Sounds like there’s big trouble a-brewing for Major League Baseball (according to ESPN, anyway, which isn’t always the most reliable source). Supposedly, they’re getting ready to suspend some 20 players foe using banned, performance-enhancing substances. I find it difficult to care, personally, and I figure if people want to shoot up with whatever, well, what do I care? Oh, but what about the children, right? And I guess if it’s against the rules, then it’s against the rules (the rules being those things that you’re allowed to ignore as long as you don’t get caught). But mostly I don’t care.
Sad to hear that Deacon Jones passed away. Most people probably remember him from his guest appearances on shows like The Brady Bunch, The Odd Couple, and Bewitched, but he apparently played a little football, too. Plus he sacked the QB without doing some ridiculous dance.
So apparently, when it comes to being heckled, Michelle Obama don’t take no shit.
Michelle Obama had a rare face-off with a heckler at a Democratic fund-raiser on Tuesday evening before the protesting woman, shouting for gay rights, was escorted out by party supporters.
[…]
But where Mr. Obama, more accustomed to such interruptions, typically waits in place for the protester to stop and perhaps acknowledges the complaint, his wife chose direct confrontation.She left the lectern and moved toward the heckler. “One of the things I don’t do well is this,†she said, to loud applause. She said the protester could “listen to me, or you can take the mike, but I’m leaving. You all decide. You have one choice.â€
Apparently the heckler – Ellen Sturtz – was rather surprised to get up close and personal with FLOTUS.
Sturtz was stunned by her close encounter with Obama, she later told The Washington Post.
“She came right down in my face,†the heckler said. “I was taken aback.â€
Taken aback? She was probably lucky to not have been taken to the Emergency Room.
Have you seen the latest advertising-related controversy? Apparently Swiffer® is in hot water (so to speak) for an ad featuring a woman wearing a do-rag and holding a Swiffer® SteamBoost mop. This is somehow both sexist and seen as crapping on the legacy of Rosie the Riveter.
We have one of those, I think (it something that plugs in to charge, anyway). And I’ve actually used it (mostly I use the Swiffer® wet mop, because it’s easier to figure out. I will admit that my wife uses it more often than I do, though. I’m not sure this is sexist on my part, any more that it’s sexist on my wife’s part to not get on the tractor to cut the grass or used the compressor to put air in her tires. Just kind of a division of labor combined with that thing where whoever has the lowest tolerance for dirt tends to be the one who cleans first.
I think I’m more likely to do the dishes, though (especially since I use far fewer dishes). But that’s only because I like to be able to use the sink (we really need to get a dishwasher – it’s one of the few things I miss from the old house; actually, I miss all the appliances that were basically new when we moved). Oh well.
Oh well, time to get back to work, I guess.
Thought pj might have caught this one on Morning Edition…
How One Patent Could Take Down One Comedian
by ZOE CHACE
Link to podcast in article.
Yeah, I did hear that. It’s hard for me to understand how you can get a patent for a vague idea that you never actually made work, or for things that are rather obvious.
I mean, for Apple to have been awarded a patent on a rectangle with rounded corners is just plain ridiculous. My swimming pool is probably in violation of their patent.
I’ve long had an idea for a gun that fires dry ice pellets to kill flies (a fly machine gun). So I guess I should patent it even though I have no idea how to make one (though if I did, I would call it the “Fred”).
‘Fred’ was the word they used to sub for ‘fuck’ in the lyrics of Jefferson Airplane/Starship records.
I thought of a reverse microwave which you could put a warm beer in for a quick cool or make ice cream in minutes. As for that iPhone corner nonsense, they squared off the corners on subsequent models.
Also, if you didn’t hear the “When Patents Attack Part 2” This American Life episode this weekend, it was pretty good (Maron’s in there briefly as well).
No, I did not. Thanks. I usually catch one of the many replays of that show. Hopefully now I got that blog killing Michael Douglas story below the fold (so to speak).
I saw somebody on Twitter who said that Michael Douglas would go down on history for that.
Yesterday, we had a cork floor put down in the kitchen. It is a floating floor (not glued down) and the cork came on 12 x 18″ snap together tiles. It took 2 experienced people 7 hours to complete. Two years ago Mike would have insisted that he, with my incompetent assistance, could put the floor down ourselves. Thank goodness we didn;t try. Sometimes we get lucky.
Oh, cool. I’d like to do that in the bathroom (after I get rid of the giant dinosaur of a whirlpool tub and put a nice big shower in its place, getting rid of the current one, replace the vanity, and put in a tube skylight).
Of course, on our budget, we’d have to muddle through it ourselves (which is why it’s probably not gonna happen anytime soon).
Cool!