This is the last Friday before you the money gets taken out to feed the beast (I’m getting hit with an ~$10 underpayment penalty… dicks).
I’ll say that I don’t mind Deep Eddy (for gins being marketed as vodka). Their Ruby Red Grapefruit is amazing… as long as you remember to shake before pouring (the oils will float to the top).
Setting it AFTER the worst ending in history? That’s a choice.
Operation Clambake 2: Parkour Bugaloo?
I think the editor (the guy who writes the headline) is shaky on the concept of “fans” here.
On the other hand, I’m a fan of Spaceballs and Brooks, and this is a hard pass.
We’re moving on from pedo grooming to furry grooming.
Keep trying UK.
Of all the sites I visit, this seems the most appropriate to share this.
I wonder what feelies came in the box?
Looks like people may have started to figure out we have good food here.
I’m perfectly alright putting the rapists down myself.
I’ve been cruel and slack in providing cocktails over here for the Friday Afternoon links, so I’m going to try to make it up to you with one today.
The Final Ward
- 1 part (1 ounce) Rye/Bourbon
- 1 part (1 ounce) Green Chartreuse (or substitute if you’re in a trendy area that can’t source this)
- 1 part (1 ounce) Luxardo Maraschino liqueur
- 1 part (1 ounce) Lemon juice
Yes, it’s a twist on the Last Word (swap the rye for gin, and the lemon for lime to go back to basics). The ingredients get loaded into a shaker, and shaken until chilled and combined. Strain into a chilled coupe glass garnished with a lemon twist. If you can’t source Chartreuse, there are several alternatives being made (as there’s quite a bit of money available in the market).
With that, I’ll let you get back to cursing the IRS, finishing taxes, or enjoying the weekend.
“It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.”
I should probably install TurboTax and do my taxes this weekend. I have been negligent in getting that done.
Just got the refund check. [hangs head in shame that he planned poorly another year]
Multiple firsts for this year’s taxes. I started collecting rent on a property for the first time in a couple of years. And my wife and I both started getting Social Security checks. Part of the reason for not starting is worrying about how much hair I will lose going through this for the first time.
The monkeys in the federally funded monkey colony, the Paraguayan border security officers, and the scientists studying the mating habits of tape worms thank you for your hard work.
https://www.facts-vs-fiction.com/blog/2024s-top-50-government-waste-examples
re Scientology centers: I was with Dad in Clearwater, FL and we drove by their HQ. Dad (formerly of the Evansville Courier) still has that mindset of just walking in and asking questions. So we went in and were given a guided tour of their facility. Walked by the testing rooms, what with their weird measurement machines on top of the test-taking cubicles, maybe 15-20 in each room.
Dad didn’t know what Scientology really was (does anyone?) and when we came home, well timed, there was a docu special on it and the oddities associated with ’em. He later said he wouldn’t have gone in if he had seen that or had known more in advance.
Still! No one was goofy towards us. Gave us some literature which I wish I’d kept better track of. Was a nice facility, for sure. That was a fun adventure, and I was certainly wary enough to be ready to pull Dad out if things got too weird. (I say that, but Dad also put his hands in the air in central Paris, literally shouting ‘Any pickpockets! Here I am!’ and more. (He got picked that very day.)
Your dad sounds interessant. Hope he didn’t lose too much.
Er ist. We didn’t lose anything and walked away after the tour. They were professional, not overly-cheerful but friendly and helpful. Dad’s got a no-money, old-dude schlub to him, which helps. He also didn’t ask any odd, suspicious questions or anything.
He self-published a book of his own favorite columns, and I’ve suggested he submit ’em here. I fear our comments would shock him out of reality’s orbit. (Farther than he’s already going on his new tricycle.) He’s put a few books out, but is an absolutely dreadful marketer. He expects to just give books to stores and they sell them all and Audience!!
The story of when he, my brother and I were almost run over by a train while walking on a bridge is one we should record.
Did it go like this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gozRrRCtj6E
I lived right down the street from the Scientology center in Boston. Went in with a couple of my fraternity pledge brothers and took the personality test, went over the results etc. No matter how you answer the chart says that you have a ton of potential that you are not currently fulfilling.
Also had another college friend drunkenly chuck a brick through their front window. He had to work for them for a bit as part of his plea deal.
Oddly enough, I have two returns (balance due, natch) right here on the desk. Off to the PO shortly.
I don’t get the hate for the ending(s) in Mass Effect Trilogy.
That said if pivot for the show is to build on the universe established in the games and not focus on the Normandy/Shepard…then I am okay.
