3327 Comments

Michele Mouton again

https://youtu.be/Zp8QkyXyTrc?t=21

She's going *slow* and she says that "I'm used to 4wd" and just watch her with that fucking Porsche

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She talks like me.

"Yes, well we do this, and it is hard, and we need to be close to the edge, and this is a difficult thing"

Damn I love Mouton.

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CBS Snooze Poll!

More people know what Tramp stands for!

That's not the good thing they think it is!

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𝗖𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗮: 𝟮𝟱𝟰 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗩𝗖-𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗤𝟭 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗰𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟳𝘅 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟵, 𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭-𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝘁 — Private company shutdowns jump compared with last year despite AI funding frenzy, threatening millions of jobs at VC-backed firms

https://carta.com/blog/startup-shutdowns-q1-2024/

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Retired 10 years and I still greet Monday morning with a mixed feeling of excitement and dread.

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Hubby is just like that (he volunteers 3 days/wk for a few hours). He said recently I hate Mondays and I said you're retired, you're doing something wrong then.

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If someone dropped a really big bag of money at my feet, I'd "retire" right now and just mooch around the planet until a better idea turned up.

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You'd bang hookers in Thailand until your dick fell off and then die in a stupid parasailing accident.

I know you.

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I mean, sounds like a good idea to me.

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"Then"?

If I'm dying in an unlikely sexual situation, I'll go down like a fastballing fellationaut.

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Opposite for me, Sat and Sun are the worst for some reason.

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I wish I could just volunteer now. I'm not ready yet.

My favorite is Oakland's "Black Girls Code"

I could do that all day every day.

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You'll do a mix of this and racing cars and travel when you retire....

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I need one more hit.

I need to get another couple of million, and then that's exactly what I'll do.

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I wish that was out here. We have "rich white girls buy new iPhones"

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I have done BGC a couple of times. Of course, I'm just the basic ass white guy.

Takes a little for me to get trust. When I get that and the girls start to trust me, that becomes beautiful.

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Read to children. Vote. And never buy anything from a man who's selling fear. -Mary Doria Russell, science-fiction writer (b. 19 Aug 1950)

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The Billy Goat Tavern is a couple of blocks down from the United Center in Chicago.

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I humbly propose we plan the writing of the book for Labor Day weekend. The grownups in the room tend to leave us unsupervised on long weekends, just toss off some generic boiler-plate article of a few paragraphs, yell OPEN THREAD see you Tuesday banhammer is watching you, and zip for the door, leaving us to our own devices.

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Warning: Editrix marks the levels on the liquor bottles in indelible ink. #AskMeHowIKnow

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Good! That will make it easy for us to know how much to water it down when we’re tidying up.

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Inedible ink?

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The Wif and I have both called into work. I am now going back to bed.

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Called in well, did you? A fine thing if you can pull it off. “I feel too good to come in today.”

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"We have declared this 'fuck you' and you can frankly blow it out your ass."

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I feel fan-tassssss-tic and I'm not wasting a day like this on Maggie's fucking farm.

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As of yesterday I have been married to the Wif for 28 years. That's a lot of cats over the years.

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So, getting a start on 29, then. Appears to be a wise choice.

Your assigned chapter for the book: Our Marriage in Cat Years

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Maybe you should get a couple of 29 year olds for the long winters. I hear they're athletic and talented.

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MmmmMMMmm, cats!

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At one point, when we lived in Boulder, we had 8 cats. Despite the song, 8 cats is a couple too many.

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I maxed out at 4 when we lived in VT. It was a blended family and then one kitten showed up on the porch.

I really think I need to keep it to my 2. A dog would be next if I could arrange more working from home.

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Should have gotten 4 more. Ya know why?

THEY'RE CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN!

ok, I'm going now

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Molotov!

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(finds that Moanin' Schmoe is more tolerable with the mute button depressed)

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It's even more tolerable with the power cord unplugged.

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Today . . . in HISTORY!

8-19

1692: One woman and four men (one of them being a clergyman) are executed after being convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. None of the alleged victims were turned into newts.

1812: USS ‘Constitution’ defeats HMS ‘̴D̴e̴r̴r̴i̴e̴r̴e̴’̴ ‘Guerriere,’ earning the US ship the name ‘Old Ironsides.’

1848: The news breaks on the US east coast that gold had been discovered in California. It only took six months for the news to get there.

1909: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens. Driver William Bourque and his mechanic are killed on the first day.

