^Kid Rock's dad was rich.  He owned like 6 car dealerships.  I always assumed that he grew up in a 3-bedroom house in a bland suburb, not a 5,000 sq foot house. 

http://www.wxyz.com/news/kid-rocks-childhood-estate-on-sale-for-13-million-in-bruce-township

 

So his dad very might have well been involved in Republican politics in Michigan, and that's how we ended up with his rumored Senate campaign. 

 

 

"Straight Outta Compton? I'm straight out the pool house!"

 

In his defense, if there was a trailer park anywhere near there I guarantee the trailer park kids were straight up his ass every single second, especially if he went to public school. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he did hang around trailer parks a lot as a youth. Since that house has now been marked down to under $1M despite its size and amenities, there very well may be poverty in the immediate area.

F, I'm eating entire tubs of hummus now for lunch (they're down to $2.50/each for both Sabra and Cedar at Marianos). The Sabra container is 10 servings, the Cedar container 20 servings; I can inhale the Sabra and finish most of the Cedar, just one of either per meal. Every day I've been doing this, and it keeps me filled all day and through the evening.

 

I've also been frantically reading online how bad/good that is for you. Will I gain weight? Is this unhealthy? Very unhealthy? Nominally unhealthy? I'm just eating it plain with some hot sauce, no pita or veggies. Who the f gets obsessed with hummus anyhow???

Hummus usually has a lot of fat in it. Probably best to make it yourself and use extra virgin olive oil. Overall, I'd call it healthy, though. Especially by my standards!

 

I forgot the name of the brand but there's this really good sriracha carrot hummus I like to get. It's amazing. It's made with white beans though which is slightly less healthy than chickpeas.

 

 

 

edit: Yeah, this stuff right here  :-P

 

https://www.target.com/p/eat-well-embrace-life-174-zesty-sriracha-carrot-hummus-10-oz/-/A-52183130

^I love hummus. I believe it does have a lot of fat, but it's the good, heart-healthy kind of fat. No? Sabra is the best brand. I especially like the Roasted Pine Nut variety. It goes well with tortilla chips. Also the Whole Foods store brand is good.

I've had a sinus infection for the past 8 days. I don't think I've ever been sick this long. 3 other people where I work have the same symptoms. I've popped so much Mucinex it's ridiculous. I've never bought OTC pills before, for an ailment and had to buy more in the same stint of being sick. I went into a convenience store up the street and asked if they had Mucinex and the cashier laughed and said 'no, but you're the third person to ask me that this morning.' I went back into CVS and saw that by the front counter there was a mountain of cold/allergy medication to be grabbed while standing in line. It's crazy.

 

I've felt miserable for over a week now and can't stop coughing. I hate to be around anybody. I called the 24 hr nurse hotline through my insurance company and she told me the same thing the woman told me at the minute clinic, that it's viral and I just have to wait it out. Unless it lasts longer than 10 days, its assumed to be viral and there's nothing you can do about it.

 

I made a home made neti pot today and tried that out using boiling water and salt. It was amazing how it flushed out my sinus cavity and made me feel better. The effect only seemed to last about an hour though. I'm thinking about buying a real one. Although it seems kinda gross, it makes sense to make it a regular hygenic routine like brushing your teeth.

 

A few days ago my coworker on facebook shared a news article about how there's a new virus spreading in NE Ohio that mimicks allergy symptoms. I don't know if that's what I have but I've seen a lot of people around me with similar symptoms. Coughing, blowing their nose a lot, nasal congestion, wheezing.

My girlfriend broke up with me (and she was the absolute only reason I moved to Cleveland to begin with.) I felt so alone and decided to quit my job and move to Chillicothe to be around my mom and sister while I figure this sh!t out and get it together. Everyone's asleep and Im laying on the couch and the TV is set to the Bravo channel. For the life of me I can't find the remote to change ilthe channel. Its absolute torture. I've been a freaking insomniac for the past ten days and I now have to put up with reality shows on Bravo. Real Housewives of New Jersey is on right now. This feels like Clockwork orange when dude was subjected to classical conditioning, strapped in a chair, eyes preyed open fed eye drops and forced to watch vomit inducing violence on TV. I can't believe people purposely watch this stuff. I didn't know these kinds of shows still exist. I haven't experienced cable TV in so many years but obviously nothing has changed.

There was a pretty good storyline about three or four years ago between Melissa/Muscular Joe and Teresa/Fat Joe (Muscular Joe and Teresa are siblings). Fake or not, lightly scripted or improvised, clearly there was massive, legit venom between the two families, and it made for fun TV. I remember the feud capping off where the four went to a hotel to bond... and the two Joes started fighting because Muscular Joe is temperamental while Fat Joe is a drunk and responsible for both him and his wife going to prison for fraud, among other charges.

