doppelganglander 10/4/2019 5:29:40 AM

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Replying to Lucius from last night:

I'm wondering if PJ Media or some such place might like a piece on the Field of Nightmares -- so many ideas for designing the most horrible ballpark imaginable.

Take Candlestick Park.  One a good day, you'd get winds in the outfield registering Force 13 on the Beaufort Scale.

They have a sports section, don't they? I think it would make a great article. Or you could do a list of the 10 worst ballparks of all time.

lucius septimius 10/4/2019 5:53:14 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 1:

There would be an element of both.  I would of course bring up the string of circular dual-use parks built in the early 70s.  All the same, bland as butterscotch.  I understand why Dock Ellis dropped acid before taking the mound -- anything to make playing in old Three Rivers Stadium interesting.

lucius septimius 10/4/2019 5:59:49 AM

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PaladinPhil 10/4/2019 6:17:04 AM

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lucius septimius 10/4/2019 6:38:03 AM

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Reply to PaladinPhil in 4:

Congratulations!  That's great!

doppelganglander 10/4/2019 6:59:31 AM

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Reply to PaladinPhil in 4:

Congratulations! We're all invited,  right?

/seriously,  if you have a gift registry,  let us know!

10/4/2019 7:04:26 AM

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Reply to PaladinPhil in 4:
Ah, sweet misery! Congrats!

Occasional Reader 10/4/2019 7:24:40 AM

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Reply to PaladinPhil in 4:

I think this is the part where the Men of C2 are supposed to take you out, get you drunk and enlist you in the Foreign Legion.

But congratulations anyway!

Occasional Reader 10/4/2019 7:25:16 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 3:

Heh.  (But it should be a Sinclair oil drum, even better...)

PaladinPhil 10/4/2019 7:25:35 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 6:

No gift registry. We have too much stuff as it is. Just keeping things simple all the way around and formalizing the arrangement. Since this isn't both our first rodeo, we just want to keep things easy. Of course we will be throwing a huge bash next year. 

Occasional Reader 10/4/2019 7:29:06 AM

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I've heard that one of the most boring things one can communicate to others is to talk about one's dreams

I call that a "challenge".

So: My odd, mildly stress-ish dream this morning involved visiting my family who are of course living in... London.  And by "my family", I mean my nuclear family circa 1982, a late-teenage/early 20s sister and similarly year-appropriate mom and dad.  I know I've had a nice visit, but that I have to get back to DC, and I'm booked on an Air India flight to do so.  After printing out my boarding passes using my family's PC [because, sure, we did that in 1982, right?], I'm pleased to see that I got my requested upgrade, and I'm looking forward to all the yummy Indian food they'll serve in First Class.  But suddenly I realize; the flight departs at noon, and it's 10 am right now!  I decide there's no way I'll be able to get my backpack packed and then get from the family flat in downtown London out to Heathrow in time to catch the flight, so I'd better call Air India and re-book on tomorrow's flight (hopefully, conserving my upgrade).  But then comes the first frustration; the telephone in my family's flat is a rotary phone, and only operates if you put coins in it.  [Perhaps reminiscent of the dinky coin-operated heater in my dorm room at the U of Edinburgh during my junior year abroad, and my memories from that period of the oddly backward nature of British consumer appliances and the like generally.]  And my dad only has US coins!   But somehow, I manage to fit a couple of dimes into the slot, and the phone gives me a dial tone.  So I'm looking on my Air India ticket (which is now more a 1980s-style paper ticket with little envelope and the like), and there's no obvious customer service number.  I try one number, but they rudely hang up on me.  I dial a second, and the call just isn't going through.  Then... I woke up.

lucius septimius 10/4/2019 7:42:07 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 11:

Describes my life very closely (including the 50 p. operated heater in my flat in Edinburgh ca. 1985) except that I actually got an the Air India flight in first class.  It went to Kennedy rather than DC, and I don't remember the Indian food, but I do recall the glass of champagne waiting for me at my seat, a very welcome treat given that I'd been stuck at Heathrow for eight hours waiting for a flight.  But that was some years earlier.

Occasional Reader 10/4/2019 7:52:40 AM

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In #12 lucius septimius said: my flat in Edinburgh ca. 1985

And again, I wonder if we actually might have crossed paths.  Where were you living (if you recall)? I was in Pollock Halls. 

Occasional Reader 10/4/2019 7:57:00 AM

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In #12 lucius septimius said: except that I actually got an the Air India flight in first class.

While you were in college?  That, indeed, was quite a feat.  I don't think I flew non-coach-class on any airline until I was 30. 

lucius septimius 10/4/2019 7:58:12 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 13:

I don't remember exactly, except that it was not in the university district -- further to the south.  I wasn't there all that long -- it was during a perambulation of the British Isles with my then girlfriend. 

Occasional Reader 10/4/2019 8:03:19 AM

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And I assume y'all have seen by now the "we must eat the babies" gal at the AOC town hall:

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/344147/#respond

As I (sagely!  Wisely!  Eloquently) note at that Insty thread:

It tells you everything you need to know about today's Democratic Party that AOC does not respond by saying, "you're stark, raving mad, get the hell out of here." Rather, she treats the "eat the babies" gal as a serious counterpart in a conversation about "climate change".

Because "eat the babies" is only going slightly further than AOC and her ilk are willing to go. For now. Publicly.

Occasional Reader 10/4/2019 8:06:52 AM

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In #15 lucius septimius said: it was not in the university district -- further to the south. 

An interesting aspect (to me) of my visit to Edinburgh two years ago (for the first time since my junior year '85-'86) was how much smaller the city seemed than I remembered.  Back then, I thought of the University area and High Street/Castle etc. as being an enormous distance apart, such that I only braved the bus system a handful of times to make the trip.  In contrast, in 2017 I found that the distance was easily walkable.   This is one of the rare instances in which my 50-something body laughs at my 20-something body. 

Syrah 10/4/2019 8:40:48 AM

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Congratulations to Paladin and friend!

Syrah 10/4/2019 8:44:38 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 16:

RT is reporting on twitter that the “eat the babies” thing was a LaRouche group stunt.

while it is possible, I don’t recall them ever having done anything quite that clever before.  Maybe it is a first. And maybe the “eat the babies” person was just your average freaked out climate change activist that overdosed on the Greta Thunberg visit. Both are possible. 

Syrah 10/4/2019 8:51:53 AM

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Reply to Syrah in 19: not that RT is a solid source,...

https://mobile.twitter.com/rt_com/status/1180143298889048065

Occasional Reader 10/4/2019 8:55:34 AM

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In #19 Syrah said: RT is reporting on twitter that the “eat the babies” thing was a LaRouche group stunt.

Yep, I've seen the same, and it's plausible to me (or if not them, then someone else doing it as a stunt/provocation).  But my observation stands:  AOC's reaction is just shocking... she seemingly takes it seriously, and as deserving of a serious response.  

Occasional Reader 10/4/2019 9:02:34 AM

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In #21 Occasional Reader said: and as deserving of a serious response.  

To be more clear; as deserving of a serious and respectful response.  

She expresses no horror at the idea of killing and eating babies to combat climate change, per se; in essence she merely tries to reassure the person asserting that view that we don't need to do so yet. 

Syrah 10/4/2019 9:12:57 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 22:

It was a perfect set up.

Occasional Reader 10/4/2019 11:03:38 AM

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Reply to Syrah in 23:

And, as usual, Iowahawk nails it.