Mid-August Friday Afternoon links.

by | Aug 15, 2025 | Cocktails, Daily Links, I Am Lame | 116 comments

Fest season is here and busy. Over the next several weekends (in no particular order) I’ve got: Lakewood Wing Crawl, Garlic Festival, Riverfest, The Feast, Oktoberfest, and Taco Fest. I’m sure I’m missing something here, and will not be able to make to to all of the events, but I’ll give it the best chance I can. That’s also not counting the concerts coming up (like the one I almost forgot I had tickets to for tonight). But no one cares about these little blurbs at the beginning, and you all have links to ignore.

Maybe they should try not beating their spouses?

This is just for the headline, and to remind people not to sleep on Ohio Man.

Think about this anytime you think security will stop people from getting past things.

I don’t think this museum has the staying power that they think it does.

I really feel like there’s a joke lurking right around here somewhere.

I doubt anything will come of this.

Well, that’s AN argument all right.

Do the authors have stars on their bellies or not? Inquiring minds want to know.

News you can use!

This woman knows how to handle a snake.

[This link intentionally left blank]

No. No it isn’t.

So… still just trying to figure out new ways of saying things like slacking or work to rule?

It’s still hot and humid here, so I’ll stick with another light drink (that I may have used before), but it’s a good one. As I frequently say, any cocktail that has survived for over 100 years has done so for a reason.

The Bees Knees

  • 4 parts (2 oz) gin
  • 2 parts (1 oz) lemon juice
  • 1 part (0.5 oz) honey syrup (mix honey and hot water in equal measure to make this)

This is a simple and delicious drink. Most modern recipes step back the lemon juice a bit, so keep that in mind as you’re making this drink to your tastes. Some recipes also call for equal parts lemon juice and honey syrup, but I stand by the simple 1:2:4 ratio. To make this, start a cocktail glass chilling, fill your shaker with ice, add the ingredients, and shake until chilled. Strain into the chilled glass, and garnish with a lemon wheel if you want to be fancy. You can also add some herbal notes by adding some mint or basil to the shaker and muddling it before adding the ice.

With that, I’ll let you get down to the comments and I hope you get the weekends you desire.

About The Author

Nephilium

Nephilium

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

116 Comments

  1. DrOtto

    Is this how you first?

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Only if you want it too last.

    • Aloysious

      Needz moar twerking.

  2. Furthest Blue pistoffnick (370HSSV)

    Not clicking on a huffpo link.

    • Furthest Blue pistoffnick (370HSSV)

      When I was a lifeguard, someone put an unwrapped Baby Ruth candy bar in the pool.

      • The Other Kevin

        Welcome to our ool, notice there is no P in it.

      • ron73440

        And then you ate it?

        A real Cinderella story.

    • Ownbestenemy

      Oh you should…

      Peeing In A Pool Is Gross, But Is It Really All That Bad?

      • The Other Kevin

        It’s gross but the chlorine kills any bacteria, which is what it’s for.

        I could have told you that, but then some HuffPost author wouldn’t have wasted a week and gotten a paycheck.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Notice how science in this country is just enough to be stupid

      • Evan from Evansville

        No, it isn’t. Water is rejoining water. None of it is a big deal, and if you’re drinking pool water, you’ve got a massive other issue at hand. Urine is fucking sterile unless there’s blood, etc in it. Again, that’s a massive other issue.

        (Cue story about Moises Alou telling reporters he pissed on his hands because he felt they strengthened his callouses. (I’m not sure he’s wrong. Regardless, placebos are real and they *work.*

        On a cruise in 1995, 8yo me, I took a big shit in the Caribbean. Big Boy log. Would do again.

      • Tonio

        “I took a big shit in the Caribbean.”

        TOS commenter Sandi nods from the mists of time.

      • Beau Knott

        Worth noting — chloramine is a common addition to city water, supplementing or replacing chlorine. It’s been present for decades. It is/was a problem for tropical fish hobbyists. Chlorine could be removed by simply aerating a container full of tap water overnight. Chloramine requires chemical treatment.

