More minimum wage intrigue, the new pickoff strategy, MLB moves deeper into the local broadcast game, you can't go home again, Ivan Toney is a dead man walking, and a tale of wickedness and Pink Floyd
In the mid to late 80's a bunch of buddies and I saw Winger play at a very small venue in Indy called The Sherwood. It was a good show due to the intimacy. But yeah...Winger.
I was gifted a CD player out of the blue in early 1988 by a college friend. Being a poor college student who was trying to stay in college, 98% of my money went towards tuition and room and board. In any case it was 8-9 months later when I bought my first CD, Abbey Road, by literally selling another stupid college student the shirt off of my back. Sadly, it isn’t much more interesting than that other than hearing parts of Abbey Road now makes me remember that I was once a person who didn’t have two spare Hamiltons to rub together for many years and now I’m debating whether or not $700 is too much to take my three daughters to see the Flaming Lips this summer.
I got a CD player for Christmas 1985 - my freshman year at college. I also got a gift certificate for whatever mall record store was in the local mall. I used it to buy Blizzard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon. The CDs were recycled a few years ago, but my MP3 of Dark Side was ripped from that copy of the CD.
I bought my first CD, *Doolittle* by the Pixies, in spring 1989 (freshman year of college) even though I didn't have a player yet. Had a friend down the hall of my dorm floor record it to cassette for me on her CD boombox. Ended up going all-in that summer with some bagboy and birthday money to buy a $300 Sony five-disc carousel because I loved the idea of not having to get out of my lofted bed to change the music and I also liked the idea of being able to make mix tapes without having to pause between each song to change CDs. It felt magical, like the future. Now it all seems gallingly primitive, and I regret the fact that I was always broke into my early 30s due to my expenditures on CDs, movies on VHS, long-distance calls, and hourly AOL charges -- i.e., things no teen or young adult of today pay for.
Oh man I had that same Sony carousel and when I see one every once in a while at a thrift store or something I get weirdly nostalgic.
In high school I was one of the only kids with a cd player and the only one with a copy of They Might Be Giants ‘Flood’.. My dad had a ton of blank cassettes always around and I made soooo many copies of that album for friends.
I no longer have that carousel, but years later I bought its silver sibling: the five-DVD carousel! (Dunno why it exists, I think for watching DVD box sets?) I still own it, but haven't hooked it up in more than a decade.
I still have that carousel in my shop. It was given to me by a friend, that a week later committed suicide. I was too young to see the signs, but i think about her every time i turn that on.
The first brand-new car I ever bought was a 2000 Buick Century
(yeah I was 30, so what?)
A week later I took it to Best Buy to get a 6-CD changer installed in the trunk(!). It came with three ‘cartridges’, so I effectively had three ‘playlists’ if I remembered to swap out the cartridges.
Also a year later, the wife and I buy a new house and as a house-warming gift my dad bought me a 100-disc carousel CD player for the living room. Had it for a decade.
Many thanks! It combines my love of Studs Terkel and all he did and stood for with my love of craft beer!
It was always amazing to be in downtown Chicago or the near north side and see Studs just being Studs, boarding busses, talking to randos...wonderful human being.
That’s so fabulous! Studs was a local and national treasure. I’m from Milwaukee, so good beer is highly appreciated and consumed. You certainly have your priorities straight!
1986, sophomore year of college, I bought a CD player. I still have it. Unfortunately, there is no amp or speakers to hook it to. Someday.
The week I got the player, I bought four CDs. Floyd's Wish You Were Here and Dire Straits self titled both of which I still have. Another was a very experimental jazz CD by Pat Matheny that I disliked. And a fourth that I simply can't recall.
Craig, I hope you keep pursuing the Hamilton County story, if only because no one else will. The people must know the truth.
I know spring training doesn't mean much, but Mets prospect Ronny Mauricio has three home runs in less than a week. No chance he breaks camp with the team - he hasn't played at the Triple A level yet and is a shortstop with no place to go - but I think people are really paying attention.
I never really cared much for Floyd. Oh, if a Floyd song comes on the radio, I am fine with it. But zero desire to seek out their music.
I love Mauricio, originally because I've been carrying him in my minors in my NL-only fantasy league for three seasons. It's crazy how much prospect fatigue there is with that guy; he is on very few T100 prospect lists these days, (though ZiPS is high on him, at least). In my dreams Baty falters and Mauricio gets called up by the Mets to play third sometime in June (he's put in some time there over the past year) and runs away with the job.
The Ohio thing is an old federal preemption exam question. The Bauer bit brings in anti SLAPP stuff. And both make the semi part of this semi retired attorney go screamingly into the distance.
...
Not to get too into my stoned college head, but I felt Animals was blah while Final Cut was a good follow up to The Wall. I count it as part of the core group.
Post breakup Waters? Sure Radio KAOS was a bad example of someone taking 99 Luftballoons too seriously, but Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking was an interesting turn into the small interior of love, marriage, infidelity and divorce. Better than trying to make songs about the Falkland Island war. Plus Pros and Cons had the naked bum on the cover!
Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason is part of the Football Ventures group that rescued Bolton Wanderers from financial collapse a few years ago, and put them on a path back to respectability if not the Premier League. Shine on, you crazy diamond.
PS Another avenue you may or may not have considered for your Hamilton County inquiry: is Prosecutor an elected office? If so, you might be able to find a contribution(s) that suggest or confirm where the original request originated. Not a quid pro quo, of course, but it’s usually helpful in spotting for whom a public official routinely carries water.
It is an elected office. The guy in that position at the time of the request was Joe Deters, who had held the post for decades. In December, however, he was appointed to a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court. This despite him having no judicial experience. Definitely an angle I'm checking out.
If there is a March Madness for bad roommates, I'm not going to say I would win but I'd make the sweet 16. For starters - dude did not wash his sheets once. By the end of the year there was a brown spot on his pillow. And this was a small, bunk bed dorm room. Sorry, PTSD kicking in...but, cops, peppermint schnapps, nightly drunken failed attempts with the ladies, velvet satanic wall tapestries, etc.
Did he show up to class drunk, act like one of those “Well, actually” guys to both instructors and classmates, pass out drunk most nights on the living room couch (that was yours), and also leave HUNDREDS of empty beer bottles around your apartment…many of which were half full of dip-spit?
Because that was my grad school roommate. See you in the Elite Eight, buddy.
Mine refused to clean. He and his girlfriend would just let dirty plates pile and and dry out (we had a kitchenette) because ‘bacteria can’t grow if there isn’t water’. So they’d just eat off dirty plates and drink out of dirty glasses - dirty like covered in dried milk dirty.
