Haidt's value system. Here we have blues insisting on treating everyone exactly the same--equaity of outcome--by locking everyone up to keep anyone from having a different outcome (sickness/death), while reds want fairness in the sense of letting the non-at-risk live their lives while the at-risk isolate. The blues are insisting on No Harm to anyone, harm being defined by anyone getting sick or dying, while the reds see harm in the loss of liberty and property (and feel that is as important as the potential harm of sickness).

I know iti isn't perfect, but it helps me to be less judgmental of the liberal jerks who surround me, screaming at me to "Stay back!" when I get within 10 feet of them on a trail.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Joe Biden Facing Ridicule After Revealing He “Sits On The Toilet Backwards”

this may actually be real.

donald said...

said...
Coincidence?

“Kentucky experienced its highest single-day spike in coronavirus cases after protests broke out in the state to lift lockdowns, according to reports.

Gov. Andy Beshear announced there were 273 new cases Sunday, bringing the total to 2,960, news station WCPO reported.

Around 100 protesters gathered Wednesday on the lawn of the Capitol building in Frankfort during Democrat Beshear’s coronavirus briefing, shouting “Open up Kentucky!” and “King Beshear,” the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.”

https://nypost.com/2020/04/20/kentucky-sees-highest-spike-in-coronavirus-cases-after-protests/?utm_source=facebook_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site+buttons&utm_campaign=site+buttons&fbclid=IwAR1mb1q_arzy5ePGKHmUNs03b4OHHOrET95COt6WSsGjbNYP0AFYmu2DHkU


I thought you were a medical professional. Apparently not.

Mark said...

So far during the 2019-20 flu season, there have been 11,881 flu infections in Virginia. Number of deaths is negligible.

There have been 8990 cases of covid.
http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/content/uploads/sites/3/2019/12/Weekly-Influenza-Activity-Report.pdf

donald said...

Striptease did not resemble the book. But Demi’s boobs were great.

JackWayne said...

Trump:
In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!

J. Farmer said...

@Sebastian:

In retrospect, if we just assume one million deaths as the alarmist had-to-shut-things-down-or-else bad-case scenario, and generously assume an average life expectancy per case of 10 years, what will turn out to be the cost per life-year saved? $1 million?

A million per year for ten years for a million people? Isn't that $10 trillion?

A few caveats:

Assessing the economic cost of the shutdown is complicated by a few factors. Markets were already falling sharply before any significant action was taken by the government due to uncertainty over the effects of virus. The economic effects of the virus on China and other countries were reverberating as well. And then there was the economic impact from people and businesses voluntarily changing their behavior.

One of the biggest issues that hampered our ability to deal with the virus early on was the screw up with the testing. The CDC tests did not work, the partial relaxation on February 4th was inadequate, and they had to issue a new policy a second time on February 29th. We could have reduced the impact of the virus had we taken a more aggressive, proactive approach earlier. But instead the government spent all of February largely downplaying the risk.

There was no feasible way to make confident evidence-based judgments on the effect of the virus in the United States. Everywhere that data was available was implementing mitigation procedures. China was doing such on a massive scale. And the virus had only been identified for about eight weeks. The impact could have been minimal or it could have been massive. There was no way to know with any degree of certainty one way or another.

If you guess a number from 1 to 6, roll a die, and it lands on the number you guessed, that doesn't make the outcome "obvious."

Mark said...

Kentucky - 3960 deaths per month in a typical year, compared to 154 covid deaths in the last month.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/state-and-territorial-data.htm

J. Farmer said...

@donald:

Striptease did not resemble the book. But Demi’s boobs were great.

"I find fake boobs offensive. Au naturel, baby. That's how I like them. Swing low, sweet chariots." -Creed Bratton

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

I think the primary talent in photography comes in spotting the subject, especially the framing of the subject. It's the same as recognizing good music when you hear it. You can recognize it and not be musically talented yourself. I don't know why but that's the way it is. I had a brother who was a professional photographer his whole professional life. He died of lung cancer at 41 but he had his own studio for years before that. His chief talent was in the darkroom; he was known as a master of the darkroom. I've been in there with him and his would casually wave his hand in and out of the exposure and manipulate the print that way. But, I think that the chief talent in photography is in seeing the image before the camera is lifted.

Anne-I-Am said...

J Farmer,

I don't trust your judgment on boobs.