      • Nephilium

        Beau Knott:

        If you ever want to learn far too much about water chemistry, get into home brewing.

  3. Ownbestenemy

    Making Putin walk by F-22s while B2s fly overhead….over the top but in your face bravado.

    • The Other Kevin

      I mean, it is air show season.

    • Tonio

      Sometimes it helps to speak to people in a language they understand.

      • The Other Kevin

        You just knew Trump was going to flex. When they shook hands you could tell those were two power players.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Being a Av geek…F22 make me gooey inside. Putin was eying them like…fuck, my planes suck

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Yeah, but Putin gets to say “MiGer, please!”

  4. The Other Kevin

    “This woman knows how to handle a snake.”
    She also knows how to dress for the occasion. Paging Mr. Q, Mr. Q to the white courtesy phone.
    In related news, I’ve been telling Mrs. TOK that I’ve never been the recipient of a giant novelty check, and it’s high time I won one.

    “Now, employers have to worry about ‘quiet cracking.'”
    Great, another made up term for something that’s been around forever.

  5. Sean

    ██▓▒­░⡷⠂𝙰𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚔𝚎𝚗𝚍!⠐⢾░▒▓██

    • Ownbestenemy

      My almost was 24 houra ago.

      • (((Jarflax

        Is a houra the first among your houris?

    • The Other Kevin

      (Points to Sean’s avatar)

      Tomorrow I’m heading to a cabin in an undisclosed location in Michigan to do lake stuff and eat pot cookies.

    • Tonio

      Did you find your old ASCII table in the bottom of a drawer you were cleaning out? Srsly, respect for your text shenanigans.

      • Sean

        😛

  6. Bobarian LMD

    Ohio. Florida of the midwest.

    They both have a Miami.

    • Gender Traitor

      Ohio’s was there first!

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Yeah, well, Oregon has a Toledo!

        /kicks pebble.

      • Nephilium

        ZWAK:

        Pretty sure the one here in Ohio was here first.

        Spain doesn’t count, they don’t know how to pronounce Toledo.

      • Gender Traitor

        Oregon has a Toledo!

        Spain had it first!

      • Gender Traitor

        Damn your nimble fingers, Neph!

        If it’s in Ohio and named after a more famous place elsewhere, it’s not pronounced the same. (I can’t in good conscience defend Ohio pronunciation.)

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Yeah, well, we ALSO have a Lebanon, so HA!

      • Nephilium

        GT:

        But the unique pronunciations are how we identify outsiders. Everyone I know was raging at the announcer for the Browns preseason game last week as they kept pronouncing Floriea the pride of Men-TOR, instead of the pride of Mentor (pronounced Menner).

      • (((Jarflax

        Yeah but did Oregon fight another State for theirs?

      • Spudalicious

        I lived in Lebanon, OR back in the mid 60s. I was a wee lad.

      • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

        Did spud know Howard Hesseman?

        And Oregon didn’t fight another state, it just took territory, so HA.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    State approved biodiversity. Just like state approved diversity.

  8. The Late P Brooks

    I worry that AI is accelerating an ongoing shift in the value people place on reading as a human endeavor.

    Oh.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    Quiet cracking is when workers “show up, they do their job, but they struggle in silence while they do it,” as Giampietro put it in a recent interview with Business Insider.

    “What we’ve seen in the market more recently is that a lot of folks are actually staying with their current employers, but they’re not actually thriving at work,” he said.

    Oh, the humanity.

    • The Other Kevin

      That’s never happened before in the history of ever.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Dont take away the thought that the current generation is ground breaking!

      • Sensei

        Exactly.

    • kinnath

      This has been a cliche for as long as I’ve worked. (50 years)

  10. The Late P Brooks

    That’s never happened before in the history of ever.

    “What a day. I hate this job. See you in the morning.”

    • Ownbestenemy

      As if Al Bundy never existed

      • Mojeaux

        George Jetson.

  11. Ownbestenemy

    Shakshuka tonight. Gotta use all these tomatoes for something. Also, we get free eggs, so gotta use those too

    • Tonio

      Oh, yum. Was unaware that existed. Thanks.

