Hey all, its Thursday, which is not as good as Friday, but I’m almost caught up from the long weekend. Watched the new Grinch with kids last night. Meh. I prefer the silent Grinch and the songs, plus the entire Grinch back-story about how he was just an asshole because of his childhood annoyed me. Bears v. Cowboys tonight to see who sucks and who just stinks.
John Kerry endorses Joe Biden because, well, their families have business ties, I guess. Kiss of death.
I’ll just lay down my marker. Aramco will never be more valuable than today.
Hospitals sue Trump administration on pricing transparency. Their lead quoted argument is that it would be too hard to figure out what they actually charge. No shit. Its too hard for their customers, too. I’m a qualified meh on this. One the one hand, surgeries and hospitalizations are complex things that don’t always boil down to one basket of services that will cost X. On the other hand, it would have been nice to know that they were going to charge us $25 for 800mg of ibuprofen during a recovery for child-birth.
Looks like we’re getting the Heck out of Congress. Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Comments
340 responses to “Thursday Afternoon Links”
‘sup
While I’m here, ya may as well HIT THAT ISH!
?
‘sdown
Always love reading the EOBs for anything related to the hospital.
“One the one hand, surgeries and hospitalizations are complex things that don’t always boil down to one basket of services that will cost X.”
People manage to come up for prices for more complicated things. Regardless, a confusopoly distorts markets, and marker distortion increases cost.
“We don’t want people to know the prices”
When a business says that….I am really suspicious.
I’m convinced they just pull numbers out of their asses. Last time I went to the ER I got a ridiculous bill 4 months later, no breakdown just a total. When I called to see oif they made mistake the nice lady offered to look into it OR I could pay right then and they’d knock of 70%? The lady couldn’t tell me what they were charging me for but could negotiate the price.
When my wife died, I started looking at the Bill’s. Did you know the hospital charges about $100 dollars for a pint of saline? You know, salt water, the stuff that covers 2/3 of the planet?
The bill. I would never look at the Bill’s. Also, my autospell will not let me write “bills” without changing it to “Bill’s” unless I add the quotation Mark’s. Smart phone my ass.
Look, it just did the same thing with “marks”.
I dead-threaded my first response.
The lawsuit over forced disclosure of confidential business information (the prices hospitals negotiate with insurers) has been filed.
Typically, the problem this is supposed to solve, won’t be.
the public outcry over surprise medical bills and high out-of-pocket costs led the administration to seek even more detail on the discounted prices that are kept secret between hospitals and insurers.
Surprise bills are bills by providers who are not in your insurance company’s network. Having hospitals publish their prices doesn’t affect that at all. The insurance companies have that info (and so do the patients). Also, people are often surprised when they get a separate bill from the doctors after a hospital stay. They shouldn’t be: we tell them on admission that will happen. Again, having hospitals publish their prices doesn’t affect that at all.
High out-of-pocket costs are driven by whether you have insurance, and if so, what the copay and deductible in your plan is. Having hospitals publish their prices to various insurance companies doesn’t affect that at all.
That’s not been my experience. Getting a price out any insurer I’ve ever had has been damn near impossible, I usually just gave up.
Your insurance company gives you a list of in-network providers, which is what my butchered sentence structure meant to refer to.
I’ve got more than passing familiarity with this.
How about three prices? CMS, in network, and out of network?
Sure, if publishing those three prices would do anything to address the alleged problems being “solved”.
Fair point. It might take the wind out of the $5 ibuprofen outrage stories, however.
The health care industry is the about the only one where the servicing entity gets to decide what the price to the consumer is after the service has been rendered. When a patient asks me how much an x-ray is, or how much a test will cost, or whatever, I legitimately have to say “I have no idea”. And there’s no way to find out how much the bill will be either. It’s bizarre.
I agree that disclosing negotiated prices won’t do anything to eliminate surprise billing, but the current model of “you agree to receive the service and after it’s done later we’ll tell you how much it’ll cost you” is ridiculous, particularly since said agreement is often made under duress. It’s not like you can negotiate your own price in advance.
For routine, outpatient services you might be able to do that.
There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to tell you how much a chest x-ray is, even for emergency service.
Sorry, I was referring to negotiating. In outpatient settings it is much easier to quantify on a per patient basis how much certain things cost. It’s something I had to calculate a couple times while I was at the VA, but that was an attempt by me to budget for future services performed outside the VA.
You are right though, it is not unreasonable to know how much an X-ray is off the top of your head.
Check out @ surgery center in Oklahoma does.
They give you an upfront flat price for multiple different surgeries.
Can’t post from my phone but IIRC it’s namened The Surgery Center of Oklahoma City.
A search engine should take you there.
Are they the people who offer $2000 outpatient knee replacements?
Typically, the problem this is supposed to solve, won’t be.
I agree that it won’t solve anything at all, but it does lend the appearance that something is being done about it. That’s what is most important.
my dead threaded response:
If hospitals actually disclosed their cash pay price up front I’d buy your argument that the negotiated insurance rate was proprietary and confidential. As an uninsured (never insured unless you count the crap they include with your fees as a college student) person the thing that infuriates me to the point of actual hatred is the utter impossibility of getting a straight answer to the simple question “how much is this x-ray, test etc. going to cost me?” Even when you get an answer it is not a real number since 6 weeks later you get a bill from the hospital for the x ray, another from the company that employs the guy who took the X ray, and another bill from the guy who read the x ray.
