First, apologies as I will not be around for the comments. So feel free to insert your own [This link intentionally left blank] where you see fit.
To start with the big one, yes, there’s a sales tax “holiday” here in Ohio. Basically, anything under $500 that’s not a service, has an engine, or is covered by a sin tax has no sales tax for two weeks.
The saga of the mayor of Cleveland Heights and his wife continues.
No. It probably didn’t.
In things I never knew I hated.
For fans of the late Tom Lehrer, I learned this week that he had graciously put all of his music work into the Public Domain. Go ahead and grab the albums from him, and listen to the man:
In short, I no longer retain any rights to any of my songs. So help yourselves, and don’t send me any money.”
I have questions, comments, and concerns…
See, I remember the good old days of Tom’s Hardware too!
You get more of what you reward.
I have a suggestion.
The cocktail for this week is a classic that has a story, and several recipe variations.
The Aviation – Original
- 8 parts (2 oz) gin
- 2 parts (0.5 oz) Maraschino liquor
- 1 part (0.25 oz) Creme de Violette
- 3 part (0.75 oz) lemon juice
So, this is the original 1916 recipe for the Aviation (as best as we can tell), it produces a strong (note the only non-alcohol is lemon juice) drink, with citrus and slight floral notes. It will also have a pale blue/purple color, which is supposed to remind you of the sky. Now, if you have never heard of Creme de Violette, or ever tasted it, there’s a very good reason for that. For about 70 years, there was none that were available in the US. People still wanted their drinks, so the recipe was adjusted in the 1930s
The Aviation – 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book
- 2 parts London dry gin
- 1 part lemon juice
- 2 dashes Maraschino
This is the recipe I learned this drink as, back when I was a younger drunkard learning about cocktails. I was so new to cocktails, that for a brief moment, I thought the 2 dashes Maraschino may have meant the liquid from the jar. Thankfully, the sites of the day corrected me and introduced me to Maraschino liquor. So, when I got older, and started getting ones with a strange color, or people talking about how pretty the Aviation is, I was quite confused. This drink ditches the floral notes, and provides a fresh breath of air to those of us who liked strong drinks, and didn’t want them to be heavily sweetened.
So try one, or both, or don’t. Personally, I’ve struggled to find uses for Creme de Violette, and the bottles have a tendency to linger. Maraschino liquor can sub out for any cherry liquor, and is specifically called for in quite a few cocktails. This may be one to take to your local cocktail bar and have them make both for you, so you can decide for yourself which you prefer.
With that, I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend, and find everything that you need.
South Carolina’s tax holiday is this weekend only.
Today Neph is a comment comment comment comment comment chameleon… he comes and goes… he comes and goooooes…
Afternoon all.
[narrows gaze in the Helvetian manner]
Boy, George post really wants to hurt me.
Join the club.
You two have no culture.
Wasn’t that a story like 2 years ago? The hell, PC Gamer?!?
So you buy a car with the engine as a separate line item?
Like PC building — pick a crate engine would be an interesting sales model….
Everyone gets an LS?
You don’t want the 6.2L L87?
He’s dead right to do that, glad he looked ahead on such a grave manner.
He did undertake the writing of those songs, so good for him.
[This comment intentionally left blank.}
[This music comment has a lot of Starbucks lovers…]
Ohio’s Sales Tax Holiday for 2025 will be held from 12:00 a.m. on August 1 until 11:59 p.m. on August 14.
Why not just abolish the sales tax?
How would we have stadiums I never go to, in downtowns where you can get beaten unconscious for lacking melanin, only to be blamed by politico-race grifters with IQs that match my thermostat with no sales tax?
Maybe that’s why NH is such a quiet place. No sales tax.
We have one arena which I think was privately funded.
Oh right… there are two others.
The Everett Ice Arena in Concord. I’ve been in it for gun shows.
The Whittemore Center at UNH in Durham.
The latter is, since it is part of UNH, state funded.
I apparently inspired the local drink of the summer a few weeks ago. Went to dinner on Father’s Day Weekend at Thirteen Stripes Brewery / Barbeque in Taylors which is right next to the fight gym he goes to. I ordered a Snakebite (half Lager half Cider). My son tried it then immediately ordered one for himself.
Now he and a bunch of his friends are there regularly after workouts ordering snakebites.
My dad’s drink like that was brandy and ginger ale. He called it “Drunk’s Delight”.
“NASCAR Negroni” for the win. Heh.
