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Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread

by DoDo
Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 12:39:21 PM EST

So, who is not in Paris? And who logged on who is there?

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Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread | 46 comments (46 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

Not in Paris.

Would have quite liked to be in Paris, but it was unpossible this month.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 12:40:25 PM EST

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 1)

I mean, besides me?

Me, who is fuming because not only did work prevent me from coming, but my über-boss vetoed my travel to the top event of the railway industry, too: the biannual Innotrans in Berlin next week...

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 12:42:11 PM EST

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (4.00 / 2)

On the other hand, at least I have time for some other work - at the job, and at home, where the heating is defect, and the specialist won't come until Monday evening; so far, my coldest room is 15°C...

...OK, I stop moaning now.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 12:45:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (4.00 / 3)

Well, I'm not in Paris, but they say Suitland is the Paris of Maryland.

...okay, they don't say that, but with the alternative being Baltimore, they could.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 12:50:41 PM EST

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

In Paris at work, about to Vélib' to the rue Mouffetard !

Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 01:03:43 PM EST

Have a good time. (none / 0)

I told Melanchton that I was aiming for another May visit. Hope to linca up. (Hmm - maybe I don't have the hang of this.)

paul spencer

by paul spencer (spencerinthegorge AT yahoo DOT com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 02:57:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

Hi Ho, Sacramento here.

Are we going to get a live feed from the revelers? A slurp-by-slurp commentary?

McCain/Palin ... total sacks of SHIT!

by THE Twank (paszeski__aaaaaaatttttt__yahoo.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 01:47:16 PM EST

Live feed? (none / 1)

THEY have a live feed - we have nothing....

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 01:48:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Live feed? (none / 0)

Why can't they download shit onto the web from, say, a cell phone or lap top? What are THEY HIDING?

McCain/Palin ... total sacks of SHIT!

by THE Twank (paszeski__aaaaaaatttttt__yahoo.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 01:51:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]

For the Paris mob... (4.00 / 5)

see Sarah Palin pictures

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 01:59:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 1)

Productive day today, even though it started late.

Just finished another superb sushi stravaganze with my pals, and we're half way through another viewing of Galaxy Quest - now a time out for half an hour while the six year old is put to bed.

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 01:48:11 PM EST

Galaxy Quest still makes me laugh. (none / 0)

Sven - it is hard to accept that you don't like maple syrup. I really thought that we had something going as soul-mates, but now...

In any case the Pacific NW has been having a beautiful late-Summer, but the rain is set to return tomorrow.

paul spencer

by paul spencer (spencerinthegorge AT yahoo DOT com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 02:54:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Galaxy Quest still makes me laugh. (none / 0)

Paul - I loved treacle sandwiches as a kid - Tate & Lyle - "Out of the strong came forth sweetness", but then I discovered adult tastes ;-)

Icecreams, for instance, I maybe eat 5 times a year.

Quite a nice ruska going on in Finland now. Forget Vermont - here's the place to see the staggering colours of early autumn - and become soul-mates.....

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 05:41:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I'd love to visit, but (none / 0)

I'm actually headed to NY state next week to bike the Erie Canal from Buffalo to Albany - plus obligatory trip to Niagara Falls. We're also going to visit Cooperstown for the benefit of one of my biking partners and Fort Ticonderoga due to my interest.

We'll also eat beef-on-weck at Schwabl's and pasta at Santasiera's.

Part of the plan is to catch some Autumn-leaves action. It's just so fershlugginer green out here all of the time - ya know what I mean, buddy?

paul spencer

by paul spencer (spencerinthegorge AT yahoo DOT com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 10:10:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

I received a roll of drawings late Tuesday morning for an auditorium sound system I have designed for an LAUSD middle school, but first had to answer questions about another system that is in construction. I had sent my previous mark-ups in early June and had heard nothing. Now we had a "drop dead" date of noon (today) in LA. It was a complex system with lots of stuff that it is easy to mix up. I just finished sending my last mark-ups by fax at 1:00 AM this morning and didn't get up till 9:00 AM! Got to love it! Work and the possibility of work has kept me pinned this time.