It’s really quite simple.
if $Patient_Isurance -re “.*Medica[ir][de].*”
then
price = $MaxAllowed
else
# price increased to compensate for loss from MaxAllowed
price = $MaxAllowed * 1.5
fi
“‘You’re a damn liar, man!’ Joe Biden explodes at Iowa voter who accuses him of getting Hunter a job in Ukraine – then calls him ‘Jack,’ challenges him to a PUSH-UP contest saying: ‘Look, fat’”in?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7761099/Youre-damn-liar-man-Joe-Biden-explodes-voter-Iowa-campaign-stop.html
Is it illegal to show up at a town hall with a pool chain?
“Fat” was my nickname in highsc…
Jesus. During the Obama administration when The Onion ran with those articles about Biden washing his Camaro and such, I thought they were joking.
Just don’t ask Uncle Joe to rub his blonde leg hairs. That’s just for the kids.
I can’t believe they are going to let him get the nomination. I didn’t believe it before but I think Hilldog steps in at or before the brokered convention to take over.
[Loading…]
Heh, heh. Indeed. My preferred match up would be with Bernie. I think a Mondale like loss might smack a wee bit of sense into the Dems that going full proggie is not a good idea.
Watching people celebrate one candidate’s hair while ridiculing the other’s would be worth watching for a few days at least.
Just don’t ask Uncle Joe to rub his blonde leg hairs. That’s just for the kids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69fPof-ZTnU
“I can’t believe they are going to let him get the nomination.”
They’re not. Throwing Joe under the bus wasn’t an unfortunate side-effect of the impeachment, it was one of the reasons (drink!) why the Ukraine phone call was chosen as the impeachment vehicle. Two birds with one stone, and all that.
*bangs razor against curb*
COME AT ME BRO
…and that is the man leading TEAM BLUE’s polling to take on the Hat and the Hair.
…and he’s still better than most of their alternatives.
My God, the debates next year are going to be epic.
I’m surprised he didn’t ask the fat guy to step outside.
We saw the “No Malarkey!” bus in Ames yesterday – what moron came-up with that slogan?
Joe Biden.
The old dude should have told him, “You can call me ‘Cornpop!’ “
“We make the case that the burden placed on our members to come up with this information is extensive,” Tom Nickels, an executive vice president with the American Hospital Association, said in an interview.
If my mechanic ever said this, I’d go to a different mechanic. Mechanics and doctors are quiet comparable (one-off thing that needs diagnosed and fixed, hard to monitor quality directly, usually you see them in moments of panic and ‘can’t shop around’).
Most surgeries are scheduled events, obviously traumas and some time sensitive events excluded. Also there is usually more than one way to treat, so if prices were transparent, you could chose based on pro/con/cost.
Example: appendicitis can be treated with antibiotics and observation or appendectomy. In Europe you get antibiotics because it is cheaper. In the US you get an appy because hospitals are afraid you’ll sue if you rupture. In a free market system you could chose based on cost.
In the US you get an appy because
hospitalsdoctors are afraid you’ll sue if you rupture.Its not the hospital that decides what treatment you get, its the doctors.
Bullshit. We are mandated to do all sorts of things by hospitals as a condition of working there, including things that have no demonstrated benefit and in some cases might even result in patient harm.
I haven’t heard anyone afraid of being successfully sued because they elected to treat appendicitis with antibiotics. The approach is well researched and can easily be defended as in accordance with standard of care. I’ve seen plenty of cases treated with antibiotics so I don’t think the initial statement is accurate.
Sweet avatar, by the way.
And everyone gets paid more for an appendectomy.
“…the silent Grinch and the songs…”
Best. Christmas. Dramatization. EVER!!!
Fight me.
Yo!
You see they’re rebuilding the tornado-damaged Donatos ?
Yes! They’re out there working every day weather permits when I go past on my way to the day job. Didn’t get their pizza often before (pricier than Papa John’s) but did get salads. Gonna start patronizing more often when they reopen.
Now if someone would deal with the pile of ex-DQ rubble across the street – at least fence it off before kids make it a sledding hill after the first big snow!
I was a little surprised at how quickly the Speedway was back in business
Yeah, but I still don’t stop at Creepy Speedway unless I’m desperate.
I am really a big fan of Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol
Not The Passions of Carol?
Don’t remember that clearly. Big 3 for me are Grinch, Rudolph, & Charlie Brown.
“Owen Wilson pays $25k a month for the upkeep of baby daughter he’s never met”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7760313/Owen-Wilson-pays-25k-month-upkeep-baby-daughter-hes-never-met.html
Damn.
Must be why he tried to commit suicide.
I don’t get the impression that guy is stable at all.
On the upside you can make $300K a year eating mashed vegetables and shitting your pants.
3 kids with 3 different women? Yeah, that’s not stable.
My brother hooked up with some chick in Santa Barbara and a year later his paycheck was garnished. He went and saw her and was all set to play daddy to the kid. He visited for a couple of months. One day, he showed up at her house and it was empty. No sign of her or the kid. He just left and got a different job. Due to his lifestyle ( job shopper) he moved around a lot. A few times his bank account got seized. He stopped using banks and just tried to take shorter jobs so he wouldn’t get garnished. Well, 10 years went by and they took his license away. He got one from one of the non-interstate d/l compact states. Then, he wanted to go overseas and was denied a passport. He had to pay back about 100k in cash before they let him have everything back. The chick collected welfare and the city attorney was doing the punishing for repayment. I met his kid once, up in Monterey. Cool kid, but man, what a sad tale.
“”Heil Trump” and an anti-gay slur were scrawled on an Indiana church after the 2016 election.
