When we growed up it woulder been a mans’ club: The Grill 020510 ← FREE KRAUT!

When we growed up it woulder been a mans’ club: The Grill 020510 82

  1. I for one did not realize that Hank Steinbrenner is a member of the cast of Mad Men:
  2. Speaking of trim cuts, you know, off the top of Boehner’s head would be a good place for Ryan’s plan to start
  3. Why in the world would Barney Frank have a problem with a guy named John Fund?
  4. Michelle Bachmann, Thane of Cawdor
  5. Nah, Olbermann’s right
  6. Good strategy, good quiz. I’m always surprised that people don’t wager more heavily in Double and Final Jeopardy.
  7. Jaymee Sire knows her kooz
  8. Al Franken agrees with me
  9. This goes a long way to explaining the sheep video
  10. Emory Titman and Bris Lord? Also, Jimmy Lavender. And Luderus covering his balls with liniment, only to risk infecting the entire league with diphtheria.
you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come

82 thoughts on “When we growed up it woulder been a mans’ club: The Grill 020510

  1. salb918 Feb 5,2010 11:43 am

    6. Great discussion on Primer.

    • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 12:05 pm || Up
      This German, along with Isaac Newton, is credited with inventing calculus

      BZZT! Leibniz!

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 12:07 pm || Up

      The worst part was that one of the guys trying out with me was super-personable, quite handsome, in a wheelchair, and had a shock of orange hair. I didn’t stand a chance.

      Yep, redheads are highly skilled at trivia.

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • mikeA Feb 5,2010 12:10 pm || Up

        I came in 4th place out of 6 among family in the Chronicle’s holiday geography quiz. So ashamed…

      • andeux Feb 5,2010 12:18 pm || Up

        But turn up the lights in the studio a bit and they burn up like freakish vampires.

        TINSTAAFK
        • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 1:28 pm || Up

          That is a myth. Only sunlight will do that.

          I would, however, sweat like Robert Hays at the end of Airplane!.

          you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
          • Leopold Bloom Feb 5,2010 10:07 pm || Up

            oh, Jesus Christ–you work at an ad agency AND you’re a fucking red-head? You really don’t have a soul, do you?

      • salb918 Feb 5,2010 1:19 pm || Up

        That comment was mine btw.

        • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 1:24 pm || Up

          I note that you didn’t correct Jeff K that his being in a wheelchair didn’t afford you any height advantage.

          you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 12:11 pm || Up

      That was the real advantage of that Jennings guy that won $1M. He literally built a buzzer mechanism at home, and practiced for something like a year.

      OK, I just had my first actual laugh inspired in part by Burn After Reading.

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • andeux Feb 5,2010 12:52 pm || Up

      you have to come up with something interesting and intelligent to say about yourself,

      That’s the main thing that’s kept me from trying out for Jeopardy.

      I’m with those who, if winning in a runaway, would make sure to preserve the victory, regardless of the category. As people on BTF folks point out, there’s a lot of value in getting to play again, and there are lots of things that can go wrong even in a category you think you know. You play to win the game. I do agree that people are too conservative on daily doubles though.

      I have one other pet theory about betting on final jeopardy. Instead of playing for the $1 win (either worst or best case scenario, depending on whether you’re in a runaway or not), the player in first should usually go for the tie instead, for a couple of reasons.
      1) In a tie, both players get to keep the money and come back. So you’re getting more money for the players and less for the house, not risking your own winnings (except perhaps by having to face an above-average opponent the next day). If the players agreed in advance to do this, it would be to their mutual benefit.
      2) If the second-place player knows you will (or might!) bet this way, it actually makes his decision about betting strategy harder. So you can actually increase your own chances of winning in cases where you get the question wrong.

      In practice, it might not be worth it since
      a) Your opponents won’t know how you will bet, and may not reciprocate.
      b) Most people on Jeopardy bet like idiots anyway, so the theoretical advantage of (2) is probably worth it.

      TINSTAAFK
  2. monkeyball Feb 5,2010 11:47 am

    As a parent of a toddler, I can certainly endorse the idea of changing Congress.

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • nevermoor Feb 5,2010 12:32 pm || Up

      I agree that Congress should be changed. I disagree with the concept that it was once non-poopy.

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
      • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 12:34 pm || Up

        The US Senate is the Most Poopy Legislative Body in the World.

        you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
        • FreeSeatUpgrade Feb 5,2010 12:46 pm || Up

          I dunno…the House of Lords is a mighty decrepit bunch.

          "Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
          • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 1:17 pm || Up

            Yes, but they’ve been restructured into being not much more than a sideshow. The Senate continues to fill a constipating role.

            you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
          • Leopold Bloom Feb 5,2010 1:41 pm || Up

            I just did signs for a consignment shop across the street called House of Lords.

            wee.

            • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 1:47 pm || Up

              Any of ’em perform brisses?

              you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
              • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 1:48 pm || Up

                You could just reuse some old “50% OFF!” signs you might have lying around.

                you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
              • salb918 Feb 5,2010 1:51 pm || Up

                John Brattain used to have a joke: never eat the calamari at a bris.

    • mjdittmer Feb 5,2010 4:40 pm || Up

      That’s a helluvan article. You know, that repaircalifornia organization I’ve linked to before aims to call a convention to re-write the state constitution, but maybe that convention could also ratify the constitutional amendment that’s necessary for some of the reforms Lessig’s talking about.

  3. monkeyball Feb 5,2010 11:47 am

    Heh heh heh … sigh

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  4. mikeA Feb 5,2010 11:48 am

    I missed 1/10. 90% chance of getting it right is not good enough odds to do a Claven.

  5. monkeyball Feb 5,2010 11:48 am

    I have never had much of a travel bug, but I really want to visit Antarctica someday.

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • salb918 Feb 5,2010 11:50 am || Up

      I had a colleague who went on an Antarctic expedition. She wouldn’t stop talking about it for weeks afterward, and judging by the pictures, I can’t blame her. It looked awesome.

      • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 12:35 pm || Up

        {adds “going on an Antarctic expedition” to Euphemism Directory}

        you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • green star oakland Feb 5,2010 12:02 pm || Up

      For armchair antarctic travel and odd-human watching, “Encounters at the End of the World” is pretty good.

      If this is His will, He's a son of a bitch.
  6. nevermoor Feb 5,2010 12:35 pm

    Re 8: I think Franken is off to a great start. I hope he holds his seat. However, this is not your point

    In his public session with the senators Wednesday, Obama urged them to “finish the job” on health care but did not lay out a path for doing so. That uncertainty appeared to trigger Franken’s anger, and the sources in the room said he laid out his concerns much more directly than any senator did in the earlier public session.

    Or, if it was part of your point, it’s a part I agree with.

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 12:38 pm || Up

      My larger point is that I don’t think Obama has exercised the necessary “leadership” on HCR — laying out a path from here on out would be part of it, communicating earlier and more effectively to the general public would be another, not relying so heavily on D Senate leadership would be another.

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • nevermoor Feb 5,2010 1:03 pm || Up

        I agree on part 1.

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
      • nevermoor Feb 5,2010 2:27 pm || Up

        Slight tune change we can believe in.

        This is the first time I’ve heard the president demand an actual vote, and I take that as an enormously positive step.

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • andeux Feb 5,2010 1:12 pm || Up

      There is certainly some irony in a senator complaining about HCR not happening, since the Senate has obviously been the biggest impediment to getting a bill passed and enacted from the start. Obama’s early strategy of letting Congress come up with their own bills may have been sensible at the time. But at this point, with each chamber having already passed a bill, and the only remaining issue being how to reconcile them without a 60th vote in the Senate, the White House and the House could both be doing something to make that happen. Instead, it seems like everyone’s sitting around waiting for someone else to make the first move. You seem to think that Obama and Pelosi are both doing everything possible, because they’re awesome, and if something else were possible they would already be doing it. I’m not convinced.

      TINSTAAFK
      • nevermoor Feb 5,2010 1:29 pm || Up

        I think Pelosi can and should pass the Senate bill. I don’t mind her negotiating for more (since there are plenty of ways the Senate bill could be improved, but if the Senate backs out and she drops it I’ll be pissed. I’m not going to be pissed in advance though.

        Obama picked a strategy, and in my opinion executed it well. HCR is farther than it has ever been under any president. Kennedy died, and a republican was elected in Mass. That’s a lot of added degree of difficulty. I don’t think he did anything wrong in his initial planning and execution, but I do think it is (or could be) a mistake to avoid specifics now.

        Or, if you’d prefer, you can characterize me as a clueless fanboi.

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
        • andeux Feb 5,2010 2:28 pm || Up

          I guess we’re basically in agreement, but you’re a little more sanguine about what might be happening behind the scenes while I’m more inclined to be pissed in advance.

          TINSTAAFK
          • nevermoor Feb 5,2010 2:30 pm || Up

            Yeah. I think there’s room for both (Ezra’s point that this probably doesn’t die so much as fade away suggests there needs to be more pressure than I’m inclined towards). I just care that it happens, and don’t really care anymore about the slight differences (since reconciliation is off the table).

            "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  7. nevermoor Feb 5,2010 12:38 pm

    Re 9: Not all attention is good attention. I hope that idiot continues to forget it.