“Please don’t draw on the potholes,” she said.
That would be vandalism. Or copyright infringement.
Wait… drawing on the potholes? Not in? Not on the bottom?
Is this another gorram “Tea and Not Tea” conundrum?
If you draw a rainbow 🌈 on it, the pothole will never get fixed.
They can’t get the right department on the phone or email to work on such potholes.
But someday they’ll find it — the rainbow connection.
“Well, that’s one way to get the Portland Bureau of Transportation to come quickly.”
That’s worthy of this place.
Other sites need their family friendly ratings too, Tonio… different strokes for different folks after all.
So you buy a car with the engine as a separate line item?
They call those kit cars.
“Sassy British voice not included….”
I thought Knight Rider was a Kitt car.
My concern is if I will sprain the muscles in my optic sockets with all the rolling trying to skim that pile of horse dung.
lol I was going to mention my eyerolls too, so I’ll just add my contempt for the kind of tool who so desperately seeks approval from all the “right” people.
PS. The other blurbs on that site are exactly I would expect. Just another arm of the (captured) DNC.
Ok… that was fun to look at. And wish I could justify buying one of those beasts for my next shadow IT VM development workstation (I actually do try to run virtual storage clusters and test controllers and test clients… so pcie lanes for drives plus cores for VMs matters to me… but it doesn’t flipping $12k ++++ matter to me it seems compared to small things like bills, house repairs, etc… ah well…)
Experts are saying that the rising popularity of the Spaghett could be due to drinkers keeping an eye on their wallets.
Experts. Where would we be without them?
Rolling Rock is better than anything Miller makes.
The experts at Business Insider, even.
🙄🙄
Corporation for Public Broadcasting closing down, yo.
Our friend Animal writes purty.
He lost me when he says a Johnny Quest movie by the current Hollywood wouldn’t be an abomination. Space Ghost, maybe… but Johnny would be a transsexual lesbian boffing Hajii when xir’s Dad was kidnapped / away and you know it.
Are you familiar with “The Venture Brothers” animated series? It’s a modern dark mirror retelling of JQ.
I’ve seen meme references over the years incessantly and am aware of it — but have never cared to actually watch it.
So TL;DR: “Aware, not familiar“.
But yeah — all of these “NGOs” and “Non-Profits” shouldn’t be getting tax money to do whatever crap they do (whether I happen to agree with them or not… there must be a non-profit out there somewhere that isn’t doing total shit). Otherwise just be honest and call them “Government Mafia Front Organizations”.
Trump is killing muppets.
That’s just how they felt about it.
That was last night’s film.
Look, it’s the duty of the government to use your tax money to pay for really popular shows that nobody watches.
For drug money?
I don’t know. For years I’ve felt that the govt has had their hand so far up my ass, I should qualify for some of that sweet PBS loot.
+1 shout out to Glibs’ Gulch
My Mom loves original Aviation Cocktails, which is funny because otherwise she barely drinks at all.
A few tips – use fresh lemon juice, but double-strain it. You don’t want a cloudy cocktail.
Develop a shaking technique that agitates the cocktail without rattling the ice cubes against the inside of the shaker. Especially with an Aviation, you don’t want to get a bunch of ice flakes in your cocktail. Death and Co. has some good hints on technique.
Try an Old Tom-style gin rather than a London Dry. Hayman’s, Campfire, and Citadelle No Mistake are good choices.
I would love to try that but two of the ingredients are probably unobtanium here.
The folks behind ending car inspections in NH are gearing up for more
With the repeal of inspections behind them, Olson and his allies in the liberty community—and the legislature—plan to take on what they consider “unpopular, anti-liberty” vehicle laws. Top priorities include:
Expanding registration options, including multi-year and permanent vehicle registration
Increasing voluntary vanity plate offerings as a source of state revenue
Blocking efforts to impose mandatory auto insurance in the state
Raising speed limits to reflect international standards
Repealing what they call “superfluous” vehicle equipment laws
Restoring privacy protections for drivers in the age of digital surveillance
NHMF Treasurer Steve Zemanek warned the gathering not to get complacent. Some supporters of the inspection law are now pushing for mandatory vehicle insurance.
“Protecting New Hampshire’s competitive, free-market auto insurance system is a top priority,” Zemanek said. “Our research showed no connection between inspections, insurance mandates, and road safety.”
They should get the speed limit compromise in Franconia Notch rescinded. That road would 65 to 70 in Idaho.