The investigation uncovered an unlikely suspect — and a hoax.”
https://twitter.com/washingtonpost/status/1202619201829187585
There are two kinds of people who are going to write “Heil Trump” Internet Trolls (not nazis who hate Trump) and people who hate Trump and want people to think he is associated with Nazis.
Indeed. Real Nazis aren’t going to be too fond of a guy with a Jewish daughter, who’s besties with Netanyahu, and who has also declared that socialism is not coming to the US on his watch. Literally the only thing in common is the nationalism, which also happens to be one of the most commonly shared policy positions across the political spectrum.
Why was that unlikely?
Because the writer wanted it to be real.
I know this has been quoted here before, but
“Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’ or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally we shall insist on seeing everything — God and our friends and ourselves included — as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.”
-C.S. Lewis
oh shush you
Has anyone done a tally since 2016? How many of this types of incidents are not hoaxes?
Give me a second…..
*counts on fingers, then grabs it by the leg*
Zero. Zero of them are not hoaxes. Give or take.
Not according to the widely respected Southern Poverty Law Center.
“the countless hours I have spent in the investigation of Russian election interference and the impeachment inquiry have rendered my soul weary.”
Spending countless hours looking into nothing would be soul crushing.
Living a lie can be difficult.
Making a mountain out of a molehill is a daunting task indeed.
I finished watching season 1 of “The Boys” on Amazon. I don’t know why but I found it very assuming how they made the superheroes complete assholes. Watching Homelander act like a prick madw me smile every time.
So, worthwhile?
Oh yeah.
Yes.
Thirded!
I enjoyed the show a lot and feel like the reviews undersold it.
I also found it extremely darkly funny.
Great show. It took a few episodes to really bring out the dark, but episode 4 was a turning point. From there it just kept going up,
Fans of this should check out the Brat Pack graphic novel.
very enjoyable series. found myself not really liking The Boys but not really liking The Seven either except for maybe Translucent.
I love Butcher. One of the best characters in a long time. Homelander was perfectly cast. The right stereotypical looking hero, with just a little something off.
Yeah. Homelander was very well done. He didn’t just jump out and start Muahahahha-ing. It took a few episodes to figure out if hewas actually a bad guy or just on the spectrum.
Agreed. They’ve announced a wrap on season 2 with a release mid-2020. Looking forward to that as well as the below.
The Deep had me pretty amused by the end.
Have any of you watched The Umbrella Academy? It was recommended to me, and pretty much lived up. A very different take on formerly teen-aged formerly superheroes. It’s quirky, but I look forward to season 2.
Where is it available?
It’s a Netflix series.
The Umbrella Academy
Thanks
While Heck does serve on the Financial Services and Intelligence committees and is therefore knee-deep in the impeachmentification he is unfortunately retiring at the end of his term, ie he’ll be in office until Jan, 2021.
“the countless hours I have spent in the investigation of Russian election interference and the impeachment inquiry have rendered my soul weary.”
I wonder how his soul will feel when soldiers start coming back in body bags from our budding proxy war in Ukraine? Who am I kidding, it never seemed to bother any of these politicians when they were coming back from Iraq.
It only bothered the TEAM BLUE ones when Bush 43 was in office.
“I wonder how his soul will feel when soldiers start coming back in body bags from our budding proxy war in Ukraine?”
*blank stare*
You haz citation plz?
“will feel” and “budding” usually suggests future tense.
I’m liable to be wrong, though. I can only think of like five American conflicts that began with military advisers and offensive weapon supplies.
Or, it could just stop there. That’s probably more likely, actually. Once Trump is gone, we quietly draw down with a new Democratic administration
Once Trump is gone, we quietly draw down with a new Democratic administration
You funny guy.
“On the other hand, it would have been nice to know that they were going to charge us $25 for 800mg of ibuprofen during a recovery for child-birth.”
That sounds cheap. I was charged $100 for two extra strength Tylenol.
Hospital pricing is really a farce to a large extent.
High price….”adjustment and insurance payments” … usually something normal-ish.
Insurance company or their vendors claim “savings”.
Mountains of paperwork and consumer frustration, fear and confusion.
CMS looms over all of this…distorting what is “allowed”.
Hospital lobby says “WHYCOME U WANT TRANSPARENCY?”
For once, Cheeto Mussolini has done something good.
C’mon now, every time he does something good I hear that.
I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for the MSM to start defending Big Hospital over this. Up is truly Down.
A little more on hospital pricing:
Just about everything, with very few exceptions, that you are admitted to a hospital for has a single charge based on your discharge diagnosis. There are no separate charges for, well, anything.
The big exception is the ED. If you are admitted as an inpatient from the ED, then the ED gets rolled into your inpatient bill. If you aren’t admitted (“treat and street”), you get the line item bill with crazy shit on it. And if you have insurance, the crazy initial numbers are meaningless – all that matters is the negotiated price with your insurance company. Which is usually something like a 60 – 80% discount off list prices. Naturally, no one goes online does price comparisons before they go to a hospital with an emergency. So, this will do nothing on that front.
The other exception is having a baby. The doc is usually pre-paid as part of a global pre-natal through delivery fee, but the hospital bill will usually vary depending on just what you need to get the baby out, and of course what the baby needs after. I could see people price-shopping for that.
This rule is about forcing the disclosure of confidential business information – the negotiated prices for a service. Justifiable, perhaps, if it actually advances some public interest. But it will do exactly nothing about “surprise” bills or big out of pocket expenses. Outside of a few marginal cases (you have a big deductible, and whatever you need won’t bust your deductible), this won’t make a difference.
The smart move, money-wise, is to avoid hospitals altogether if possible. Imaging, ambulatory surgery, etc.
