Ok. Let’s get the worst news out of the way first because I’m getting really sick of all the celestial shit that’s been raining down and don’t want to talk about it. This week we’re primarily under the influence of Saturn, which is bad. Then on Thursday there’s a Moon-Jupiter conjunction which is also bad.
HOWEVER
Mercury finally gets its shit together and goes station direct on Sunday, so that should make up for everything else bad happening. And then as a bonus, It starts its direct motion in an alignment with Venus, an alignment which it maintains most of the rest of the week (inner planets don’t move very quickly relative to each other) so take advantage of that. No seriously, do it. You’ll be happy.
This is also the week Aries gets the Sun, and it starts off with both Venus and Saturn. In this case, thew “Venus” part is still straightforward, but the Saturn part is much less baleful. Instead, it gives a bonus to attempts at ending bad things or resisting bad changes. Some astrologers also apply this to maintaining good changes, but I don’t think the record really supports this. Anyway, it a rarity for Saturn to be a good sign, so enjoy this year sheepfolk!
Aries: 3 of Swords reversed – Mental alienation, error, loss, distraction, disorder, confusion.
Taurus: 5 of Coins – Material trouble, love, trauma bonding.
Gemini: Wheel of Fortune reversed – Increase, abundance, superfluity.
Cancer: Justice – Exactly what it says.
Leo: The Hanged man – Wisdom, circumspection, discernment, trials, sacrifice, intuition, divination, prophecy.
Virgo: The Lovers – Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome.
Libra: 10 of Coins – Gain, riches; family matters, archives, extraction, the abode of a family.
Scorpio: The Hermit – Prudence, circumspection, treason, dissimulation, roguery, corruption.
Sagittarius: Ace of Wands – Virility, creation, invention, enterprise, principle, beginning, source; birth, family, origin.
Capricorn: 8 of Coins reversed – Voided ambition, vanity, cupidity, exaction, usury. Also the use of skill for evil ends.
Aquarius: 5 of Cups reversed – News, alliances, affinity, consanguinity, ancestry, return, false projects.
Pisces: Queen of Cups reversed – Distinguished woman but one not to be trusted; perverse woman; vice, dishonor, depravity.
Sagittarius: Ace of Wands – Virility, creation, invention, enterprise, principle, beginning, source; birth, family, origin.
Pass.
Virgo: The Lovers – Attraction, love, beauty, trials overcome.
Guess someone’s gettin pregnant.
Its tough to beat Grace Slick’s amazing vocals, but Pink’s version is a decent cover.
Agreed
I didn’t know you were a birthing person.
Seems I had too much salad yesterday and this morning birthed a quite impressive “grocery snake”.
“Cancer: Justice – Exactly what it says.“
I’m gonna go full vigilante? Doesn’t sound like me. I’d rather be fucking.
Kitchen sink kept backing up, and drain cleaner wasn’t doing anything noticable. So I’ve been spending the day disassembling the drain pipe and scraping out the gunk. The drain is still in pieces, but I needed a break.
How are things with you lot?
Why so much hair in your kitchen drain …
No hair.
Grease and stuff that fed off the grease despite my best efforts to not send any down the drain.
It happens. I take all the pipey bits outside and blast hose water through them when that happens. Thankfully it’s been a while. The missus used to put spaghetti leftovers down the sink when I first met her. Instant clog.
Well here. The futon isn’t set up yet, but I’m out at Tranq Base enjoying sunny and 76…before it all goes to hell this evening.
The stars or planets must be causing plumbing troubles. My boss texted me a little while ago that he has to work from home tomorrow, as his water heater died and can’t be replaced until then.
I’ve had this issue for long enough for me to go “I’m going to crawl under that sink, take the drain apart and scoop out whatever awfulness is growing in there.”
A drain auger can be really handy for small things like that.
https://www.harborfreight.com/25-ft-drill-powered-drain-auger-59721.html
A drain augur won’t work, because it turns out the grease and gunk is only incidental.
I think the plumber who set this up was actively malicious.
The kitchen sink has two basins, their drains are connected by a horizontal with a T-junction that feeds the S-Trap leading to the common drain.
As I was poking in there to see if there was a lot of build-up in the T-junction, I found that they didn’t just use a T, they used a T with a vertical split that constricts the potential available space to less than half the pipe diameter. Whil this does mean that it will not fill up the other basin when draining, it also means it will always drain slow. There’s enough vertical space between the base of the T and the start of the S that I could probably swap the T for a Y and open things up significantly. This would, however, be a bigger investment in time and money.
The drain augur foretold this would hapen.
stop stealing work from honest plumbers
If I needed a toilet installed, or new lines run, or there was sewage backing up into the house – then I’d call a plumber. “My sink is draining slow” is a problem I can work on myself.
I ran Drano and a lot of hot water yesterday in the kitchen. It helped but I don’t think it’s a final solution.
A few years ago I had to call RotoRooter, $250 for an hour’s work but it was good for 5 years or so.
I plumbed my whole house, 3 baths. I learned a lot and apparently learned it well.
You know who else had a final solution?
Well, it IS right there in my screen name, so…🤷
“Malicious Plumbers”
Garage band or roller derby team name?
EPL Relegation Update, round 31 (Arsenal/Wolves back in line, Man City/Palace only at 30), magic number for safety in ():
Safe: Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa
Reasonably Safe: Liverpool(2), Chelsea(3), Brentford(5), Everton(5), Fulham(7), Brighton(8), Sunderland(8), Newcastle United(9), Bournemouth(9)
Safe for now: Crystal Palace(12)
Danger Zone: Leeds United(18), Nottingham Forest(19), Tottenham Hotspur(21), West Ham United(22)
Toast: Burnley(31), Wolverhampton(34)
Relegated: none
Forest win over Spurs today makes them a little safer. Looks like the battle for the last spot comes down to Spurs and West Ham, although Leeds or Forest could crash the party.