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 12:43 pm || Up

      For his own brand, it sure is.

      Remember: all political ads suck, and in political consulting and advertising, there is apparently no penalty for failure (or, rather, “failure” is not defined the way rational beings would interpret it).

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  8. green star oakland Feb 5,2010 1:05 pm


    What surprises me is not that he would break into women’s homes and “creep into their bedrooms and search drawers for the underwear, before carrying out a sex act” but that he was the town’s mayor. Maybe he figured he had some kind of droit de villein.

    If this is His will, He's a son of a bitch.
    • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 1:20 pm || Up

      Beeb headline fail: How in Ba’al’s name was that not rendered as “knicker-nicking”?

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • green star oakland Feb 5,2010 2:10 pm || Up

        The press has handled this particularly poorly. His arrest didn’t generate a single “Knicker-nicker nicked” headline, widely used in previous such cases.

        If this is His will, He's a son of a bitch.
        • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 2:13 pm || Up

          Perhaps they’re all just nackered.

          you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  9. Leopold Bloom Feb 5,2010 1:12 pm

    I think you’re mistaken. I think Hank Steinbrenner was Mr. Blonde.

    • Leopold Bloom Feb 5,2010 10:13 pm || Up

      Well, maybe if Mr. Blonde and Angelina’s daddy had a baby together.

  10. FreeSeatUpgrade Feb 5,2010 1:49 pm

    Heckuva pick, Brownie.

    (shameless theft of deadspin’s headline joke)

    "Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
  11. nevermoor Feb 5,2010 2:36 pm

    Mmmmmmm. My day just got brighter.

    hen, on the first play on Super Bowl Sunday … San Francisco’s Steve Young threw a bomb to Jerry Rice, who was open by about 45 yards. And I thought: “Hmm, I guess I was right the first time.”

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  12. monkeyball Feb 5,2010 4:35 pm

    Oboy do I love Luc Besson …

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
  13. monkeyball Feb 5,2010 4:35 pm
    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • nevermoor Feb 5,2010 5:44 pm || Up

      Was this really a problem?

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
      • salb918 Feb 5,2010 6:05 pm || Up

        I hated those little ketchup packets. PROGRESS! THE WHEELS OF INNOVATIONS CANNOT BE STOPPED!

  14. monkeyball Feb 5,2010 4:47 pm

    Uh … hunh. Slusser waxes vague over Buck.

    A’s FO on Buck = Obama admin on HCR?

    you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
    • whiteshoes40 Feb 5,2010 5:25 pm || Up

      I like Susan. She always makes me feel better about A’s-related things… or at least more informed.

      • Leopold Bloom Feb 5,2010 7:22 pm || Up

        she thinks I’m funny, so I love her.

  15. Poppy Feb 5,2010 6:49 pm

    6/10… better than I expected. (Although, regarding question #2… wasn’t Stargell’s quote specific? As in, “[person’s] _______” (not just “_______”)

    There's a wild thing in the woolshed and it's keeping me awake at night.
    • Leopold Bloom Feb 5,2010 10:11 pm || Up

      You’ve confused and frightened me. I will now stick a fork into the wall socket.

  16. FreeSeatUpgrade Feb 5,2010 7:46 pm

    Since it sounds like the Ambassador gig ain’t happening, perhaps instead he can be the next MLB Commissioner:

    Pakistani won’t be Ambassador to Saudi Arabia because name translates to Biggest Dick.

    "Kraut will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no kraut."
    • monkeyball Feb 5,2010 8:20 pm || Up

      I’d like to see that country of origin develop a dreadlocked, fielding-challenged right-handed power hitter. Then we could nickname him Pakistani the Manny.

      you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
      • Leopold Bloom Feb 5,2010 10:12 pm || Up

        what if it turned out he was a hermaphrodite?

      • salb918 Feb 6,2010 9:55 am || Up

        when he does his Borat impression, that’s just Manny being Kazhakstani

        • monkeyball Feb 6,2010 10:48 am || Up

          Ver’ nice!

          you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
          • salb918 Feb 6,2010 11:09 am || Up

            When he converts to Nizari Islam, that’s just Manny being Aga Khani.

            • nevermoor Feb 6,2010 1:50 pm || Up

              When he opposes US wars, that’s just Manny being Afghani

              "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • nevermoor Feb 5,2010 11:25 pm || Up

      Like Colgate in spanish speaking countries.

      "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
      • JediLeroy Feb 6,2010 12:10 am || Up

        Yeah, but only in places where they speak use “vos” (Argentina, Central America).