That only applies if all care is provided by hospital employees. If you have surgery and the doctor is not a hospital employee, you’re going to get a separate bill. If imaging is providing by a contractor, there’s another bill for that. My last knee surgery saw bills from four different providers.
My mother used to tell an account of her going into surgery.
One of the last things she remembered before going down was the surgeon calling out….hey Dr. Bill…want to come in here and give me a hand ?.
This was probablly 50 years ago.
Her Bill included a $500 charge frm Dr. Bill for surgery assist.
I got a bill from an anesthesiologist once back when I had two different insurance plans. The primary instance had one negotiated price, and the secondary insurance had a different, higher negotiated price. I got billed for the higher price. That was annoying to sort out.
That’s the case with almost every service industry. When your mechanic says he charges 100.00 an hour, that means nothing. He adjusts the hours to make sure he makes enough. It basically boils down to the idea that one guy is deciding a total charge that you will have to pay. Once your car is fixed, you ain’t getting it back until he gets his cash. The BAR makes some rules and the estimate is binding-ish, overruns need approval, etc. What’re you gonna do, not agree to the new stuff and pick your car up unfinished? Prolly not. The mechanic will tell you there’s no warranty if you don’t agree to “x” and, in reality, there’s no warranty anyway, because he gets to determine if it’s his fault. Very rare to have a guy eat real costs if he can bamboozle his way out of it. It’s happening everyday and everywhere. If your mechanic eats a good amount of cost and admits fault for something, then he’s a keeper, even if he costs a bit more (which he will.)
I’d be leery of investing this early in that stock, although the bit in the article about some people seeing it as almost more of a bond is probably right on. The price will drop and stabilize, I’d expect, at which point it would probably be a good investment if you’re not prioritizing growth, at least as long as they’re paying a dividend.
Fat. The revenge of Corn Pop. Electric Boogaloo 2
He meant to say Corn Pop-Fat, the long lost brother of Chow Yun-Fat
Fat
It’ll be entertaining to see why Joe “Hey Fattie” Biden is a very respectable statesman, not Base like that Donald Trump fella.
Look, Fat. It’s “Look, Fat” Biden
Joe “Look, Fat” Biden. I was trying to make his insult sound more reasonable.
Sleepy Joe becomes Fatty Joe?
Look, Fat, “Look, Fat” is a perfectly cromulent insult, I plan on driving it in to the ground and beating it to death. If I make another Acrostic or Crossword guaranteed “Look Fat” will be an answer.
Clue: “What this dress makes her ass do.”
Also, one VERY IMPORTANT vote for another acrostic. OK to make it a little harder than last night’s, which took me just under an hour.
OK to make it a little harder than last night’s
I looked at it and i think my brain melted a little.
Really, Don said something like that also, and I thought that I had made it extremely easy.
I wouldn’t worry too much about it, i’m a simple minded man, crosswords and Sudoku about push my limits for puzzles.
I think there are pills for that.
“Nymphomaniac duck has ‘traumatized’ penis removed after non-stop sex”
https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1202617138885922816
https://nypost.com/2019/12/05/nymphomaniac-duck-has-traumatized-penis-removed-after-non-stop-sex/
…would it be worth it to have so much sex your dick needed to be removed?
I’m gonna go with no.
Since, the duck is getting the dick removed that would make him/her a transgendered duck. What happens if she has non-stop sex? And what timeline am I in that this question would even need to be asked?
Since the internal penis has to be extended out through the cloaca, are male ducks always fucking themselves?
The whole question is just daffy.
Nah man. It’s better to endure than to go out in a quick short blast.
Well, first of all, you’d need Q-amounts of cabergoline to even begin to make such overuse possible…
55 gallon drum of lube?
It’s better to burn out than to fade away
-Neil Young
IT was a Stamina joke!!!!
:Walks away dejected:
“traumatized penis”
Band name?
If they’re removing his penis, he’d be a satyromaniac duck. How dare they misgender him.
Why not just eat him?
Poor Howard. Of course, understandable after Lea Thompson…
True story, my ex was the on set nurse for Howard the Duck. Absolutely horrible movie but it paid for a new backyard.
Removing his dick won’t cute his urges.
It is only going to make it worse for the duck because he can’t release his urge.
Cruelty.
“In which Cory Booker openly suggests his own party is racist if he isn’t on the next debate stage despite polling worse than the flu”
https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1202603713380012032
If Yang and Gabbard make the debates, are the debates still racist? When they mean “diversity” do they actually mean “diversity” or do they mean “no, not that diversity- they have wrong thought”.
They also have a Native American woman, don’t forget that.
Racist means “Give me something I didn’t earn”.
The Parties Re-Switched!
If any of youse haven’t seen the cartoon of Biden’s hairy leg riff, it’s hilarious.
https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/joe-bidens-hairy-legs-sven-stoffels/
(Yeah, yeah, I know, then drugs fell out his ass)
*Gets down on knees and clasps hands, closes eyes*
Dear Lord, I know it might be a bit much to ask but you please please please let Biden get the nomination? Please?
The whole finger biting thing the other day just leads me to believe he is too far gone for the Dems to let it happen. But shit, it would be entertaining as hell if it does.
he is too far gone for the Dems to let it happen
I think that bar was set by Hillary. Probably low enough for him to clear.
+1
Something about the cartoon feels familiar…
“The McAfee 2020 U.S. Presidential Campaign has now formally begun. ”
https://twitter.com/officialmcafee/status/1201878284247666689
A bald eagle just flew out of my ass.