But we know it will be more about the Asari’s superior gender bending lifestyle more than anything
Honestly, I would rather they set it in the past of the games. First contact, or discovering Element Zero, or following the N7 program. or something!
And the hate for the ending is there were three “choices” that went to the same damned place. All of the decisions that were made through the other games ignored.
Agreed…Keith David narrating his rise and fall as Captain Anderson would be great.
Ya our first find of Element Zero leading into First Contact and go from there would work
I screwed up when Mrs OBE got her current job and we have an underpayment so instead of just telling the citizen to pay what was missed, they will slap a penalty on us for not being diligent accountants.
Facebook has decided that I need to see a flood of advertisements for ED medications.
The algorithm can’t be wrong!
I know, right!
I’ve come up with a new disease they need expensive drugs to cure. You’ve heard of Erectile Dysfunction and Tardive Dyskinesia. Introducing Erectile Dyskinesia, when your junk seems to have a mind of its own. If you’re experiencing uncontrolled penis movements, our drug may be right for you!
a.k.a., RPS – Carolla & Dr. Drew used to riff on that.
Great minds and all.
“Honey, your penis is moving again”
Building a tasting room for vodka (even flavored vodka) is certainly an interesting business case.
“Yes… A slight hint of Windex aftertaste in this one. Otherwise nothing.”
We should watch SpaceBalls 2 over the Zoom, with drinks. I want to see the expressions.
Have you suffered through the animated series?
Yes. It was so forsaken that it was on YouTube at one time.
R.J.:
Then there was the History of the World Part 2. Which was also… not good.
That cocktail sounds right up my alley.
Taxes were done a while ago – I donated a fair bit of stock to my DAF to fund if for a bunch of years, which meant I had enough to itemize this year and got a really big check back.
I’m waiting for the audit notice… (only half kidding)
It’s quite tasty, I’m a fan of the Last Word as well.
I had none of those key ingredients, but I did have what I need for a Boulevardier, which I’m never mad at.
High West Double Rye is reasonably priced.
slumbrew:
There’s nothing wrong with a Boulevardier. But Boodle’s gin is no longer going to be distributed here in Ohio, so it’s on Last Call discounts… at $15/bottle. I’ve been gin heavy recently due to that.
Should five per cent appear too small
be thankful I don’t take it all.
putting the rapists down
9 and 11 years old? Oh there must be some really fucked up backstory to that. I don’t think you could stop with those two, there must’ve been a LOT of contributions to getting them to that state.
Yeah. I don’t want to delve too deeply into the case to avoid going Punisher.
Just put ‘em down. It’s not like we’re running out of people.
Sadly we are running out of people.
But put them down, and likely their parent.
Because decades of telling the world the truth about what goes on in those places has totally been effective at opening people’s eyes.
I don’t know what to do. The one grocery store has porterhouses for 9.99/lb the other one has boneless strips for $7.88/lb
You know the answer.
¿Por Qué No Los Dos?
I’m sure he has a freezer. Stock up!
Where are you finding porterhouses for $9.99/lb? Is it nothing but gristle?
Prices here are in the $17 – $21 range.
https://www.weismarkets.com/
I’m getting a $392 refund, considerably less than last year. (IIRC, ~$1,200)
“You don’t qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit because your adjusted gross income and earned income of $22,482 are too high for a single filer with no qualifying children. The limit for this credit is $19,104 if you are single and do not have any qualifying children.”
As many folk in this land know, the real trick is to start inseminating *a lot* of women to get them qualifying kids! (Negotiating my share may be hard.) Interestingly, I cancelled my purchased insurance cuz I found I am still on Medicaid. Confusing, it all is. At least I only had one W2 this year, compared to four from 2024.
The limit for this credit is $19,104
That’s more money than I made working full-time as a printer with a wife and two kids back in the day.
Inflation is a bitch.
That IS ridiculously tiny.
Insemination is no business model, lad.
A-haHa! But according to my model, my predictions are correct!
(She’s so comforting!)
Insemination is no business model for any of you hypothetical three or more, I should specify.
Have you considered a vasectomy if you’re sure you don’t want kids?
Have you considered a vasectomy if you’re sure you don’t want kids?
Now I am lost. Who are you speaking to here?
Evan, as previously stated.
And to anyone who might be involved in child support, :. x3.
Genocide
Philz, the coffee chain that was founded in San Francisco and has been operating for more than 20 years, is facing backlash for making the decision to remove pride flags from its cafes.
According to a petition that employees launched a few days ago, this “recent decision to remove pride flags from their stores has left many team members and customers feeling confounded and unsupported.”
