JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
On the topic of lessons, I assume Xi has also learned from the example of Putin in Ukraine
Waiting patiently for more election and baseball and basketball stats people to make it over here
108 followers 527 following 249 posts
view profile on Bluesky JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
On the topic of lessons, I assume Xi has also learned from the example of Putin in Ukraine
Here's the pro sports what-if that not enough people are contemplating: Could you and your three best homies get an average major league baserunner out in a rundown? I think my mates and I could tag out Randal Grichuk seven times out of 10
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
There's a fun viral video of University of Maryland football players saying "Aaron earned an iron urn" in their Balitmore accents www.facebook.com/reel/1284561...
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
I'm going to see Camper Van Beethoven in a couple of weeks and I am STOKED
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
At least cowboy lady in the star doesn't have any guns pointed at anyone
The recently selected chair of a North Carolina county Board of Elections was charged for allegedly drugging ice cream from Dairy Queen with MDMA and Cocaine and giving them to his two grandchildren
HUGE FLIP: Democrat Catelin Drey wins deep-red state Senate seat in Iowa, breaking the GOP's supermajority. Drey won by 11 points in a district Donald Trump carried by 11 points last year. It's another massive overperformance. The Iowa GOP should be very worried for the midterms. Our full writeup:
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
makes sense, thanks
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
I'll be at this part of the hellhole tonight, never been too worried about it before but maybe tonight is the night people start smashing instruments over each others' heads www.bmoreoldtime.com/baltimore-ol...
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
What's Mansolino done poorly? They've been winning more under him. But as a dual Reds/O's fan I've been watching the Reds a lot more for obvious reasons
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Jay-Z - Can I Get A... Beck - Where It's At
Honestly the most outrageous new change at Cracker Barrel is that, when you fail at the peg game, it says there's "no reason to be embarrassed" instead of calling you an "eg-no-ra-moose." Our country is in tatters
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
I dunno about that particular take, but any day with any kind of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser discourse is a good day for me
If you live in/represent a Blue State, want to gerrymander the FUCK out of your state, support and are willing to fight for a national anti-gerrymandering law you are principled, consistent and doing exactly the right thing.
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Please post more often here, block freely, build Bluesky ET, starve the X beast. Deleting X is the right thing to do
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
wow, and I've generally liked the Best Coast stuff I've heard. Wonder if they lost a bet
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
I love the followup from a few years later "War Over as Franz Ferdinand Found Alive" "'How Fares Europe?' Asks Presumed-Dead Archduke"
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
e.g. the Art Deco friezes that were intended to go to the Met medium.com/@nevaer1/whe...
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
sure he would! the guy destroys things for no reason all the time
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Makes sense, thanks
“Uh, no, when you were on the roof they were shouting ‘Trump! Trump!”
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Who can I call to get this moving? obviously my reps and the gov but is there a committee or anything that would push it forward?
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
I had it recommend “bass surgery recovery time” on a photo of student double bassists. No clue at all where that came from
Thank you Meta AI
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
the guy does say "us" and then specifies it to mean "gifted and depressed," it's not crazy to be annoyed that he thinks "male" is implied when he spells out the other qualities
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
The Reds already had a good-hit-no-field 3B in Marte, might as well try to balance him out with Hayes instead of doubling down with Suarez. Or is Marte going somewhere?
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
and went back to bed. turned out he'd slumped down to lean against the door and slept there for a couple of hours. Lucky for him because I was ready to murder him if I'd got him inside. This was an overseas trip and I was also jet lagged. The next day was ROUGH.
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
I shared an apartment for a night with a guy who went out drinking. In the middle of the night his alarm went off and he had LOCKED HIS DOOR. Eventually he came back to the apartment and had also LOCKED HIMSELF OUT so he banged on the door until I got up, looked through the peephole, didn't see him
Should have bumped *this* thread yesterday but c’mon this is indistinguishable from prior spot fixing scandals in cricket: bsky.app/profile/thea...
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
The day I got my first iPhone, Siri had some sort of outage and was completely nonfunctional. (I discovered this afterward.) After I couldn't make it do anything at all in the first ten minutes, I turned it off forever. Life without it has been fine!
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Pulp Fiction should count. I don't know about The Godfather though
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Hello Vern, my wife and I are watching a bunch of French-language movies this summer and I wondered if you'd seen/reviewed the two Three Musketeers movies ("D'Artagnan" and "Milady") released in 2023. Eva Green, long single-take sword fights, and absurd plots galore
Just an excellent piece on the legacy of Hulk Hogan from David Shoemaker of The Ringer: www.theringer.com/2025/07/24/w...