I may be the odd one here, but I just don’t really care for McAfee. I follow him on twitter and he just seems unstable. There’s been a few “meltdowns” on twitter that leave me scratching my head and he’s just fucking *too* weird. And his frequent shilling of his cryptocurrency-scam-of-the-week is distasteful.
He hates the government, cool. But besides that, no thanks man.
Agreed. It’d be nice to have an actual adult holding the banner high for libertarianism in the public sphere, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen any time soon . . .
https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1202367365280874496
Josh Hawley
“I look forward to hearing tomorrow in Senate Armed Services why the Pentagon reportedly wants 14,000 MORE troops in the Middle East, after sending 14,000 already this year alone. Is the Pentagon preparing for a land war?”
Why do we have a Republican senator calling out a Republican president for sending troops to the Middle East? This seems like something the opposition party should be hammering the president for. Some Senate Republicans are getting better, but Democrats are really getting worse.
In Asia too.
I just put down a deposit on a Stoeger M3K. Now to figure out which magazine extension to get. Why it doesn’t come with one from the factory seems odd to me.
how many shells do you need for 3-gun?
As many as you can. NYS only allows semiauto shotguns to have a magazine tube capacity of 7. Otherwise it’s an “assault weapon” don’tcha know.
I plan on spending a lot of time over the winter practicing quad loading.
OT: What a cruel angel…
https://kotaku.com/gainax-president-arrested-after-taking-nude-photos-of-t-1840227841
Just photos? I assumed that Gainax would use video and motion capture at least to get their jiggle physics right.
Not mentioned was what she was cosplaying…
Some things know no cultural bounds.
Yeah. Sure. ”Training” her to enter the “entertainment” industry. Gotcha. Totes legit.
Apparently, Brad Marchand is a serious hunter. Subscribers can read an article in the Athletic. He even has his own hunting apparel brand.
I really like Lou from We The Internet, and now I’m guessing Tundra will as well.
Still not Lou Reed.
You are guessing correctly!
That was hilarious!
“You don’t give night shift money to day shift strippers.”
Earlier in a previous post, I noted that Chelsea Clinton got better looking in her 20’s. There was a lot of sneering from the commentariat and I refuse to accept that your hatred of the Clintons could cloud your ideas of attractiveness. Hence forth, I have attached pictures from Chelsea Clinton in her 20’s and I trust that people will honestly asses her attractiveness.
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdeadrabbit.barstoolsports.net%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F06%2F09%2FScreen-Shot-2017-06-09-at-1.42.33-PM.png&f=1&nofb=1
https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftoofab.akamaized.net%2F2018%2F09%2F10%2Famanda-bynes-main-getty-810×960.jpg&f=1&nofb=1
She was pretty hot on Big Bang.
Apparently that second one is of Famanda Bynes.
I’m not sure that is Chelsea Clinton
She’s my Chelsea Clinton, OK?
She’s my Chelsea Clinton, OK?
In this brave new world we inhabit, why not?
I guess you are entitled to your truth.
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/99/2d/24/992d24a4834c5d6f88e4724f84cdcff6.png
TOK approves.
I thought you might. Lol.
On my team, nothing is off limits for ridicule. I like that you guys are also comfortable with this type of dark humor.
Ahem. “Humor of color”, please.
I literally can’t stop shaking looking at TOK’s avatar.
Yeah, it’s the best logo in sports. I love it, too.
Chief Wahoo would like a word
How?
That team can really wampum.
You have to respect someone like the guy in the photo. I don’t know his story, but it’s obvious he has worked very hard to accomplish his goal.
What else was he going to do?
Drugs?
Guessing he does plenty of them.
Collect disability and watch TV?
Meh. A real man would play sled hockey.
Tundra wins.
E-sports, obviously
Many things. (Self-pity, for example, comes to mind.) HUUUUUUGE props to that d00d.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1as0ltXHu9T_h95ceHFeRC0NI4xD8_0-y/view?usp=drivesdk
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w68hVKX92D5YWHZUrKrZPP_Q6E3E3A7S/view?usp=drivesdk
One made it, one didn’t. Oh well. 50% aint that bad.
That’s awesome. Do you work in gear manufacturing?
Nah. Just a regular old steel mill. That video is from the rolling mill I’m in at the moment.
The heat must be insane. My dad worked in manufacturing and he’s always say that the heat treat guys were a little off.
I was disappointed not to see a bunch of people running back and forth waving their arms in the air and pulling their hair out in the first one.
What causes that? Some kind of mismatch on the feed speeds through those various, uh, thingamajigs?
Oh! I know that! The old slab caster. Or at my mill it was the ‘continuous caster’.
You should really talk to HR about your unsafe work environment.
It’s almost as bad as not having gender-neutral bathrooms.
(also: Lachowsky’s status as the manliest goddamn Glib confirmed – bunch of pansy-ass keyboard jockeys in here otherwise)
This looks fucking dangerous lol
FEE reminds me that it’s Repeal Day!
I would argue that we haven’t actually learned (looking at you, gun grabbers!).
Excellent, thanks. I will mix up a cocktail when I get back from taking my MIL to get her TB test read.
TB?
Hey big-brain Glibs. Im no chemist, but- Madonna has blood drawn, mixed with ozone gas and put back in with IV drip during…
O3, being a serious oxidizer, is likely going to go right for the iron in hemoglobin, making it useless, amirite? Someone want to do that redox equation?
Just regular old quackery
Kind of goes with the Kabbalah stuff she was into
I think you’re right — in sufficient quantities, that ozone’s gonna really screw up her O2 transport.
I dunno but I still think she’s a nut-job.