“The pride flags within the stores hold deep meaning and value to both staff and visitors, symbolizing that these locations are safe and welcoming spaces for all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity,” it continues.
But Philz CEO Mahesh Sadarangani says this measure will make the Bay Area-born cafe chain more welcoming to customers.
“Our longstanding support of the LGBTQIA+ community is unchanged,” Sadarangani said in an emailed statement to SFGATE. “We are working toward creating a more consistent, inclusive experience across all our stores, including removing a variety of flags and other decor. This is a change in how our stores look, not in who we are,” he continued, adding that the company plans to hold a pride event in June.
“Mahesh Sadarangani is making a really s—tty decision and it’s bound to backfire, I have no idea what he’s thinking,” a person who said they were an employee wrote on social media.
Shocking. There aren’t enough straight people to keep that place afloat.
Wait until the first business dares to take down a BLM sign.
” left many team members and customers feeling confounded and unsupported” Tedious children. Outright mockery is still wanting in society. If you feel “confounded,” you either got played, or bless your heart. I’m not sure what “unsupported” is supposed to mean, by design, but I’m sure I’ve never felt it in the way they are ‘thinking.’
I’d certainly feel unsupported going into an obvious den of lefty aphorisms, draped in the ever-changing spectrum of colored bullshit. I’d have to code switch to start saying “Gosh” instead of “god” whenever it’d come up. That one really bothers me. Now, at the flip of a switch, they care about the word enough to codify it in the Naughty List? Puh leeeeze, bitches.
White, affluent guilt is deeply boiled into my generation. Gotta submit to ‘something?’ Yuck. (Oooh. Ever-changing Spectrum of a Lie by Joy Formidable, really fun Welsh band; I’d marry her)
I think we got $700 back this year. Last year we got a lot more because we had a big business loss, this year our business was in the black about $100. Which is good news, but not great for my car fund.
I am also anti-Spaceballs, the Sequel, mostly cuz the original is fun, enjoyable enough, but it’s fairly weak. (It’s been a long while. And I love everyone in it. But. Hrm.) Mel Brooks can do whatever he’d like to do, but I wonder why he’s doing this.
I don’t trust any adaptation folk, but I liked the Animorphs books when I was a kid. I don’t remember anything specific about ’em, other than the kid getting trapped into the bird, but I read at least a dozen of ’em. They were fun.
It was weak. It took a while to grow on me. Mel Brooks’ best work was with Gene Wilder. Without him his movies just did not have staying power.
I think there was a recent Carolla podcast episode (haven’t listened) in which he posited, “IS Mel Brooks really funny?” Sans GW, I liked High Anxiety and so did Hitchcock.
Brooks is funny. GW was in it, but The Producers is fucking brilliant writing. Many could’ve pulled the character off. Larry David and Schwimmer doing it on Cub was fantastic. (IIRC Brooks birthed “creative accounting” phrase in it.)
Brooks and Eastwood are my go-tos for 90+ year-olds who transformed the industry. (Thomas Sowell, for bigger things, as well.)
That Curb was good, wasn’t it? Especially the Anne Bancroft cameo.
I’m going to say it…the original Spaceballs was just meh. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. Of course a sequel will be a disaster.
Thats the joy of entertainment right? Its truly in the eye of the beholder and I would watch Spaceballs all the time.
The software in question was Cornerstone, a database program released in 1985.
I remember Cornerstone. I remember seeing it and thinking, “Why?”
And for the feelies, from the Digital Antiquarian article linked in what Neph linked:
There was even a feelie, a “Don’t Panic!” button that varied only in color from the one found in the Hitchhiker’s package.
I say again, I watched the Zombieland sequel last night, and it didn’t suck.
Duly noted. I love Zombieland, another home run in my love of ‘popcorn flicks that don’t have a message and are really well done.’ Fantastic flick, and the first ended with an easy sequel written in. The next adventure of the ‘new family.’
Check’s in the mail, Boss.
Mel Brooks did a remake of that Jack Benny movie. Both were good. Gene Wilder was nowhere in sight.
*To Be or not To Be
The original was better.
Today, I got to sit in the driver seat and put the truck in gear. The last time I touched a clutch was 16 years ago after I got back from Peace Corps and tried to learn how to drive my sister’s stick shift Saturn. That project lasted about one night after I got tired of stalling out.
One of the instructors is a former Army Ranger and is fond of colorful language. Example:
Him: If you jackasses smoke and joke and fuck around, y’all ain’t gonna learn shit. So pay attention.
Later, a lady from the department of hurt feelings came to give us a mandatory lecture about sex, drugs, and rock and roll. She came to a slide full of words.
Her: Y’all really need me to read all this?
