Booman Tribune ~ A Progressive Community

Open Thread

by BooMan
Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 11:36:06 AM EST

Ice storm. No power. Talk among yourselves. (sent by iPhone)

Open Thread | 24 comments (24 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

That's a bitch.
Last time we had power outage of 5 days and I got to watch (from under 2 sleeping bags wrapped around me) out the window the crews trying to fix the transformer I discovered why Carhartt's are so popular. As I watched I saw one guy pull 6 pks of Twinkies out of the various pockets, another 2 sandwiches, apples, soda and a DVD player. Course they couldn't work on their break...but their Carhartt's kept their bellies full.

by mainsailset on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:18:30 PM EST

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

Charming image.

by Heart of the Rockies on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:24:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

Yikes. Hope your power is back soon.

When we had our week long power outage, I posted a thread or two via Blackberry. T'weren't fun.

http://twitter.com/ohiorenee

by Renee in Ohio on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:08:11 PM EST

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

power's back in the house but a huge branch came down on the property cutting power to the barn.

by BooMan on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:20:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Thread (none / 1)

You have a barn? How cool is that?

"If you look for the social economic motive, you will not have to wait for history to tell you what was propaganda and what was truth." - George Seldes

by Real History Lisa (lpeaseRemoveThis@gte.net) on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:30:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

Ahhh, power outages come and go, hope you have power surge protectors on EVERYTHING!

by mainsailset on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:36:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Soapblox "dead" (none / 0)

Don't know exactly what this means
http://www.soapblox.net/blog/showDiary.do?diaryId=989

...but since I can still get into My Left Wing, I'm saving my old diaries that I think are worth saving.

Stuff I wrote, well, back when I used to write. Keep meaning to do that again.

Maybe seeing my old stuff will help jump start that process.

http://twitter.com/ohiorenee

by Renee in Ohio on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:28:43 PM EST

Databases, Archives destroyed. (none / 0)

MLW is gone. Swingstate Project is also destroyed. Many other local and state blogs have disappeared.

by Delaware Dem on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:49:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Databases, Archives destroyed. (none / 0)

Not so fast. My Left Wing has come back up. But Billybush has a FP diary recommending that you save the diaries and comments you want to keep. I did that fairly efficiently using the Zotero plugin for Firefox

Swingstate Project reported earlier that they lost data. Don't know what the current status is.

Pam's House Blend was gone. Don't know what the current status is.

50 states, 210 media market, 435 Congressional Districts, 3080 counties, 192,480 precincts

by TarheelDem on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 01:05:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Frost/Nixon - BEST film of the year (none / 0)

Wow. I just LOVED this film. So suspenseful. So taught and full of drama. And of course, so much of that actually happened.

If you haven't seen this film yet, do not walk - RUN to the theater to see it. It'll knock your socks off, seriously. A battle of egos and wills that makes most sporting matches look like patty-cake.

"If you look for the social economic motive, you will not have to wait for history to tell you what was propaganda and what was truth." - George Seldes

by Real History Lisa (lpeaseRemoveThis@gte.net) on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:30:19 PM EST

Re: Frost/Nixon - BEST film of the year (none / 0)

I doubt it was like that in real life -- drama, suspense, etc. Back when it happened, I hated Nixon so much I couldn't watch even tho I loved Frost. I read the highlights afterwards in the NY Times. It would be like Keith Olberman interviewing G.W. in a few months. I wouldn't be able to watch that either.

I'm not disputing your review; I'm sure the movie is as good as you say. But, even today, I can't watch an actor pretending to be Nixon. Passed on that Anthony Hopkins movie, too, when it was out. I would sit in the theater and my rage would bring on heart palpitations... or I'd start screaming at the screen and ruin it for others.

by sjct on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:57:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Frost/Nixon - BEST film of the year (none / 0)

It really was like that. The screenwriter spoke, after our screening. Most of the drama comes from actual events. The screenwriter got Frost interested, who then introduced him to the other key players. Fascinating stuff.

Sure, some scenes were fictionalized to heighten the drama, but - it's always hard to talk about films because I don't want to give anything away.

