Read Gene Lyons (Sun-Times, Saturday) on that stupid Trumpy song TTIAST.
Not only is Aldean's a malignant addition, but it is also a crappy song that no-one would have ever heard if it (and he) weren't the embodiment of racist, toxic masculinity.
I voted for the hair on the screen Visual ToTW, due to (admittedly minor technical) flaws in some of the others : (1) The song is "Jingleheimer-Schmitt" (or Jingleheimer-Schmidt") - but I guess that would have detracted from the play on "Oppenheimer". The "Try That In a Small Town" VToTW conflates defeating the institution of slavery with "small town" vigilantism. Related? Sure, but too tenuous for me. (I think the overtly political nature of the "Small Town" VToTW is boosting its vote.)
Regarding your poll on streaming content, I think catching up with my watch list is good but 80% of it I never watch more than one episode. Maybe they need more quality imho
Gotta See: I went with elevator because we've wished for heat in our building's elevator for so long that I'd already giggled at the idea of plumbing that could accommodate day-long ups and down: outright Rube-Goldbergian. The writers' strike: It's helping me catch up with my backlist, but of books, not TV; nonetheless, congrats to you two for persevering through the end of The Wire. You give us an example to emulate!
The Wire is one of my favorites. I liked Homicide when it was on tv aa well. I tried The Duece because it was from David Simon but it was too gross for me even though it had interesting aspects.
I look at the strike as an opportunity to catch up. Nowadays my young adult children make tv watching decisions for us.
Reminder to EZ that there’s apparently more than one RickW at the picnic. I do agree with most of Other RickW’s remarks on bikes and think that red lights should at least be stop signs for cyclists. Eventually we may get widespread separate traffic signals for bikes, like on some streets downtown, that the cyclists will be really expected to adhere to.
Downtown Amsterdam not only has separate traffic signals for bikes, their bike "lanes" are mini-streets with curbs. Bike traffic in the outside "streets"; motorized traffic in the inside ones. Getting hit by a cyclist is a real hazard for tourist pedestrians, more so than by a motor vehicle. Just outside the central rail station is a 2.5 story, very long parking deck only for bikes and crammed with them. And a street level lot for another couple hundred next to it. They are serious.
Jim S. is right about more innings yielding a better estimate of which team is better. That’s a fundamental law of probability that is recognized in medical experiments, polling, economics, gambling, etc. But you are right that the game would change, too. How about adding up the scores of all pairwise contests into one season-long game per opponent? That would give a team hope right up to the last out that they could come back from a 30-run deficit. There would be no “mathematically eliminated” teams in a season - better for the fans. Doesn’t cricket do something like that?
So many good visual tweets this week. I thought Jingleheimer was the cleverest (that’s my name, too!), but the hair on the screen made me laugh out loud. A major perk for subscribing.
For baseball and sports in general: Do we *want* the better team to win the vast majority of the time? Some variation makes it more exciting to watch.
This is a million miles from the pros, but I'm in a softball league where the more talented team wins a given game 95% of the time. The best teams always beat the good teams, the good always beats the mediocre, and the mediocre always beat the bad. It's still fun to play, but we kinda already know who's gonna win in the playoffs and in the title game.
You are right that this issue makes me rethink peanut butter, but more upsetting is the idea that the person who thought it up could very well be running our country in the future. Will I need to ask political candidates, did you ever dream up an initiation rite (more accurately, hazing scheme) and what was it? Yikes!
The peculiar thing to me abiut this bullying and cruelty ('hazing' is a weasel word) has homo-erotic over- and undertones, when you consider how macho the bullies think of themselves and pose as.
I like the points being made on tax services and cash bail.
Here are my tax suggestions:
1. All Social Security Benefits should be tax free when paid out. Folks who are still working but take their benefits need the income. They paid taxes on it once - should not have to pay it again.
2. Remove the wage ceiling on paying for Social Security Benefits - let the high earners pay a higher percentage for this benefit than the working and middle classes. This also shores up the benefit for future generations.