 

Teresa ran outside as the fight broke out (guess she needed some cardio), and Melissa tried to break up the fight. Kudos to her, and to hell with her sister-in-law and her criminal husband. 

 

Better than golf!

this is kind of a test to see if the links are working:

 

 

recording the voice of ike for southpark — totally nsfw !!!

 

I miss having 5 stars above my handle. Can we get those back? It made me feel important. What is a full member? Does that mean you're a donor? I see I suddenly have ads at the bottom of the page. I don't think that was there before, when I was logged in. I don't mind it though.

^I love hummus.

 

Sabra is the best brand.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/19/health/hummus-sabra-recalled/index.html

 

We specifically avoid Sabra.

My gut tells me that people are probably more likely to get food poisoning or even die from improper food handling and storage in their own home than from buying a product from a company like Sabra or wherever else. It said in the article that they recalled it due to 'posssible' contamination but that no contamination was even found in the products they sampled. Sounds like a responsible and cautious food manufacturer to me. It's too bad that companies act responsibly by recalling their own products for potential safety concerns as a result of their own inspections and then get forever stigmatized by the public as a consequence.  It says right in the article that no one got sick or died from contamination.

 

The same people who will never buy Sabra again, probably buy organic vegetables and don't bother thoroughly washing all the manure (i.e. 'natural' fertilizer) off of their food before consuming it.

 

my spouse and some of her staff and other coworkers are heading out to dinner tonight with ‘the president of email.’

 

i said isn’t that a band from boston?

 

I don't know if schools still have Thanksgiving assemblies. I'm guessing not, since the official public school curriculum must now contain thousands of trigger warnings against this sort of celebration, but back when I was in the 5th grade (50+ years ago) we hadn't yet devolved into a mass culture of snowflakes. My teacher, Mr. Reeves, proudly announced one day, a couple of weeks before the actual date, that our class would be singing a hymn called Faith of Our Fathers at the annual Thanksgiving assembly. Rehearsals got off to a rocky start as students had a difficult time with the slow melody of the song (which dated from the mid-19th century), and it only went downhill from there. Each day leading up to the day of performance he would become increasingly agitated at the inability of everyone to get on the same page, so to speak. At least half the class, probably including myself, could not capture the correct key of the song, despite the prompting of an ocarina (not even sure to this day what that is) that Mr. Reeves used more and more, almost as a weapon of punishment. Finally, exasperated and visibly angry, he announced that we were changing songs, but I've had a mental block all these years remembering what that was. All I remember was the song we didn't sing. I think for the rest of the school year we never tried anything like that again

 

That song is like a weird mix of Catholic church music and Southern Gospel.   

I don't know if schools still have Thanksgiving assemblies. I'm guessing not, since the official public school curriculum must now contain thousands of trigger warnings against this sort of celebration, but back when I was in the 5th grade (50+ years ago) we hadn't yet devolved into a mass culture of snowflakes. My teacher, Mr. Reeves, proudly announced one day, a couple of weeks before the actual date, that our class would be singing a hymn called Faith of Our Fathers at the annual Thanksgiving assembly. Rehearsals got off to a rocky start as students had a difficult time with the slow melody of the song (which dated from the mid-19th century), and it only went downhill from there. Each day leading up to the day of performance he would become increasingly agitated at the inability of everyone to get on the same page, so to speak. At least half the class, probably including myself, could not capture the correct key of the song, despite the prompting of an ocarina (not even sure to this day what that is) that Mr. Reeves used more and more, almost as a weapon of punishment. Finally, exasperated and visibly angry, he announced that we were changing songs, but I've had a mental block all these years remembering what that was. All I remember was the song we didn't sing. I think for the rest of the school year we never tried anything like that again

 

 

Somebody needs his all bran.

 

I'm guessing the decline of Thanksgiving celebrations (FWIW, I've never heard of these and I was in elementary school in the 70's) has more to do with the experience you just described, and kids boredom with singing olde timey songs, than any political agenda.

^lol. yeah, this is a traditional song hymnals found in churches of mainstream denominations, which once dominated in America, probably through the 1960's. Although jmecklenborg is correct, it's actually a Catholic hymn. The most lively rendition I could find online was this contemporary interpretation by a vocal group affiliated with the Methodist Church in Ghana. Otherwise, I admit it's kind of a lugubrious tune.

 

^ there is zero chance that was as bad as our 5th grade boys choir mangling band on the run.