I agree with you re Hopkins - I couldn't stand him as Nixon. But I love Langella in the role. And having seen some of the actual interview footage, Langella does a remarkable job of capturing the essence of the man without trying to mimic him.

I think you'd be amazingly surprised at how good this film is. Expect several awards here.

"If you look for the social economic motive, you will not have to wait for history to tell you what was propaganda and what was truth." - George Seldes

by Real History Lisa (lpeaseRemoveThis@gte.net) on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 01:58:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

That's it. I'm getting an iphone.

by maryb2004 on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:46:07 PM EST

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

ice storm...its cold and raining.....dog wont go out to pee.

great danes pee a lot.

7 weeks till i live in sunny florida.

then all i have to deal with are hurricanes

Edible panties taste like crap.

by anna in philly (jrsygir1@aol.com) on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:46:22 PM EST

Booman, if you are powered by Soapblox..... (none / 0)

...please back everything up now. Hackers destroying everything. MLW and SSP are down.

by Delaware Dem on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:48:22 PM EST

Re: Booman, if you are powered by Soapblox..... (none / 0)

Bottom of page.

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by ask on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:53:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

Doesn't Israel have Patriot Missile batteries to shoot down incoming missiles from Hamas? I was just wondering out loud.

by americanforliberty on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:48:43 PM EST

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

answering my own question? why didn't they use them?

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/improved_patriot.html

by americanforliberty on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:50:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Thread (none / 1)

maybe they need a few more...?

http://www.imemc.org/article/52884

by americanforliberty on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:51:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

To answer your question: economics! The Palestinians aren't firing "missiles." They're firing rockets - unguided, ballistic rockets at that. Think of those 5-inch rockets you've seen launched by aircraft or off landing attack ships in old WW2 movies. The only difference is that the Palestinian rockets are smaller than those 5-inch rockets and pack less warhead. A Patriot missile costs maybe 1000 to 10000 times the cost of one of the Palestinian rockets. You aren't going to use a half-million dollar missile to shoot down something you could buy in your hardware store.

Systems do exist for taking down these rockets. The US Army has never really fielded one, but the US Navy has at least one installed on every major vessel in service. It's called a Close-In Weapons System (and sometimes Phalanx) and is designed to take down incoming anti-ship missiles. Almost every major power has some system similar to it. They use a variety of chain-driven cannons between 20mm and 30mm in caliber and are pretty well proven.

Recent Israeli governments could mount a line of these weapons along with the necessary radar to direct the guns to defeat these Palestinian rockets. They don't do it, despite stationing civilians in a war zone (the Israeli claim - "we're at war") and basing their military amongst those civilians, because they much prefer the potential claims of provocation and the chance to kill Palestinians.

by VizierVic (VizierVic@hotmail.com) on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 01:04:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

I think spending a little of that American Aid would be better off than invading your neighbor. And if you can nuetralize your opponents greatest weapon they become nuisance and go away.

by americanforliberty on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 03:55:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

We haven't lost ours. Yet. Hope yours comes back soon.

Oh, there you are, Perry. -Phineas -SLB-

by boran2 (blogistan@yahoo.com) on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 12:55:05 PM EST

It is Time for Reid to Go (none / 0)

Reid has so botched the Burriss nomination. He has enabled the Bush administration. He has not been able to get party unity among the Democratic caucus. He went goo-goo over Lieberman's clear break with the party.

It is time for him to go before he botches the management of Obama's legislation in the Senate.

IMHO a better majority leader would be Tom Harkin or Dick Durbin. But I bet that Schumer lusts for the job.

50 states, 210 media market, 435 Congressional Districts, 3080 counties, 192,480 precincts

by TarheelDem on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 01:12:11 PM EST

Re: It is Time for Reid to Go (none / 0)

Frankly, I would have liked Pelosi and Hoyer and Reid to all be replaced. But I guess we'll have to make do with the team we have.

"If you look for the social economic motive, you will not have to wait for history to tell you what was propaganda and what was truth." - George Seldes

by Real History Lisa (lpeaseRemoveThis@gte.net) on Wed Jan 7th, 2009 at 01:59:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Open Thread | 24 comments (24 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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