75 thoughts on “October 31, 2016: Boo”

  2. I'm nine days and a wake-up removed from a trip to Hawaii for a grad school friend's wedding. (My friend's from Hawaii & landed a Rainbow Warrior faculty gig after completing his dis.) I've never been to Hawaii before. What do I need to know?

      1. The first sign of my maternal grandfather's aging process was his steadfast belief that once during a trip to Hawaii, he drove over to visit Japan.

      1. Same question as Rhu. I know a bit about Maui and the big island.

        Also, please have a poké bowl for me while you're there. Mahalo!

      2. I'll be staying in Honolulu. The wedding's in Kaneohe that Sunday, but they're also hosting a gathering the night before. I'm hoping to get out to Pearl Harbor on Veterans Day, and I know my friend can point me to the best loco moco & poke. I'm thinking about purchasing my aloha attire there (yay, comfortable formal attire!). Other than that, it's a blank sheet itinerary.

        1. get to know ABC stores 😉

          You might want to hike Diamond Head. For sure, EAT SOME PINEAPPLE. It was amazing to me how much of a difference a fresh pineapple tastes.

          1. Nay, eat ALL the fruit! Find a farmers market* if you can. I've had amazing mango, papaya (with lime squeezed on top), apple bananas, and I can't even remember what else.

            *farmers' market? farmer's market?

            1. I would go "farmers' market" unless it's just one farmer there selling (or just one farm, consider the farmer whoever's in charge even if not present at the market), but I've been wrong in the past with "Mother's Day" and "Father's Day", so who knows?

          2. Ugh, ABC stores. I've experienced them in North Carolina & Boise.

            Good idea on the fruit. Pepper's suggestion of a farmers' market should make this a reality.

            1. Seconded on the farmer's markets. Especially papaya. The stuff you get there is so much better than anything in the mainland, it might as well be a different fruit.

                2. I adore pineapple. I'm gonna have to get to Hawaii someday just to try some of this "better pineapple" stuff.

            2. I think you're imagining the wrong kind of ABC store. These are Sort of like a Hawaiian 7-11 mixed with a tourist gift shop. Good prices on touristy stuff, plus sometimes Spam musubi

      1. I nearly moved to Hawai'i once upon a time to live with my sister. She went to Mankato State instead, so I worked at Wells Fargo in WDM.

      2. Mrs. Hayes & the Poissonnier would not be pleased. Fortunately for them, I'm more likely to accept a one-way ticket to Finland/Siberia/Yukon anyway.

      3. If it weren't so far from family, I would have worked real hard to get a job in Hawaii. Lots of astronomy jobs there, so that would have been a real possibility for us.

        1. I missed out on a Mauna Kea visit; had to pick one of 15 nights in the year where weather interfered.

          I found it interesting that the big eyes like Gemini North are comfortably run from a building in Hilo across the street from the science center while the technician peons have to deal with the high altitudes

          1. At Gemini, the astronomers who apply for telescope time don't even go to Hawaii at all. If your proposal is approved, the people who run the telescope make your observations some point during the current semester, and they just send you a link to your data.

            At Keck (also on Mauna Kea) the observers go to Hawaii, but stay in Waimea (small town in the middle of the island, between Hilo and Kona), so they don't go up the mountain, either. Certainly makes it easier on the astronomers since they don't have to deal with altitude sickness, supplemental oxygen, etc. that the technicians at the summit need to work through.

          2. I missed out on a Mauna Kea visit as well, but I did traverse that road across the middle of the island from Hilo to Kona. Most surreal landscape I've ever experienced. And as the sun was setting, fog began rolling in. I felt like I was on another planet.

            1. We never did the Saddle Road, but did do the entire loop around. Weird in that you can see snow on the volcanos, cactus in the NW corner, tropical plants north of Hilo...just about everything except a nice sandy beach. No, the black sand at Hilo does not count as a nice sandy beach.