1920: The Tambov Rebellion breaks out in Russia. It’s one of the largest peasant uprisings against the Bolshevik government.

1934: The first Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.

1936: Joe Stalin feels the urge to purge, and the Moscow Trials kick it all off.

1944: The liberation of Paris begins with an uprising in the city against the German occupation troops. Allied forces are closing in on the city.

1945: Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh start the August Revolution in Hanoi. Currently, he has the backing of the United States.

1953: In Operation Ajax, US and British intelligence agencies overthrow Iran’s democratically elected government and put the Shah back in power. Gee, that won’t come back to bite us in the ass, will it?

1960: US spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment for espionage. Also 1960, the Soviets launch a satellite containing two dogs among other animals.

1964: The first geostationary communications satellite, Syncom-1, is launched. Two months later, it’ll broadcast live coverage of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

1981: Libyan Pres. Qaddafi claims the Gulf of Sidra as Libyan waters. US Pres. Reagan sez “O RLY?” and sends in the Navy. Two US F-14 fighters shoot down two Libyan Su-22 fighters.

1989: Several hundred East Germans find a way around their fortified border by “going on a holiday picnic” to Hungary and Austria, and then defecting to the West.

1991: Communist hardliners, distressed over the breakup of the Warsaw Pact and Premier Gorbachev’s perestroika and glasnost policies, start the August Coup by placing him under arrest.

2004: Google has its first public offering of stock on the NASDAQ exchange.

2010: Operation Iraqi L̴i̴b̴e̴r̴a̴t̴i̴o̴n̴ Freedom ends with the last US brigade combat team crossing he border into Kuwait.

2017: A whole mess of Atlantic salmon are accidentally released in the Pacific when a salmon pen in Washington State breaks. Seems fishy to me . . .

Comings and goings:

Birthdays: Orville Wright, Coco Chanel, Ogden Nash, Philo Farnsworth, Gene Roddenberry, Renee Richards, Diana Muldaur, William Clinton, Mary Gore, Jonathan Frakes, Adam Arkin.

Obituaries: Augustus, Andrea Palladio, Blaise Pascal, John Wesley Hardin, Sergei Diaghilev, Hugo Gernsback, Alastair Sim, Julius Marx, Linus Pauling, Dick Gregory, Sonny Chiba.

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American live oak made some very tough ships.

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Borque borked.

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"John Wesley Hardin, a man so mean he once a shot a man to death just for snoring."

---noted historian T. L. Books.

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:-)

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Aug 19·edited Aug 19

Fleas

__________

Adam

Had'em

__________

(a poem by Ogden Nash)

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I think Guinness has it listed as the shortest poem in English, only four syllables.

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I used to have business with ITT in Ft Wayne. They had a Philo Farnsworth exhibit in their lobby.

Augustus' evil laugh

https://youtu.be/4PDz3LzFcSo?si=zxleE9LKti6H0f1n

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Up early because today is the day I get to be a movie star.

Well, an extra anyway. Supe told me to wear long sleaves because that is a federal regulation, but it really isn't, and just her micromanaging again, which is fine but it is gonna be like 900000 degrees with a humidity factor of "why isn't it raining yet?"

She has this thing in her head that long sleaves are better. She is wrong, yet, persists.

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This is so exciting!

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Fuck sleeves. I don't think I have EVER worked a dig with long sleeves on. I've always been too much of a sweat hog for that nonsense.

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right?

She has this thing where well, once the sleaves are all soaked it keeps you cooler!

And I am all..not in our goddamned humidity, it just makes you feel slimey

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Omg, gross!! I have never had anyone suggest doing this. NO. She's dumb.

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Oh, see, for that to work, they have to be wool.

The only reasons I see for long sleeves out there are skeeters and poison ivy. Or you could use some deet and pay a lick of attention instead of sweltering all day.

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Just roll ‘em up half to elbow. Try to look like you know how to work.

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oh man I wish I still smoked

then I could roll my pack in my sleave.

I plan to wear an open front so I can take it off between takes or whatever, because it is gonna be thick out there (though I just checked the weather, and it is not as hot as I thought. Just as humid though)

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With black pumps, and set a trend.

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Not in ticklandia

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I would murder orphans for a cigarette but I ain't gonna do it because that habit is the damn worst.

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True that.

