The Swamp

TIL that Dan Rather created the first radar weather map (basically) during 1961 Hurricane Carla and is given a lot of credit for people understanding the scope of it and evacuating. He overlaid a transparent map on the radar image. Which is funny, because I am listening to Isaac's storm about the 1900 Galveston hurricane and some of the earliest aids for mariners were transparencies they could lay dow to figure out where they were in relation to the storm and it's eye (though these aids were more about being in the hurricane and not the overall size/scope of it). That no one had done it before Rather seems difficult to grasp.

Of course, in 1961 network TV had only been around for about ten years.

sancarlos wrote: ↑Tue Sep 13, 2022 7:26 pm Of course, in 1961 network TV had only been around for about ten years.

Yeah but the weather service had been around much longer. That no one put a fucking outline on there is nuts.

A_B wrote: ↑Tue Sep 13, 2022 3:46 pm TIL that Dan Rather created the first radar weather map (basically) during 1961 Hurricane Carla and is given a lot of credit for people understanding the scope of it and evacuating. He overlaid a transparent map on the radar image. Which is funny, because I am listening to Isaac's storm about the 1900 Galveston hurricane and some of the earliest aids for mariners were transparencies they could lay dow to figure out where they were in relation to the storm and it's eye (though these aids were more about being in the hurricane and not the overall size/scope of it). That no one had done it before Rather seems difficult to grasp.

Someone went down a rabbit hole after reports of a possible school shooting!

Giff wrote: ↑Wed Sep 14, 2022 8:48 am

A_B wrote: ↑Tue Sep 13, 2022 3:46 pm TIL that Dan Rather created the first radar weather map (basically) during 1961 Hurricane Carla and is given a lot of credit for people understanding the scope of it and evacuating. He overlaid a transparent map on the radar image. Which is funny, because I am listening to Isaac's storm about the 1900 Galveston hurricane and some of the earliest aids for mariners were transparencies they could lay dow to figure out where they were in relation to the storm and it's eye (though these aids were more about being in the hurricane and not the overall size/scope of it). That no one had done it before Rather seems difficult to grasp.

Someone went down a rabbit hole after reports of a possible school shooting!

Someone did!

I've learned to not let myself read Bret Stevens' work anymore....but this is bananas...



So all we have to do is spend a bunch of money so people can go to Greenland to see the effect of Climate Change...not listen to the experts/scientists who have been telling us this for years?

Was it Derek Bell, Kyrie Irving, Rickey Henderson, or someone else who had the comment about dinosaurs? Not really the company you'd expect an NYT writer to be in.

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 11:04 am Was it Derek Bell, Kyrie Irving, Rickey Henderson, or someone else who had the comment about dinosaurs? Not really the company you'd expect an NYT writer to be in.

Carl Everett.

Giff wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 4:31 pm

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 11:04 am Was it Derek Bell, Kyrie Irving, Rickey Henderson, or someone else who had the comment about dinosaurs? Not really the company you'd expect an NYT writer to be in.

Carl Everett.

I had the wrong distinguished Tampa baseball player!

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 4:56 pm

Giff wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 4:31 pm

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 11:04 am Was it Derek Bell, Kyrie Irving, Rickey Henderson, or someone else who had the comment about dinosaurs? Not really the company you'd expect an NYT writer to be in.

Carl Everett.

I had the wrong distinguished Tampa baseball player!

I had seats to a Rangers game in 2003 first row behind dugout and I called him T-Rex every time he ran in from the outfield.

Giff wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 5:30 pm

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 4:56 pm

Giff wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 4:31 pm

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 11:04 am Was it Derek Bell, Kyrie Irving, Rickey Henderson, or someone else who had the comment about dinosaurs? Not really the company you'd expect an NYT writer to be in.

Carl Everett.

I had the wrong distinguished Tampa baseball player!

I had seats to a Rangers game in 2003 first row behind dugout and I called him T-Rex every time he ran in from the outfield.

My mom taught his kid for a few years. Said they were a really nice family and Carl was very involved.

Was it a religious school that only taught creationism?

sancarlos wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 7:57 pm Was it a religious school that only taught creationism?

Ha! No.

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 6:03 pm

Giff wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 5:30 pm

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 4:56 pm

Giff wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 4:31 pm

govmentchedda wrote: ↑Sat Oct 29, 2022 11:04 am Was it Derek Bell, Kyrie Irving, Rickey Henderson, or someone else who had the comment about dinosaurs? Not really the company you'd expect an NYT writer to be in.