If sanity be culturally normative, then by the norms of this culture I claim insanity.

by ARGeezer (argeezer a in a circle yahoo dot com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 02:10:03 PM EST

Best Ad of the Election (none / 1)

From the Wildlife Defense Fund (or something):

When I first saw this, I thought it'd be a devastating ad with suburbanites, especially women. Seems it's pretty devastating across the board, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 02:21:36 PM EST

Re: Best Ad of the Election (none / 0)

Right out of the Dick Cheney mold!

McCain/Palin ... total sacks of SHIT!

by THE Twank (paszeski__aaaaaaatttttt__yahoo.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 02:26:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

Not in Paris, physically.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, Chester, You know I'm a peaceful man...'" Robbie Robertson

by NearlyNormal on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 03:51:44 PM EST

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (4.00 / 3)

A Dress Rehersal for Italy Tomorrow

Riots broke out in Castelvolturno near Caserta after the six Africans and one Italian were murdered by the Camorra last evening. The killers used kalashnikovs, slaughtering everyone within the shop.

The riots were caused by the allegation that the Africans were involved in a drug ring and hadn't paid the Camorra. However many of the victims had no criminal record. Rioters felt the charges were racist.

by de Gondi (publiobestia aaaatttthotmaildaughtusual) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 04:16:06 PM EST

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

Thanks, just meant to ask what that was! I read this news on the site of Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung - in a completely chopped-up way. They did say Camorra could be involved, but it wasn't clear who and when killed a "dead Italian", who appeared to have been Camorra from the article (so I thought, the six dead Africans were the revenge?)

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 05:28:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (4.00 / 2)

Wow.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 04:17:27 PM EST

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

That's amazing.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 06:05:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

yeah. Apparently some people in the town tried to ride-out the storm. They have no idea how many survived.

Och nu den svenska kocken bakar en Alaskan älg jägare. Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!

by ATinNM on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 06:11:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

Gotta show you something, look below in a few.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 06:37:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

The death toll so far is only 50. I don't know if the number will go way up or what - I haven't been hearing stories of lot of people missing.

you are the media you consume.

by MillMan (millguy at gmail) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 07:56:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 1)

I hear a load of people have abandoned us for the bright lights of the big city.

Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.

by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 04:18:29 PM EST

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

Will they regret it?

(Evil cackle/laugh I don't know how to spell.)

Hey, great news. The US govt. found a trillion bucks of taxpayer moola to help the ultra-wealthy ... poor things.

ENRON on steroids. What's next? Chris Cook oil?

Place your bets and stock up on basics.

McCain/Palin ... total sacks of SHIT!

by THE Twank (paszeski__aaaaaaatttttt__yahoo.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 05:55:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

In Paris, not at meet up.

Probably will br tomorrow, though.

"C'est un scandale !"

by redstar on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 04:36:51 PM EST

Not in Paris. (none / 0)

Not in France.

Hell, not even in Europe.

by Magnifico on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 06:19:59 PM EST

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (4.00 / 3)

Busy busy busy. This Saturday and Sunday, we have the Cultural Festival at my school. This is an interesting Japanese school tradition, that I am now quite fond of. Each class picks a topic or theme, and using materials at hand or available cheaply, completely transforms their classroom into some sort of attraction. On the day of the event, parents, neighbors, and community members come and visit the school, and see the attractions. Some of them are things like cafes, others are haunted houses, others are just . . . different.

In the international program we did two rooms. One of them is a maze. The students used weighted desks as the anchor points for bamboo poles, to which they taped/tied massive sheets of cardboard, taped together out of many boxes we got for free from retail establishments. These were then covered in black bags, to make walls. A similar procedure was followed to black out all the windows, rendering the room a black maze. They're going to put some stuff in it, although I'm not quite sure what, and then admit customers. I'm not sure how it's going to go over, but it's a rather impressive engineering feat all on its own, I think.

by Zwackus on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 06:42:01 PM EST

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (4.00 / 2)

Help me out here, AT and others. First, check out the trajectory on Nate Silver's election tracker:

I've never seen anything like that. In the process of five days, there has been roughly a 10-point swing (from McCain +4 to Obama +6 on the daily results). And it may be even wider, given Gallup's commentary and R2K's internals for the last few days Something shifted in the race early this week around Sunday or Monday, and whatever it was, it had some serious force behind it.

Palin's favorables are also tanking in the Great Orange Satan poll, and others have said they're starting to pick it up too:

What the hell's going on?

