So we traveled northward past the great masses that used to stand out of the desert like giant pillars to the sky but were now just Islands of discrete life. Yes, we could get there, but not really as it was all cliffs, so we continued onward.
Our eastern travel had brought us into shallower waters and we recognized that we were up against the Canadian shield and overall the lake that we’re traveling across was eventually going to end up in the Great Lakes or the Mississippi. Whether they even existed we were unsure of.
We awoke one day with a view of another terminator and headed south to join the Big river and head to warmer lands. Our travel was casual as such things go, we caught Salmon easily and ate well, how they got here we never found out.
As we drifted along a current we had a chance to measure and record some of the phenomenon we now lived in. As far as We could figure out the Earth had in fact stopped rotating and we lived in what appeared to be Terminator cycles, daylight and in order black night, like a sort of like a ring world effect, and the moon was effectively gone.
Something was occluding the clarity of our light and we had no idea what it was, but we were soon to find out. After another 2 days of casual travel, we noticed that our rate of progress was increasing and we knew that in fact, the mighty Mississippi was soon approaching. We weren’t sure what to expect, but we were absolutely stunned at what we saw.
Fortunately, we were broadside enough that we figured out how to slow down digging in the mud or else, otherwise we would have went right over what we called the Mississippi falls. As we edged gently closer towards the falls, we saw a bright object in the distance, it still shines, it used to be a bit brighter but It still existed. So we knew Saint Louis still existed on high enough ground to stay above the water, so we traveled there.
Bobbo 169877 2029
Stay safe! Unless Trump got around to “cleaning it up”.
Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
“So we traveled northward past the great masses that used to stand out of the desert like giant pillars to the sky but were now just Islands of discrete life. Yes, we could get there, but not really as it was all cliffs, so we continued onward.”
Do the great masses still stand? The “used to” implies they don’t, but then we are told it’s “all cliffs” and cliffs gotta stand or they aren’t cliffs. While I’m criticizing, you could lose the “So” ( both here and in the last sentence of the piece.) And as much as I hate “Ten Rules For Writing” shit, Hemmingway. Leonard or King or whomever wrote this one was right about never use adverbs, One is either stunned or not, there is no “Absolutely stunned”, perhaps they where Flabbergasted or flummoxed or befuddled.
Absolutely!
I’ve been over the Mississippi a few times, but I’ve never had the opportunity to observe and understand just how damn *big* it is.
I grew up a mile from the Ohio. The hydroplane races the last weekend of June was the highlight. Fucking boats racing on a river at ~170+ mph. Absolute, blissfully fun insanity for a young boy.
There was always one piston boat racing, feebly finishing last every time. I was there the race where he won the final race, cuz all the others broke down. He steamed on and finished, where the others couldn’t. Always a fun time.
I must have crossed it where it was narrow, I was not impressed as I’m used to the Columbia. Which behind the dams is impressive.
I walked across the Mighty Mississippi without getting my shoes wet. Just stay on the rocks where it starts at Lake Itasca.
I also walked across it, south of Mpls, without getting my shoes wet. A couple hundred yards wide and frozen.
Oooh! The Ohio froze in ~’89. Dad took Colin, then ~7, and they walked across to Kentucky and back.
Really tough for me to tell the distance, but at that part of the river, I’d say it’s 2-400 yards. (Formerly the) Casino Aztar opened at that location in ~’95, the first casino in Indiana. It had to be on a boat, and the laws dictated the gambling had to occur on the river when the casino ‘steamboat’ was on the river. Soon, cruised were less frequent cuz of ‘mechanical issues.’ After a few years of playing with it, the ship was permanently docked.
Ellis Park near Henderson, KY is another draw. Frontier League baseball at Bosse Field, home of the Racine Belles? Shit, didn’t mean to make this an ode to my namesake, but history brought me back. Tremendous place to grow up.
Mrs. Holiness had a hard time accepting that the Mississippi river up here in Minnesoda was the same river she was used to in Memphis.
Way smaller and way clearer.
The Mighty Mississippi is .25 mi in Minneapolis and .92 mi in Memphis.
Based on most water flow added by a tributary, the Mississippi really goes up the Ohio at Cairo, then the Allegheny at the Burgh.
St. Paul used to have sewage issues during high rains. The sewers overflowed into the Mississippi. I remember watching turds float by as I swam in Lake Pepin (Lake City, MN).