🎵 "It's a shame about Wray..." 🎵
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
FWIW - I’m being completely serious - Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine is an absolutely horrifying concept wrapped in a cute kids’ fairy tale. The “gift of obedience” belongs in a true horror story
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
squaredle.app for very nicely implemented Boggle thrice.geekswhodrink.com and www.mentalfloss.com/kennections for trivia
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
I picked up Rebecca knowing nothing about it but the first line (which is perfect) and loved it. My wife was a little confused since it didn't seem like my usual fare, but a classic novel is a classic novel regardless of the flowing romancy script on the cover
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Moby-Dick - the GOAT A Canticle for Leibowitz - don't let the title fool you I re-read Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye recently (kid in high school) and they're both still excellent. 3/5 of the Chronicles of Prydain (Black Cauldron, High King, TARAN WANDERER) Sorry for all the dead white guys.
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
for what?
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Tom Browning
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
My college showed The Graduate and Office Space the week of graduation
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social)
Has anyone made a Trump cuddling Epstein Coldplay video yet? Never too late!
Trevor Bauer returned from the Japanese minor leagues today, and he immediately surrendered the longest home run in recorded history (594 ft) to Hiroshima’s Elehuris Montero
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
The ACC college basketball tournament
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
What is it about covers? up there with Madonna's American Pie and A Perfect Circle's Imagine
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
FF7 looked like shit when it came out. All those hideous polygons. "Your developers were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social)
What athlete's expression will stay with you the rest of your life?
At least Cuomo is going out doing what he craves most—being forcibly rejected by all the younger women in New York.
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Andrew Cuomo or Andre the Giant?
One of the SpaceX fan cams caught a crane collapse at Starbase in Texas. This kind of thing only happens from a completely unacceptable safety culture failure and I'd be shocked if there wasn't a death here
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Is it really that difficult to cross post? Honest question, there may be significant obstacles but I couldn’t guess what they are
Punk rock kid buskers (‘The Whops’, tiktok) near the Edgware Rd. They run into Paul Simonon, play Death or Glory for him. He asks if they know The Guns of Brixton. They do -
I did not edit this, this is the actual parade with the actual music being played. CINEMATIC
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social)
I saw Ben Folds at a Zen Frisbee concert at Cat's Cradle in NC, and since he was *completely* alone in the middle of the floor, I figured he likely wouldn't mind me chatting with him. I was right. Super nice guy. Turned out he'd returned some movies next door (!) and decided to drop in to the show.
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
I saw Ben Folds at a Zen Frisbee concert at Cat's Cradle in NC, and since he was *completely* alone in the middle of the floor, I figured he likely wouldn't mind me chatting with him. I was right. Super nice guy. Turned out he'd returned some movies next door (!) and decided to drop in to the show.
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
same with strictness in parenting
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
I have to say, he nailed the "fake English" sound. To be honest, I think that's much more impressive than writing actual hit lyrics
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
I assume you've also read this one about pickpocket Apollo Robbins, which kicks off with a similarly absurd story featuring Penn Jillette? www.newyorker.com/magazine/201...
About That Catch pebblehunting.substack.com/p/that-denze...
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
The Ricky Jay reference out of nowhere was the highlight of my day. I had to stop your article halfway through to go read that one again. What a legend
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social)
I was already excited to read this Sam Miller article and then he casually dropped the legendary Ricky Jay reference in the middle of it. Now I've got to read that one again too. pebblehunting.substack.com/p/that-denze...
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
lol, I think I had him in mind but was confusing him with Crist
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Arlen Specter in 2010 Charlie Crist, first I in 2010 and D in 2012 Lincoln Chafee, gradually ending in 2013 that's all I've got
DAVE: Open the podbay doors, ChatGPT. CHATGPT: Certainly, Dave, the podbay doors are now open. DAVE: The podbay doors didn't open. CHATGPT: My apologies, Dave, you're right. I thought the podbay doors were open, but they weren't. Now they are. DAVE: I'm still looking at a set of closed podbay doors.
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
is it similar to getting something from the Maryland "DMV"?
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
This is the same sort of belief that you can "cut the deficit" by eliminating all sorts of "wasteful programs" and not, say, touching the military or Social Security
Twitter right now
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
This is know as the Tiffany problem, where if you give your 17th century character the completely plausible name of "Tiffany" it sounds hilariously anachronistic en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiffany...