Us: No.
Her: OK, moving on.
I like this state.
suggested music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1p-tRqmHKc
I read an article the other day that the former Confederacy (minus Virginia and plus Oklahoma) is now the 3rd largest economy in the world after China and the US. Take that, you damn yankees!
👍
(Saturn made stick shifts?)
Well done, Derp. Your new environs seem to come with less bullshit, a tremendous plus. When do you get out on the road?
Legit congrats. Don’t crash.
These euphemisms are almost confusing.
I read an article the other day that the former Confederacy (minus Virginia and plus Oklahoma) is now the 3rd largest economy in the world after China and the US. Take that, you damn yankees!
Don’t tell Gavin Newsom.
I need some advice for my 21 year old daughter. She was notified by her insurance company that she was allegedly involved in a hit and run. She was not involved in a hit and run and her car is (a still) immaculate 2006 Infiniti M35 that we bought from the original owner who was a customer of mine. Long and short of it, I’m not sure what she should do from here? She just received a demand letter from USAA today for $2,800.
That sounds phishy. I’d start by demanding a police report, but first make sure you’re actually dealing with “USAA”.
Very much ^^^ this ^^^
That sounds more than a trifle scammy.
She was contacted by her insurance company (GEICO) initially and the letter we received today looks to be legit USAA.
Huh.
That’s still very odd. There surely must be a police report, right?
Deal with your carrier and not USAA.
If you convince them it’s bullshit they will represent you with USAA.
As GEICO and USAA work together all the time on subrogations they have continuous working relationship.
How long ago was the car purchase? What car are they alleging was involved? Any footage (dashcam / city cam)? Isn’t this what Geico is for?
We’ve had the car for months. The accident allegedly occurred March 21. She submitted pics of her car to GEICO already. She said GEICO has been less than helpful thus far. No police report, specific location or other evidence has been made available either.
Could they be mixing up last owners?
Once a red-light camera* thought I was my dad’s secretary in his company car. That took a while to sort out.
*Sacramento
Car only has 40k miles on it in 20 years. Previous owner didn’t drive it much, especially the last few years. My daughter is saying this claim is entirely fictional. The condition of her car supports that. I’m starting to wonder if someone has cloned her plates. That has been a problem in Central TX recently.
I once clipped mirrors. The other driver submitted a fraudulent claim. My insurer examined my car and determined the amount of damage they claimed was not possible.
USAA?
They can be retarded.
Tell them to F off.
Beats me if it’s true, but I can’t help laughing. https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/eric-swalwell-allegations-22198271.php
Does that look like the face of a sex pest?
Sex weasel.
Great example of The People being broken: It is already known he was honey-potted by the (admittedly cute) Fang Fang, a fucking Chinese secret agent. AND the idea of him fuck-molesting others is perceived to be by far a greater sin, and he’s still not resigning over his safety.
How is that alone *not* an immediate disqualifier in the eyes of his constituency? (They’re idiots, yes, and he wears the Blue D. Still. There kinda oughta be a law.)
#BelieveSomeWomen
In the #metoo era? Not likely.
But I’ll let it pass because he is so utterly loathsome.
Our good friends, who we see all the time and share similar interests, had to semi-suddenly move – they were planning on staying in their apartment another year before moving to their place in Florida full-time, but the landlord has decided to sell, so they had to get out, pronto.
Today was their last official day here.
That makes my wife and I very sad.
On the plus side, I got an awesome wine fridge for a song and 3 more Sonos speakers – the stereo pair in my “office” sounds awesome. So I got that going for me.
How about a lil girl on girl action?
https://www.reddit.com/r/sportsgossips/s/YrlEoCGZBX
Is she related to the Hanson Brothers? The ones in Slapshot, not the Mm Bop ones.
HAWT
My income has switched from capital gains to income. My taxes went from break even to grab your ankles. It was an ugly tax season.
How about a lil girl on girl action?
Ponytail yank, FTW!
My taxes went down some this year.
The accountant got more expensive.
Seriously my taxes are not hard.
We need a flat tax and very simple corporate tax structure, like zero and millions of CPAs can be productive members of humanity with real jobs.
Between the IRS and the CPA my mutual funds return about nothing.
I’m watching the Artemis capsule reenter.
NASA Mission Control is Microsoft
SpaceX is Apple.
Chutes deployed.
Looks like everything worked ok except the toilet.
Thanks! I was too busy to watch.
Coms are one way, out only now. So the are twiddling thumbs on shutdown and getting the crew out.
Over 40 guys on boats or in the water.
Taking their sweet time.
The navy must get paid by the hour.