Then they would just leave everything piled on the floor. It got to be about a foot deep. So I borrowed a big push broom from the janitor and just pushed it all over to his side of the room. Some of the clothes got into his computer (he thought it was cool to leave the tower off) and the cpu overheated and caused a small fire.
I don't actually have any horrible roommate stories - maybe that means my friends and I kept ourselves vaguely in check amongst the Blatz, or maybe that means I need to take a good long look in the mirror - but the nature of the houses I lived in meant that in my room, I always kept one of the following: 1. Clean plate, 2. Clean bowl, 3. Clean glass, 4. Clean coffee mug, 5. Clean set of silverware. The lack of dish-doing was endemic.
Craig, to be clear, I’m a happy subscriber and sincerely appreciate all the hard fucking work and kazillion key strokes you put into this thing that starts my work day every morning.
That said, your use of “As of press time…” had me cackling. WE SEE YOU KING
Maybe you should consider Minnesota Craig! I know, pretty boring idea compared to Cali, Colorado or any place with actual mountains (the lack of mountains kills me personally).
The upsides are considerable. Blue state lead in part by a fantastic Speaker of the House who doesn't have a creepy name like your old speaker, namely Melissa Hortman. She's awesome, extremely competent and selfishly, I'm proud to get to spend holidays with her at her parent's house. That political boast aside there's our high quality of life, friendly people for the most part, great food and concert scene, fantastic country up by Lake Superior including the Superior Hiking Trail, beautiful summers and lakes and my other cousin has the horse farm you guys are looking for.
Yea, the winters are probably worse than Ohio but everything else seems better on my end.
My kids are already making plans to turn my new lake place into the centerpiece of a long-term family climate haven-compound-fortress. I'm making plans to find a pontoon for me and the dogs.
I live in Chicago, and man, I'd have a rough time living anywhere else in the state. Maybe north of Rockford near the border, where you start to get some hills.
To each their own. I love Chicago and have spent a couple hundred days there over the last thirty years, but •everything• is a hassle there. Grocery shopping, commutes etc.
Sure, but restaurants, concerts, museums, etc. That said, once our daughter heads off to college, we're likely gone. Still figuring out where. Maybe Charlotte, NC?
Loved my nine years in the city itself even though I was a Sox fan living on the north side, and we'll soon commemorate 17 years in the western 'burbs. Don't get into the city as much as we'd like, but I can't imagine living more than an hour from the city. I enjoy visiting Milwaukee, StL, even Indy now and then, but they all feel way too car-dependent to really count as cities. (And everywhere in the StL metro area besides downtown itself has a sort of Rosemont vibe that I don't dig.)
Milwaukee seems like a decent place to settle, but man, R's have completely effed that state, politically. I know we're not likely to find the perfect place that's climate change–ready, naturally beautiful, and dark blue politically, but we can dream...
I am an IT consultant and spent the better part of a pre-pandemic year traveling weekly to Central Illinois near where it is you are. It was flat, yes.
I was once pulled over by police going 40 in a 25 (which was 35 about 300 feet earlier) back towards my hotel, and they saw a Florida license plate on my rental car. I showed them my NJ drivers' license and my rental agreement and after they asked "what brings you to town?" they asked, "don't they have people in Illinois that can do your job?" I said something like "they hired an international IT consulting company who told me to do the job, so ... maybe?"
The people we worked with were nice enough, everyone else looked at me (and my mostly South Asian colleagues) with a side eye that could have melted butter. 3/10 would not recommend.
I’m sorry to hear that, it’s not perfect and yeah, some of the smaller towns can be wary of outsiders of any kind. The ‘burb I live in was 99% white when I graduated HS here in 1987. Today it’s less than 80%, so it’s not the U.N. exactly, but it’s far more diverse than it was.
I’d be shocked if anyone would have given you a second glance here, but again, I’m not unbiased towards my hometown.
Fwiw, NYC is the single most unfriendly place I’ve ever been.
I'm close to NYC and love the city. I have said to friends from out of town that NYC people on the street aren't unfriendly, they just usually don't want to waste time getting where they need to go. Other cities have their own personas and it's not all rainbows and puppies elsewhere. It's a matter of what you're used to, of course. Come to New York and I'll buy you an overpriced cocktail.
Fair enough. Honestly I haven’t spent much time there. Last time my father and I were underground in Manhattan trying to switch subway trains to get to Yankee stadium. I previously had successfully navigated the systems of Chicago, Toronto and D.C., but was confused here and asked a guy for help, his response: “have you tried fucking off?”. Found an actual transit worker had asked me if they taught reading where I was from.
Funny, really. Could have caught people on a bad day.
If I ever head back, I’ll try to take you up in your offer and same goes for you. If you find yourself headed to central illinois, lmk.
It’s only “purple” until you venture beyond city limits, where it turns deep red in a big old hurry. It took some very creative gerrymandering (yes, Dems do it too) to finally elect a Democrat to Congress around here.
My local school district has 9 voting precincts in it. They went 6-3 twice for Obama and flipped 5-4 (barely) for 45 and 5-4 for Biden.
You’re not wrong though the farther you get from a ‘city’ it gets redder, but Illinois conservatives aren’t Mississippi conservatives if you know what I mean.
We thought about leaving Minnesota for warmer states when we retired. But after seeing the political hellscapes they were turning into, and the serious climate issues they have, we decided we couldn't live anywhere better than right where we are. Yeah, it snows and gets cold for five months out of the year, but those spring-summer-fall months are wonderful here.
Several friends of my parents moved south to Tennessee and Alabama only to discover that Medicaid funds had run out in those states and being new, they were left out in the cold.
These states did not take the extra Obamacare money and that was not uncommon.
Similar here. Michigan has its issues for sure, but climatologically it's one of the safer areas to be right now. Any moves I'd make would likely be more north than south.
I know people planning to relocate to Arizona and Florida and I hope they don't plan on being there long because pretty soon those places could be uninhabitable.
My wife hates me for it, but between the politics, the heat, and the water issues, I can't see moving to any of the traditional retirement sites here in the US. I doubt any of them will change much for the better in the 15 years or so until I do retire.
The water situation is a concern for sure, but that's the entire southwest. Crazy to think some houses in Arizona don't have any water connection, but rely on paying water haulers to fill up tanks they installed on their property. They might have wells but once those go dry? The only water they get they'll have to pay for someone to bring to them.
I can't even imagine not turning on the faucet and just having water whenever I want it.
Take a look at some of the New Mexico newspaper articles about the NMSU bb program getting shut down due to what is euphemistically called hazing (aka sexual torture). And murder, incidentally. The hundreds of comments I saw seemed almost universally to have been written by Mississippi KKK members in the '50s. Not likely to be representative of the state, I grant, but I'll look around carefully next time I'm there.