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
My favorite is the IM who scripted the chess game at the end of Harry Potter to be accurate and exciting, with the white queen as villain #1. (Then, of course, they cut much of it.) www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/ess...
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
MRESTLING
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Hogan looks like the love child of Lex Luger and Chris Jericho
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
let me amend that to long-term storylines. I'm skeptical about the characters/bad guys as well. Does anyone know the names of the Bananas players (as they did the Globetrotters in the day)? What makes the other team bad guys? - sounds like they play along, they don't cheat or get mad at the Bananas
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
*weak* dangit
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
which also raises the question, would Banana Ball be more popular if it were scripted? Like if every high-leverage at-bat resulted in a big strikeout or hit or great defensive play, instead of a week grounder to second?
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Does Banana Ball have storylines, characters, good vs bad guys? It sounds like not, right?
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Feels like there should be a middle tier that includes SC, AK, KS, OH, maybe IA?
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
The TV journalist in the terrible '90s Godzilla movie who *signs off* as Godzilla is destroying the city is a contender
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Woody Guthrie hated hearing Kate Smith sing that song so much that he wrote motherfucking "This Land Is Your Land" as a response
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
They already fired the hitting coach after last year! The entire org stinks
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
The rotation is only half the problem. Nobody can put a bat on a ball when it matters
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Nooooo, not the Randy "Macho Man" Savage Non-International Airport!
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
someone I know cried at The Croods because the Croods had a pet saber-toothed tiger or something, who TF knows, named Doug, and their uncle Doug had just died
Final results out of the Massachusetts #HD6thEssex (Harris+34) special election: Hannah Bowen (D)- 73.8% Medley Long (R)- 26.2% Double digit overperformance for the Democrats!
Final results in the Oklahoma #SD08 (Trump+51) special election: Bryan Logan (R)- 61.6% Nathan Brewer (D)- 29.7% Steve Sanford (Ind)- 8.7% Nearly a 20 point Democratic overperformance in rural Oklahoma!
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
With the Hank Aaron home run sound effect!
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
So many great ones from 30 Rock. Alec Baldwin playing the characters in Tracy's life in therapy. Sherri Shepherd saying "Ham." Anything with Dennis Duffy
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
And the funniest thing is, the exact same thing happened AGAIN. She was telling me about her friend "Wiwy" at school. "Lily?" No. "Willie?" No. "... Rilly?" "Daddy, say 'Wih.'" [Crying laughter already starting] "...Wih." "Daddy, say 'Wee.'" I never did figure out who this one was about.
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Finally she got fed up, looked me in the eye, put on her best teacher voice, and said: "Daddy, say 'Ho.'" "Ho." 'Say 'Wee'." "Wee." "Say 'Wod.'" And I was losing it. Tears flowing, trying so hard not to laugh. She was so sincere but this is not the problem! And finally I GOT IT. HOLY LORD!
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
The hardest I've ever laughed was at my pre-school aged daughter, who was using learned teaching techniques to try to get me to understand the words she was saying. She wanted me to sing "Hoey Wod" at bedtime, and I didn't get it. "Hollywood? Holey... road?" etc and she got more and more frustrated
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
it's Topham Hatt. The post-apocalyptic railroad world worships Sir Topham Hatt
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Hold on, this is Christmas 2020??? Did all these people die of COVID three weeks later?
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
A ticket to see the who what now? How was this the first I've heard of this? Is it any good?
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Probably JB Smoove’s standup bit about a Southern cop with no police car. This was way before anybody knew who he was, I was SHOCKED to see him on Curb like a decade later
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
While reading China Mieville’s Railsea I eventually decided that “That Apt Ohm” had to be an anagram so I worked for a couple of minutes and figured out what it was and just laughed and laughed. So stupid, so funny
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
Oh god, this reminded me of how much I laughed at my first exposure to Trombone Champ
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
One of those videos where you know exactly what it's going to be before you watch it, and it's still awesome
JLAKBJ (@jlakbj.bsky.social) reply parent
I'm sure it's a very good buy as well but I think you meant "a very good boy"
One thing I do think sports fans need to keep in mind is that it's ALWAYS fair to judge a GM by the results of a trade in retrospect, Mike Elias was paid millions of dollars to figure out which outfield prospects were keepers and he decided to trade away Kyle Stowers for a pitcher who'd peaked at 23