I don't know if schools still have Thanksgiving assemblies. I'm guessing not, since the official public school curriculum must now contain thousands of trigger warnings against this sort of celebration, but back when I was in the 5th grade (50+ years ago) we hadn't yet devolved into a mass culture of snowflakes. My teacher, Mr. Reeves, proudly announced one day, a couple of weeks before the actual date, that our class would be singing a hymn called Faith of Our Fathers at the annual Thanksgiving assembly.

 

Lighten up, Francis.  They must've stopped it during the Nixon administration because I have no idea what you're talking about.  Maybe you were just "lucky" enough to have a religious freak for a teacher....

 

Faith of our fathers, living still,

In spite of dungeon, fire, and sword;

Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy

Whene’er we hear that glorious Word!

 

Refrain:

Faith of our fathers, holy faith!

We will be true to thee till death.

 

Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,

Were still in heart and conscience free;

How sweet would be their children’s fate,

If they, like them, could die for thee!

 

Faith of our fathers, we will strive

To win all nations unto thee;

And through the truth that comes from God,

We all shall then be truly free.

 

Faith of our fathers, we will love

Both friend and foe in all our strife;

And preach thee, too, as love knows how

By kindly words and virtuous life.

 

....Uh, no thanks.

New York is on track to have fewer than 300 murders this year in a city of well over 8.5 million people. Unbelievable.

 

http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-nws-new-york-killings-record-low-2017-story.html

 

"Killings hit record low in New York City, despite terror attacks" 

 

Meanwhile Chicago currently has 662 murders in a city of 2.7 million people. Equally unbelievable.

 

New York is on track to have fewer than 300 murders this year in a city of well over 8.5 million people. Unbelievable.

 

http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-nws-new-york-killings-record-low-2017-story.html

 

"Killings hit record low in New York City, despite terror attacks" 

 

Meanwhile Chicago currently has 662 murders in a city of 2.7 million people. Equally unbelievable.

 

 

Toronto, a city of 2.7 million people and a metro of 5.9 million people, hasn't had a year of more than 86 homicides since 2005.  They haven't had more than 400 gunshot victims in any year since 2005.

 

I'm not sure what's "unbelievable" about New York's murders being less than 300 this year.

 

There were 395 homicides in Japan in 2014.  The whole country.  Their population is north of 126 million.

 

Our bar is so incredibly low.

Well I won't argue that it's sad our homicide rates are appalling by Western World standards, but a 14 percent drop in NYC from a year ago, in a city that used to have over 1000 annual homicides with much smaller populations, is still something to applaud.

I'm so lazy. I don't think I've ever deleted any of my gmails, ever, and I've had an account since back when you had to be invited to have a gmail account. Despite this, I've only used 5% of my space. Needless to say, I won't be deleting any time soon. They shouldn't be giving us 15 GB of storage.

 

On the other hand, some people are really anal about deleting useless emails. Seems like a waste of time when I'm given such a generous amount of free storage.

Google doesn't mind you keeping all those old emails around, it gives them more data to build a profile about you. :)

No doubt.

iI don't bother deleting anything either.

 

my spouse worked for google for a few years and has kind of seen it all, but one time she came back just stunned after a work trip to their largest data farm. acres of servers. that one is in colorado. so yeah, definitely no worries about google storage.

timely trivia i did not know -- ulysses grant made christmas a formal holiday:

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ulysses-s-grant-president-made-christmas-holiday-article-1.3714376

this is amazing — the worst mall of all time — the galleria at pittsburgh mills

 

New York is on track to have fewer than 300 murders this year in a city of well over 8.5 million people. Unbelievable.

 

http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-nws-new-york-killings-record-low-2017-story.html

 

"Killings hit record low in New York City, despite terror attacks" 

 

Meanwhile Chicago currently has 662 murders in a city of 2.7 million people. Equally unbelievable.

 

 

Toronto, a city of 2.7 million people and a metro of 5.9 million people, hasn't had a year of more than 86 homicides since 2005.  They haven't had more than 400 gunshot victims in any year since 2005.

 

I'm not sure what's "unbelievable" about New York's murders being less than 300 this year.

 

There were 395 homicides in Japan in 2014.  The whole country.  Their population is north of 126 million.

 

Our bar is so incredibly low.

 

Well said. My Ukrainian wife is horrified at the violence in the USA.

Today, December 31, 2017 will be the only day every adult in the world was born in the 1900s, and every minor was born in the 2000s.

Well said. My Ukrainian wife is horrified at the violence in the USA.

 

She is right to be; however ...

 

2010 murder rate per million

 

US  -  42.01

Ukraine  -  51.36

She's especially appalled at the mass shootings. She also never heard gunshots outside of a shooting gallery until she moved to the USA.

A few New Year's resolutions from The Hardest Working Man In Showbusiness...

