oblong

I was in TN last week and tried to watch the tigers on my phone. Middle TN is apparently Reds territory. It’s a 4 hour drive past Cincy. It’s also Braves territory. 
 

That dude is a billionaire. 

If he votes with the Dems then it’s a plus.  

There's a new generation of Outlaws that in my opinion align with the originals in that they reject and don't go along with mainstream country.  Their music has been highlighted in this thread by others.  Sturgill, Isbell, etc

The Ken Burns doc did a great job showing how the Outlaw movement grew.  Willie wasn't having success in Nashville, went to Texas, basically created Austin City Limits.  There he found himself playing in places that included college students, bikers, rednecks... they all got along.  He told Waylon and Merle to get down there.  Then Cash followed.

Yes it is.  We were in Buffalo in October of 2023, driving back from Cooperstown.  We had to stop to get a training run in for our half marathon and we found a trail where we could sneak in 8 miles.  It was a Sunday so we went over to a Longhorn Steakhouse in a strip mall nearby.  The Bills were playing. We were the only two people in a packed restaurant without any Bills gear on.  It was like what I'd expect for a playoff game, not one in early October. 

Not surprising they did that.  They always play the canadian anthem there even if a canadian team isn't playing since it's minutes away... something they should also do in Detroit since so many fans at the game are Canadian.  

55 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

 

That went right over his head though. 

such an awesome show. We started watching a few months ago.  We haven't binged it.  We save it for when we have nothing heavier or longer to watch.  It always leaves you with an uplifting feeling when you finish watching.

My friend, who is in the parts business, always told me to keep it simple with appliances.  Don't get all the fancy gadgets.  You don't use them. "When you do laundry, you probably push the same button every time". He's right.

The hardest part was disconnecting connectors. ONe of htem were the metal connnecters and i didn't want to cut my hand so I used pliers... well that helped close them shut so I had to open them up again so they'd slide back on to the thing they were connecting too... not hard but it took a 3 minute job and made it 6 or 7.  I also had trouble engaging the pulley on the tub, not because I couldn't do it, but because I was doubting myself.  When I removed the front panel, it was hanging there by itself.  But after taking it out and vaccuuming and all that, when I put it back, it wouldn't stay by itself.  I took before photos (another piece of advice, take photos). I figured at that point after 10 years it was just sort of lodged in there on it's own.  

Then I invested in some of those thin work gloves for instances like that.  Prevents the 'paper cut' things that happens.

Maybe this is a repeat but if you are repairing a dryer yourself, just go ahead and get all the potential parts.  If you have a simply dryer they are easy to repair and the parts are not that expensive.  I had an issue a few years ago with heat.  Visited a friend's appliance parts business, got 3 parts for $30.  I tried the first one, that worked.  A few weeks ago same issue so I tried the two parts I already had. Didn't work.  Did some research and saw 3 other potential issues and since I'd have the patient open, so to speak, so I tried it.  The work wasn't hard but I wish I had just went ahead and bought all of them at once becuase it would have saved me from having to remove the drum twice.

I'm not handy and was able to do this for under $100 and I have about 5 new components on my dryer.  I also was able to get a good vaccuum in once I removed the drum.... and best of all.  I found $30 in change.  Somehow coins escape the drum and exist inside the shell of the dryer.  

This reminds me of when some fashion or other NYC-centric person dies and the national news programs, based in NYC, assume that most people care.

There's 3 stages of wealth and lawn care:

1) I'm poor and have to cut my own grass

2) I can afford to pay someone else to do it

3) I'm rich enough to buy my own riding mower and love driving around doing it

I never engage with anybody who calls me that i don't know.

I have to call Walgreen's a lot for prescription issues.  It takes 90 seconds to finally get thru the pharmacy line, meaning it's calling them directly.  Until then I get the automated script about hours and "if this is an emergency...."  I am told that "In most cases I can help you...." which is not true for my situation, which is why I am calling.  Their system is only as good as the app.  If the app can't do it, then I call.