Hopefully we get a game report from the glib at Forest@Spurs match.
Just went looking for how many teams the Premier has, just for comparison. I found this odd bit: 20 teams. “Transfermarkt lists 527 players across these clubs, with roughly 72.1% being foreign players.” Doesn’t surprise me seeing what I’ve seen. ‘There are a lot of really athletic black guys in Britain!’
England’s finished unless a much stricter Trump comes along. Bro’s taking his family (minus the 5yo!) there in May.
MLB: 27.8% foreign. I’ll say, especially considering their size and Koreans really caring about being *Korean,* I like the KBO’s rule of only two foreign players per team. Seems reasonable. I’ve told it before, but Dana Eveland played for the Hanwha Eagles, Daejeon’s team back when, along with another Dominican guy. Eveland saw my band play and he bought me a beer. Chatted and he confirmed Ryan Braun is a piece of shit. The Dominican guy just stayed silent with their Korean handler.
I didn’t find 20 teams confusing, UCS.
EV – did you mix me up with robc?
I did not confuse you with robc. I confused myself cuz I thought I had written “I found this confusing bit” instead of “odd.” Which also confuses me cuz that’s not what I actually meant before I sped off.
“I found this curious bit:” Facetiously ‘curious.’ I didn’t think the number was anywhere near that high. Segues into England being fucked. Importing all those folk and families (and families to be) to watch ‘quality’ soccer. Must suck to watch your favorite sport being played by people who are in no real way British.
Or I assume it kinda would? That’s a fun cultural offshoot of being American and a great Sowell quote about the best three American ‘inventions.’ The Constitution, jazz and baseball. (Baseball’s straight up American. Soccer ain’t at all monopolized by ‘British.’ Baseball’s played all over, but the MLB is still the Big Leagues for ’em all.
*spits chew at feet, forgets in bedroom, not dugout*
England is mostly foreign players because it attracts the top talent from around the world.
Evan, haven’t you heard of rounders? I think Tracey Ullman treated it but I can’t find it.
(See also netball: girls’ basketball without dribbling. See also “Kath and Kim”.)
Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms
The fallout from the Epstein files has created a mini hiring boom for elite lawyers.
Scores of people named in the files — including high-profile figures as well as people whose names may have simply been mentioned in an email — have turned to criminal defense lawyers to help them navigate public scrutiny or professional blowback from their relationship with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein or his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
——-
And, of course, Epstein victims, too, have enlisted counsel — in some cases to help them implore the Justice Department to remove files containing identifying information.
All of that has resulted in something of a cottage industry for the white-collar bar at a time when some in the industry have mused about a dry spell resulting from the Trump administration’s prioritization of immigration, drug and violent crime cases over white-collar prosecutions.
It’s like a government jobs program.
Heaven forfend, won’t somebody please think of the white-shoe lawyers in these times of cartoon villain evil!
An attorney for Les Wexner, the billionaire who had a lengthy and mysterious relationship with Epstein, became something of an internet sensation — and folk hero among lawyers — when he reprimanded his client during a deposition before the House Oversight committee.
“I will fucking kill you if you answer another question with more than five words, okay,” the lawyer, Michael Levy, whispered to Wexner. Wexner chuckled in response. In his deposition, Wexner denied knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, and Wexner has said Epstein “misappropriated vast sums of money” from him and his family. Levy didn’t respond to a request for comment.
That’s why he makes the big bucks.
From the ded thred:
They did the same thing after Trump won here.
T wins both the real vote (Electoral) and the fake vote (popular), and we have the useful idiots out holding signs about the need to save democracy by thwarting it. That message is then amplified and uncritically broadcast far and wide as if there weren’t an election at all.
I really hate our current left in America, and I fear that there’s no stopping them. They always seem to get what they want. If they don’t get it the legit way, they get it via mass protest and rioting. I’m also learning to hate the right too. They always seem to step on their dick, when it isn’t too limp to follow through on their word.
We are fucked.
Bruh. Did you bogart my image?
Taurus: 5 of Coins – Material trouble, love, trauma bonding. –> Hrm. I don’t resemble any of that. I’m suppose I’m removing gas station trauma by moving to once a week at the main store on April 18, just to stay in the system as I grade whatever-level tests I’ll be scoring in a couple of weeks. So I’m kinda on vacation til that starts, with a few ‘errands’ like taxes and cleaning. (And two more Sat shifts.) Things are going well, even though it’s just a 6-8wk contract. I won’t have a grocery store at the top of my resume, at least.
Weather today is fucked. Well. It’s lovely. High of 80. Uh. Thunderstorms loom for later, and a low of 32. Hail warnings. Odd spring swing off the bat. Sounds like a ballplayer. Cubs begin their season this Thursday, for reasons unknown, but fantastic timing for me.
It’s fairly rare for me to wake with spring in *my* step, but I like how things have aligned through my efforts. That’ll be put to good use, cuz I gotta tale to share about lottery sales. (Good line for a song.) Pup had best have some spring, too, cuz Talent is out there walking the trail.
Hey NA, guess where I was yesterday…
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/PZ5oQ3taTsOju2XiDert0A.Q0KAKWLoWwMwiMlEGxVhtl
Kroger has Cadbury eggs on sale.
There’s a pile on my kitchen table.
Wisdom, circumspection, discernment, trials, sacrifice, intuition, divination, prophecy.
Not sufficiently shitty.
Pierre Poilievre on the Joe Rogan show.