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 06:46:16 PM EST

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (4.00 / 3)

Empress Palin has pulled most of her engagements. One in Florida was cancelled because of 'thunderstorms.'

Uh huh.

The Orange Satan has been tingling with rumours that an uber-scandal is in the offing. I think it's just as likely that McRunningJoke is seething with misogyny at being upstaged. He didn't really think this through, and when Her Imperiousness made her speech about a Palin/McCain administration he decided to remind her who the boss man is.

My guess is the press will try to swing it back to the middle regardless, just for newsworthiness. But if there's the mother of all scandals brewing next week, that's going to be fun to watch.

I won't apologise for wanting to see Palin's political career destroyed over the next month or so. If that doesn't happen she'll be back in 2012, and 2016, and she'll keep coming back until she gets the top job.

The planet really can't afford that, so it's going to be better for everyone (excepting wolves and polar bears) if she goes back to fishing, flirting, and mismanaging car washes.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 07:49:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

The McCain campaign apparently hasn't ever heard of the idea of holding events inside.

It's not like they have to hold the event in ~~a stadium~~ ~~park~~ ~~someone's back yard~~ wherever.

I haven't heard of this rumor. Any idea what it's about?

Scandals are fun. Where's Vicky Iseman? I want to know if he was sleeping with her in exchange for voting her way. (And it would make for some wicked signage playing on the "Drill, Baby, Drill" slogan.)

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 08:20:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 1)

The rumours are still rumouricious, so could turn out to be nothing. All we have are the facts of the cancellations, and a big pile of - someone I know talked to someone else who said that someone at a major media outlet had found some ugly meat.

The cancellations are real and can't just be explained by the weather, because some of the events were indoors. They've disappeared from the official website schedule, but beyond that it's all guesswork.

As other people have pointed out, Palin isn't being allowed out solo, which is just slightly unusual for an election.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 08:58:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

Ah, that makes some sense. We'll see. I hadn't even considered that as a possible reason for the cancellations. I figured they were likely just hiding her again because of all the press coverage.

Either way, I'm grateful to McCain. Palin's-mother-from-Bobby's-World accent makes me want to throw things at my teevee, so not having to listen to her is welcome.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 09:07:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 1)

If I had to Hazard a guess I'dsay that the convention bounce for McCain has been harder and faster than usual. Quick, big, bounce for picking a leftfield running mate, then A very sharp reversal as people quickly realised how Leftfield/out to lunch/ utterly bizzare she actually is, and what this says about McCains competence.

Perhaps the voting public aren't as anaesthetised by the box in the corner of the room as the media like to think they are.

Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.

by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 07:52:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

The 'serious' media have been hammering Palin.

Also, there was that interview. Only the kookiest wingnuts could have seen that and decided she was ready for the job. Everyone else will have been imagining a giant flashing red 'WTF?'

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 07:54:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 1)

Haven't heard/read anything specific about Palin's skeletons. Wouldn't be surprised if they found a closet full. Basically, McCain panicked and brought out an unvetted hick from the sticks to shore-up the Right Wing. Well, the Right Wing is all icky-poo over Caribou Barbie and the rest of the country is going, "WTF?" The nice thing is the more she talks, the more we learn, the more the Right likes her, and the more the rest of the country decides she is a fruit bat.

Och nu den svenska kocken bakar en Alaskan älg jägare. Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!

by ATinNM on Fri Sep 19th, 2008 at 09:49:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 1)

But to cause such a strong shift so suddenly -- and the state polls are starting to back it up now -- would require something beyond the nation asking "WTF?" about Caribou Barbie.

From the GOS/R2K poll: And McCain's net-favorable/unfavorable ratings are starting to sink too (now -1), while Obama's (+19) and Biden's (+13) have been pretty stable over the election cycle across all polls. McCain's have fallen from rough parity with Obama (+17) to negative territory in eight days.

Caribou Barbie's continue to sink (now -7); in fact, she's going to be in Bush territory if she doesn't pull it up soon.

A few things: The sudden sharp focus on the economy should have an impact too, and, again, that's going to impact the Rust Belt, where the economy sucks more than it does in (say) Virginia or Colorado.

I think the Wildlife ad may be having an effect in the Rust Belt, where I now find it's been running for perhaps a week or two. Notice the state polling has had larger shifts in Michigan, Penn, Ohio, and Indiana than elsewhere.

