August Friday Afternoon Links the Second

by | Aug 8, 2025 | Cocktails, Daily Links, I Am Lame | 71 comments

August continues along, as locally, everyone and their churches is getting their festivals in. Unfortunately, I will be otherwise engaged this weekend, as I have a family obligation that I would rather not deal with. But you lot don’t care about that, so let’s get to the links.

Ohio Glibs: I want to make sure you’re aware that there is a group working to get a ballot measure to end qualified immunity in the state. Apologies in advance to non-Ohio Glibs, but expect this link and a blurb to pop up semi-regularly.

Your weekly update on the saga of the first mayor of Cleveland Heights .

I’m glad they were able to get the funds raised.

No. I will allow no more disparagement of Cleveland food when this exists in the world.

We do not yet know if Deshaun Watson was involved.

*sigh*

Sure it hasn’t.

I will admit to being tempted to picking up one of the hardwood LED displays for a while. But this is cooler.

At some point, you need to accept that a subset of the population will get addicted to ANYTHING.

Careful guys, we don’t want to make fun of people here. It may be weird.

I don’t know anyone in the state who would refer to a canoe as “my boat”.

Who had a new China virus on the bingo card?

Can you please post the “rules” you’re following?

You know who I blame for this?

With that, let’s get into the cocktails. A dirty little secret when it comes to bartending is that no one remembers every cocktail. But once you have a grip on some basic ratios and recipes, you can come up with quite a few things on the fly. Think in terms of ratios and flavors more than strict adherence to a recipe. Now, that doesn’t mean don’t measure, and throw together what you want, but to put things together that should work well (either by compliment or contrast). So for this weeks cocktail, let’s go with a:

Smash

  • Juice of about half a lemon (or lime if you prefer)
  • A touch of simple syrup (less than the lemon juice, and you can use honey syrup, flavored simple, or agave here)
  • A healthy pour of spirits (whiskey is a traditional one, but gin is a favorite as well)
  • A couple of mint leaves and/or some fresh fruit

This time of year, fresh fruit and herbs are all over the place. This is a way to use them to mix something up that you’ll like. I start by dropping in any herbs (mint and basil are standards) and fruit (berries, especially local only ones, are great here), and then gently muddling them. You can also use a couple of slices of lemon (or lime) here instead of the lemon juice, and muddle them with it to express the citrus oils into the shaker as well. Keep in mind you want to bruise the leaves, not tear them apart. After this, fill the shaker with ice, pour in your liquor (I generally aim for 1.5-2 ounces), citrus juice, and sweetener, than shake it until chilled. Strain into a rocks (or Collins) glass filled with fresh ice. You can top with soda water (or flavored seltzer) at the end, and garnish with a citrus wedge and a couple of fresh berries.

Instead of thinking of cocktail making as having hard to find (and harder to use) bottles, specialty tools, showy flips, or fancy knife work (although any of those can be used to make a good cocktail better, they are more frequently used to make a great cocktail mediocre). It’s a method of crafting something that tastes good with what you’ve got on hand.

With that, I leave you with a last music link, and a wish that you have the weekend you desire.

About The Author

Nephilium

Nephilium

Nephilium is a geek of multiple types living in the vast suburban forests of Cleveland.

71 Comments

  1. DEG

    Readers can go and try out the Kilopixel display for themselves at kilopx.com. If you visit, you will see the currently (slowly) rendering image. Below that is a queue of images that are next to be sent to the ‘screen.’ Why not draw and submit your own? As long as you are patient…

    What could possibly go wrong?

    • rhywun

      I wonder how many dildoes are in the queue.

  2. Yusef drives a Kia

    I like the wooden difference engine

  3. Drake

    Isn’t Batman rich as hell?

    • UnCivilServant

      No, Bruce Wayne is rich. Batman just leeches off his alter ego.

    • slumbrew

      He’s one of the good billionaires, like Pritzker and Reed Hofmann

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Pritzker? Good? From a certain point of view I suppose.