I'll sometimes stand downwind when I see a coworker light up XD they always politely try to move out of the way because they know I have quit, but I tell them to stop that XD

I do not see them more than once or twice a month so, no biggy. But damn it smells good

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At least you're not one of those tossers who become "holier than thou" shitweasels about quitting. They're the worst.

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That was me for a year or so, but I got better.

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Cheapest high available. Quit for a couple of years, and then have one with a cocktail.

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What would you do for one of those delicious black-papered Indonesian dealies? The ones that spark like they have iron filings in 'em?

:P

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Noticed that when I put my phone on the counter, it wobbled. “Odd,” says I, Why is the back not flat?” Popped it open, and it seems I have a balloon for a battery. Lithium, eh?

One week to get a new battery delivered. Well, can’t be without comms. Shoved the battery back in, duct taped it to hold, and plugged in the charger. Up and running. Blue tooth hand set means I can still take and receive calls. Just put the phone in a Corningware casserole dish for safety’s sake.

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You actually still have a phone with a removable battery? I miss those

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Hey! I’m a high tech Boomer.

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Very sensible to put it in / on something heat resistant.

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WOMEN! KNOW YOUR LIMITS!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS37SNYjg8w

No, bollocks, I'm going to teach a woman - A WOMAN - how to drive a racing car. And also work with her on a very technically Silicon Valley project. HA! Shove it up your ass, PAB and friends. I LIKE WOMEN. And they can also be good at things.

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True fact: speed limits are merely suggestions, until you see a cop

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The law dictates how fast to go, not how little time to reach it.

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The trick is to not do that in Nevada with California plates.

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Just put the plates in the trunk. Voila! A Nevada car.

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My mother and father dine out on my Nevada story.

We'd just gone over stateline (named accurately) and it was a red light.

I sit there. I've pushed the pedal so the car is in wait mode. It is ready and I don't have to press the brake.

Light goes green. I floor the fuck out of it. We do 60 in under 4 and do 100 in about 11.

That's when I notice the motorcycle cop. I SLAM the brakes and make sure I'm doing 45. Oh that's not good enough. I've got Cali plates in Nevada.

So I get pulled. I talk my way out of it. My mum rolls down the rear window to old lady the deal. I think it helped.

They still tell this story about getting pulled at lake Tahoe. I was being an asshole. We got away with it.

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Of course it helped. He had to figure she’d never forget it, nor let you. No greater punishment hath the courts than a mother’s disappointment.

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I got away with doing about 50 in a 25 once by telling the cop, when he asked me how fast I was going "I have no idea- I just found out I was pregnant!"

He took a physical step back before telling me to be more careful and sending me on my way

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"We can't stop here. This is bat country."

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And yes, yes they can.

$20, same as in town.

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Also, Naomi Schiff is MUCH better than me. I can't teach her a damn thing.

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Uh, Danica Patrick much?

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Scowling?

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Gurning?

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lol I like the guy on our left with the glasses mugging for the camera XD

I always get a kick of the background people doing that sort of thing, I don't know why, it just amuses me

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So the best reason that I can think of to go ahead and write the collective novel in a weekend, it’s because I picture these conversations between Rebecca and Dok, the putative adults in the room who actually sleep sometimes. Like on those nights when we decide to stay up and try to break 10,000 comments, just because.

I think this would warrant a, “you won’t believe what they did last night…”

“Do I wanna know? No, wait, let me get a latte and some Excedrin first.“

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Friends went to see the new Alien film (said not to bother if you've seen the original) but that got me thinking about the original - Ripley is a childless cat owning woman

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It looks (and I'm going entirely off of promo material here) like a YA mashup of bits of the first two films.

That doesn't appeal to me at all, so I think I'll just wait for the streaming release.

Also annoyed that my idea of a giant space frog saving the crew by eating the Alien like a cricket wasn't used. Fucking gold, that was. No explanation, no build up, just a giant frog nomming the creature then noodling off into space.

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Yeah, they said the cast was so young it was a bit teenage slasher movie

So she sent me some pictures of flowers from Wisley Gardens instead

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Now I'm picturing the Alien peeping out from behind a hedge in Haddonfield...

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A xenomorph dressed and made up to look like Pennywise, peering out of a storm sewer.

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That makes both somehow less scary in my mind. It's the pom poms probably.

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Okay, how about a xeno dress like Malibu Barbie?

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Yet she persisted.

And killed the xeno.

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Jonsey helped.

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OT but I love your avatar - he was the best

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Thanks. And he still is, although I don't know if he's currently retired or not.

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Of course!

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