J. Farmer said...

@Mark:

So far during the 2019-20 flu season, there have been 11,881 flu infections in Virginia. Number of deaths is negligible.

Since a lot has been made about the covid-19 death count, it's worth remembering that very few influneza cases are laboratory-confirmed. The numbers are calculated using statistical models.

320Busdriver said...

Blogger Spiros Pappas said...
If Latin American economies collapse, one hundred million refugees will flood into the U.S.

Not so fast

And as Jack Wayne above said: @realdonaldtrump
“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!”

J. Farmer said...

@Anne:

I don't trust your judgment on boobs.

That's not my judgment; it's Creed Bratton's. But if you're looking for an opinion, I'd say anything more than a handful and you're asking for trouble.

J. Farmer said...

“In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!”

Good. We should've done that two months ago.

narciso said...

I thought lior looked familiar he was also in operation finale about the capture of eichmann

Lyle Smith said...

Kim Jung Un might be dead apparently.

walter said...

Mark said...Another hot zone like South Dakota -- Kentucky with 3050 cases and 154 deaths total.
--
4,500,000 pop

narciso said...

Maybe hes just pining for the fjords

DavidUW said...

What are the EXCESS deaths?
Because I'm not seeing them in the national statistics.

We're running below the expected total deaths from all causes.
Even if you take out accidental deaths.

CDC is saying that 20% of deaths are from the Fluhan. Seems like a lot, but why aren't total deaths increasing?

Anne-I-Am said...

Lior in Fauda?

J Farmer,

Ha. I have heard the word mouthful used.

I have a morbid fascination with really huge fake boobs. I lived in Vegas for a number of years and saw some doozies in the gym locker room. Sadly, staring is not polite, but I really wanted to stare. How does someone sleep on her stomach with those? And run? I love being lightly endowed; doesn't hurt to run, and nothing sags, even at close to six decades.

And aren't you batting for the other team? What would you do with a handful?

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Is this what you meant re boobs?

Mark said...

"If I can't scuba, then what's this all been about? What am I working toward?"
"Who's your worm guy?"
https://youtu.be/AeZ6a1A0-ow

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Belle: "Are you wearing a grocery bag?"

Homer, imperiously: "I have misplaced my pants."

That episode is full of amazing classic Simpsons humor.

"I was only in there to get directions to get out of there!"

And the wonderful We put the spring in Springfield!

Dinner was great. I heat up some butter in my Dutch oven, add a coarsely chopped mirepoix, let it do its thing; flour, chicken broth; bring to a boil, add in a picked-apart Costco rotisserie chicken (buy them 3-4 at a time and throw straight in chest freezer until needed). Dumplings are flour, salt, baking powder, parsley; cut in butter, stir in milk. Make 6-8 big balls and toss into simmering soup, cover until they are cooked through. They come out fluffy and delicious as opposed to some methods of chicken and dumplings in which the dumplings are small and slimy. Some people make it in the crock pot with cut up bits of canned biscuit dough which is .... not to my taste.

We also had a nice lemon cream pie which I stirred together and refrigerated earlier today.

Speaking of my Dutch oven: I got the score of the century this week. I have slowly collected Le Creuset pieces for ages; in fact the first piece I ever had was my first-ever eBay purchase at the tender age of 21 with our cool dial-up modem. Anyway, I had accumulated the 5 quart Dutch oven, a large skillet, a covered brasier, a small Dutch oven, a vintage casserole, two gratin dishes, a pie plate with an adorable pie bird, a set of mini cocottes, and the cutest little pink heart shaped mini cocotte that my oldest daughter gave me for my birthday this year.

I happened to be scrolling Facebook which I rarely do these days and saw a brand new post in a neighborhood buy & sell group. An older lady listed a gorgeous set of hunter green Le Creuset consisting of two medium skillets, two covered saucepans, one uncovered saucepan, and a casserole. She said she'd owned and loved them for thirty years but that her arthritic hands couldn't manage their weight anymore. A steal at $225. I pounced on them and they are now sitting on my dining room table waiting for me to figure out how to fit them on the shelves with the rest of my collection. I will have to move some of my cookbooks to make room.

Anne-I-Am said...

narciso,

LOL.

Narr said...

One hundred million people on the move wouldn't move far.

Most of the many millions who will or may die from ChiComLungAIDS and/or its side effects will die in place, or at least close to home.

Narr
Pleasant dreams

Narr said...