I’m so
Glad that Oregon finally made it into the 1990s and raised the truck
Speed limit a
Couple years ago.
There are still four lane divided roads in Oregon that are 55.
What. Hell. Damn. Guy.
White Knight?
It’s the thing Roger Penske said would never happen. It’s also the concession Roger Penske needed to make for the IndyCar Series to reach its full potential.
A broadcast partner with vast marketing and promotional expertise, with a new and vested financial interest in the success of a racing series, is everything IndyCar had been lacking. Fox, as co-owner of Penske Entertainment, should more than solve the problem as it brings its passion for the series to bear.
It now owns a one-third share of IndyCar, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indy NXT and IMS Productions, and it’s the one big step that should take the series forward in the sporting marketplace.
We shall see what we shall see. I want them to break Dallara’s stranglehold and made it less of a spec car series. Let the teams actually work on the cars.
Who doesn’t love open wheel NASCAR?
Maryland veteran’s death leads to law that requires doctors to ask about military service
Hey doc, I think I sprained my ankle.
Have you served?
My dentist was an airforce guy, our pediatrician a jarhead.
I tease them as my army DD214 requires.
JFC. Let’s make a law for every possible tail event possible.
Did you drink the water at Camp Pendleton?
I’m sure I’ve been asked that numerous times in the last year of my intimate relationship with the health care juggernaut.
Thought you guys might appreciate this. Earlier in the week we had a ton of flies in the house, thanks to my oldest and my nephew leaving doors open. One day while I was working I killed 8. We had a fly swatter in the house that was already damaged, and in the course of killing those flies it completely fell apart.
Meanwhile my youngest gets wind of this, and yesterday I received a box from Amazon with 150 fly swatters in 3 colors. I think I raised that kid right.
1) Good kid — congrats.
2) Shpip has spoiled me… I was expecting that you would use some twine to temporarily bind your swatter together enough to get the last victim… and as such report that a stitch in time saves nine (or something more creative than that of course…)
3) Might consider those plug-in light traps that seem to be more common over the last year or so — my parent have a couple of them, they seem straightforward enough. Unless you enjoy the hunt, of course.
I’m suddenly hearing a lot about those light traps too. I might look into those.
What, no Bug-A-Salt?
Not nearly as tacticool, but my weapon of choice.
Oh yes! I love my Harbor Freight tennis racket.
Buga salt, tons of fun,
In case I turn up dead soon, there was foul play.
https://platedlizard.blogspot.com/2025/08/flight-93-was-shot-down-by-us-military.html
Great, now I’ve seen it too. :: lowers blinds, turns off lights ::
You fuck with me, you fuck with the best!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GyInWVCxGw
Next you’re going to get your own jeans commercial, Derp.
Derp is the fabric of my life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upd9AtdeAoE
visual aid from Psychonauts:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRdvuia1JUM
I must be slow. I don’t see how that would have changed any of the things you claim.
Perhaps if the truth had been told from the get go, we wouldn’t have spent 20+ years and 2 trillion dollars fighting in the Middle East at the cost of at least 100,000 lives.
And that’s leaving aside the bullshit claim that Saddam was planning to give WMDs to Al Qaida.
***
Dissent in the ranks. US Secretary of State Colin Powell was under persistent pressure from the Pentagon and White House to include questionable intelligence in his report on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction he delivered at the United Nations last February, source: US News and World Report Magazine. According to the report, the draft contained such questionable material that Powell lost his temper, throwing several pages in the air and declaring, “I’m not reading this. This is bullshit.”
***
https://www.metafilter.com/26098/Im-not-reading-this-This-is-bullshit
Dedthreaded again, but a story and not a link:
I strongly suspect a new (male) coworker made a pass at me, and I’m certain he did it in a rather interesting way. (Young 20s with matching beard, white, chubby. Not my type.)
He comes up, I don’t even know his name, and he energetically says, “Hey! Ya know I gotta, gotta ask ya this! I know it’s weird, but I gotta! Has anyone ever told you you look like a movie star?” <–I truthfully say it has happened a few times. I forget who I 'look like,' mostly cuz I didn't know them. Still very convinced, he says he doesn't remember the name of the dude. "OH! It's that dude, he's in Mission Impossible and…" My turn, and I'm quizzically dumbfounded. "Ya mean Tom Cruise?" "YEAH!"