Considering how complex the hemoglobin molecule is (C2952 H4664 O832 N812 S8 Fe4), no, I don’t feel like working out the equation. Ozone isn’t helpful, and madonna is an idiot.
The good news is, if she dies from it, she is famous enough that people will know not to do that.
Hmmm. I’d have expected Def Leppard to go with the hemoglebogloppinglobbin.
Nice one.
It goes in the file of nonsense I’ve spewed on this site.
Imagettingit.
The ozone will break down pretty much immediately, destroying whatever it touched to do so. depending on how much ozone the inject, pretty much everything biological in he blood may be dead and/or useless.
Grrr, that helpless feeling of knowing you’re going to miss your flight that takes off in 90 minutes because the bus to the airport broke down and there’s no way you’re getting there with enough time to get through the ritual groping.
My favorite is getting there 2 hours early, then standing in the grope line for 95 minutes, then being told you can’t board the plane because you didn’t “arrive” more than half an hour before the plane departs, and finally standing at the gate watching your plane board and leave with your baggage on it.
Or the one where your penis sets off the bomb sensor, and the rent-a-cop takes a little bit too much joy in feeling you up.
Ummmmm…. I feel like there’s more to that story
They were looking for C4 but I was carrying a D8 ?
How long have you been waiting to use that line ?
According to the time stamp, 4:29pm mountain time. ?
Something tells me there’s a private room and a cavity search involved here.
They asked, but I know what they do to innocent Muppets in those rooms.
You must be a real life Derek Smalls.
https://youtu.be/dAargSCXQaQ
So you’ve been to SeaTac too.
Broke down as in how? I just don’t see cars broken down on the highway here. Once in a while someone will have a flat, but that’s about it. Accidents? Sure. Compared to rural Wisconsin in the 70’s, I don’t see it happen.
Engine issue. They resolved it in 20 minutes, but the traffic jam we hit delayed us another 30 minutes, making it tight. I’ll be getting to the airport 50 minutes before they take off, and it’s DIA, so security is going to be 35 minutes minimum.
Check the bridge security check point?
No PreCheck up there last time I looked (if it matters). If not applicable or they do now, ditto this.
You’d have made it if they still used Stapleton. Deep breaths…
Yep, nothing I can do here. Worst case, I stay at an airport hotel overnight until the next flight.
*shrugs*
Go to the head of the line, show your boarding pass to any airport or TSA employee and ask them to let you in ahead of everybody else. It always worked for me. Once I arrived to the airport 25 minutes before the flight departure and made it on board. The gate agents even had 5 minutes to investigate whether or not I had a proper visa to travel internationally.
Yeah, I have no problem with people cutting in line like that – who’s gonna lie about it?
Nice guys miss their flights.
Are you opposed to TSA pre-check? It was the best 75 bucks I’ve spent in a while and I only travel by plane twice a year. Your kids are included with you as well. Yeah, it sucks balls having to pay the government for this bullshit, but five minutes compared to sometimes waiting in an hour security line is worth it. You also don’t need to take off shoes or jacket.
I haven’t really traveled enough to warrant it, but that may be changing soon.
If you travel internationally or have credit card reimbursement, get GE which includes Pre benefits. If you’re passing through a Canadian airport or close to a CBSA enrollment center, get NEXUS (includes GE & Pre) at half the price. But credit card reimbursements usually don’t cover Nexus.
Yeah, definitely Global Entry is worth it if you travel internationally a lot. If you just go once in a while there is a free app called Mobile Passport that functions like Global Entry on arrival back, letting you cut to the front of the customs line.
have credit card reimbursement
Thank you for reminding me to sign up for GE. Gotta work those amex fees back down.
It’s $75 for 5 years. The only info they really get on you besides your ID info is your fingerprints. They already have mine so that wasn’t an issue for me. The last time I waited with three little kids in an hour security line I said fuck this and went and got it before the next trip. You have to go in person once to the office to get your prints and give them your info, but I didn’t even make an appointment and I was in and out in 10 minutes.
Get Global Entry. It’s only $25 more.
You know what? I don’t feel like rockin’ around the Christmas ? this morning. Looking around at the salarymen and they don’t look full of jolly, either. Nice music choice.
Need to warm up the ocha.
https://youtu.be/pH2rVfxYc6w
Gin. The breakfast of alkies. Think I’ll stick with the coffee, please.
“Who doesn’t like Gin waffles?!?”
*phew* I use the gin at the end of the day. Not an alky then.
It’s “See what random food is still in the house” night. I ended up cooking a premade Chicken Tikka Masala. No, I don’t know why I had one.
At least I didn’t have to thaw anything out.
Should I go back to Red Dead Redemption 2? I finally wrapped up the tutorial chapter. I’m staring at the open map and going… well, now what?
Now wander around a masterfully crafted open world map until the travel between the storyline parts becomes tiresome.
Great game but it made me realize that I don’t have the patience for open world gameplay.
-1 that last Zelda game that was all open-world boring stuff like “oh God I have to cook another meal again?!”
I was actually underwhelmed by RDR2. Was hoping for more to do outside of the story.
I made surprisingly delicious peasant food. Cabbage and turnips fried together with bacon.
All the meat I have is frozen. I need to restock on vegetables, since I’m down to reserve cans. I just don’t want to leave the house.
The bacon was frozen. A good Chinese cleaver DGAF about frozen bacon.
If you have frozen “chunks,” you can shave pieces off to make excellent stir fries or soups. If it’s just frozen hamburger or sausages, that’s what the microwave is for.
It’s a solid brick of duck.