I mean, I mean, I biked 14 miles here to impress some girls, and there is a turd in the punchbowl that I am swimming in?
Nick:
Take comfort in the old saying: “If you don’t see a turd in the punchbowl, then you are the turd”.
So you could impress those ladies knowing you weren’t the turd.
No idea how wide the Hudson is here.
Bigger than a crick but smaller than a sea.
About two weeks ago, we had a fire in the main electrical panel for our work building. Melted the box and the switch gear. The company hired a generator on a semi-trailer. That grenaded this morning. I sent my guys home at noon. I went home at noon-thirty after my laptop ran out of battery.
At home, I finally got the tire on the rim of the riding lawnmower. It has vexxed me for at least 5 hours over several days. Youtube came to the rescue. I finally got the lawn mown. And I was able to park my truck in the garage.
Good day, despite an inauspicious start.
Crap. I meant to mow today and started another project instead. Whoops. Tomorrow.
My packing for a grouse hunting trip was interrupted by the need to clean the crap out of the storage room so I could get to the shotgun shells. The Family helpfully piled all sorts of crap in the storage room so I had something to do.
Packing for hunting resumes tomorrow.
I mowed yesterday, after three weeks of delays (Wife has the shingles, I’ve been taking care if everything). Mower bag filled up with every line. Took 4 hours. She still has another week or two of shingles so I will continue to do all housekeeping, cooking, mowing, etc…
There is no sleep for the weak. Or the week.
Oof, sorry to hear about your wife, R.J.
Shringrix shot #2 tomorrow. I really would prefer not to get shingles.
I’m sure I’ll get the confused look when I pass on the flu shot.
I strongly advise doing anything to avoid medical shingles.
Fuck. That. Shit.
Firsters don’t get sick.
It’s clear what your real problem is.
So true.
We had a light frost Friday night, a little more Sat night. Grass won’t grow nor will the garden. Done for the year. Need to buy a new snow blower.
Recommendations? Need at least a 28 incher.
*Inserts STEVE SMITH joke.
WHEN STEVE SMITH INSERTS, IT NO JOKE
3 point for the win. Guess who has a 60″ 3-point snowblower?
For walk behind, Ariens has been mostly good to me. My kid brother likes his 3 stage 12 HP Cub Cadet, but it is a beast to move.
We survived last night’s severe weather alert of “light frost”. Whew!
Well done, Rhy. Hopefully closing the window saved you from the savage elements.
😂🤣
I feel your pain. Had that problem with the last riding mower. Tire lube, hot sunshine, and tire irons finally did it.
I think the most realistic post-apocalyptic fiction are historical novels about the Russian civil war. Machine guns, horses, trains, swords, massacres, starvation, multiple factions…that’s what really happens. See Syria for a recent example.
My favorite scene from Dr. Zhivago:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bB2bYeh0Qg
“A village betrays us, a village is burned.”
“But you burned the wrong village.”
“No matter, the point is made.”
“Your point, their village.”
I was arrested for vigorously Firsting in the middle of traffic the other day. We live in a world where a Firster spreading the First gets persecuted by seconders and treated like a deviant of some kind.
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/8e/91/0d/8e910d1ff8897f05a1d03e2f9aed79c7–random-stuff-funny-stuff.jpg
https://platedlizard.blogspot.com/2025/08/florida-man-homo-floridaensis-in-his.html
OT and sorry: I had a really bad day. On hands /knees, I literally called out “SOS” in an aisle to get folks’ attention.
Everyone was helpful and lovely. I asked for a pillow as I did “System analysis.” I was there for a few minutes before getting up and off. (I did summon a pillow, and one was provided. It was snugly.) I plan on getting charcuterie(?) as a Thank You along with words. I’m unsure on *how* to move forward with that, but I’ll catch some winks and think on it further. When I’m more sensible.
I’m also getting my ‘new’ car checked out tomorrow. Onward, upward, always, eh?
The Presidents of the United States of America: Grew up w ’em, but again, *damn.*
Fun lyrical playfulness, but solid, solid musicianship. ‘Old Man [with Candy] on the Back Porch’ should be our glibber-anthem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmrXHEdT-E0&ab_channel=ThePresidentsoftheUnitedStatesofAmerica
random insomnia thought
F-35 unit cost: $80 million
# lost in accidents: 15
# disabled by hitting tiny bird: 1
# deployed to Ukraine: 0
Hamas paraglider unit cost: about $5,000
# lost/manufactured: ? (probably so many it’s embarrassing to the IDF – how hard is it to count the wrecks?)
I count 3 attacking here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zRp0VaaMDA
relevant song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzNLMmAOlEU
Mr. Natural says: use the right tool for the job!