"OK kids, what's more important? Doing the right thing, or being popular?"

Bart and Lisa: "Being popular!"

"Thaat's riight."

Narr
Gentle Life Lessons

narciso said...

I think physics enters the picture at some point.

walter said...

DavidUW said...We're running below the expected total deaths from all causes.
Even if you take out accidental deaths.
--
Does that include hospital errors? Pretty limited availability outside Covid.

narciso said...

dont try this at home

Anne-I-Am said...

Don't worry, everyone. We will catch up on the missing deaths in the months and years to come, from people who didn't get treatment for maladies other than ChiCom Lung Scrapie. No need to be morose!

Mark said...

"I find fake boobs offensive. Au naturel, baby. That's how I like them. Swing low, sweet chariots."

"Take it off!"
"Alright Dad, you've been warned. Let's go."

https://youtu.be/pLK9Gl26XK0?t=196

Narr said...

My wife's never-large breasts have kept a delightful pertness.

Narr
I made sure, just this afternoon

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

@walter
we posted earlier (another thread?) #3 cause of death: med screw ups

...about a plane crash's worth/day

narciso said...

When did we slide right into demolition days city of san angeles.

Mark said...

And always guaranteed to get a larf --

"Ow, my eye. I'm not supposed to get pudding in it."

https://youtu.be/pRslzYZxC2I

J. Farmer said...

@Anne:

And aren't you batting for the other team? What would you do with a handful?<

I've played for both teams. I suppose you could technically say I was "bisexual," but I don't care for that term. In my experience, some gay men have practically zero arousal to the opposite sex and would be very uncomfortable or awkward in such a situation. Others could easily be aroused by the opposite sex. Regardless, I don't have any desire to form an intimate relationship with women. That's why I don't use the term "bisexual," because sexual orientation is more than just arousal. As Christopher Hitchens once remarked, "homosexuality isn't just a kind of sex; it's a kind of love."

Mark said...

Stallone and Sandra Bullock getting it on the covid way --

https://youtu.be/k80UQWWUIYs

J. Farmer said...

dont try this at home

Had to stop it immediately. I can't allow that image to taint my love for the song Milkshake. One of the best urban songs of the aughts. The Neptunes at the height of their production prowess.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

Belle: "Are you wearing a grocery bag?"

Homer, imperiously: "I have misplaced my pants."


There's an online strip called Sluggy Freelance that alternates between fairly serious adventure and goofy hijinks. Once, during a hijinks period, one of the two main heroes points at a pair of pants near the second (and goofier) hero and asks what's up with that.

"Those are my emergency pants.... Under any scenario I've come up with, I was glad to have them."

(from memory)

William said...

I was processing some bad news and turned to YouTube clips of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers to soften life. I don't think sports bras existed back then. In some of the more athletic numbers, you can really see Ginger's breasts bounce around. They looked cute and perky.....She really was terrific. The cliche is that she gave him sex appeal and he gave her class. I don't think that's true. There was something joyous and jaunty in the way she danced. I think Rita Hayworth and Cyd Charisse had far more sex appeal, but she gave her dances a sense of fun. Astaire was always effortless in his moves, but he looked like he was having more fun with her..... She was more of a movie star than Astaire. Her facial reactions were the ones that you follow in the dance routines, although Fred had the more elegant moves.....Fred and Ginger produced many moments of perfection. Some of the greatest songs ever written danced to by a perfect couple...I give Fred the nod as to vocal ability. Ginger could carry a tune and had a pleasant voice, but she couldn't register the nuances of the lyrics. Fred had a thin voice, but he could enunciate all the subtlety of the lyric. Many of the great composers said he was their favorite singer.

Mark said...

When did Ginger Rogers NOT have class????

J. Farmer said...

Stallone and Sandra Bullock getting it on the covid way --

Demolition Man was such a wonderfully goofy movie. Snipes' insane hairdo. The D-list supporting cast. The 90's nostalgia of the future. And how the hell do those damn three seashells work?

Andy said...

I am going to nitpick on an article in NOLA about the Supreme Court decision. First let me say that I agree with the Courts decision. But, the following coming from a Louisiana based news source is inexcusable.
Louisiana was the first state to break from hundreds of years of Anglo-Saxon legal tradition The author seems unaware that Louisiana's laws are based in the traditions of French civil law not English common law. For example in Louisiana state courts are not bound by stare decisis which adds a layer of irony to today's ruling.