Upthread it was duck dick, now it’s duck brick…
Huh. Is this leftover smoked duck or a whole frozen duck?
Also: re: the recommendation for smoked duck sandwiches: all of the ones I’ve had have been served hot, so the fat wasn’t an issue. I imagine if you tried to use it as cold cuts it would have been unpleasant.
“I looked at states that voted for Donald Trump versus states that voted for Clinton in 2016, and calculated average life expectancy weighted by their 2016 population. In 1990, today’s red and blue states had almost the same life expectancy. Since then, however, life expectancy in Clinton states has risen more or less in line with other advanced countries, compared with almost no gain in Trump country. At this point, blue-state residents can expect to live more than four years longer than their red-state counterparts.”
This probably will be covered by Winston’s mom but this is one of Krugnut’s latest brainification.
Shorter version: ‘Stupid rubes who are stupid voted for Trump and deservedly die earlier’
Link:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/12/04/red_death_blue_health_141887.html
Guessing that’s due to the opioids.
That may be a contributing factor but we all know its the inherent deplorableness.
Jesus, Krugman has turned into one dumb, spiteful son of a bitch. There’s all kinds of ways you could analyze that data (which is often a good sign that you probably shouldn’t analyze it on its own, until you’ve done more detailed research), but let that not stop America’s foremost expert on everything Paul Krugman from sharing how petty and shallow he’s become.
Oklahoma Surgery Center quotes all their prices on their website. They are all-inclusive pricing.
“NASA prepped for alien communication with ‘LSD dolphin sex’ experiment”
https://twitter.com/dailystar/status/1201216136764936194
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/nasa-prepped-alien-communication-lsd-20988532
Wut? The LSD dolphin sex experiment had nothing to do with NASA. The only redeeming feature of UK journalisming is the entertainment value.
It’s ruttin’ loathsome is what it is. It’s frequently a point of contention with my boomer parents, whom I love dearly, but for whom The Guardian is absolute paradigm of thoroughly impartial, dignified, “just the facts” journalism. Of course they’ve a notion they’re a mite too fancy for reading The Star, but as far as I’m concerned there really isn’t any difference in quality.
Good grief – the Guardian is one tweak away from straight-up communism as far as I can tell. Sorry, dude.
Interestingly enough I used to work in a small outfit where one late thirty-something guy used to come in and stir up political discussion and whisper all kinds of hard left propaganda talking points to the young guys who started there like he was grooming them for his commie club. He delivered everything with a smirk, and when I contradicted him he’d put on his best straight face and condescend me with “uh, i dont see why thats at all clever/funny”, whatever. Anyway, the point of me telling you this was that he was sort of a window into the hard left gossip scene, as it were, and he reckoned that in recent years the Guardian had moved significantly to the right because of some shady boardroom appointments on the trust that runs it. With what I’ve seen in the paper itself it occurs to me that he may be living in a bizzarro opposites world. He also said that Corbyn and the most recent Labour manifestos were “not far left at all” which seems to be one of those overton window problems.
Gorram. Shopping for a gun safe is worse than shopping for a mattress.
Liberty or Heritage.
Interesting, Browning seems to be better than Liberty so far. What am I missing?
The most important thing is to find a safe that meets your needs. What’s also important is the fire rating and bang for the buck. I don’t just store guns in my safe. After looking at the Browning safes, they appear to be pretty good. I focused on Liberty and Heritage. I ended up with a Heritage Centennial, because they’re made here in Idaho. What you definitely don’t want is a safe made in China. FWIW, Cabela brand safes are made by Liberty.
An accessory that I really like is door pockets for hand guns.
Agreed on the door pockets.
Yeah, Browning has bitchin’ door storage.
I’m having difficulty finding a site for Heritage that has prices. Heritagesafe.com doesn’t, nor does fortresssafe.com which was linked to from there and I suspect is the same company based on design elements. They also don’t offer specifics on construction which is a red flag.
Old Glory seems pretty good on paper (or LCD screen). All of their safes have minimum of 120 minute fire protection, and they list used and floor models as being available. I’d need to get a secondary rigging crew to have the safe delivered from them though. Good thing I know guys at Arnoff.
I bought my Liberty from Lowes. They delivered it and brought it inside and set it up. Top notch service. The price was pretty darn good too.
I bought my Liberty from Lowes.
Man, you Yanks live in a whole ‘nother universe. There’s NFW that a big-box hardware store in Canada would sell gun safes, let alone deliver it or set it up.
Set it up, did that included bolting it to floor/studs or ?
Nah. Unboxing and putting it into position is what I meant.
*boggles*
I can’t think of a single big box that doesn’t sell gun safes.
Of course, some of them sell really crappy things that just look like gun safes but are 16ga sheet metal tack welded together *koffTractorsupplycompanykoff*
TSC has been a big disappointment. Finally got one after hearing for years about how great they are. And the thing is like the Harbor Freight of farm/hardware stores.
I have liberty and am satisfied.
Liberty Franklin 35 here.
Love it.
I need a second one.
There are pushy gun safe salesmen?
No, but trying to compare features across brands is an absolute bitch. Plus the delivery/installation cost can vary by a kilobuck across dealers.
I was told avoid made in China. Most Chinese manufacturers overdo the formaldehyde on the walls, which is bad for the guns.
Oh and on mattresses…Tempur-pedic ftw.
I’m partial to Sleep Number myself.