It’s OK though. (((They))) have been taking swift, decisive action against Wikipedia:
https://nypost.com/2025/03/18/business/dozens-of-wikipedia-editors-colluded-on-years-long-anti-israel-campaign-bombshell-adl-report-claims/
Good job, ADL. Maybe some of you should have been up in those empty guard towers keeping watch. But then you wouldn’t have been able to celebrate the Jewish equivalent of Groundhog Day. Borders only work when they are guarded, you schmucks.
https://platedlizard.blogspot.com/2025/06/presented-without-comment-israels.html
Here I will note I played a very minor role in the defeat of Hezbollah in my work at NSA. So Shema Yisrael, Shkoyach, Kadima, and all that jazz. The Israeli intel officers I met had some amusing stories to share about their electronic tomfoolery. Impressive, but irrelevant.
Happy national Wiener Schnitzel day!
🐮😃🍷
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHzfhU8t5i8
🎶🎶
I’m not happy. The Schnitzel Ranch went out of business.
The chain is not in my state. I believe the nearest one is hundreds of miles away.
You know how peppers are hollow? I wonder if the composition of the gas inside before you cut them open is different from regular atmosphere.
I suppose you could figure it out with a few peppers, some syringes, and a spectrometer.
suh’ fam
whats goody
I dunno.
My temperature is still out of wack, but aspirin seems to help the headache.
You got the ‘vid ? Or acute net neutrality?
Both can be deadly.
I have no idea.
Good morning, homey, U, Roat, and Sean!
Morning.
You didn’t mention whether your temperature is too high or too low, but either way, I hope you’re feeling at least somewhat better. 😟
Good morning!
Good morning, Ted’S.! How are you today?
Our work IT absolutely sucks.
Rather than traditional stoicism, I deal with it by laughing.
I suggested yesterday we should start a betting pool for how long the VPN would be down.
I hope your employer appreciates and rewards initiative like that!
@GT – My temperature is down to almost a flat 96. This has increased the swing by lowering the low point of the variance. I’m wondering if my thermometer isn’t that great.
LOL! I actually got a princely 2.5% raise this year instead of just 2%.
I seem to recall that even a healthy person’s temperature varies at different times of day (and, I imagine, some folks’ “normal” isn’t 98.6 degrees) but I can’t recall for sure whether it tends to be lower in the morning. (I think it might.) 🤔 [Disclaimer: not a doctor nor any other type of medical professional]
@Ted’S. 😃👍
People have different baseline temperatures, and it varies through out the day. Usually lower in the morning because people don’t eat in their sleep.
I use one of those German thermometers that has a large diameter glass tube with Ga In Sn. I don’t trust any digital thermometers unless they are expensive type K thermocouple based.
Nice. If I was more motivated I’d investigate how low my actual purchasing power has gone in the last ten years or so.
Well, Timeloose, this cheap chinese crap now says I’ve swung up into the fever range.
I don’t have anything better on hand to contradict that.
BD 🙂
BD eyes?
Buenos dias, or buen dia. Do we have any Australian glibs?
UCS said GM was German.
GM is American. BMW and VW are German.
Wonder what disease is a combination of low temperatures and confusing countries?
Gluten Muffin to you too.
I don’t eat muffins. It’s like eating a cupcake for breakfast.
Mornin’, All,
Heckuva mornin’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWw9-iygCfM
lolwut
I think I do not wonder what it tastes like.
What a fantastic stunt!
You can order bear meat and find out.
Fair warning, almost all of them have trichinosis, so cook it thoroughly.
It’s all good now people!
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/zohran-mamdani-globalize-the-intifada-al-sharpton-new-york-mayoral-race-0aa18254?st=DypkNw&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
How about you drop out of the race and give away all of your inherited wealth to live the struggle of the proliteriat.
In a conversation with Al “burn down the Jews” Sharpton.
JFC you can’t write satire like this.
As if he didn’t know already.
Ooof.
We evolved in a world of shortages and fierce competition for resources. Evolution has so thoroughly ingrained that into our nature that we still behave as if we are in that world even though it is unnecessary. We can easily produce an abundance of resources yet here we are.
God the news is depressing.