        Here in Japan, there’s a car called “laputa”.

        az di bobe volt gehat beytsim volt zi geven mayn zeyde
        • JediLeroy Feb 6,2010 12:10 am || Up

          I speak use good talk words understand.

          az di bobe volt gehat beytsim volt zi geven mayn zeyde
    • andeux Feb 6,2010 8:17 am || Up

      “Biggus Dickus”?

      TINSTAAFK
      • Poppy Feb 6,2010 7:23 pm || Up

        He has a wife, you know…

        There's a wild thing in the woolshed and it's keeping me awake at night.
  17. Leopold Bloom Feb 6,2010 8:25 am

    From here:

    Sarasota, Florida

    Sarasota is perhaps one of the most popular retirement destinations in the most popular US state for retirees. Located on the Gulf Coast, Sarasota has 35 miles of beaches and offers residents opportunities from golfing to boating and gourmet dining. The town also offers a range of activities, including an opera, symphony, film society and a range of art galleries.

    One caveat about this destination is that because of its climate and natural surroundings, it attracts plenty of vacationers in the winter months. The area also finds median home values at $185,200, which is slightly above the national average. Regardless, AARP Magazine has identified Sarasota, a city with the nickname “Paradise,” as #4 on its list of “best places to reinvent your life.”

    or, you know, run a sign shop and hate old people and tourists.

  18. nevermoor Feb 6,2010 8:47 am

    Yglesias has a very stupid. Making the dollar cheaper is good right now. Making the dollar untrustworthy is very bad.

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  19. nevermoor Feb 6,2010 9:29 am
    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
  20. nevermoor Feb 6,2010 2:19 pm

    Paging salb. Paging salb. Analysis please. Could this possibly be real?

    "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"
    • salb918 Feb 6,2010 4:33 pm || Up

      Without more information, I’m putting this at 20% hype, 70% bullshit, and 10% real. I actually have a fair bit of experience with aerosol nanocoatings, and my thesis was on nanocoatings, so this is kind of up my alley.

      It’s not clear to me what they’re actually spraying, since you can’t “extract” SiO2 in a liquid form (unless you’re at extremely hot temperature), so they’re probably spraying SiO2 nanoparticles. But if that’s the case, then I’m not sure how they are getting smooth films like the micrograph is showing. There *are* technologies that allow you to spray SiO2 nanoparticles, but you either have to use a “binding” agent as a matrix for the nanoparticles, or you need to sinter the particles (heat them really hot) in order to get a smooth thin film.

      Also, I have no idea how they silica (even if it is not in nanoparticle form) is sticking to the substrate. If it’s sticking by van der Waals forces, then the coating is nowhere near as durable as they claim. I (and a small army of researchers who are much smarter and better financed that I am) have spend a lot of effort on making nanocoatings more durable, and spraying it on and relying on some “quantum effect” seems pretty dubious. Without an additional processing step, which they explicitly state they don’t use, I highly doubt the durability of the film. It wouldn’t even withstand a gentle tissue wipe if it’s as thin as they say.

      Silica repelling water is ridiculous. It’s hydrophilic; water would sheet and not bead on a silica surface unless it had significant nanostructure and probably a second surface treatment.

      Silica is not antimicrobial by any mechanism that I know of. Antimicrobial properties usually come from quaternary amines or silver. There is a really large body of antimicrobial surface treatments, and I’m fairly familiar with most of the literature in this area, and I’ve never seen a single report of antimicrobial silica.

      I’m not sure what “resists heat and dirt” means.

      100 nanometers is a lot more than 15-30 molecular layers.

      Aerosol coatings can coat fibers, so I’ll give them that.

      • Ice Cream Feb 6,2010 4:42 pm || Up

        Christ, what an aerosol.

        Where is the good in "good-bye"?
      • monkeyball Feb 6,2010 5:34 pm || Up

        I’m pretty sure I know what’s going on with their “antibacterial” claim, and it breaks down along the same percentages you guesstimated for the overall claim.

        a long-lasting antibacterial effect because microbes landing on the surface cannot divide or replicate easily

        What I think they’re actually saying is that the surface is bacteriostatic (i.e., not a medium conducive to bacteria reproducing). So’s porcelain or a countertop, for that matter. “Antibacterial” technically covers both bacteriostatic and bactericidal actions. 70/20/10

        you better hope to God you don't show up in this little community, because you'll wish you had never come
        • salb918 Feb 6,2010 6:01 pm || Up

          Nice catch – obviously you’re familiar with the marketing jargon…in the technology world, I’ve usually seen antibacterial to mean imply bactericidal as well as bacteriostatic.

      • nevermoor Feb 6,2010 7:01 pm || Up

        Thanks. Everything I was hoping for and more (although it’s sad we won’t all be living in glass houses that repel stones)

        "There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want"

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