Rick.T. said...


Blogger Mark said...

True carbonara Italiana is tough to master
—————————

Whisk the Parmesan/Pecorino into the beaten eggs

After quickly draining the pasta so there is still a small quantity of pasta water (few TBS), stir it into the sautéed pancetta with the rendered fat to coat

Off heat stir in the egg and cheese mixture.

Serve. There won’t be any scrambled egg bits, only a glossy sauce. Top servings with additional cheese because....cheese.

Mark said...

Ginger was great in this anti-Klan movie -

https://youtu.be/QRVZndMCNuA?t=72

Mark said...

There won’t be any scrambled egg bits, only a glossy sauce.

Easier written than done.

J. Farmer said...

@Rick T.:

That's very close to how I prepare it with a few small exceptions. I prefer guanciale to pancetta (though not always easy to find), and I add a lot of crushed black pepper. I particularly like carbonara because of the black pepper, which isn't used in a lot of Italian cooking, preferring crushed red pepper.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

He should have taken the deal.

Mark said...

Ginger as a little girl was more believable than Ray Milland as a romantic lead.

https://youtu.be/ncslDoBAwE0

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

(once more
do we need to establish an official national max death threshold?
and have we demonstrated already in the past what that is?)

Exactly How Many Deaths Are Needed To Justify Giving Government's Control Of Everything?
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/exactly-how-many-deaths-are-needed-justify-giving-governments-control-everything

narciso said...

Its been 27? Years and i still dont know, its a huxleyan vision hence bullocks characters name.

Freeman Hunt said...

That is a most excellent deal, Pants. Congratulations!

Ralph L said...

Or the Americanized version with cream?

My dad brought a recipe with cream (and beef broth) back from a restaurant in Naples in the 50's. Family favorite.

Mark said...

Would have been better without smarmy Denis Leary.

But wouldn't everything be?

J. Farmer said...

@Mark:

But wouldn't everything be?

I actually liked him in The Ref, but that's about it.

Why is Dennis Leary famous and Bill Hicks isn't? Because there's No Cure For Cancer

p.s. Don't care much for Bill Hicks, either.

J. Farmer said...

Or the Americanized version with cream?

Eschew cream for a more authentic alfredo sauce, too. Just water, butter, and ground parmigiano-reggiano. Delicious.

Mark said...

Closing the door.

President Trump tweeted Monday night that he will be signing an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration to the United States.

Andrew said...

I'm too exhausted to talk politics, so I'll save it for later. (And there was much rejoicing.)

But since the topic came up, here's my favorite Astaire routine (a solo). I remember going through a mild personal depression. I watched this video a hundred times to remind me that there was still good in the world.

https://vimeo.com/6971656

And since we're talking about Astaire, whoever put this together is a genius. Pure joy.

https://youtu.be/M1F0lBnsnkE

Mark said...

This chump is proving daily that he's not interested in answers, only politics --

“It’s clear the president has no interest in solving this problem and saving lives,” Biden said. He added: “With the U.S. now leading the globe in confirmed cases and deaths, and with more than 22 million Americans having filed for unemployment claims, the time for more excuses from President Trump is over.”

narciso said...

life imitated art

narciso said...

more than meets the eye

Anne-I-Am said...

J F

I am getting lazy. Soon it will just be Yo, Adrian!

Guanciale makes everything better. Tough to find here in the Bay. Back in Indy, there was a butcher/deli who made all its own smoked eats. One taste of their guanciale, and i was off pancetta for good.

Anne-I-Am said...

what a sad, pathetic person that is, narciso. the chaos inside its brain must be agony.

narciso said...

I had never heard of guanciale before,

Mark said...

Spock faced the Tholian Web tonight. Now Archer, having seized command, is taking the Enterprise into Tholian space. T'Pol is looking particularly hot with the long hair, even with a goatee.

narciso said...

Oh that was the mirror universe arc, one of the better ones in the series, with the alternate credits and martial music.

Mark said...

So what are the people in Michigan to do about their shubbery?

Anne-I-Am said...

Guanciale is like bacon on steroids.

Y'all have me hungry for carbonara now. Perhaps I will make it as soon as I can locate some decent smoked meat.

I bought clams to make linguini with clam sauce.

Tonight was tacos. The boy asked for them. Not my cup of tea. But, one likes to please one's child.