Craig Calcaterra, whom you probably know from writing long random rants and charging outrageous amounts money for that, shared a few months ago something called Movemap.io. I am also looking to move, in my case from Indiana (always the second state to be called in presidential elections for the republicans, right after Kentucky). I am hispanic and let's just say I have never felt welcomed here. Anyways, as I was saying, Craig shared his map of potential relocation places, and the one that got my attention was Virginia. I understand that is on the coast and potentially impacted by climate change, but at least is affordable, mild winters, and it is the only state with boobs on its flag. I am seriously thinking about moving there as soon as my son goes to college.
Damn, this just made me remember that while he was AG under Bush 43, John Ashcroft had Lady Justice hidden behind curtains so the nation wouldn't be led to think impure thoughts due to the sight of her exposed breast....
I did live in Maryland for a while, many years ago. Too expensive for me now, I suspect, but it wasn't bad. Baltimore summers were swampy armpit humid, though.
There aren't a lot of areas in Virginia that are blue, inexpensive, and won't be affected by climate change. You may get two out of the three. Maybe a college town like Blacksburg can get you what you're looking for? But those rural areas lean pretty significantly red, and I don't exactly know what to think about some of those maps that show a solid blue streak extending from the DC suburbs all the way down through the middle of state. The maps that show more red in the rural parts align with my experience.
I understand what you are saying, and my research shows a similar picture of that. I am not looking for inexpensive necessarily, more like, reasonably priced, like, being able to purchase a small house that won't send me more than 300k back. And after living for 17 years in Indiana, I am OK living in an area somewhat conservative. I am an uber liberal that does believe that socialism is the cure to all our struggles, but I am male, straight and full of privilegies. I just need to be in a place where I can get by being brown and an atheist.
I expected you to live in the Southern part of the State. While Zionsville is a very small town and lily white, it does have a decent amount of Asian citizens comparably speaking. Also quite a bit of wealth (which I know you realize). I'm still a little surprised you don't feel welcome.
Hamilton County just east of you is the 7th most diverse county in the State. Of course, Hamilton Co. has 3 of the States largest 20 cities (Carmel, Fishers and Noblesville). A crap ton of wealth in Hamilton Co. as well with Carmel and Fishers both being named the best place to live by CNN Money (2013 & 2017 respectively).
I hope you find a find a future landing spot that best suits you!
You know Hortman eh! That's awesome. I really like how our legislature is operating thus far. (Also, love that they invited Jesse to the weed legalization signing, whenever that happens.)
Craig and Allison seem very much not into winters at the 35th parallel, or wherever Columbus is. I doubt the 45th appeals much. But those of us who don't mind? We win, in our way.
I do! She's a very close cousin of my girlfriend. I'm obviously biased but I think she's excellent as a politician, highly intelligent and I know for a fact that she actually cares about all Minnesotans. And outside of works she's awesome as well. She can BS, joke and have a couple beers just like the rest of us plebs.
I'm agree about the current MN leadership. I'm very happy they're getting things done that benefit the non-wealthy.
It's great to watch Max Scherzer pitch, even though he no longer pitches for the Nationals. I would caution everyone that using Max as an example of "how teams will deal with the new rules" might not be wise. Max has been working on using these rules "to mess with hitters" since they were announced last year. I doubt that every pitcher can be that effective (at least not at the beginning) as it takes time to internalize that pitching rhythm and how and when to break it. There's a reason he's called Mad Max.
Side note--I've chatted with him a few times during his Nats tenure. It's not possible to look him in both eyes--the brain does not like people with two different colored eyes. As Dusty said "Look in the brown eye--that's the pitching eye!"
Better than that, he (1) has several odd-eyed dogs and cats and (2) he and Erica paid the adoption fees for all odd-eyed animals at the Humane Rescue Alliance in DC during his tenure here. He also paid the adoption fees for a month for all animals as a parting gift when he and Erica left DC.
For how insane and competitive he is on the diamond, I love that off the field he seems at least somewhat trustworthily cool. Por que no los dos indeed!
First year of his contract, I'm down in Viera for Spring Training. The distance there between fans and pitchers was about 10 feet. Everyone was assembled to watch his first bullpen session. First pitch is WAY high--Ramos has to jump out of his crouch to catch it. Max says "OH F-bomb!" then realizes how close the fans are, turns to us and sheepishly says "Sorry." I think that the only time he's apologized for profanity. Even Max wanted to make a good first impression. Next pitch is right in the glove.
FYI the Roger Waters antisemitism thing is a 100% false smear perpetrated by people/organizations who seek to conflate support of Palestine and/or anti-Zionism with antisemitism. You can enjoy his work guilt-free
Re-upping my story about my stoner college friends who had two copies so they could stack them on the turntable and listen to both sides without interruption.
I’m not a devoted stalker and I’m certainly not going to stalk someone I never heard of. But I am truly curious whether Dr. Heather is the head of an outfit that denies others contraceptives because dispensing them would “trample” her or her organization’s religious freedom. Because I could totally see that being the case.
I think an interview with her would be fascinating. Her path from evangelist to her current situation would be a great read. Is that something you'd consider doing?
I get it, and I'd like to think your readers are chill enough to not try to figure out who she is. (I don't think you gave too much away, and I didn't give her identity a second thought.) I'll just make one more pitch: She might be open to it, if you reached out to her personally — she might see it as a chance to make a pitch for some element of her work. If she's not into it, she'd just say no and that'd be that.
Background: I'm a former journalist, and this is the kind of feature-y story I would've love to write. (Would have loved to have written?)
Anyway, I'll stop there and just note I think it'd be a great read. As you were.
Good call IMO. I'm sure that it can be rather awkward in this day and age when an old acquaintance becomes a public figure. Different if it's someone you've kept in touch with and/or is a friend that you can talk about whether or not they're comfortable sharing things.
Enough to know that whatever turns her life has taken, she's clearly doing something very important to her. Even coming late to it. Good work, Heather, at making a positive difference.
I was big into Pink Floyd in high school (88 grad) but then didn’t listen to them for a couple of decades. Nonetheless I had a couple of highlights.
1. In 1991/92 I was a Junior year abroad in Freiburg, Germany. Several of us got on a train to Amsterdam one weekend to do what you do in Amsterdam. At one point we ended up in a coffee shop called The Wall, and I remember four or five of us sitting through the movie the Wall twice just staring at the screen without talking. It’s still the only time I have seen the movie. Note: I did visit the Anne Frank house that weekend. That was powerful.