Carl Everett.

I had the wrong distinguished Tampa baseball player!

I had seats to a Rangers game in 2003 first row behind dugout and I called him T-Rex every time he ran in from the outfield.

My mom taught his kid for a few years. Said they were a really nice family and Carl was very involved.

Hopefully not involved in teaching them science.

Looking up the quote, I found a great Mookie Wilson quote:

Look who's back with more of his cranky-old-man nonsense. Reilly's bit was tired and worn out when he was let go by Sports Illustrated years ago.

Dear grocery store owners: I don’t work for you!

Why do I have to ring up my own groceries? Why do I have to bag my own groceries? Why do I have to get yelled at by the robo-nagger? “Please put the item in the bagging area.” Hey, I’m trying, but the “bagging area” isn’t big enough to fit a roll of Life Savers.

I must be old and cranky then because I hate seeing 30 checkout lines and the only ones open are express and self check-out. If there was a discount given for using self-checkout I would do it all the time. The store has one person watching over 6 registers. That is a definite cost savings to them. Pass it on.

I love our local grocery. They bag and even take it out to your car. Benefits of living in a small town I guess.

duff wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 1:49 pm I must be old and cranky then because I hate seeing 30 checkout lines and the only ones open are express and self check-out. If there was a discount given for using self-checkout I would do it all the time. The store has one person watching over 6 registers. That is a definite cost savings to them. Pass it on.

I love our local grocery. They bag and even take it out to your car. Benefits of living in a small town I guess.

The bougie market that I go to now (the regular one that was close to our house closed) doesn't even have self-checkout lanes.

I don't mind self checkout for a few items but if I've done the shopping for a week I much prefer to go to an actual cashier.


Pro tip: Always go to the old lady's line. She's faster than the youngins and also knows the codes for all the produce.

I've been a curmudgeon for 3 decades (at least), and this check-out stuff can get me going.

1) I actually totally agree with the sentiment that I'm not employed by the store, I'm not gonna go to a store that won't staff up its checkout lanes. Now, if I'm picking up handful of items, I absolutely go to self checkout. And at CVS or Walgreens, I get kind of annoyed when there's no self-checkout because I'm almost NEVER there for more than a couple items and don't want to wait in line.

2) What REALLY gets me annoyed are people that roll up to self-checkout with a full ass cart... Add in someone doing coupons to really stoke the flame. And this isn't a situation where there aren't check-out lanes staffed appropriately. They just "like" doing it themselves. Well, that's fucking great, but you are taking up one of 3 lanes (as rough estimate) and it's just fucking annoying.

Go to the damn employee standing over there getting paid a wage to check you out.

I really think stores should impose (and enforce) a 15... maybe 20... item limit on self checkout.

People who "like" doing a full cart themselves are just paying standard pricing for organic items or a similar scam. 100% of the time.

I think I've mentioned my grocery shopping habits changed with the pandemic. I went from one very well-planned trip on Sunday with generally little need to go during the week to making one ridiculous trip once a month or so at the worst of 2020 to now making multiple little trips a week. Probably a net loss of money.

My place has scanner kiosks at the entrances and I scan my store card and scan and fill up my bags as I shop and then just scan the barcode on the scanner at (self) check out and pay. Nice and easy. Except every so often it requires an audit and an employee has to scan like 6 or 7 things before I can pay. Not as nice and easy.

Anything to help get rid of jobs, eh Rass?



(I think I spent less back when I was going every other day at a minimum. You get what you need near-term versus aspirational shit like eggplants.)

We have continued to mix in grocery delivery whenever my wife can find a discount. We never did that before Covid.

And one place I'll probably never consistently enter is Total Wine. We are pretty consistent with whatever we're buying from that place and it just makes more sense to do curbside there. I don't really like curbside at the grocery store...

I also have been "over" Covid for a pretty long time at this point. I'm not judging anyone, AT ALL, for continuing to be cautious. But I'm fully vaxed and at this point I have attended at least 5 super-spreader events (weddings, funerals), let alone very close proximity to my wife who caught it back in May... If I was gonna get it, I would've got it.