Made a Moscow Mule with jalapeno added. Very nice touch.

Anne-I-Am said...

Bring us a shrubbery!

J. Farmer said...

I had never heard of guanciale before,

The cheeks are actually a very good cut of meat. They're fatty and have a lot of connective tissue so they usually need a long preparation. But when the fat renders out, you get the same taste of beef or pork but even more intensely so. When I can get beef cheeks, I love braising them and serving to guests, since most have never had it.

Mark said...

Ah good times.

A few months ago, they showed the movie on the big (biggish) screen at the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse. They even had a real-life film malfunction at the start.

Still funny, but not as much when you know every scene and every line.

Mark said...

And, yes, sorry not to have played along with the parrot reference earlier.

Yancey Ward said...

I was surprised to find that Tom Lester was actually still alive until yesterday.

The last thing I ever remember seeing him in was an episode of "Little House on the Prarie", and that had to be in the early 80s.

Yancey Ward said...

Trump's immigration order will induce mass psychosis in the Democrats. You know they will have to actively oppose it, but how exactly?

Yancey Ward said...

"52 Pick-up with Roy Schneider and Ann Margaret."

I was a big fan of the movie, too. Very underrated film, in my opinion.

stephen cooper said...

Without begin partisan about it, it is clear that it is difficult not to feel sorry for people like Obama and Biden.

Can you imagine waking up in the morning and being "Joe" Biden and thinking, my God, I have to go out there today and try and convince people that Joe Biden is not an angry old liar of a man with dementia? That must be a brutal thing to wake up to every morning.

And trust me, Barry is not much more thrilled with his choices in life than angry lying Joe is.

Look, I would not want Trump for a son-in-law either, but at least people do not reflexively feel pity for him every time they see him. Mostly because he is pro-life and not pro-choice. If he were pro-choice I would feel as sad for him as I do for poor little angry Joe and for Michelle's uncool little Boomer husband.

Drago said...

Yancey Ward: "Trump's immigration order will induce mass psychosis in the Democrats."

And their allies, the LLR's.

stephen cooper said...

and trust me, you know your first emotion when you see angry "Joe" Biden is pity, no matter whether you are going to vote for him or against him.

Yancey Ward said...

Frankenheimer directed some true gems, but some truly awful films, too.

I especially liked "Ronin".

Mark said...

The best of Eb Dawson -

https://youtu.be/Wr6g8QXjumw

https://youtu.be/7fZQwhb95Ac?t=20

https://youtu.be/ZUXhy1mz6zU

https://youtu.be/ER5phKu-LUU

Churchy LaFemme: said...

https://xkcd.com/2296/

Yancey Ward said...

Sorry, Stephen, my first emotion is mirth. Not nice, I know that, but the man deserves derision, even if he probably doesn't remember why.

Mark said...

Ronin -

Best chase scene(s) ever.

stephen cooper said...

Michael Savage had a good interview with Frankenheimer a few years ago.

It is of course completely unfindable on the internet.

The internet was built for liberals, not for the rest of us.

Sad!

stephen cooper said...

Yancey, don't feel bad about that. Poor Mr Biden has been very mean to very many people for a long time.

It is not a partisan issue, from my point of view. For example, little Ronny Reagan, when he was young, was the sort of guy who would have tried to steal a girlfriend from me, because he had more money.

I voted for him, and I think he was very good at what he did, but it sort of makes me laugh that he got stuck with that shrew of a wife.

Anne-I-Am said...

Ronin. Excellent flick.

This thread is devolving into "guys discuss movies." Soon, y'all will be quoting movie lines at each other. It's what guys do.

I don't feel sorry for Joe Biden. He is a nasty man who lied for years about the poor truck driver into whose path Biden's wife drove.

I can't imagine what goes through Barack Obama's mind. I think he thought he really was the light-bringer. And now he is being reduced to nothing more then "the first black elected president."

narciso said...

Seven days in may, which was remade as the enemy within with jason robatds and forest whitaker in the iconic roles, was the first film i recall about him.

Mark said...

The Driving of Ronin | Behind The Scenes Of The World's Greatest Movie Car Chase

The chase cars were going 75, the civilian cars 35, with a 100 race car drivers doing the Paris scene.

https://youtu.be/vL0Hhq0VFIY

Mark said...

"What's in the case?"

narciso said...

It was a mcguffin or it was ving rhames from pulp fiction.

Mark said...