2. In 1994 a freiend of my Dad’s asked me if I would take his teenage son to see Pink Floyd at Memorial stadium in Clemson. (Sounds like it was the same tour Craig saw). He was paying and of course I would. The son ditched me after we arrived to meet up with his friends and smoke pot based on how he smelled afterward. I was 23, didn’t care and thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Here’s the setlist https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pink-floyd/1994/memorial-stadium-clemson-sc-2bd764d6.html
Nowadays, when I listen to Pink Floyd, I gravitate to Atom Heart Mother, Obscured by Clouds, and Animals. Dark Side and Wish You Were Here are still classics, but I really can’t take The Wall anymore.
I saw the same show on our campus at Georgia Tech. There was a way to sneak into the stadium back then. I made it onto the turf and found a seat at about the 50 yard line. I realized the peyote pellet I had taken was really good when while jamming out when I opened my eyes and saw I was the only person dancing as the rest of the people were all seated on the field. My first Floyd album was Collection of Great Dance Songs. So it makes sense.
The Winger mention reminds me that occasionally I'll be listening to a classic rock or 70s music station and be forced to ponder whether some artists were just pandering to their audience or were pervs (or both?)
Kiss - Christine Sixteen
Ringo Starr - You're Sixteen
The Cars - Let's Go ("and she won't give up, cause she's seventeen)
Abba - Dancing Queen ("young and sweet only seventeen")
I was a kid when these were hits, younger than the girls in question, so the songs hit differently then. Now though? Yuck.
Add "When I Saw Her Standing There" - "she was just seventeen, you know I mean."
They were clearly pandering to the younger audience, but we also know that far too many rock stars were taking advantage of underage groupies.
PS: One of the teen sensations of the 80s - I think Debbie Gibson? - did a cover and made it "When I Saw HIM Standing There." He was 17, and I think the singer was younger.
Indeed. And sometimes younger if the parents approve, I believe.
Marrying off a "difficult" daughter to a friend of the parents is a way for some families, especially large ones, to get rid of a distraction that they don't know how to manage. 😕
I had several great aunts who in 1900-1910 or so were more or less given to the Catholic Church to become nuns and to prevent their parents from having to support them.
I think the US is one of the few countries to have never signed onto some kind of international agreement against child soldiers. Because the military still.wants the ability to recruit minors.
The Stones actively cultivated their "bad boy" image, and when they recorded this they were around 27 (1970). But they had famous girlfriends who were of legal age, so everyone kind of smiled and winked and moved on. Nobody took it as an endorsement of predatory behavior.
Given that pop music is often written with a teenage/young adult audience in mind you can credibly argue that this is more pandering rather than predation.
Of course, you could also use the same facts to say that the target audience is an excuse to disguise predation AS pandering.
I'm a father to two daughters (and no sons), and my girls are both in their 20s now, but I wonder if I'd have given these songs the same amount of thought if I hadn't raised girls.
I'd like to think I would've, but I can't say for certain.
There have been maybe six articles there so far about individuals and the team using whatever methods it can to enter the season in a good place not just physically but strategically and mentally. Obviously some of that is pre-season hype being fed to bored beat writers. But this really feels like a different kind of team than we ever saw, even with Alderson's purported embrace of analytics.
And a good thing, too, since there is a parallel article about the Braves working to bring back the stolen base. The NL East is going to be a fight not just on the field but in the planning.
Now this should be commonplace in a sport with so many native speakers of Spanish. Nevertheless, Alonso wants to be able to communicate with his teammates, and his teammates appreciate the effort.
I didn’t expect Kip Winger to be connected to Modris Eckstein’s Rites of Spring through Nijinsky even in the most tangential manner.
In the mid to late 80's a bunch of buddies and I saw Winger play at a very small venue in Indy called The Sherwood. It was a good show due to the intimacy. But yeah...Winger.
I was gifted a CD player out of the blue in early 1988 by a college friend. Being a poor college student who was trying to stay in college, 98% of my money went towards tuition and room and board. In any case it was 8-9 months later when I bought my first CD, Abbey Road, by literally selling another stupid college student the shirt off of my back. Sadly, it isn’t much more interesting than that other than hearing parts of Abbey Road now makes me remember that I was once a person who didn’t have two spare Hamiltons to rub together for many years and now I’m debating whether or not $700 is too much to take my three daughters to see the Flaming Lips this summer.
Weird.
Life happens fast and slow, you know.
I got a CD player for Christmas 1985 - my freshman year at college. I also got a gift certificate for whatever mall record store was in the local mall. I used it to buy Blizzard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon. The CDs were recycled a few years ago, but my MP3 of Dark Side was ripped from that copy of the CD.
I bought my first CD, *Doolittle* by the Pixies, in spring 1989 (freshman year of college) even though I didn't have a player yet. Had a friend down the hall of my dorm floor record it to cassette for me on her CD boombox. Ended up going all-in that summer with some bagboy and birthday money to buy a $300 Sony five-disc carousel because I loved the idea of not having to get out of my lofted bed to change the music and I also liked the idea of being able to make mix tapes without having to pause between each song to change CDs. It felt magical, like the future. Now it all seems gallingly primitive, and I regret the fact that I was always broke into my early 30s due to my expenditures on CDs, movies on VHS, long-distance calls, and hourly AOL charges -- i.e., things no teen or young adult of today pay for.
Oh man I had that same Sony carousel and when I see one every once in a while at a thrift store or something I get weirdly nostalgic.
In high school I was one of the only kids with a cd player and the only one with a copy of They Might Be Giants ‘Flood’.. My dad had a ton of blank cassettes always around and I made soooo many copies of that album for friends.
I no longer have that carousel, but years later I bought its silver sibling: the five-DVD carousel! (Dunno why it exists, I think for watching DVD box sets?) I still own it, but haven't hooked it up in more than a decade.
I still have that carousel in my shop. It was given to me by a friend, that a week later committed suicide. I was too young to see the signs, but i think about her every time i turn that on.
Sorry for your loss. That's an extremely relatable situation.
The first brand-new car I ever bought was a 2000 Buick Century
(yeah I was 30, so what?)
A week later I took it to Best Buy to get a 6-CD changer installed in the trunk(!). It came with three ‘cartridges’, so I effectively had three ‘playlists’ if I remembered to swap out the cartridges.
Also a year later, the wife and I buy a new house and as a house-warming gift my dad bought me a 100-disc carousel CD player for the living room. Had it for a decade.
I had a 200 CD carousel CD player. Worked great as long as it didn't take a bump that dislodged a disk.
I just really like the name “Suds Terkel”. That is all.
Agree 100%, I’ve had a hard time trying to come up with a better one, no luck so far, but I’m working on it.
I really like that your name is completely honest and transparent, or so it seems.
My name is 100% true. No more, no less.
Many thanks! It combines my love of Studs Terkel and all he did and stood for with my love of craft beer!
It was always amazing to be in downtown Chicago or the near north side and see Studs just being Studs, boarding busses, talking to randos...wonderful human being.
