oblong

I was in Canada for about 40 minutes on Sunday. Ran over the bridge, up Riverside then back through the tunnel. The boarder guys in Canada are great. They high five you and cheer you on. The people in Windsor are fun too. The border guys in the US are what you'd expect. They look like they hate their jobs and hate you. People were having fun and that's not allowed in the US anymore.

"wrong within normal parameters"... as I like to often quote PJ O Rourke when he announced his support of Hillary Clinton in 1996. Until Trump came along the US was still going in the same general direction. Now that's all gone. Trump, especially Trump 2.0 has reversed that. To be a conservative/Republican today, if you called yourself one 20 years ago, is a direct contradiction. The party and platform is simply indefensible.

But now we have seltzers and their variants. My local store is about 50/50 in terms of shelf space between beer and what I'll generically call seltzers. I have to drive further away to get good stuff. I still try to support breweries who bottle their product.

There's one scene not directed by Coppola. It's an establishing shot of when they go to Vegas. They shoot outside of a Casino and you see some hippies. Not what you'd find in 1950's Las Vegas.

That looks great. I've migrated back to lagers and pilsners in particular. I like the taste of a strong IPA and if I am somewhere new I might get one. But for my every day drinking now I am back where I started. Although the cooler weather now means stout season is upon us. The craft brewery industry is in trouble. The lure wore off for the main demographic. For a long time it was about the chase. Finding something new or going somewhere new. It was referred to as the Pokemon generation growing up. My local brewery has reverted back to the "dad" beer. I just feel better the next day having a lager vs an Ale of some type, espeically when it's 2 or 3 of them.

Well yeah no **** it went on before. I didn’t suggest otherwise. My point wasn’t intended to be about these particular incidents. Im talking about the culture of gambling itself. why make it easier for people and practically sanction it and promote it? It’s an impossible goal to eradicate harmful behavior but it should still something that’s not considered socially acceptable and definitely not part of leagues official business. It’s disingenuous to heavily promote something for the fans that the participants can’t do. Gambling can an addiction I see no practical difference between a player who bets through a bookie or through one of the “real” sites. For any sport. Once they get in that world bad things can happen and it affects the fans perception of the integrity. But who knows. Maybe that doesn’t matter. Maybe they can start bets on whether a game is fixed. As long as theres money to be made by a corporation and some college kid things he can score then it’s all good. but believing that there’s still some iron curtain between legalized gambling and the underworld that Chauncey was a part of is like believing that stripper is just doing it to pay for nursing school and would NEVER go further or that the owner isn’t peddling in underage stuff. If it makes you feel better go ahead and believe it.

This is why the whole legal/official gambling and pro sports cross pollination stinks. This stuff doesn’t exist in a vacuum. There’s many ways to both incur and pay a debt. I’m glad I am capable of not caring about money.

Tiger Woods banging waitresses in parking lots

"Oh absolutely— that tiny, flimsy cup of neon-red sugar water is iconic. It’s always too sweet, it stains everything, and it’s handed out like it’s a treat, even though no one really wants it. That drink is the unofficial mascot of awkward community events. It’s like the physical manifestation of trying to be festive but running on a shoestring." I was conversing with ChatGPT about “refreshments”.

just this morning I got pushed a reel by a comedian who said "It's a good thing we killed Osama Bin Laden when we did because today he'd be secretary of transportation if he was still alive"

nobody demanded anything. Just pointing out that some people think that serving in the military bestows some special status on somebody that we're supposed to care. Go back to protecting your pedophile overlords.

I use AI to make funny videos of myself and a friend reliving every inside joke we gathered over 40 years of friendship. I've also used it to interpret and critique some corporate speak that comes our way. It rightly calls it out for bull**** and not really saying anything. It picks up on my quirks and tells me what I want to hear, and how I want to hear it. It's sarcastic. The wit sometimes is better than you'd see on a late night talk show. I'm entertained and terrified.

He got about halfway

Maybe it was game 1 then. it did not air in Detroit on NBC. Not all affiliates ran it. The first times it ran in Detroit was on channel 20 I believe.

I should clarify, Easley was a good trade, but then I believe he got a big contract after which probably hurt the club somewhat. He was a fine player but not deserving of the big deal.

Damian Easley for Greg Gohr was a good move.

I think any agent that can't do that should be fired immediately.

No, that was Joe Klein. For 32 years we had Jim, Bill, Joe, Jerry, Joe. I was listening to Gibson on the radio, he was being interviewed on WDFN, when the trade was announced. He hung up when they told him and retired a week later. He was pissed.

NASA, according to it's acting leader, says they are opening up the contract for the lunar lander to other companies because SpaceX is so far behind. I'm not sure what that means. They're nervous about China getting there first. I suspect if we do go back that China will get there first. Artemis III is years away in my very amateur opinion.

what's troubling is... the people that run the GOP today simply don't care. They don't care if people suffer, if they die. Doesn't matter if they are old, young.... all that matters to republicans today is the grift and the social media "own".

The Costner film Thirteen Days about the Cuban Missile Crisis is one of the best historical movies ever made. His performance is sketchy, he drifts in and out of his crappy Boston accent, but the movie itself is fairly accurate. Like most movies of real life events they have to condense who said what and all of that to make it presentable. But the general gist of it is spot on.