3. Eliminate required minimum distributions - talk about stupid requirements that play to the tax services industry.
4. At age 75, no further federal taxes need to be paid and no tax filing is necessary. Yes it would be a windfall for a very few rich folks, but it would really help a lot of folks on a low fixed income. It would help them pay their property tax, help caregivers from having to file taxes and help their morale - give them something to look forward to!
And Eric…the man who sometimes likes outrageous stuff ..your dog theory on the peanut butter hazing is a best case situation. My friend did not remember nor hear any dogs in the area. And the pledges were lower than dogs…and that peanut butter would not clean itself…a more gross outcome seems likely…but we will never know.
Finally I say baloney to your meaningful college experience comment. Really - did you play football in college - do you know any women who had the advantage of playing football as a meaningful experience?The players who excel in this experience tend to leave school for the big bucks of the NFL before getting a degree.I would guess that many more of these folks will leave this meaningful experience with long term injuries.
And yes maybe some of the players risk losing their scholarships - they would have to find a way to pay for their schooling…like the majority of their classmates.
I'm still swiping that hair when scrolling today's addition. The small town is certainly current Glad you enjoyed Barbie-I had not read about it prior to film but was quite surprised-but um why? I grew up with the "Superficial" Barbies before all the cool jet plane fighter, lawyer, scientist Barbs. I knew the history of the women who developed her did so because of we only had babies dolls to take care of in 50's. Suspect that many youngers have not and glad of that. I loved that Tiny Tears but all that pee pee stuff, over and over and over.. Nuh uh. It was just a wild ride of genres, themes, musical productions, existential questions. And that soliloquy-thank you so much for printing that today. Seeing it one more time potentially with husband. Then on to Oppenheimer
You wrote "This issue may change forever how you feel about peanut butter"
Just to let you know. I have been on the internet...a few times...and this is nothing compared to what's out there. It scares me what my 7 and 10 year old grandchildren are going to see.
Jake H. writes that switching to a flat tax wouldn't get voter approval. However, that is exactly what Illinoians voted to retain when the graduated income tax amendment was put to a vote.
Read Gene Lyons (Sun-Times, Saturday) on that stupid Trumpy song TTIAST.
Not only is Aldean's a malignant addition, but it is also a crappy song that no-one would have ever heard if it (and he) weren't the embodiment of racist, toxic masculinity.
I voted for the hair on the screen Visual ToTW, due to (admittedly minor technical) flaws in some of the others : (1) The song is "Jingleheimer-Schmitt" (or Jingleheimer-Schmidt") - but I guess that would have detracted from the play on "Oppenheimer". The "Try That In a Small Town" VToTW conflates defeating the institution of slavery with "small town" vigilantism. Related? Sure, but too tenuous for me. (I think the overtly political nature of the "Small Town" VToTW is boosting its vote.)
Regarding your poll on streaming content, I think catching up with my watch list is good but 80% of it I never watch more than one episode. Maybe they need more quality imho
Gotta See: I went with elevator because we've wished for heat in our building's elevator for so long that I'd already giggled at the idea of plumbing that could accommodate day-long ups and down: outright Rube-Goldbergian. The writers' strike: It's helping me catch up with my backlist, but of books, not TV; nonetheless, congrats to you two for persevering through the end of The Wire. You give us an example to emulate!
The Wire is one of my favorites. I liked Homicide when it was on tv aa well. I tried The Duece because it was from David Simon but it was too gross for me even though it had interesting aspects.
I look at the strike as an opportunity to catch up. Nowadays my young adult children make tv watching decisions for us.
Reminder to EZ that there’s apparently more than one RickW at the picnic. I do agree with most of Other RickW’s remarks on bikes and think that red lights should at least be stop signs for cyclists. Eventually we may get widespread separate traffic signals for bikes, like on some streets downtown, that the cyclists will be really expected to adhere to.
Downtown Amsterdam not only has separate traffic signals for bikes, their bike "lanes" are mini-streets with curbs. Bike traffic in the outside "streets"; motorized traffic in the inside ones. Getting hit by a cyclist is a real hazard for tourist pedestrians, more so than by a motor vehicle. Just outside the central rail station is a 2.5 story, very long parking deck only for bikes and crammed with them. And a street level lot for another couple hundred next to it. They are serious.