        2. I've never been, and until a few years ago didn't even really have a desire to visit. Then my brother got a make-a-wish trip there, and... I want to retire to Hawaii, I think.

        1. There are a lot of interesting numbers in there. The $21.50/year per subscriber for MNF is pretty crazy, though it's probably not the right way to look at that cost since MNF could be a loss leader for ESPN. That's $1.79/month and consider that the Sling Blue package (includes ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3 and some mostly non-sports stations) costs $20/month, so in one way of calculating, about 10% of that goes to MNF.

          What gets me fixated on the MNF aspect is that--and maybe I'm interacting with all the wrong people--I don't know anyone that actually cares about MNF as the kind of appointment television that you would plan to watch every week, like Game of Thrones or another popular series. If the Seahawks are playing MNF, sure, people around here care, but not any more than a typical Seahawks game.

          I think there's probably a real case to be made that there are now so many avenues for seeing the teams that you want to see that there's no longer a special appeal to MNF.

          Anyway, I'm not sure I buy the conclusion that ESPN is dead by 2021. Yes, they are locked into a certain way of doing business now, but contracts have a way of changing when a lot of people are going to lose a boatload of money. They have time to change and it's probably in most parties' interests for ESPN to die slowly if it is going to die.

          1. I think there's probably a real case to be made that there are now so many avenues for seeing the teams that you want to see that there's no longer a special appeal to MNF.

            I suppose that presumes online content providers resist further constriction of access to streaming content via mandated ties to cable/satellite subscription. Obviously each league may approach these arrangements differently. The outcome of Garber vs. Office of the Commissioner of Baseball resolved the ridiculous in-market blackout policy, but it maintained the connection to a cable/satellite subscription that includes the in-market regional sports network.

            This 'graph from the piece sean shared was nauseating:

            ESPN presently pays $1.9 billion a year for Monday Night Football. (This is a wild stat, but did you know that every cable and satellite subscriber who has ESPN is paying $21.50 a year just for Monday Night Football games? That's whether you ever watch those games or not. That's the NFL tax that ESPN passes along to consumers.)

            I've never been prouder that we cancelled our cable subscription.

            1. I guess more what I was getting at is that the rise of MNF was at a time when you generally would get your local team's game on Sunday, maybe a second game half the weekends, and then the MNF games. Basically, other than your local team, you could only see 3-5 other teams per week.

              Now if you have a reasonably comprehensive cable package, every week you are going to get Thursday night games, Sunday night games, one AFC game, one NFC game, and a Monday night game. And sometimes you'll get an AFC or NFC doubleheader. Even without double-headers, that gives you access to something like 9 non-local teams each week. That's without something like NFL Sunday Ticket or whatever.

          2. Anyway, I'm not sure I buy the conclusion that ESPN is dead by 2021.

            Absolutely. "Dying" gets the clicks but they aren't really dying as shrinking. I don't know if peak ESPN has been reached but more likely is they shrink for several years, adapt or wait for contracts to expire, and then expand when they can shift strategies.

    2. The Cubs making the WS has almost certainly been a good thing for the game. A staunch NFL-loving friend of mine from over at CdL copped to watching the Series over whichever NFL games were available.

      1. Cubs has undoubtedly been good. But the fact that it's Cleveland really ups the remarkable nature of the ratings - we're talking two fly-over country teams here!

        1. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the Sunday night game featured the Dallas Cowboys. Granted the Cowboys are not what they once were, but they're still usually a pretty good ratings draw.

      1. I'm pretty shocked that he had no ownership. Is this the NCAA where they use your likeness without compensation?

        1. That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. Many employers also now insert character clauses ("represent our brand/corporation on & off duty") that attempt to silence expression that doesn't fit the employers' worldview.

    2. This article presents a different perspective than the press release the brewery issued announcing Haug's departure. Sounds like exactly the kind of corporate-minded environment I'd be looking to leave, too.