OK. I'm not sure how a Westerner cannot *not* know of that person. He's kinda a big deal. So that plays into my understanding of his play. My primary friends in high school and early college were in the gay circle. I'm quite cartoonish and can see how folk would the impression I swing that way, and I've gotten passes before. Been a while, but my Gaydar remains honed.
I disagreed but joked back that I'm probably (a bit) taller than Cruise. Got a chuckle and fun was had by us both before I moved on.
*shrug* The world is fun.
By far my favorite sighting today was of a slim Mennonite(?), 20-something. She was strikingly cute, in a very plain-ish way. (Simple.) I had a bit of a jokey mental moment with the hormone pulse, that I couldn't imagine two Hoosiers who've (likely) had more different lives and experiences. Just thought that contrast would be beautiful to share in the real world.
(No way I could cut that out. I'm English, babe. Through-and-through. But I'd like my bedsheets to smell like you, and don't worry about that shirt. It's not stealing if I 'loan' it to ya. (It's ok if I never see it again.) *smooch*)
As I can attest from being the designated driver (given I don’t drink, it was an easy choice) for gay friends/coworkers back in the early college/working retail days and never ever getting hit on… my gaydar is irrelevant. Other than my wife (very fortunately for me) and perhaps one other person I can think of in my entire life — I am firmly in the Unattractive category for any and all variations of human sexuality.
It does keep things simple.
And you could always convert if the Mennonite would have you (maybe.. I don’t remember all the particular rules of that group)… though you’d be giving up this place.
Had him a porno mag the next time you see him and say: “this is my favorite and I know you’ll love it!”
He’s young 20s — wouldn’t his response be “Why did you print out a web site?”
There was a familiar soldier I thought I had a chance with. When I heard through the grapevine she got divorced, I made a move. Turns out she was a lesbian.
My gaydar is OK but with lesbians, I’m hit and miss. I did get a lesbian to switch teams for a night in college. I was better looking in those days.
We danced to this song at a lesbian bar in Morgantown WV:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G6QDNC4jPs
https://www.manta.com/c/mm8qnvh/weezie-s-pub-club
female rather, not familiar, though I was familiar with her
She pinned on my sergeant insignia whereby I gave the following speech:
***
I have 3 things to say:
Harry Truman was a soldier in WW1. He cheated on the eye exam to get in. He said never kick a fresh turd on a hot day.
Thucydides said the key to happiness is freedom and the key to freedom is courage.
Last, Sergeant Harty has a nice ring to it.
***
I was later told by several this was the best promotion speech they ever heard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paSUlf4rCpA
yesterday I received a box from Amazon with 150 fly swatters in 3 colors.
Not one of these?
Disappoint.
Exactly, mine is black/gold, its fun and it works
Just make sure you don’t swat a black fly with a white flyswatter and you should be fine.
“We only get a small percentage of our funding from the government.” – Liar NPR lady.
“Truth is an inconvenience” – Liar NPR lady.
“Bye” – Me
Now do planned parenthood which also gets only a small amount of their funding from the government.
So shouldn’t those “small percentages” easily be raised from their alleged numerous supporters?
Haven’t you seen those accountings where charity money from R’s is compared to the money given by D’s?
D’s contributions are …..zero. They dont give their own money, they only give yours. They dont give your money to children’s hospitals, they give it to baby murder horror shops. They give your money to marxist propaganda peddlers. They give your money to outfits that recruit and facilitate ‘caravans’ of invaders. Etc.
My oldest is finally exercising. My SIL got her into physical therapy 2x a week for “life skills” or something. She does things like sit in a chair and stand up, walk up and down stairs, and leg raises. All things she could be doing at home. The nice part is she’s on Medicaid, so our tax money is paying for that, as well as rides to and from therapy. I’ve been SMDH all day.
Maybe she’ll start doing some at home if the physical therapist puts her on to a cool app that will walk her through specific assigned exercises. 🙂🤞
I hate how Skynet sometimes makes sense.
I know parolees at rehab had portable breathalyzers they had to test in a few times a day. Sometimes like once an hour or so, I heard several complain.
It let people be out as long as they followed some, now easily documentable, rules. They also had a regular video phone-in, also perhaps multiple times a day. It certainly lets the Watchers watch better, and for now give more freedom *and* responsibility for those out on parole. Fuck. It’s obvious where that leads.
Fridges are another one. How long until ya become too fat and your fridge is *closely* monitored? I’m sure it’s already happened in Britain, and I’m also quite sure they’re pre-cumming froth dreaming how they can *best* utilize such controls.