That’s so fabulous! Studs was a local and national treasure. I’m from Milwaukee, so good beer is highly appreciated and consumed. You certainly have your priorities straight!
1986, sophomore year of college, I bought a CD player. I still have it. Unfortunately, there is no amp or speakers to hook it to. Someday.
The week I got the player, I bought four CDs. Floyd's Wish You Were Here and Dire Straits self titled both of which I still have. Another was a very experimental jazz CD by Pat Matheny that I disliked. And a fourth that I simply can't recall.
Update: 4 Flaming Lips tickets grand total: $390.
Craig, I hope you keep pursuing the Hamilton County story, if only because no one else will. The people must know the truth.
I know spring training doesn't mean much, but Mets prospect Ronny Mauricio has three home runs in less than a week. No chance he breaks camp with the team - he hasn't played at the Triple A level yet and is a shortstop with no place to go - but I think people are really paying attention.
I never really cared much for Floyd. Oh, if a Floyd song comes on the radio, I am fine with it. But zero desire to seek out their music.
I love Mauricio, originally because I've been carrying him in my minors in my NL-only fantasy league for three seasons. It's crazy how much prospect fatigue there is with that guy; he is on very few T100 prospect lists these days, (though ZiPS is high on him, at least). In my dreams Baty falters and Mauricio gets called up by the Mets to play third sometime in June (he's put in some time there over the past year) and runs away with the job.
I thought he was more highly regarded.
I am also not sold on Baty, but my knowledge of him is pretty limited.
The Ohio thing is an old federal preemption exam question. The Bauer bit brings in anti SLAPP stuff. And both make the semi part of this semi retired attorney go screamingly into the distance.
...
Not to get too into my stoned college head, but I felt Animals was blah while Final Cut was a good follow up to The Wall. I count it as part of the core group.
Post breakup Waters? Sure Radio KAOS was a bad example of someone taking 99 Luftballoons too seriously, but Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking was an interesting turn into the small interior of love, marriage, infidelity and divorce. Better than trying to make songs about the Falkland Island war. Plus Pros and Cons had the naked bum on the cover!
Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason is part of the Football Ventures group that rescued Bolton Wanderers from financial collapse a few years ago, and put them on a path back to respectability if not the Premier League. Shine on, you crazy diamond.
PS Another avenue you may or may not have considered for your Hamilton County inquiry: is Prosecutor an elected office? If so, you might be able to find a contribution(s) that suggest or confirm where the original request originated. Not a quid pro quo, of course, but it’s usually helpful in spotting for whom a public official routinely carries water.
It is an elected office. The guy in that position at the time of the request was Joe Deters, who had held the post for decades. In December, however, he was appointed to a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court. This despite him having no judicial experience. Definitely an angle I'm checking out.
If there is a March Madness for bad roommates, I'm not going to say I would win but I'd make the sweet 16. For starters - dude did not wash his sheets once. By the end of the year there was a brown spot on his pillow. And this was a small, bunk bed dorm room. Sorry, PTSD kicking in...but, cops, peppermint schnapps, nightly drunken failed attempts with the ladies, velvet satanic wall tapestries, etc.
Yikes.
Did he show up to class drunk, act like one of those “Well, actually” guys to both instructors and classmates, pass out drunk most nights on the living room couch (that was yours), and also leave HUNDREDS of empty beer bottles around your apartment…many of which were half full of dip-spit?
Because that was my grad school roommate. See you in the Elite Eight, buddy.
Yikes to you to.
Mine refused to clean. He and his girlfriend would just let dirty plates pile and and dry out (we had a kitchenette) because ‘bacteria can’t grow if there isn’t water’. So they’d just eat off dirty plates and drink out of dirty glasses - dirty like covered in dried milk dirty.
Then they would just leave everything piled on the floor. It got to be about a foot deep. So I borrowed a big push broom from the janitor and just pushed it all over to his side of the room. Some of the clothes got into his computer (he thought it was cool to leave the tower off) and the cpu overheated and caused a small fire.
I don't actually have any horrible roommate stories - maybe that means my friends and I kept ourselves vaguely in check amongst the Blatz, or maybe that means I need to take a good long look in the mirror - but the nature of the houses I lived in meant that in my room, I always kept one of the following: 1. Clean plate, 2. Clean bowl, 3. Clean glass, 4. Clean coffee mug, 5. Clean set of silverware. The lack of dish-doing was endemic.
Disappointed that you didn’t end with a Winger song.
This is literally my only association of Winger.
Craig, to be clear, I’m a happy subscriber and sincerely appreciate all the hard fucking work and kazillion key strokes you put into this thing that starts my work day every morning.
That said, your use of “As of press time…” had me cackling. WE SEE YOU KING
Maybe you should consider Minnesota Craig! I know, pretty boring idea compared to Cali, Colorado or any place with actual mountains (the lack of mountains kills me personally).
The upsides are considerable. Blue state lead in part by a fantastic Speaker of the House who doesn't have a creepy name like your old speaker, namely Melissa Hortman. She's awesome, extremely competent and selfishly, I'm proud to get to spend holidays with her at her parent's house. That political boast aside there's our high quality of life, friendly people for the most part, great food and concert scene, fantastic country up by Lake Superior including the Superior Hiking Trail, beautiful summers and lakes and my other cousin has the horse farm you guys are looking for.
Yea, the winters are probably worse than Ohio but everything else seems better on my end.
Honestly that's kind of tempting from a Michigan person too. But I don't think I could handle UP-style winters in retirement.
Meanwhile, my family centers our retirement plans around Bayfield County, Wisconsin, haha! We're weird.
I'm imagining Craig in Duluth, where he's suddenly politically moderate compared to his neighbors ;)
You guys saw this, yes? https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/12/opinions/climate-migration-in-america-california-duluth-sutter/index.html
My kids are already making plans to turn my new lake place into the centerpiece of a long-term family climate haven-compound-fortress. I'm making plans to find a pontoon for me and the dogs.
I’ll almost certainly stay in the flatlands of central illinois. I like it here, I take solace in the open spaces.
The winters are increasingly mild—-an inch of snow this year. Not a ton to do, but it’s a 3 hours to Chicago and Indy and 90 minutes to St Louis.
Cost of living is reasonable and it’s mostly ‘purple’ around here.
I live in Chicago, and man, I'd have a rough time living anywhere else in the state. Maybe north of Rockford near the border, where you start to get some hills.
To each their own. I love Chicago and have spent a couple hundred days there over the last thirty years, but •everything• is a hassle there. Grocery shopping, commutes etc.
Sure, but restaurants, concerts, museums, etc. That said, once our daughter heads off to college, we're likely gone. Still figuring out where. Maybe Charlotte, NC?