      • UnCivilServant

        Batman/Green Arrow/The Question

        Oliver Queen is also loaded. Bujt he was always a stupid lefty.

        Though I’m unsure which Iteration of The Question they plan to use, none of them were particularly rich.

    • rhywun

      Without USAid to prop this shit anymore, how is it going to make a profit…?!

      • UnCivilServant

        It wasn’t making a profit before.

  4. Sensei

    At some point, you need to accept that a subset of the population will get addicted to ANYTHING.

    You’ll go blind!

    • Nephilium
  5. The Late P Brooks

    I saw an interview with that will.i.am person a long time ago. He seems like a really sharp guy. He was talking about setting up vocational schools in the ‘hood.

    • Dr. Fronkensteen

      Still think they should go with the standard issue colonial 99 year lease. Like Hong Kong and Panama.

    • SDF-7

      I’d take that deal if I were Ukraine… simply because the realpolitik state is that you don’t have the force to eject the Russians. Best you’re going to get.

      Of course, they’ll probably torpedo it by trying to lock us (and/or NATO) into some idiotic “You must nuke Russia on our behalf!” bullcrap….

  6. The Late P Brooks

    Sort of like drinking cold tomato soup? Tomato milkshake?
    Pass.

    • (((Jarflax

      Gazpacho doesn’t taste like ketchup

    • Sensei

      Put some vodka and worcestershire in the cold tomato soup.

      • Drake

        I like the way you think!

    • Nephilium

      The Red Snapper recipe was Saturday morning.

  7. (((Jarflax

    Vice cops that bust massage parlors in stings should be charged with rape, or whatever level of sexual assault the sex act performed constitutes. Leave the Korean girls alone, their just trying to tug themselves a living!

    • Aloysious

      Those Korean girls have a firm grip on the situation.

    • Sensei

      To a happy ending, you might say.

  8. ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

    Cadillacs are sometimes referred to as boats, and sometimes as Jew canoes.

    Also, about the next dildo, what will happen if it is rainbow colored?

    • EvilSheldon

      I’ll lose another prop bet?

  9. The Late P Brooks

    A 2013 law making Nile crocodiles a protected species resulted in the farm’s closure.

    “I don’t want to think of what will happen if a crocodile manages to escape and reaches the Jordan River, and then we’ll have an international incident,” the head of the local community told The Associated Press in 2018, referencing the border with Jordan about four miles away.

    Let the Animals Live, an Israeli animal rights organization, said that 262 crocodiles were culled and denounced the move in a statement, arguing the reptiles “had never attacked anybody.”

    If they are rare and endangered it only makes sense to slaughter them.

    That’s a lot of watch bands.

    • rhywun

      “on a settlement in the occupied West Bank”

      FFS they can’t help themselves. History, schmistory I guess.

  10. Beau Knott

    Alternative Desire.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Now, THAT is a flat top!

  11. rhywun

    Goddammit you tricked me into clicking a Guardian link. Not cool.

    • Nephilium

      It wasn’t behind an anonymizer/paywall bypass, I wouldn’t say I tricked you. 🙂

  12. The Late P Brooks

    Careful guys, we don’t want to make fun of people here. It may be weird.

    That’s nothing. In the state house in Helena they have a man who wears dresses.

    They did, anyway. Representing the voters of Missoula, if you can believe that.

    • (((Jarflax

      Miss Ooh La la?

      • Evan from Evansville

        Miss Ooh La La? Great stage name for for trans Biff Tannen.

  13. SDF-7

    I obviously can’t personally benefit from this trend, but I urge it to continue all the same…

  14. The Late P Brooks

    I like tomato juice.

    A ketchup smoothie sounds completely wrong.

    • Drake

      What if you mixed in a hamburger?

  15. Spudalicious

    It’s raspberry season, and I also grow a shitload of basil. I’ve been drinking raspberry/basil bourbon smashes for a couple of weeks now.