“We only get a small percentage of our funding from the government.”
Pay no attention to the money laundered through the individual stations subsidized by the government.
Is this thing on?
Is this god-forsaken motherfucking thing on, godammit?
Sydney Sweeney goes shooting
⬅️
Trump never fails to do unnecessary dumb shit.
Trump fires BLS commissioner after weak jobs report and baseless claim of ‘faked’ stats
You are shitcanning a bunch of FedGov. I’ve no idea if that is the case here, but you aren’t going to have no volatility in job growth.
We all know .gov stats are lies.
The bigger issue is the revisions – Powell claimed jobs are strong and failed to lower interest rates. Had the earlier reports been accurate versus downward revisions much more likely Fed would have cut rates.
Either way – BLS data/revisions seem to be very poor and timing of revisions seems suspect (see last year’s revisions under Biden).
Yes. The BLS revisions have always been problematic.
I’m assuming he had the authority, it’s the timing I have issue with.
Another bonehead Trump move, apparently with Loomer’s influence.
Yes, it was only a coincidence that it just mentioned Trump.
Smithsonian removes Trump from impeachment exhibit in American history museum
Getting your dick sucked and lying doesn’t count.
Stupid is as stupid does. Better to spend that on a vacation!
Bat flies into woman’s mouth in Arizona, costing her nearly $21,000 in medical bills
Pie?
You are aiming too high with that joke.
Bat flies into woman’s mouth in Arizona, costing her nearly $21,000 in medical bills
Was it cavernous?
Poor Anne Hathaway.
All bats have rabies. That is all.
Sydney Sweeney, gunslinger. That oughtta twist some knickers.
I had barely heard of her before and wouldn’t recognize her if she ran up and bit me on the ass but now I am starting to like that chick.
Heheheh
https://babylonbee.com/news/doctor-strange-reveals-that-across-14-million-universes-colberts-show-bombs-in-every-single-one
Related: comparing Colbert and Shane Gillis
https://thehub.ca/2025/07/26/stephen-staley-the-difference-between-shane-gillis-and-stephen-colbert/
“Real comedy is not about applause”
I didnt read the whole thing but I dont think there was any audience in the Colbert studio. The chapter was dubbed. Very obviously so.
Probably threw Steve’s game off to see a room full of stone faces and keep up the facade.
I first heard of the Spaghett recipe on here and have re-posted it several times.
I’ll have to show the Altar Boys. Prove to them that I’m a young hipster and not some old coot.
PhD dissertation from VA Tech for fired BLS Commissioner – note this is an ecomonics PhD for someone with a Bachelor’s from Barnard is Social Science….a series of essays with decades-old data regurgitated.
https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/53f5b7d8-4aea-4094-bb5b-f2d5f2d54c5e/content
Wow. Nothing original.
Also when did it become OK to use 1st person? That was a “no” for me in grad school in the 90s.
Well at least it wasn’t the usual quant bullshit.
Now do Anthony Fauci.
I remember when he first got his job and did an interview with SciAm or Nature…one of those….anyway I asked my micro prof “Hey doc, this Fauci dude, is it just me or….”
*cuts me off* “No. It’s not just you.”
‘Government expert’ is a sure sign the guy should be put in a closet somewhere with a set of Legos to keep them busy.
Lego is far too kind.
Quatro https://brickipedia.fandom.com/wiki/QUATRO
“These pieces were baby-friendly, and were specially designed to endure teething. In addition, they are the largest-scale elements ever created.”
I concede. Yes, something on par with their competence.
Awww fuck. I see they are on about aliens from outer space again. *sigh*
Maybe they are bringing a cache of trillion dollar coins.
Bo Gritz was an alien?
I forgot about that guy.
Speaking of economic genius’s and hundredy squillion dollar coins….I was in Bolivia in the mid ’80s. Inflation was about 100% per week, then shortly per day. They had the finest bills on the planet printed up by some Swiss printer…absolute works of art. They cost far more to print than they were worth. They needed more so Bolivia asked for more and the Swiss wanted to know how they were going to be paid. Bolivia said they should just print extra ones and pay themselves from that. The Swiss said that the Bolivians should just go fuck themselves. Sooooooo…..Zuazo instructed everyone to just start drawing extra zeros on their bills.
Yes, that really happened.
It is one thing to understand fiat currency in principle, another entirely to experience it in practice. It is such a transparent farce words cant describe it.