87 thoughts on “September 23, 2013: Idle”

1. For anyone who hasn't seen it, there's a call for players for the next game of Spookymilk Survivor. It'll be an anonymous mini-game/strategy season. The best part is the new moderator.

   1. The bestworst part is the new moderator.

      Fixed that for you.

      Sick burn.

      1. I hope you play and "accidentally" have your identity revealed.

         1. Very mature of you, Novak. If that's indicative of the moderation level the game will be played it there's no way I'm playing. Sorry bud.

            1. Heh. I was just coming back here to amend my statement to say "actually, if the worst part of the game is the mod, I'll be very happy, and so will all the players."

               1. Good thing, since that's a near-certainty.

                  1. It's a high bar you've set.

2. Who doesn't like a poster attempting to show the entire US Civil War? Click the pic to embiggen in a new tab/window:
   

   1. Sheesh, that makes my two months reading Shelby Foote seem like a waste! (Actually, not really. Shelby Foote's trilogy was beyond amazing.)

3. Shaquille O'Neal has become a part owner of the Sacramento Kings. No word as to whether he will lobby for a name change to the Queens.

   1. MOAR COWBELL!

4. Mrs. Hayes and I recently visited Baltimore. Visiting Fort McHenry and a filming location from one of my favorite movies drove home conflicting sides of Baltimore's history.

   1. new blag?

      1. Yup. I was shocked I was still able to get a decent .net domain in 2013. Starting new a blog was easier the last time I did it almost ten years ago.

         1. It's a nice domain. I was shocked that wgom.org was available. Only four letters! I think being in .org helped as it has fewer registrations than .com, which is near-saturated for short domains.

            1. "wgom.com" is available for sale.

            2. wgom.org was an impressive get even a couple years ago. When I asked Dave St. Peter about the Twins' registering landolakespark.com and landolakesfield.com (wondering if he would comment on how/why the Twins were registerting domains with trademarked brand names they don't own), he mentioned some guy (I believe DSP said it was a dentist) had been holding onto (his tone implied squatting) twins.com for years. DSP said the Twins have absolutely no interest in buying the guy out or filing a dispute for the domain, which struck me as silly, particularly when the domain could potentially be owned by someone with a less family-oriented business.

5. Any thoughts on Breaking Bad?

   1. My thoughts are that I was excited to learn this weekend that when I finish the first half of season 5 (one more to go), I can immediately jump in to the second half because my friend has been purchasing all the episodes for his Amazon account and set up my Wii to use it!

      1. Boooooooooooooooooooooooo

         1. I'll watch it and then sit on talking about it until the rest of you plebes can catch up.

   2. Lalalalallalalalalallalalalalalallalalalalalalalalalalalalalal. I can't hear you.

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      Not a huge fan of having the motivating factor for his revenge by Gray Matter. However, it is perfect in that even when I can support his intentions at this point (to return home and try to right his many wrongs) he is doing it for exactly the wrong reason (because he wants all the credit Gretchen and Elliott are depriving him).

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         I think it's perfect because once again it reminds the audience that Walt isn't the good guy. What motivates him is not love for his family, if it was he would've just accepted the money for the cancer treatment from his former colleagues and not started his meth empire. Walt is motivated by pure spite, of the life of luxury he didn't have, and the lack of respect he felt from everyone around him. This more than anything else is what he lives for. He is Heisenberg.

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      It's going to be a storybook ending.

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      I was a little disappointed because I was expecting to see more resolution in his episode and it felt more like it was all back story filler and set-up for next week. I suppose that's because the narrative has progressed so quickly in the past few episodes, and some of the teaser opens from this season had me set up to not really need so much exposition. But whatever, I'm psyched for next week. The last big series finale I got torqued about was Lost, and there's no way this one can be that bad.

6. My Twitter review of this week's episode of the Gleeman and the Geek podcast. If you haven't yet listened to it, Bonnes and Gleeman spend an undue amount of time talking about Josmil Pinto's butt and where it ranks among the great butts to have donned Twins pinstripes.