      • Ownbestenemy

        I will appropriate food at will! It is damn delicious and making it ‘fusion’ with some roasted hatch chilies instead of harrisa

      • Spudalicious

        OMWC makes an excellent shakshuka.

    • The Other Kevin

      I have so many tomatoes right now, I’m definitely trying that. Last weekend I oven dried an entire crate of plum tomatoes, and got 4 small packets to freeze. Still worth it.

      • Ownbestenemy

        Im no Glibs Gultch but all are welcome to come eat meats and be merry here

      • Tonio

        You know who else had a butt-load of plum tomatoes?

      • (((Jarflax

        The bottom gardener?

    • Baby Oil Procurement Dept

      I need to try me the chilaquiles sometime (similar to shakshuka, but Mexican)

      • Ownbestenemy

        If we squint…they are cloaely related in structure I guess.

        Each in their own right are awesome.

        A small Mexican spot in Henderson, NV makes divine chilaquiles

    • Akira

      Shakshouka is AMAZING stuff. I make it all the time. Although I will admit that I just make fried eggs and plop them in there; poached eggs are a pain in the ass, and I don’t have a pan of the right shape to crack them straight into the simmering mixture and cook them that way. A time or two I’ve been extra lazy and put scrambled eggs in it, which I understand is pretty close to the Turkish version called “menemen”.

      • Spudalicious

        Menemen is primarily chili based. OMWC makes an excellent menemen also.

  12. Sensei

    As a linguist, I study how technology influences the ways people read, write and think.

    But is she common and cunning?

    • Ownbestenemy

      Linguist are waiting with baited breath

      • (((Jarflax

        Go away, leave, exit, depart, begone, wend your way elsewhere, travel far from here, be no longer in my presence, baitin’

  13. ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

    I am pretty sure that museum will be cancelled from WITHIN THE MUSEUM!

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      Also, it isn’t the cops beating their wives, it’s Notre Dame alumni women walking into doors.

  14. Gender Traitor

    Couldn’t tough it out to the end of the Seuss struggle session. I’m really sick of those constantly applying 21st-century woke cultural standards to every aspect of a writer’s/artist’s/musician’s life when it has nothing to do with their enduring creative works.

    • Nephilium

      I have some strong opinions about that piece, and the person who wrote it. But they would likely tear our family friendly rating to pieces.

      • (((Jarflax

        Our Family friendly rating likes it rough, tear it up.

      • R.J.

        *GlibFlick enters the chat

    • kinnath

      If you assume that humans progress forward — always. Then by definition, humans of the past (including yourself) are flawed and defective compared to current times.

      Everyone and everything done in the past can’t meet current standards and expectations. So, you either reconcile yourself to judging people from the past based upon the standards in place in the past. Or you assume that everyone in the past was a failure and thus unworthy of your respect today.

      • rhywun

        Or you assume that everyone in the past was a failure and thus unworthy of your respect today.

        I wish more of those types would just blow their brains out or something. They obviously suffer from massive depression. They could do the rest of us the favor of not spreading it around.

    • ron73440

      Dr. Suess taught all of my kids how to read.

      I couldn’t make it through that article either.

    • ZWAK, doktor of BRAIN SCIENCE!

      It’s Lithub, so this is par for the course.

  15. Baby Oil Procurement Dept

    Had a meeting today with a former bigwig at my former place of employment about doing his website for his consulting firm. The website he paid someone to do for him is a hot mess. I’m trying to balance what he can afford vs. what it wil take to get him up-and-running. Momma needs CASH. Cash. Money.

    (also, buy my shit. I added some more stuff to the Aviation Humor section last night)

    • The Other Kevin

      Great! I’m looking for side work like that too, so far nothing. But I did play around with Grok and I found out it can write decent HTML with a simple prompt. I’ll use that instead of doing everything from scratch.

      • Baby Oil Procurement Dept

        ChatGPT is waaaaaaay smarter than Grok, and waaaaay better at creating images.