Soon, y'all will be quoting movie lines at each other.

Says the quoter of the Knights Who Say **.

rightguy said...

Farmer : " it's worth remembering that very few influenza cases are laboratory-confirmed."

Untrue. Influenza A & B tests have been widely available for years- at even the smallest hospitals and clinics. Its true that many influenza cases go unconfirmed, but many are confirmed, including a very large % of those who seek medical attention.

I can't get 2019-2020 figures for total US cases confirmed, but Pennsylvania currently has 130,000 cases confirmed for 2019-2020 season. My sense is that nationally there are much more than "very few" confirmed cases.

Anne-I-Am said...

Mark,

well. touche. Ni.

Ralph L said...

Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse

We used to like the Salvadorian/Mexican restaurant Abi's behind the 7/11 next to it. Good chicken burritos.

J. Farmer said...

@stephen cooper:

And trust me, Barry is not much more thrilled with his choices in life than angry lying Joe is.

Not sure how you can possibly know that. The Obama's always struck me as a rather nice family (as much as anyone on the outside can determine such things). And he seemed like one of the more normal people to occupy the office in recent times. The Bush's seem to have a lot of the weird issues you see in wealthy dynastic families. Clinton clearly has issues. Reagan's career in radio, film, and television is unique among politicians. Nixon was certainly a very unusual personality.

Look, I would not want Trump for a son-in-law either, but at least people do not reflexively feel pity for him every time they see him.

I don't feel pity, but I do feel a lot of cringe. People who seem almost incapable of feeling embarrassment always fascinate me.

Clark said...

My favorite Le Creuset piece is the tart tatin pan.

narciso said...

We try to keep the kung flu away from this thread.

Mark said...

Of course, included in every "Needless, stupid remake" file is "Manchurian Candidate."

Mark said...

No need to get profane.

Kyjo said...

@narciso, I’m pretty sure that would require most of us to stop commenting. Stay away! Essential commenters only.

J. Farmer said...

@rightguy:

From CDC's Frequently Asked Questions about Estimated Flu Burden:

How many people get sick with flu every year?
"CDC conducts surveillance for people who see their health care provider for flu-like illness through the Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet); a network of thousands of health care providers who report the proportion of patients seeking care for flu-like illness weekly to CDC. This system allows CDC to track levels of medically attended flu-like illness over the course of the flu season. CDC does not know exactly how many people get sick with seasonal flu each year. There are several reasons for this including that ILINet does not include every health care provider and monitors flu-like illness, not laboratory-confirmed influenza cases. Also, flu illness is not a reportable disease and not everyone who gets sick with flu seeks medical care or gets tested.

CDC uses mathematical modeling in combination with data from traditional flu surveillance systems to estimate the numbers of flu illnesses in the United States.

Also...

What are seasonal influenza-related deaths?
"Seasonal influenza-related deaths are deaths that occur in people for whom influenza infection was likely a contributor to the cause of death, but not necessarily the primary cause of death."

effinayright said...


"You don't win friends with salad! You don't win friends with salad!"
*********

I especially like Barney in that episode, when he mocks Lisa for serving gazpacho at the Simpsons's backyard barbecue:

"Go back to Russia!"

Mark said...

So I went and got some kung pao chicken for lunch, off the lunch menu. The one that is supposed to have discounted prices. Except they said, "Oh, we're not using that menu anymore. Here's the new menu." Which had the kung pao for $11. Lunch size. That's more than the price for dinner size.
'
I paid it. Help keep them in business in hard times.

But I probably will never go back. For that price, they could have at least given me a dinner portion.

With this, I gave at the office.

narciso said...

I said try, although yoda would disagree.

Theres all sorts of timey wimey wlements that dont make sense in that film like raymond shaws dissapearance in 1990, the mysterious merc who appears from that timeline etc

Mark said...

He really is a renaissance man, well-versed in all the classics, isn't he?

They had David Tennant guest-voicing on Family Guy last night.

Anne-I-Am said...

J F

Obama strikes me as a very egotistical man. And steeped in revolution cred--just thought that he could accomplish what Ayers wanted to accomplish with his political skill instead of violence.

And Michelle is a very angry woman. Despite (or perhaps because of) the advantages she was given for being a black woman with somewhat above average intelligence.

I hope their girls are normal. As much as any kids who grow up in that extreme political environment can be.

Mark,

Ni. Ni. Ni. We are no longer the knights who say ni.