   1. I'm trying to listen to it, but it was almost twenty minutes before they mentioned anything to do with baseball. The recap of last week's drinking railroad was brutal ( and I skipped most of it!), and by your tweet, I don't have a lot of hope that the rest of the podcast is going to get much better.

      1. The 40-man segment was okay, but yeah, their recap of the public transportation intoxication event was awful. What's really funny sad is the episode they recorded while in the middle of the grand drunk railroad thing was easily superior to this week's installment.

         1. That's because David Brauer was excellent. They kept talking about how they spent way too much time on him when in fact, that segment was one of the best they've done, ever.

            1. I'm amazed you guys still listen to it. It seems like every review I hear (which is admittedly from this site which may have higher standards than the average person listening to KFAN) is pretty negative.

               1. I've certainly decided to never listen because of these reviews.

               2. I spend a lot of time in the car.

                  1. I spend a lot of time.

                  2. There's a solution!

                     1. Hah! Cheaptoy thinks I own CD's!*

                        *I do own about a dozen, but I haven't listened to them for years

            2. I agree with every word, Stick.

7. Just another reason why Vin Scully's example is one I wish more folks in baseball would try to emulate.

   1. They've already given him the most appropriate honor they can. And well deserved, too.

      1. Richly deserved. I love Scully's awesome threads in that photo, too. A more tasteful take on Rod Roddy.

8. Not to be outdone by Top Jimmy's compare the number of on-the-field seizures suffered by Jerry Kill while at Minnesota to the number of B1G games he's won, the reigning champion of idiocy compares the campaign to retire the Redskins name to putting Native Americans on reservations.

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   That his father-in-law is offended by KC fans parading around in "chicken feathers" is the whole point. Don't Redskins fans do that, too? Did The Idiot research the history of the naming by the original owner of the franchise? No. No, he did not.

   1. Someone please take analogies away from him forever.

9. I don't want to get Forbidden Zoney, but this is Banned Books Week, and this is happening in my daughter's school district.

   1. Holy sh!t balls cow! After reading this report from one of your links, I thought a response was necessary...and also that I probably need to buy this book.

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      This is not meant to be an exhaustive or comprehensive guideline but is intended to reiterate the need for our educators to exercise some degree of common sense when making determinations about the age appropriateness and acceptability of materials used to support the education of our children. Suffice it to say, parents that would go through the trouble of writing these proposed guidelines - though probably hopefully perhaps well-intentioned - are beyond any sort of rational discussion about the world their 15-year-old daughter is already living in. Far be it from me to criticize a family for wanting to foster a "Christian atmosphere" in their home. However, having an honest discussion with your child about what your family considers acceptable reading material (or about being a teenager. or about s-e-x. or about love) rather than forcing a school district to adhere to your norms would be my preference.

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         I was thoroughly impressed by the attempt at logic in that one. So much so that I'm very glad you linked to it. I adored the use of the School Bus Guideline in there. Also, my favorite part: It is made clear that Park wanted to see Eleanor naked. Describing every teenager ever. The horror! These parents must be an absolute blast at parties.

   2. Speaking of Banned Books, I'm gonna have NOTHING for First Monday in two weeks. I guarantee. Who wants to write a post for it?

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      “I ask each of you if you would be comfortable reading this book out loud to your school aged children or grandchildren?" Right. Because parents typically read books out-loud to their high school-aged children.

      I can understand questions being raised if this book were required reading. My understanding is that it was optional.

      1. That is correct. Thus my redoubled consternation.

10. BTW, I want to thank the Minnesota Vikings. For at least the next week, the Cleveland Browns are not the worst football team in the NFL.

    1. the Vikings are not even the worst 0-3 team (looking toward the Big Blue team occupying The Meadowlands)

       1. It is going to be awesome when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.

11. Cool as it is to see Michael Keaton blogging about the Pirates for the 4ltr, I smiled even more at the first part of his bio:

    You know him as the star of films such as "Night Shift,"

    Now, I absolutely love Night Shift. Still, I wonder how many of my students know who Michael Keaton is. Judging by how many didn't know Michael Caine by name, I'm guessing not many.