I’m going to a concert in StL in a few weeks.
Plenty of decent restaurants here, none as good as the best in Chicago, but how often does one plunk down $300-400 for dinner anyway?
My sister lived in Hyde Park for a decade and rarely did many of the things you mentioned because of time, $$ and hassle.
Otoh, I have a friend in bucktown that clears 600k/yr at least and for him, Chicago is a wonderful playground.
As you say, to each their own. I couldn't do the rural thing, but if it works for you, god bless.
Loved my nine years in the city itself even though I was a Sox fan living on the north side, and we'll soon commemorate 17 years in the western 'burbs. Don't get into the city as much as we'd like, but I can't imagine living more than an hour from the city. I enjoy visiting Milwaukee, StL, even Indy now and then, but they all feel way too car-dependent to really count as cities. (And everywhere in the StL metro area besides downtown itself has a sort of Rosemont vibe that I don't dig.)
Milwaukee seems like a decent place to settle, but man, R's have completely effed that state, politically. I know we're not likely to find the perfect place that's climate change–ready, naturally beautiful, and dark blue politically, but we can dream...
The only things climate change has done to central illinois have been milder winters and booming corn/soy production.
…not to imply that climate change isn’t a giant problem elsewhere.
I agree with your StL take. I only go for specific events like cardinal games or concerts. I’d never go just to hang in that shell of a city.
I am an IT consultant and spent the better part of a pre-pandemic year traveling weekly to Central Illinois near where it is you are. It was flat, yes.
I was once pulled over by police going 40 in a 25 (which was 35 about 300 feet earlier) back towards my hotel, and they saw a Florida license plate on my rental car. I showed them my NJ drivers' license and my rental agreement and after they asked "what brings you to town?" they asked, "don't they have people in Illinois that can do your job?" I said something like "they hired an international IT consulting company who told me to do the job, so ... maybe?"
The people we worked with were nice enough, everyone else looked at me (and my mostly South Asian colleagues) with a side eye that could have melted butter. 3/10 would not recommend.
I’m sorry to hear that, it’s not perfect and yeah, some of the smaller towns can be wary of outsiders of any kind. The ‘burb I live in was 99% white when I graduated HS here in 1987. Today it’s less than 80%, so it’s not the U.N. exactly, but it’s far more diverse than it was.
I’d be shocked if anyone would have given you a second glance here, but again, I’m not unbiased towards my hometown.
Fwiw, NYC is the single most unfriendly place I’ve ever been.
I'm close to NYC and love the city. I have said to friends from out of town that NYC people on the street aren't unfriendly, they just usually don't want to waste time getting where they need to go. Other cities have their own personas and it's not all rainbows and puppies elsewhere. It's a matter of what you're used to, of course. Come to New York and I'll buy you an overpriced cocktail.
Fair enough. Honestly I haven’t spent much time there. Last time my father and I were underground in Manhattan trying to switch subway trains to get to Yankee stadium. I previously had successfully navigated the systems of Chicago, Toronto and D.C., but was confused here and asked a guy for help, his response: “have you tried fucking off?”. Found an actual transit worker had asked me if they taught reading where I was from.
Funny, really. Could have caught people on a bad day.
If I ever head back, I’ll try to take you up in your offer and same goes for you. If you find yourself headed to central illinois, lmk.
It’s only “purple” until you venture beyond city limits, where it turns deep red in a big old hurry. It took some very creative gerrymandering (yes, Dems do it too) to finally elect a Democrat to Congress around here.
My local school district has 9 voting precincts in it. They went 6-3 twice for Obama and flipped 5-4 (barely) for 45 and 5-4 for Biden.
You’re not wrong though the farther you get from a ‘city’ it gets redder, but Illinois conservatives aren’t Mississippi conservatives if you know what I mean.
Craig could move to Hibbing, birthplace of Robert Zimmerman.
Or at least visit Bob's boyhood home:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g43160-d126822-Reviews-Bob_Dylan_s_House-Hibbing_Minnesota.html
I'm good!
We thought about leaving Minnesota for warmer states when we retired. But after seeing the political hellscapes they were turning into, and the serious climate issues they have, we decided we couldn't live anywhere better than right where we are. Yeah, it snows and gets cold for five months out of the year, but those spring-summer-fall months are wonderful here.
So there's a lot of Minnesotans on this newsletter? Maybe Nato should organize a Twins event.
Heyyyy, hmm! Let me think about that. That could be really fun! I would definitely volunteer to take the communication and some logistics reins.
Some weekend in June or July seems best, right?
UPDATE: Carlos Correa bobblehead night is Friday July 7th against the feisty Baby Orioles. Hmmm....!
MN in the house!
But in OH now.
Several friends of my parents moved south to Tennessee and Alabama only to discover that Medicaid funds had run out in those states and being new, they were left out in the cold.
These states did not take the extra Obamacare money and that was not uncommon.
Similar here. Michigan has its issues for sure, but climatologically it's one of the safer areas to be right now. Any moves I'd make would likely be more north than south.
I know people planning to relocate to Arizona and Florida and I hope they don't plan on being there long because pretty soon those places could be uninhabitable.
My wife hates me for it, but between the politics, the heat, and the water issues, I can't see moving to any of the traditional retirement sites here in the US. I doubt any of them will change much for the better in the 15 years or so until I do retire.
My parents sometimes talk about New Mexico. Just enough winter to keep one honest, and a relatively sane statehouse.
The water situation is a concern for sure, but that's the entire southwest. Crazy to think some houses in Arizona don't have any water connection, but rely on paying water haulers to fill up tanks they installed on their property. They might have wells but once those go dry? The only water they get they'll have to pay for someone to bring to them.
I can't even imagine not turning on the faucet and just having water whenever I want it.
Take a look at some of the New Mexico newspaper articles about the NMSU bb program getting shut down due to what is euphemistically called hazing (aka sexual torture). And murder, incidentally. The hundreds of comments I saw seemed almost universally to have been written by Mississippi KKK members in the '50s. Not likely to be representative of the state, I grant, but I'll look around carefully next time I'm there.
Craig Calcaterra, whom you probably know from writing long random rants and charging outrageous amounts money for that, shared a few months ago something called Movemap.io. I am also looking to move, in my case from Indiana (always the second state to be called in presidential elections for the republicans, right after Kentucky). I am hispanic and let's just say I have never felt welcomed here. Anyways, as I was saying, Craig shared his map of potential relocation places, and the one that got my attention was Virginia. I understand that is on the coast and potentially impacted by climate change, but at least is affordable, mild winters, and it is the only state with boobs on its flag. I am seriously thinking about moving there as soon as my son goes to college.
Wow. How has that not been censored?