      • Baby Oil Procurement Dept

        I use WordPress Divi theme – though I’m pretty advanced in HTML and CSS, it’s no-code (though you can add custom CSS if you really need to). I’m using ChatGPT to help me develop a mobile app game thingie.

      • The Other Kevin

        Just did a quick test with ChatGPT, the HTML page looks good but I’ll have to create an account later to try images. Thanks.

    • Ownbestenemy

      I love the gratuitous AI advertising

  16. rhywun

    digital sports viewership surpassed traditional television viewership for the first time, and that trend is expected to continue in the future

    lol Not by choice – by moving as much as they can get away with to pay-extra steams.

  17. Evan from Evansville

    I’ve got the condo to myself with pup. I asked Cutie Colleague to get together after work tomorrow when I’ve got Dog Walkin’ Duty. We live right next to a really nice trail, and that was the invite.

    She did mention yesterday she has a boyfriend, so I was worried she’d respond with that. She was shockingly(?) open to my suggestion, mentioning she was also house-sitting until Sunday. She has some responsibilities with her brother tomorrow, but, again, quite open. Could very well be a polite way to put off the “No,” which I’m sure she has boilerplated. That’s likely, but meh. Shall see.

    Regardless, none of this is bad. Will talk with her tomorrow. I’m not expecting anything, and will be thrilled if we actually do meet up. I’m happy I fought off that voice telling me not to, so at least that positive.

    She was eager to hear about our pup, gushing about Mr. Peabody and properly laughing when I explained how I don’t *DARE* give him the honorific. If I do, I’m being sarcastic and finger-wagging about him being “A very naughty boy!”

    It’s akin to baseball: It’s a hard game, and if you’re successful just 30% of the time, someone will lavish you with rewards. Gotta get in the box to find out. I will say this about the gal: She’s the first person to show any semblance of personality and willingness to chat and joke. She’s also remarkably pretty, but in a toned-down way. She also likely doesn’t play it up at 5am, but I don’t know her. Who knows how she dressed in Public. Evan’s curious to discover more.

    • The Other Kevin

      Between you and OMWC’s, I’m fine just watching from the sidelines and reading about your exploits. Good luck!

    • Akira

      What about mattresses in a Russian hotel where former presidents once slept?

      • The Other Kevin

        Careful, that might give you the Clapper.

  18. rhywun

    Gendron already is serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole

    I don’t understand why the Feds are involved, other than because race and fuck you that’s why.

    • (((Jarflax

      Has anyone reached out to Snoopy for comment?

    • R.J.

      Yelling in your underwear sounds inefficient. Yell in a megaphone, or at least a rolled up magazine.

    • Evan from Evansville

      “I’M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU MYSELF!”

      He seems stable.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Costco pharm says they won’t sell abortion pill.

    Cue the usual suspects.

    • Rat on a train

      They only sell in bulk?

  20. Shpip

    Reports indicate that up to 70% of police marriages end in divorce, according to University Circle Police Chief Thomas Wetzel. The percentage highlights the toll that police work can take on officers’ personal lives.

    Many factors at play here: cops’ jobs actually are stressful at times (between dealing with lowlifes and dealing with dipshit supervisors), but there’s also the type of personality that tends to self-select for police work, too.

    I’ve heard that the best pairings in the business are cops and ER nurses, since each is used to seeing people on their worst day.

    • (((Jarflax

      and when they are in a rough patch she can work out her frustrations with a doctor while he shakes down hookers or coeds he catches with an 8ball.

    • EvilSheldon

      Interesting tidbit along those lines – one of the self-defense classes I’ve taken (Tom Givens, who knows his shit) suggests that if you’re being followed in your car, drive to a hospital emergency room. They’re staffed 24/7 and there are always cops around driving the free coffee and flirting with the ER nurses.

  21. Shpip

    No fair using government resources to catch invaders

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge ordered the nation’s health department to stop giving deportation officials access to the personal information — including home addresses — of all 79 million Medicaid enrollees.

    Immigration advocates have said the disclosure of personal data could cause alarm among people seeking emergency medical help for themselves or their children. Other efforts to crack down on illegal immigration have made schools, churches, courthouses and other everyday places feel perilous to immigrants and even U.S. citizens who fear getting caught up in a raid.