On 4/26/2026 at 3:16 PM, mtutiger said:

Don't know if it should be held either, but in terms of the impact it makes outside the Beltway chattering class, it's a non entity

Tangentially, this tweet from Dylan Byers kinda makes the point better than I ever could...

For the President and these journalists, this event (both the dinner and the shooting) was a big deal.

To average people? WGAF, playoff hockey is on.

I was in TN visiting family. Just got home.  I didn’t watch any TV at all. Barely had my phone except to text or take pictures. I was out and about all weekend around people in outdoor bars and restaurants or in someone’s living room.  I honestly had no idea this happened until this evening. 

Nothing could make me fly Spirit. 

37 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Bill James used to preach that. Every team gets the same number of outs every game and more you limit them the more opportunities you will have to produce runs.   

It’s baseballs clock. And you can stop it and score while it’s stopped. 

With this admin there's two reasons people get fired and neither is good:

1) They're so bat**** crazy or the crimes so severe that even this group says "get them out of here"

2) THey refused to go along with some bat**** crazy idea

40 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Man, the IRGC is killing it on social. Eight words I could never have imagined typing out in that exact order.

I like to watch the Ken Burns PBS Country Music documentary.  In the section on Kris Kristofferson and Sunday Morning Coming Down and the lyrics:

And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing
And it echoed through the canyons
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday

Larry Gatlin said: "All those words are in the dictionary but until Kris no one knew what damn order to put them in "

I did in 2005 or 2006.  I wouldn't say it's chaotic but it can be a wait.  You line up out in the OF, on the ramp that goes underground below the centerfield concourse.  Then you walk out along the tunnel in RF to home plate.   I believe they run from 1st to home, that keeps things organized so you don't have collisions at the plate.  THen you walk back up to the concourse from an area by the dugout.  

I'm not opposed to that but it is a side effect and if the intent is to make them a democratic seat, under the guise of racial equality, rather than siply minority represented (which is a key difference to me) then the overall effect may be negated.  

3 minutes ago, chasfh said:

The “second leadoff hitter” at #9 does make sense for some situations, maybe against good starters or anticipated pitching duels, although a team probably wouldn’t want to put a remarkably better hitter #9 behind the worst hitter at #8 every game, since that would result in about 18-20 more ABs for the worst hitter (or more likely collection of worst hitters) over the course of a whole season.

I was being sarcastic by the way

Some coaches and managers like doing this.  Leyland would sub a guy into the order slot of the guy they're replacing.   Trammell did his Sunday lineup.  

Yes, and that's also an unintended consequence to making districts comply with US Civil Rights/Voting Rights laws.  To "guarantee" a blue seat by making it bluer you make neighboring districts redder.  So instead of a generally reliable blue seat and a swing district you get a locked blue seat and a pink seat nearby.

13 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

I hate gerrymandering as well and would love for some national consensus to emerge on the subject. But absent that, it's not clear to me why it should be the expectation that one side shoulder the responsibility for shunning the practice while it is assumed that the other side is just gonna do whatever they want and gerrymandering like crazy. After all, that is how this started, an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting in Texas.

The other thing I would say... As a current resident of a Dem gerrymandered state (IL), the complaints from last night by VA Rs are nothing new. However, during the last redistricting cycle, the GOP in the state I used to live in (TX) took a meat axe to the only competitive State Senate district in the state (centered around Fort Worth and Arlington) and drew it to be about 25 points more Republican, with completely illogical borders. Essentially drew my State Senator at the time out of existence.

Until the party comes out in favor of some national consensus on how to draw lines, my assumption is that they're all fine with Texas doing it, or Florida or North Carolina, and only give a **** when it affects them. I'll have more sympathy when they start to shun the practice altogether

Yep.  play the game as it's played by the opposition not how you think it should be played.