Ralph L said...

What otherwise healthy person goes to the doctor with the flu?

Mark said...

I gave up watching, after a few years of frustration at the showrunner's insistence on destroying everything, when they did the episode where the moon is really an egg.

And I have no interest in the Trans-Doctor.

J. Farmer said...

@Ralph L:

What otherwise healthy person goes to the doctor with the flu?

Yes, that's the point. If you only relied on laboratory-confirmed cases, you would get a massive underestimation of the number of flu cases. That is why they rely on modeling. And why the figures are always given as a range.

Original Mike said...

ekki-ekki-ekki-pitang-zoom-boing

Mark said...

Some of the governors and Dems are just the type that would carry their people out to the cart before they are dead.

Mark said...

Our economy especially is going on that cart one way or another.

J. Farmer said...

Anne:

Obama strikes me as a very egotistical man. And steeped in revolution cred--just thought that he could accomplish what Ayers wanted to accomplish with his political skill instead of violence.

I imagine the desire to become president and go through a presidential campaign requires at least some amount of healthy ego. I never saw much to the Obama-Ayers connection. Bill Ayers was part of the counterculture and the youth movements of the 1960s. Obama didn't even finish high school until 1979 and came of age in the Reagan era, which was a quite different period of American history than the 1960s. Obama's preferred policies were much closer to George McGovern than Bill Ayers.

I agree that Obama probably believed he could effect more change than what he did. I imagine a lot of presidents make that mistake. It's a job like no other, and only once someone is in it can they probably truly appreciate the amount of institutional pressure that constrains their ability to act. The president is captaining a very large ship and can only change course so much in the time they have.

narciso said...

Well that was ridiculous, specially after the creature hatched and the moon reappeared?

Crazy World said...

This gorgeous photo almost makes me miss my Orange County childhood.

Drago said...

Farmer: "I never saw much to the Obama-Ayers connection."

Well, yes, if you ignore connections that existed it becomes very easy to not see any connections.

For instance, you might want to ask yourself why it was that Bill Ayers selected obama as the key individual to distribute $50M in grant money provided to Ayers group by the Annenberg Foundation which Ayers and obama used to fund leftist indoctrination programs in the Chicago public schools.

Ayers and obama continued to work together to raise an additional $60M for that same purpose.

If Ayers and obama had nothing in common and there was no reason for them to be connected, why did Ayers and obama work so hard together to create and maintain that connection?

Crazy World said...

Also, here in Hawaii the whole state is shut down due to tourism but the “house less” are the only ones who get to enjoy the beach. USA

walter said...

Promises of transforming the country and controlling the sea level indicate a healthy ego.

J. Farmer said...

@Drago:

Well, yes, if you ignore connections that existed it becomes very easy to not see any connections.

Recall the claim I was giving an opinion on: "And steeped in revolution cred--just thought that he could accomplish what Ayers wanted to accomplish with his political skill instead of violence." I don't deny the connections through the Chicago Annenberg Challenge or Obama's involvement in local Chicago politics. What I deny is that you can then extrapolate from that that Obama must've been sympathetic to the revolutionary politics Ayers advocated 20 years earlier. We have seven years of his involvement in the Illinois Senate, his brief period in the US Senate, and then two presidential election campaigns. It's pretty clear that Obama's record is well within the mainstream of American national politics. If Obama was attempting to implement radical left politics, it wasn't known to people on the actual radical left, who were pretty critical over what they considered Obama's corporatist, interventionist policies.

J. Farmer said...

@walter:

Promises of transforming the country and controlling the sea level indicate a healthy ego.

Certainly. Making grandiose claims that you can never deliver is what campaign messaging is all about. As I mentioned earlier, the things Obama actually did were not that far off from what Bush had done.

Gahrie said...

Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger all had legendary renditions of the Joker, even though they are all very different. Michael Keaton was the best film Batman.

walter said...

It's all relative. Everything. Pffft.

J. Farmer said...

@Gahrie:

Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger all had legendary renditions of the Joker, even though they are all very different. Michael Keaton was the best film Batman.

Agree about Keaton. As for the Joker, I would also add Mark Hamil as the voice for the 90's animated series. If you were a kid in the 90s, that series occupies a huge part of the Batman canon. The creators also made a feature-length animated film called Batman: Mask of Phantasm. Probably has the best story and characters until the Nolan series.

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