Yep. A TP “cured” my wife’s carpal tunnel syndrome (which turned out to be a brachial plexus compression problem because she’s a side-sleeper — the TP mattress de-compressed her shoulder/brachial plexus enough that the CTS “problem” just went away . . . )
Don’t you hate it when you go to pull a specific bottle out of your whiskey closet and it’s not there? I really don’t remember finishing it off either, but I can’t imagine that I lost a bottle. Oh well, Four Roses Small Batch is an excellent substitute
Whiskey gnomes.
What were you looking for?
Black Button. I can’t say it’s great, but I was just in the mood for it.
Haven’t had it. Sounds like a pass.
Yeah, don’t go out of your way to look for it. It’s one of your typical hipster “I think I’ll open a distillery!” products, but for some reason it seemed the thing to drink tonight since I had some. Or thought I did.
Anybody watch “The Irishman”? Worthwhile?
Yeah, yeah – drugs fell out his ass…; a rare night alone, I haven’t even been wasting time here.
I watched it last night. Imagine a less enjoyable “Goodfellas” that’s an hour longer and your brain glitching out because of Robert Denaros deepfake version of his younger self wearing too blue contact lenses.
It’s ok but definitely does not live up the the hype.
It was way too long.
It also has every mob movie actor ever, mostly in what amount to cameo roles.
So, DeNiro’s broke again?
“I Got Inseminated In A Burger King Bathroom Just Off Route 57”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/lgbtq-insemination-pregnancy_n_5de56e01e4b0913e6f83b620
TW: Huffpo, Do not read
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJXYMDu6dpY
LOL
I skimmed. I guess it’s easy for me because there is no-way no-how I want kids. But… I don’t see how her ‘queerness’ is relevant when there are plenty of boring squares who actually can’t have kids the normal way as opposed to won’t. ?♂️
That was ghostwritten by SF, wasn’t it ?
Random music:
Local radio had this gem on the other day. I had forgotten about this awesome blue-eyed soul tune.
#metoo
Nice.
I . . . I have never heard this before. Ever.
*sheepishly raises hand*
And I like The Jam too.
I was just about to link BEAM to this.
Paul Weller is a talent.
My fave!
I’ll raise you with this.
Jimmy Somerville had (still has?) a amazing voice
I 1st heard him in Bronski Beat, but I really like that Sarah Morris he sings with on that song.
Ah, the 80s
https://youtu.be/9Nq2ZXYkBTA
Ah, memories.
For me, Somerville is an example of someone’s overt political nonsense being known to me and therefore affecting how I like/think about/receive their music. He only called his band The Communards because he thought ‘The Communists’ was a little too on the nose. Fun fact, the other member of The Communards lied to Jimmy Somerville about having AIDS and that’s why they broke up, and now he’s a vicar with a long running national radio show.
I try to tune out any obnoxious political noise from musicians and actors but occasionally it gets through.
I wikipedia’ed The Style Council from above and it seems they were on the Hate Margaret bandwagon like every other band from that era, only more overtly. It’s pretty much an occupational hazard of growing up liking a lot of eighties English bands.
I think that was the de facto position of almost the entire artistic community then.
I’m surprised I haven’t heard more anti-Trump stuff from my favorite bands. Here is one of the few I noticed and it’s just an instrumental with some voice sampling – nothing like the assassination-fantasy stuff that was common for Margaret.
I, too, try not to get hung up on artist’s political leanings – I’d have almost nothing to enjoy, otherwise.
Maggie made people crazy. Or they were already crazy.
From what I know, she was mostly correct and her opponents were living in a fantasy. That which can’t go on forever, won’t.
@Rhywun that colonSITDcolon band has a Skinny Puppy vibe. Is there nothing new under the moon?
I optimistically look at the title of the track and hope it’s some sort of artistic rebuttal to the garbage postmodern anti-objectivity anti-fact religion of the intersectionals et al.
Heh, the electro/industrial-dance/future-pop etc etc scene is bigger than ever. Especially if you live in Germany. Yeah it all sounds the same but some are better at it than others. This band has some great songs even if this particular track is just a throw-away.
Still has, as of five years ago. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CNhLOfUPHa8
Blue-eyed soul
This is what we the people are listening to.
Well, that kicks ass.
There is room in my heart for all sorts of music.
I have “The Umbrella Academy” going in the other browser since someone mentioned it upthread; I make it to 3 minutes in, then they’re using The Kinks “Picture Book” and I instantly pause it and go down a rabbit-hole with “Picture Book” vs. Greenday’s “Warning”.
Maybe multitasking isn’t for me.
I’m liking the music aspect of the ‘sound design’ of movies, but especially series.
Legion (series) was effing brilliant that way. Umbrella is similarly set with music hooks.
Maybe I’m naive, or lacking in discriminatory power, but I think the quality and expanse [sic] of what the cable channels have been doing for the last 5-ish years has taken a big step up.
You’re not wrong – we’re in a Golden Age of readily accessible content.
Quality that would have been the restricted to movies a decade or two ago is now almost commonplace, to the point that low production values are shocking.
I dunno, I watch a lot of niche youtube channels and sometimes the content is good enough that I don’t mind skipping through the parts they didn’t edit out like moving the camera or stopping to talk to their wife. It’s like an “edit your own” style of content.
*realizes the post is specifically about sound design/music*
Sorry
Question:
When did the trope of “long narratively empty shots on the screen while cool music plays” begin. Typically I see it with cityscapes (that don’t actually establish anything) and the earliest I can remember it is Ally McBeal.
It’s been a thing for a while now. It’s absolute magic; it fills up so much time between the commercials.
I just realized the that I’m The Man uses the same chord progression in the intro.
Still a great song.
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So, about time to retire and return to his gentlemanly farming?
TE the Grinch Door decorating contest at work