    1. Who could forget the star of Batman, Porco Rosso*, and Betelgeuse?
       *The English-Language Dub

       1. Or Pacific Heights. But we know at least one citizen enjoys that film.

          Keaton's going to be in the Robocop remake. I like the Verhoeven original and (based on early reports) was leaning off the fence on seeing the new version, but I might just go for Keaton. The guy made enough money in the Eighties that he's probably never had to take a role he didn't want since.

          1. I was going to add Pacific Heights because that is one hell of a performance by Keaton, and a freaky-@ss story.

             so instead, I will add "the star of Gung Ho".

             1. Johnny Dangerously.

                1. Somebody made me watch that movie once.

                   Once.

                   1. That fargin icehole.

                      1. that movie was constantly played in the 12 year old joe house.

                         1. I am really impressed you were able to afford a house at 12.

                            1. Must have been when underwriting was banned by originators.

                2. Beetlejuice and The Dream Team.

                3. speaking of movies with "Johnny" in the title, I flipped past a channel last night that was running Johnny Mnenomic. Huh. I don't think he knows kung fu. Yet.

                   1. Odd. I'd forgotten all about that movie. Wish here were a device for remembering things like that.

          2. I'm a fan of the original, too, and don't like the idea of a remake for it because it seems mighty uneccesary. Besides, this definitely means no Robocop Taurus.

             1. because it seems mighty uneccesary

                Money to be made = necessary

                1. I can't really argue with that. I suppose I should have worded it "artistically necessary".

                   1. And you know I agree with you there.

    2. "That Barney Rubble -- what an actor!"

       Man, he has a ton of great quotes, too.

       "220, 221...whatever it takes."
       "But you still act like yokohama mamas. No offense."

       1. I posted this link almost entirely for you, Rhu_Ru.

12. If anyone's wondering, the Twins' Magic Number is 33.

13. Minnesota Twins: Will Ron Gardenhire Ever Get to 1,000 Wins?

14. word to jobu and other banner artistes: fried egg font.

    1. *sigh*

       this would go well with the bacon banner

       also, the egg font is the tip of the iceberg.

       1. That is so good, I'd be okay with that being the permanent banner. (Not that I'm against the others, but that's very cool.)

       2. I got the one you emailed about, so it definitely works.

          1. awesome. as i mentioned to spoons, a watched banner never appears. thanks for the confirmation.

             1. heh, and of course it appears immediately after i posted that comment.

15. So, Leith, North Dakota. How about that.

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    Nope. Not linking. Google it.

    1. Yeah, I heard about that. Locals not too happy.

16. and for stadium politicks fans, I give you Norm Chad at the Wapo.

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    the link. America specializes in welfare handouts to millionaires. It’s nice work if you can get it, and you can get it if you’re Jerry Jones or Zygi Wilf. The latest, greatest example of civic insanity comes from Atlanta, home of the Georgia Dome and the NFL Falcons. The Georgia Dome, a perfectly suitable facility built entirely with public money in 1992 and renovated partly with state funds in 2007, will be replaced by a new stadium in 2017 that could cost taxpayers $500 million. This was approved by Atlanta’s city council earlier this year in a city that’s running in the red.

17. the XFL was way ahead of its time nicknames on the back of NBA jerseys

    1. thanks, dw, mostly for leading me to this story about Adrian Dantley working as a school crossing guard.

       Dantley has also noticed that people are just plain stupid when crossing the street. “I would say 70 percent of the people who go across my route are on their telephone or on their BlackBerry, text-messaging,” he told the Washington Post. “I never would have seen that if I had not been on the post.”

18. Stepping on freealonzo's toes, but Dr. Dog presale for February 6 and 7 at First Ave. Noon tomorrow through 10pm Thursday. Code for Feb 6: thetruth. Code for Feb. 7: cuckoo. Should I go, meat?

    1. Yes.

19. In a surprise to no one, Twins shut Mauer down for remainder of season.

    1. I totally scooped even the Twins on this one.

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