Obama's slaughtering McCain in Iowa. (We all saw that coming. Iowa never seemed to belong among the swing states.) New Mexico snapped back after the GOP convention, and now Obama's beginning to show signs of slaughtering McCain there, especially as he's running up the score ridiculously among Latinos.

Colorado seems to be snapping back into the typical modest Obama lead after showing a modest McCain lead following the conventions, and it may actually be moving into slaughter territory, if the InsiderAdvantage poll is to be believed (it showed a pretty sharp movement from +3 Obama to +10 Obama as the national polls were shifting, although I'm not a fan of InsiderAdvantage).

Virginia seems to have returned to its normal state of a tie when you throw out the garbage polling firms and stick with the big dogs. And North Carolina has returned to a tight race. (Tighter, actually. And for the first time Obama's hit the high-40s. I didn't expect that until undecideds began breaking -- and I didn't think he could get beyond about 47% on election day -- but he might actually be able to win it.)

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Sat Sep 20th, 2008 at 09:11:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

Both candidates have consolidated their base and need to persuade the other 30%, or so, of the electorate to win.

Obama is persuading people at the moment. McCain isn't.

Until we get some behind-the-numbers numbers ;-) we can't be sure how Obama is doing it. My guesses are:

Palin - going to prove a bad decision
The 'Wolf Ad' seems to be working
The Obama ground-game is beginning to show in the polls
The combined electoral affect of the Latino and AA support for Obama
Systematic support for Democrats in this election
The GOP 'brand' sucks

It's not one thing it is the combination of things leading to various micro-demographic groups moving to Obama.

Och nu den svenska kocken bakar en Alaskan älg jägare. Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!

by ATinNM on Sat Sep 20th, 2008 at 11:04:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Holy Shi'ite (none / 0)

Check this out:

Rasmussen South -- yes, South -- Carolina (June):

McCain 51 (48)
Obama 45 (39)

That's a net of three points for Obama. McCain's over 50%, and I don't think we can get it, but this certainly bodes well for other contests and lends credibility to the tight race in North Carolina.

Ras's tracker is officially out of touch with his state polling.

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Sat Sep 20th, 2008 at 11:13:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

What's the intuition behind the Obama ground game beginning to show up in the polls?

Where's your motherf*%&ing flag pin?

by Drew J Jones (blahblahblah@blahblahblah.com) on Sat Sep 20th, 2008 at 11:25:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 1)

Very quickly ...

I'm of the opinion after each candidate has consolidated his base the remainder decide using non-party criteria. Of these the most persuasive is personal contacts and discussions. Put it this way: an undecided (or ignorant) person who communicates with an Obama supporter is more likely to support Obama and the more an undecided's social group is for Obama the more likely to move to Obama.

Och nu den svenska kocken bakar en Alaskan älg jägare. Bonk! Bonk! Bonk!

by ATinNM on Sat Sep 20th, 2008 at 12:37:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 1)

What the hell's going on?

It's very easy for the US public to pay attention to bullshit ("Isn't Sarah Palin cute? Don't you LOVE that accent?) when the biggest problems (war, kids getting their limbs blown off, people losing their homes, etc.) affect a relatively small percentage of the population and the MSM doesn't hammer on any one subject. This past week it's been ALL STOCKMARKET with language like DEPRESSION and PANIC and now Joe/Josephine Blow is remembering Grandpa's tales about people starving, and the public suddenly wants someone in office who can DO SOMETHING, unlike the current Pres. Retard.

How much confidence does Bush give ANYONE? LOL!

McCain/Palin ... total sacks of SHIT!

by THE Twank (paszeski__aaaaaaatttttt__yahoo.com) on Sat Sep 20th, 2008 at 05:56:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 1)

the level of guilt here at the
Meetup, for not posting, is being assuaged by copious amounts of the sacred Caol Ila water. We are all so lucky to meet, and hope we can communicate this feeling to the site.

Skennah Kowa

by Crazy Horse on Sat Sep 20th, 2008 at 10:25:12 AM EST

Re: Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread (none / 0)

photos? posting from mobiles, come on we're all waiting, Hanging on peoples posts, waiting for reports from the tables.

Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.

by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Sat Sep 20th, 2008 at 11:17:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Friday Non(?)-Meetup Open Thread | 46 comments (46 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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