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 2:04 pm

duff wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 1:49 pm I must be old and cranky then because I hate seeing 30 checkout lines and the only ones open are express and self check-out. If there was a discount given for using self-checkout I would do it all the time. The store has one person watching over 6 registers. That is a definite cost savings to them. Pass it on.

I love our local grocery. They bag and even take it out to your car. Benefits of living in a small town I guess.

The bougie market that I go to now (the regular one that was close to our house closed) doesn't even have self-checkout lanes.

Same here. And, I hate to agree with Reilly on anything, but, yes...

I prefer self checkout at all times. The less interaction I have to have with a person the better. I do think there should be an age limit to who is allowed to use it and require some sort of test as well.

Strong preference for checkout with a person so I can bag while they scan. They are just have all the produce code memorized and 4 hands are better than 2. BUT all of the grocery stores near me have so few lines open that self-checkout is just faster. I mean they have 1 or 2 open line and only 4 or 6 self checkout stations during high traffic times. It is utter BS. Just saving money/having problems hiring (but I thought the grocery union was pretty good).

wlu_lax6 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 02, 2022 7:23 am Strong preference for checkout with a person so I can bag while they scan. They are just have all the produce code memorized and 4 hands are better than 2. BUT all of the grocery stores near me have so few lines open that self-checkout is just faster. I mean they have 1 or 2 open line and only 4 or 6 self checkout stations during high traffic times. It is utter BS. Just saving money/having problems hiring (but I thought the grocery union was pretty good).

I'd be fine with cost savings from companies if, you know, my costs went down.

A_B wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 2:26 pm I don't mind self checkout for a few items but if I've done the shopping for a week I much prefer to go to an actual cashier.

That’s killed me.

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 2:04 pm

duff wrote: ↑Tue Nov 01, 2022 1:49 pm I must be old and cranky then because I hate seeing 30 checkout lines and the only ones open are express and self check-out. If there was a discount given for using self-checkout I would do it all the time. The store has one person watching over 6 registers. That is a definite cost savings to them. Pass it on.

I love our local grocery. They bag and even take it out to your car. Benefits of living in a small town I guess.

The bougie market that I go to now (the regular one that was close to our house closed) doesn't even have self-checkout lanes.

Update: The bougie market now has 5 self check out stations...

DaveInSeattle wrote: ↑Fri Apr 17, 2020 11:51 am

L-Jam3 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 17, 2020 11:12 am You could probably apply this to any pundit on either side of the aisle, but God, David Brooks is utterly worthless.

For DiS

rass wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 3:05 pm
For DiS

Oh good God.

Ben Folds wrote Rockin the Suburbs in part about that.

And for today's rage-inducing entry, we see this in the WaPost, but the illustrious Marc Thiessen:

As the March for Life returns, we owe Brett Kavanaugh a debt of gratitude

There are many people to thank for making that victory possible. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) skillfully managed the confirmation processes that produced the court’s 6-3 conservative majority. President George W. Bush appointed Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., the author of the landmark opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. And President Donald Trump put three outstanding conservatives on the high court — the first Republican president to have a perfect record on Supreme Court appointments.

But one person has endured more, and suffered more, than perhaps any other public official to bring us to this day: Brett M. Kavanaugh. Indeed, I can think of no one in recent memory who has withstood more personally to do their duty as a public servant.

I wonder if Thiessen, Hugh Hewitt and Henry Olsen have a contest going to see who can write the column that gathers the most angry comments in a month.

that's kind of the point, is it not? in the own the libs era, the easiest way to not "get owned" by reacting to that type of stuff is to just ignore it

Brontoburglar wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 9:49 am that's kind of the point, is it not? in the own the libs era, the easiest way to not "get owned" by reacting to that type of stuff is to just ignore it

It’s not kind of the point. It is the point. Particularly when you’re allowed to gaslight the facts surrounding Mitch McConnell “skillfully managing” the confirmation processes without including the caveat that he refused to hold confirmation hearings re: Garland 10 months prior to an election, yet managed to hold one as Donald Trump was out the door after an election. That’s not even crafty writing. It’s just a bad faith sentiment.

that would be seen as skillful management by some, yes

Journalism (coming back)?

Man, the first Monday after Earth Day Weekend is ALWAYS crazy like this, innit?

So, what's the knock on Don Lemon? The only time I ever really watched him was in the few days after the 2020 election, and he seemed fine. He said some pretty moving things when Biden's win was finally announced that Saturday.