I've seen it. Can't imagine how anyone finds their own bike.
Jim S. is right about more innings yielding a better estimate of which team is better. That’s a fundamental law of probability that is recognized in medical experiments, polling, economics, gambling, etc. But you are right that the game would change, too. How about adding up the scores of all pairwise contests into one season-long game per opponent? That would give a team hope right up to the last out that they could come back from a 30-run deficit. There would be no “mathematically eliminated” teams in a season - better for the fans. Doesn’t cricket do something like that?
I know you get this all the time, but I love your name!
So many good visual tweets this week. I thought Jingleheimer was the cleverest (that’s my name, too!), but the hair on the screen made me laugh out loud. A major perk for subscribing.
Pretty poor showing over all. 😑
For baseball and sports in general: Do we *want* the better team to win the vast majority of the time? Some variation makes it more exciting to watch.
This is a million miles from the pros, but I'm in a softball league where the more talented team wins a given game 95% of the time. The best teams always beat the good teams, the good always beats the mediocre, and the mediocre always beat the bad. It's still fun to play, but we kinda already know who's gonna win in the playoffs and in the title game.
You are right that this issue makes me rethink peanut butter, but more upsetting is the idea that the person who thought it up could very well be running our country in the future. Will I need to ask political candidates, did you ever dream up an initiation rite (more accurately, hazing scheme) and what was it? Yikes!
The peculiar thing to me abiut this bullying and cruelty ('hazing' is a weasel word) has homo-erotic over- and undertones, when you consider how macho the bullies think of themselves and pose as.
I like the points being made on tax services and cash bail.
Here are my tax suggestions:
1. All Social Security Benefits should be tax free when paid out. Folks who are still working but take their benefits need the income. They paid taxes on it once - should not have to pay it again.
2. Remove the wage ceiling on paying for Social Security Benefits - let the high earners pay a higher percentage for this benefit than the working and middle classes. This also shores up the benefit for future generations.
3. Eliminate required minimum distributions - talk about stupid requirements that play to the tax services industry.
4. At age 75, no further federal taxes need to be paid and no tax filing is necessary. Yes it would be a windfall for a very few rich folks, but it would really help a lot of folks on a low fixed income. It would help them pay their property tax, help caregivers from having to file taxes and help their morale - give them something to look forward to!
And Eric…the man who sometimes likes outrageous stuff ..your dog theory on the peanut butter hazing is a best case situation. My friend did not remember nor hear any dogs in the area. And the pledges were lower than dogs…and that peanut butter would not clean itself…a more gross outcome seems likely…but we will never know.
Finally I say baloney to your meaningful college experience comment. Really - did you play football in college - do you know any women who had the advantage of playing football as a meaningful experience?The players who excel in this experience tend to leave school for the big bucks of the NFL before getting a degree.I would guess that many more of these folks will leave this meaningful experience with long term injuries.
And yes maybe some of the players risk losing their scholarships - they would have to find a way to pay for their schooling…like the majority of their classmates.
I'm still swiping that hair when scrolling today's addition. The small town is certainly current Glad you enjoyed Barbie-I had not read about it prior to film but was quite surprised-but um why? I grew up with the "Superficial" Barbies before all the cool jet plane fighter, lawyer, scientist Barbs. I knew the history of the women who developed her did so because of we only had babies dolls to take care of in 50's. Suspect that many youngers have not and glad of that. I loved that Tiny Tears but all that pee pee stuff, over and over and over.. Nuh uh. It was just a wild ride of genres, themes, musical productions, existential questions. And that soliloquy-thank you so much for printing that today. Seeing it one more time potentially with husband. Then on to Oppenheimer
You wrote "This issue may change forever how you feel about peanut butter"
Just to let you know. I have been on the internet...a few times...and this is nothing compared to what's out there. It scares me what my 7 and 10 year old grandchildren are going to see.
Jake H. writes that switching to a flat tax wouldn't get voter approval. However, that is exactly what Illinoians voted to retain when the graduated income tax amendment was put to a vote.