I was off work for six days and returned with a beard that I let grow out during the six days that I was honestly just being lazy but edged up the morning I went back in. I was just thinking it's winter, it's cold as hell and I could use all the hair I can grow so whatever, I'll try it out. The women at work went nuts over my board. One woman said, "Wow, you're ruggedly handsome!" Beards are a trend right now but it's still surprising. I think the trick to effective facial hair is showing that you've done something with it. You can't just look shaggy.

The women at work went nuts over my board.

 

So just how do you maintain your shaggy BOARD?

Oops. Beaaarrrrd.

 

I never knew how annoying and time consuming they could be to maintain compared to clean-shaving. Probably just me, though. I don't even like figuring out what I'm wearing for the day.

I was off work for six days and returned with a beard that I let grow out during the six days that I was honestly just being lazy but edged up the morning I went back in. I was just thinking it's winter, it's cold as hell and I could use all the hair I can grow so whatever, I'll try it out. The women at work went nuts over my board. One woman said, "Wow, you're ruggedly handsome!" Beards are a trend right now but it's still surprising. I think the trick to effective facial hair is showing that you've done something with it. You can't just look shaggy.

 

I trim mine down as far as I can about once or twice a week.  Looks less gray that way.  I'm also shaving the rest of my noggin at least every other day, lest I look my actual age.

 

Holly used to say she couldn't complain too much about the gray because she caused most of it, but that doesn't apply anymore.

So kind of an interesting fact I just saw on Twitter:

 

John Tyler,the 10th president, has two living grandchildren.  I just find that fascinating. 

Is it bad that I've never heard of that president? I know about most of them... He must not have left much of a legacy, other than his offspring.

The first thing Google said about him when I looked him up is that he was a 'big supporter of state rights.' I think I hate him already.

^ I believe that he is also the only president who died as a sworn enemy of the United States.

Fascinating. I thought Trump would get that title.

So will Casey Affleck introduce Best Actress in this year's Oscars, and will James Franco attend if/when he gets nominated?

 

I say no to the first- it would be poetic if Brie Larson introduced the Best Actress instead of that animal - and yes, Franco will show up to a chorus of general silence from the hypocrites in the audience. Well, maybe his brother will applaud, unless he grows a pair by then.

The first thing Google said about him when I looked him up is that he was a 'big supporter of state rights.' I think I hate him already.

 

It didn't mean then what it does now.  The Framers definitely placed the states ahead of the Union.

 

Tyler was never elected, he succeeded to office when William Henry Harrison died after a month.  He was the first VP to do so.  He did have one lasting impact on American history, he was a strong supporter of  "manifest destiny" which meant annexing Texas and eventually buying the Mexican Cession after the war.

Heh. These days, every federal-level Republican's cop-out response to controversial issues in order to mitigate risk, is "it should be left up to the states." That's why I said that. It's really annoying. The legalization of marijuana (including recreational use) needs to be implemented at the federal level so that drug laws that result in incarceration are fair across the board. Abortion needs to be federal as well, since someone can just travel the next state over, to get the procedure done.

 

People back then probably loved the sense of autonomy with individual state rights but I think it's less relevant now. People don't identify with their state as much as they identify with being an American. I would argue that people identify with their city or metro area as much or more as they identify with their state. States are the most irrelevant level of government in the minds of most people, with such a strong urban vs. rural dynamic that you see now.

 

It was also much more difficult to move to another state or travel before 1900. Unless you were wealthy you hoofed it or were limited to areas close to rivers or canals. You were also much more likely to be tied to a farm like I am still today.

We live in an entire different country now, that's for sure.

How are you tied to a farm? What do you mean?

We own 400 acres in Pickaway County just south of Rickenbacker. It's just my mother and I. She lives in the farmhouse. At some point in the next 10 years some of it may sell due to warehouse growth near the cargo hub.

Heh. These days, every federal-level Republican's cop-out response to controversial issues in order to mitigate risk, is "it should be left up to the states." That's why I said that. It's really annoying. The legalization of marijuana (including recreational use) needs to be implemented at the federal level so that drug laws that result in incarceration are fair across the board. Abortion needs to be federal as well, since someone can just travel the next state over, to get the procedure done.

 

People back then probably loved the sense of autonomy with individual state rights but I think it's less relevant now. People don't identify with their state as much as they identify with being an American. I would argue that people identify with their city or metro area as much or more as they identify with their state. States are the most irrelevant level of government in the minds of most people, with such a strong urban vs. rural dynamic that you see now.

 

 

It's good to have different laws between states (subject to the limitations of the Bill of Rights, of course) for a couple of reasons.  One is their people still retain different characters.  Another is it allows different approaches to be tested on a lower level to see what works and what does not.