Damn, this just made me remember that while he was AG under Bush 43, John Ashcroft had Lady Justice hidden behind curtains so the nation wouldn't be led to think impure thoughts due to the sight of her exposed breast....
It's not like Lady Justice wanted to look at Ashcroft, either.
I did live in Maryland for a while, many years ago. Too expensive for me now, I suspect, but it wasn't bad. Baltimore summers were swampy armpit humid, though.
Ah, Maryland. My ancestral home. One of the most misunderstood states, in my experience.
My memories of it are colored a bit by living with an ex-boyfriend, but there was a lot I liked other than that in retrospect.
There aren't a lot of areas in Virginia that are blue, inexpensive, and won't be affected by climate change. You may get two out of the three. Maybe a college town like Blacksburg can get you what you're looking for? But those rural areas lean pretty significantly red, and I don't exactly know what to think about some of those maps that show a solid blue streak extending from the DC suburbs all the way down through the middle of state. The maps that show more red in the rural parts align with my experience.
I understand what you are saying, and my research shows a similar picture of that. I am not looking for inexpensive necessarily, more like, reasonably priced, like, being able to purchase a small house that won't send me more than 300k back. And after living for 17 years in Indiana, I am OK living in an area somewhat conservative. I am an uber liberal that does believe that socialism is the cure to all our struggles, but I am male, straight and full of privilegies. I just need to be in a place where I can get by being brown and an atheist.
Where are you in Indiana?
Zionsville.
I expected you to live in the Southern part of the State. While Zionsville is a very small town and lily white, it does have a decent amount of Asian citizens comparably speaking. Also quite a bit of wealth (which I know you realize). I'm still a little surprised you don't feel welcome.
Hamilton County just east of you is the 7th most diverse county in the State. Of course, Hamilton Co. has 3 of the States largest 20 cities (Carmel, Fishers and Noblesville). A crap ton of wealth in Hamilton Co. as well with Carmel and Fishers both being named the best place to live by CNN Money (2013 & 2017 respectively).
I hope you find a find a future landing spot that best suits you!
You know Hortman eh! That's awesome. I really like how our legislature is operating thus far. (Also, love that they invited Jesse to the weed legalization signing, whenever that happens.)
Craig and Allison seem very much not into winters at the 35th parallel, or wherever Columbus is. I doubt the 45th appeals much. But those of us who don't mind? We win, in our way.
I do! She's a very close cousin of my girlfriend. I'm obviously biased but I think she's excellent as a politician, highly intelligent and I know for a fact that she actually cares about all Minnesotans. And outside of works she's awesome as well. She can BS, joke and have a couple beers just like the rest of us plebs.
I'm agree about the current MN leadership. I'm very happy they're getting things done that benefit the non-wealthy.
It's great to watch Max Scherzer pitch, even though he no longer pitches for the Nationals. I would caution everyone that using Max as an example of "how teams will deal with the new rules" might not be wise. Max has been working on using these rules "to mess with hitters" since they were announced last year. I doubt that every pitcher can be that effective (at least not at the beginning) as it takes time to internalize that pitching rhythm and how and when to break it. There's a reason he's called Mad Max.
Side note--I've chatted with him a few times during his Nats tenure. It's not possible to look him in both eyes--the brain does not like people with two different colored eyes. As Dusty said "Look in the brown eye--that's the pitching eye!"
Better than that, he (1) has several odd-eyed dogs and cats and (2) he and Erica paid the adoption fees for all odd-eyed animals at the Humane Rescue Alliance in DC during his tenure here. He also paid the adoption fees for a month for all animals as a parting gift when he and Erica left DC.
For how insane and competitive he is on the diamond, I love that off the field he seems at least somewhat trustworthily cool. Por que no los dos indeed!
If possible, I miss Erica more than Max. She's an absolute warrior.
<sobs in Tiger fan>
Mad Met Max is just such a wonderful thing. We've had many great pitchers in Queens over the years, but he seems to be one of a kind.
He's unique, that's for sure!
First year of his contract, I'm down in Viera for Spring Training. The distance there between fans and pitchers was about 10 feet. Everyone was assembled to watch his first bullpen session. First pitch is WAY high--Ramos has to jump out of his crouch to catch it. Max says "OH F-bomb!" then realizes how close the fans are, turns to us and sheepishly says "Sorry." I think that the only time he's apologized for profanity. Even Max wanted to make a good first impression. Next pitch is right in the glove.
Max cursing up a storm while throwing a pitch is one of my favorite things in the world.
Mary and I always used to joke that each of his kids' first word was going to be "F*CK!"
We used to joke that the headphones on his kids at games weren't for the noise--they were to keep the kids from picking up his pitching vocabulary!
FYI the Roger Waters antisemitism thing is a 100% false smear perpetrated by people/organizations who seek to conflate support of Palestine and/or anti-Zionism with antisemitism. You can enjoy his work guilt-free
It’s a good thing you own a physical copy of Dark Side of the Moon otherwise how could you listen to it
Re-upping my story about my stoner college friends who had two copies so they could stack them on the turntable and listen to both sides without interruption.
Stream it? Listen to it on the radio? (The first streaming service)
This was the early 80s ;)
That’s the joke
I’m not a devoted stalker and I’m certainly not going to stalk someone I never heard of. But I am truly curious whether Dr. Heather is the head of an outfit that denies others contraceptives because dispensing them would “trample” her or her organization’s religious freedom. Because I could totally see that being the case.
Not the case. I don't want to give too much information about these people lest I doxx them, but she is involved in palliative and hospice care.
Hooray!
I think an interview with her would be fascinating. Her path from evangelist to her current situation would be a great read. Is that something you'd consider doing?
Probably not. Not figuring she's trying to put her life out there. I already feel weird saying as much as I have.
I get it, and I'd like to think your readers are chill enough to not try to figure out who she is. (I don't think you gave too much away, and I didn't give her identity a second thought.) I'll just make one more pitch: She might be open to it, if you reached out to her personally — she might see it as a chance to make a pitch for some element of her work. If she's not into it, she'd just say no and that'd be that.
Background: I'm a former journalist, and this is the kind of feature-y story I would've love to write. (Would have loved to have written?)
Anyway, I'll stop there and just note I think it'd be a great read. As you were.
Good call IMO. I'm sure that it can be rather awkward in this day and age when an old acquaintance becomes a public figure. Different if it's someone you've kept in touch with and/or is a friend that you can talk about whether or not they're comfortable sharing things.
Enough to know that whatever turns her life has taken, she's clearly doing something very important to her. Even coming late to it. Good work, Heather, at making a positive difference.
Can concur that palliative and hospice care is indeed God's work.
I admire the hell out of anyone with the emotional strength to work in that field.