  16. The Late P Brooks

    Let’s hear it for sorority girl nationalism.

  17. Baby Oil Procurement Dept

    I got a lot done this week (still didn’t make any money), so I shall imbibe.

    • Sensei

      It is a Neph post!

    • EvilSheldon

      Myself, I got nothing done this week while spending a lot of money, so I shall also imbibe.

    • Sean

      I’ve gotten a lot of imbibing done this week. No reason to stop now. 🤷🏼‍♂️

  18. The Late P Brooks

    On Thursday, the Trump administration issued an executive order asserting political control over grant funding, including all federally supported research. The order requires that any announcement of funding opportunities be reviewed by the head of the agency or someone they designate, which means a political appointee will have the ultimate say over what areas of science the US funds. Individual grants will also require clearance from a political appointee and “must, where applicable, demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities.”

    Oh, no. this turns our scrupulously apolitical existing policy on its head.

    • Sensei

      I know, right?

  19. The Late P Brooks

    That weren’t supposed to be a reply

    We all know you hate science.

  20. The Late P Brooks

    Did they feed the crocodiles to the starving political prisoners?

  21. Shpip

    Coming home from the Far East, which I thought had cornered the market on weird food, the very idea of a ketchup smoothie turned my stomach… at first.

    But in Heinz-sight, I’d be willing to give one a try. I’ll be on the Hunt’s for it now.

  22. groat scotum

    I don’t care what anybody says, Coldplay is awesome and Viva la Vida is superb.

    *watches any Coldplay music video*

    You know what, hanging might be too good for these reprobates

    • groat scotum

      Watching Chris Martin playact his dumbass lyrics, as much as I like the song, I want to have an aneurism throttling his hammy throat. Floppy muppet.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        Thats what you get for listening to crap

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        / turns up Bach

    • Ted S.

      ¿Viva la vida loca?

    • groat scotum

      It’s a great song.

      Until you watch the music video and then it’s all Norm MacDonald “This might strike some viewers as harsh…”

  23. Evan from Evansville

    Re: Batman taking on billionaires and climate change, and the Media’s inherent role in pushing the nonsense — The Guardian soon pops up this revelation to its readers:

    “From Elon Musk to the Murdochs, billionaire owners control much of the information that reaches the public. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of bad actors are spreading disinformation that threatens democracy. The Guardian is different. Thanks to reader support, we publish free, trustworthy journalism – and stay fiercely independent.”

    Duh, Batman is going after non-Bruce billionaires. The Guardian told him how important it all ways.

    • Nephilium

      Ignore the Soros in the background.

  24. The Hyperbole

    “What Are We Reading” got fuckered, I last-minute-submitted the last episode and then it got schedule for late in the month and now I don’t know where we are “schedule-wise”. Anyway if the usual suspects see this and want to send in their recent reading achievements by all means do It ,once I get a handful of submissions I’ll throw it together and submit a mid summer edition. Thank you and god bless.

    • R.J.

      I am reading instructions on how to throw a neon green dildo onto the WNBA court. Sadly the instructions are in Chinglish and hard to follow.

    • Evan from Evansville

      How can I send you mine? One’s by my Iranian-Canadian friend I met in Korea and visited in Medellin, a collection of short stories. He can write and I’m impressed.

      The other’s Dad’s latest project, a series of ‘humorous’ country song titles Dad proposes, each combined with cartoon strip art he commissioned for the work. Oddly, Dad’s published a comic strip publication. I can’t even.

  25. The Late P Brooks

    I am reading instructions on how to throw a neon green dildo onto the WNBA court. Sadly the instructions are in Chinglish and hard to follow.

    Can you shoot them out of a t shirt cannon?

    • Tres Cool

      Hot dog cannon.

      • Evan from Evansville

        Down the hallway?

      • Tres Cool

        “It was like fuckin’ a jar of mayonnaise.”