    Heaven forfend that illegal aliens feel like they have to keep their heads down when it comes to obtaining US taxpayer-funded services.

    • Sean

      They can go the fuck home.

    • Suthenboy

      Stated vs revealed preferences. If you listen to what the progs say they really care about rights and the downtrodden. If you look at what the progs are doing you will see that they hate you, despise rule of law and want to use your resources to replace you with a dependent serf class. They want you dead and gone and the notion of inalienable rights erased from the human mind.

      They are evil.

      • Threedoor

        It’s.

  22. Evan from Evansville

    My upcoming piece talks about my ‘shotgun careers,’ scattered in nature, and I’m planning another fairly simple one: ‘Simply explaining what the hell my job *is.* That’s the best play on the structure, honestly. The highly-controlled, factory nature of the work, with a couple dozen human cogs running the whole thing on the ground.

    You guys have seen folk like me at Walmart, Kroger, Meijer or wherever, with their big ‘shopping carts,’ meandering around and collecting online grocery orders. (Or have you?) Anything stick out, or raise particular questions?

    Do ya find ’em particularly annoying or have any other thoughts on ’em? I find it fundamentally fascinating how it all works. I have to get some more pictures to help reveal it, but an active idea I’m developing.

    Sighting of the day: Amish or Mennonite woman, mid-60s, sitting in electronics by herself, using Walmart’s machine for processing photos. She was there for a bit and didn’t seem to require assistance. She was intuitively pushing the touchscreen.
    (Cutie Colleague is not ‘a sighting.’ She’s the main event. Remarkably expressive face.)

  23. The Late P Brooks

    Reality is a conspiracy

    Former Swarthmore track and field athlete Evelyn Parts sued Swarthmore College, several athletic department officials and the NCAA on Thursday, claiming they discriminated against her because she is a transgender woman.

    The lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, claims that the defendants violated Parts’ Title IX rights, inflicted emotional distress and engaged in a civil conspiracy.

    ——-

    “We stand by the allegations in the complaint,” said Parts’ attorney, Susan Cirilli. “The NCAA is a private organization that issued a bigoted policy. Swarthmore chose to follow that policy and disregard federal and state law.”

    Listen kid. You are not a little girl in a little boy’s body. Deal with it.

    • Suthenboy

      He got in on the grift a bit late. I think this cancer is dying.Thank God.

    • Evan from Evansville

      The Orwellian Nightmare reveals itself so candidly. This sentence contains words but does not make sense: “…they discriminated against her because she is a transgender woman.”

      So is she a woman playing a man or a man playing a woman? It’s purposefully confusing, to (attempt to) show that XY=XX, regardless of ‘how’ that ‘transformation’ occurred. Destruction of language, and, yep!, purposefully attacking ‘traditional’ thoughts, like “Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.”

      I pointedly note it my head when AlexInCT goes over the top with his language, but it’s really just the logical continuation of what The Left’s ‘plan’ really is. Shorter Ev: His phrasing isn’t what I’d use in mixed company to sway minds, but many of his thoughts are blunt truths.

  24. Baby Oil Procurement Dept

    If one of you ordered from my Etsy store, THANK YOU! I’ll buy you a drink next time I see you.

    If it wasn’t one of you – fuck you, then! 😂

    • R.J.

      I just ordered a whisky glass.

  25. EvilSheldon

    It’s nice to see how HuffPost has descended to the journalistic equivalent of sucking dick for crack.

    • Suthenboy

      If they have descended they didnt have far to go. I already thought of them in that way.

    • Threedoor

      Good name for a gym.

  26. Mojeaux

    Since KK pimped shamelessly, I shall do the same:

    I’m whipping my website into shape and in the doing, I’m reading shit I wrote that is, in fact, shitty. So I’m starting to blog all that. Also putting up more extras from my books.

    I’m gathering things to say from silliness on Twitter. What I do is, if somebody asks a stupid question, I usually have already addressed it.

    I know nobody reads blogs anymore, but I use it for reference. Anyway. Here.