I was big into Pink Floyd in high school (88 grad) but then didn’t listen to them for a couple of decades. Nonetheless I had a couple of highlights.
1. In 1991/92 I was a Junior year abroad in Freiburg, Germany. Several of us got on a train to Amsterdam one weekend to do what you do in Amsterdam. At one point we ended up in a coffee shop called The Wall, and I remember four or five of us sitting through the movie the Wall twice just staring at the screen without talking. It’s still the only time I have seen the movie. Note: I did visit the Anne Frank house that weekend. That was powerful.
2. In 1994 a freiend of my Dad’s asked me if I would take his teenage son to see Pink Floyd at Memorial stadium in Clemson. (Sounds like it was the same tour Craig saw). He was paying and of course I would. The son ditched me after we arrived to meet up with his friends and smoke pot based on how he smelled afterward. I was 23, didn’t care and thoroughly enjoyed the concert. Here’s the setlist https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pink-floyd/1994/memorial-stadium-clemson-sc-2bd764d6.html
Nowadays, when I listen to Pink Floyd, I gravitate to Atom Heart Mother, Obscured by Clouds, and Animals. Dark Side and Wish You Were Here are still classics, but I really can’t take The Wall anymore.
I saw the same show on our campus at Georgia Tech. There was a way to sneak into the stadium back then. I made it onto the turf and found a seat at about the 50 yard line. I realized the peyote pellet I had taken was really good when while jamming out when I opened my eyes and saw I was the only person dancing as the rest of the people were all seated on the field. My first Floyd album was Collection of Great Dance Songs. So it makes sense.
The Winger mention reminds me that occasionally I'll be listening to a classic rock or 70s music station and be forced to ponder whether some artists were just pandering to their audience or were pervs (or both?)
Kiss - Christine Sixteen
Ringo Starr - You're Sixteen
The Cars - Let's Go ("and she won't give up, cause she's seventeen)
Abba - Dancing Queen ("young and sweet only seventeen")
I was a kid when these were hits, younger than the girls in question, so the songs hit differently then. Now though? Yuck.
Add "When I Saw Her Standing There" - "she was just seventeen, you know I mean."
They were clearly pandering to the younger audience, but we also know that far too many rock stars were taking advantage of underage groupies.
PS: One of the teen sensations of the 80s - I think Debbie Gibson? - did a cover and made it "When I Saw HIM Standing There." He was 17, and I think the singer was younger.
I give you the lyrics of Joan Jett:
I saw him dancin' there by the record machine
I knew he must a been about seventeen
The beat was goin' strong
Playin' my favorite song
And I could tell it wouldn't be long
'Til he was with me, yeah, me
And I could tell it wouldn't be long
'Til he was with me, yeah
...
He smiled, so I got up and asked for his name
"That don't matter", he said, "'cause it's all the same"
I said, "Can I take you home where we can be alone?"
And next we were movin' on
He was with me, yeah, me
Next we were movin' on
He was with me, yeah
That was a gender-changed cover. Originally written and performed by The Arrows, a British band, in 1975.
Absolute glam rock banger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPelyeNqvw0
World used to be different; I mean Loretta Lynn was married at 15.
Sure, in 1948...
True, but the age of consent is 16 in any number of states today (well 2022 anyway), just looked it up.
Indeed. And sometimes younger if the parents approve, I believe.
Marrying off a "difficult" daughter to a friend of the parents is a way for some families, especially large ones, to get rid of a distraction that they don't know how to manage. 😕
I had several great aunts who in 1900-1910 or so were more or less given to the Catholic Church to become nuns and to prevent their parents from having to support them.
I mean, several states are trying really damn hard to not disallow kids from getting married.
I think the US is one of the few countries to have never signed onto some kind of international agreement against child soldiers. Because the military still.wants the ability to recruit minors.
Well I'm sure when the "Raise the voting age to 21" crowd is done, they'll make sure that those laws are changed, too.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL *sob*
Really have to keep this in mind when watching *Friday Night Lights* lol
….and 16 in the UK even today, ‘letting Ringo off the proverbial hook.’
I will now do my obligatory pitch for UFO by mentioning their creepy lyrics to their insane jam, "Hot and Ready":
You knock me out you're like a well oiled Smith and Wesson
Hot and ready, ready to use
Dressed to the nines, you know you don't look fifteen, there's no question
Hot and ready, ready to use
Seriously, the guitarwork on that song is Hendrix-caliber, and I will die on that hill.
😳
I give you the Rolling Stones "Stray Cat Blues":
I hear the click-clack of your feet on the stairs
I know you're no scare-eyed honey.
There'll be a feast if you just come upstairs
But it's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime
I can see that you're fifteen years old
No I don't want your I.D.
And I can see that you're so far from home
But it's no hanging matter
The Stones actively cultivated their "bad boy" image, and when they recorded this they were around 27 (1970). But they had famous girlfriends who were of legal age, so everyone kind of smiled and winked and moved on. Nobody took it as an endorsement of predatory behavior.
…and then Bill Wyman acquired a 14-year old girlfriend….
Given that pop music is often written with a teenage/young adult audience in mind you can credibly argue that this is more pandering rather than predation.
Of course, you could also use the same facts to say that the target audience is an excuse to disguise predation AS pandering.
The music business is weird, man.
I'm a father to two daughters (and no sons), and my girls are both in their 20s now, but I wonder if I'd have given these songs the same amount of thought if I hadn't raised girls.
I'd like to think I would've, but I can't say for certain.
By the time our daughters were t(w)eens, pop stars (female and male alike) were already telling them to go get it for themselves.
You would have. I have no daughters, and those songs creep me out. As do some older blues tunes like “Hello Little Schoolgirl”.
I'm just glad Steely Dan kept it legal with Hey 19.
Interesting piece just went up on The Athletic about the Mets' plans for occasionally using a sixth starter:
https://theathletic.com/4259243/2023/03/02/mets-six-man-rotation/
There have been maybe six articles there so far about individuals and the team using whatever methods it can to enter the season in a good place not just physically but strategically and mentally. Obviously some of that is pre-season hype being fed to bored beat writers. But this really feels like a different kind of team than we ever saw, even with Alderson's purported embrace of analytics.
And a good thing, too, since there is a parallel article about the Braves working to bring back the stolen base. The NL East is going to be a fight not just on the field but in the planning.
The only surprise about any sort of six man rotation is starters buying into it. But some really resist the idea as messing with their routine.
More Mets: Pete Alonso is learning Spanish.
https://www.mlb.com/mets/news/pete-alonso-learning-spanish-for-mets-teammates
Now this should be commonplace in a sport with so many native speakers of Spanish. Nevertheless, Alonso wants to be able to communicate with his teammates, and his teammates appreciate the effort.