      I'm not particularly a hop head, and find the perpetual brinksmanship of hop-forward brews tiresome & unimaginative. I appreciated that malt wasn't lost in the mix at Surly, but I'm not sure I feel the desire to continue trying their new releases. I'm pretty content with CynicAle & Bitter Brewer.

      1. I anticipate still enjoying Surly. I'm not a huge supporter of corporate-minded environments, but neither am I a huge supporter of cults of personality.

        1. Totally fair. I didn't know who the brewmaster was before he left. In fact, the only brewmasters I know by name are both located in the vicinity of the People's Republic.

        2. so, color me skeptical, but who could not see the writing on the wall after Surly dumped his wife earlier in the year?

          1. Also, his wife didn't "close" her restaurant to help Surly. Her restaurant's landlord kicked her out so he could open up his own spot in the location.

            (I LOVED her restaurant, ate there very frequently, and was told that by multiple staff members during its final month.)

      2. Indeed, this article is not a particularly good look for Surly. Their beers cost enough that I'll have a right difficult time dropping the cash on them in the future.

        Also, I strongly disagree with Algonad's opinion because of this part:

        It's a safe-haven for my music career too, you'll see me play more.

      3. Sounds like exactly the kind of corporate-minded environment I'd be looking to leave, too.

        Or he and his wife were prima donnas and the owners got tired of his sh!t?

        I don't even pretend to know the inside story of what went on. All I know is that some retailers in the Twin Cities don't like the Surly folks for various reasons and that this brewmaster blasted his former employers on the way out the door.

        Surly made/makes some great, albeit expensive, products. This guy appears to be a talented brewer with pretensions to being an Artiste. But production brewing is a lot less art and a lot more craft and attention to detail, I think. I'm not sure how much his exit will really matter to Surly's ability to continue to make great, albeit expensive, products.

        1. He could have pretensions to being an Artiste. Would a brewery with the stature of his new employer hire someone fitting that description?

          Maybe the guy was just tired of getting hosed:

          But I was more shocked to learn that Todd had no ownership stake, employee-stock, or any other financial incentive to remain at Surly, a brewery that ballooned from a tiny startup to a $35 million dollar destination brewery in the decade that Todd was inventing, brewing, naming, branding, and marketing beers for them.

          He could be lying about that, I suppose. I have no particular insight into that, nor any real stake in the veracity.

          1. I have no doubt that he's talented. I have suspicions that the business side of Surly is...unlikable. I have suspicions (based only on this article) that there is more to the story than this guy's side of it.

            1. Could be. But Surly was really the one that made Todd one of the main faces of the brewery. I'm surprised they would do that if he's just another employee.

              1. I did one of their reserved tours the Friday before news hit about Todd leaving. The tour definitely painted him as one of the key figures in the history/ongoing operation of the brewery - he was even behind the bar pouring that day.

                Reading that he had no stake or financial incentive to stay came as a big surprise.

  5. 7:40PM and the ghouls and goblins are still coming. Normally we close it down at 7 bells and retreat into the panic room.

    I totally TMcG the candy this year. Haven't even tapped into my freakout last purchase of 100 pieces... Now what to do with it. Need to get it out. Of. The. House.

    1. 9 Clicks and we are still open for business. Last 4 girls were prolly college students tho. Time to shut er down.

      3. We didn't even make 60 this year. Weather was very pleasant, and several neighbors sitting out this year. Runner daughter and her dog (Red Riding Hood costume) handed out the treats.

    2. I had zero knocks on the door this year.
      Didnt buy a huge bag of candy because of last years poor showing.
      Oh well.

      1. We got three. At least it was an improvement over last year where we had one. Strangely, being at the end of a cul-de-sac with trees blocking the view of the house discourages people.

  6. Despite much warmer weather than the last few, our neighborhood was relatively dead. We did have one group of about 20 kids come (extended family? friends? all 20 and parents appeared to share the same ethnicity).
    Apparently mist and Monday nights and Vikings games are more discouraging than cold and Thursday-Sunday nights.

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