Gugny

Well ... it appears the egg wasn't abandoned, after all. Those ***** terrorist birds are back and I can't use my front porch.

So, what made the cut???!!!

You left out drug dealers.

Shockingly, the Patriots* come out on top ... https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29446424/sources-patriots-settle-compensation-grievances-antonio-brown-aaron-hernandez The New England Patriots have settled compensation grievances with Antonio Brown and Aaron Hernandez over the past week, which creates notable salary-cap space for the team, league sources told ESPN.

This is amazing .... His voice has held up incredibly well!!

This has been a bizarre year for my garden. For years, the one plant I've never had an issue with has been tomatoes. All kinds of them. Always end up with too many and give some away. Peppers have always been late bloomers and I never get many. As of today, my tomato plants look good/healthy, but nothing even close to beginning to ripen. But I've got 3-4 nice-sized jalapenos (one is over 3 inches) already. Other pepper plants (habs, chilis) are slow-going, as normal. But the tomatoes make me scratch my head. It's been a dry summer, but the sprinklers hit them twice/day and I also go out and manually water them every day or two. Definitely odd.

Social media is a major factor, as well. I'm not sure how many of you have local papers who post things on Facebook (that's the only social media platform I frequent), but my local paper does. Reading the comments sometimes scares me. Lots of people in my area with questionable intelligence. It's mind boggling how many people don't know the difference between News and Op/Eds. It's also perplexing to see how many people can't comprehend that the national news being reported by a small-town newspaper WAS NOT WRITTEN BY THEM. The Post-Star has been known as a "liberal rag," for years. Yes, their editorials have generally been left-leaning, but they have always reported the news in an unbiased manner. All they need to do is post an AP story about the current president and the comments go nuts. All about the paper being liberal. I always get a chuckle when the context is right for one of the journalists to remind them of how the paper handles elections. They spend insane amounts of hours meeting with candidates, interviewing others, doing research, etc. They form a committee - traditionally compromised of left of the road people - of less than 10 people. And then they make their endorsements for every elected official post from Town Supervisor to Governor to President. This pandemic has been brutal to them because they're reporting what Cuomo is saying and Cuomo is the devil to your average redneck. This is rendeck territory. The South of the North. So readers say that the paper is sucking Cuomo's d. And they're liberal pieces of s. I'll chime in occasionally and remind them that The Post-Star endorsed Marc Molinaro over Cuomo just two years ago and it was nearly unanimous among their "liberal piece of s" board. Their endorsement history is also about 50/50 all time between GOP and Dems. But it's too late. Damage is done. We all know the power of headlines, pictures and comments. That's as far as many people go and that is what "tells them the news." It's sad. Since shortly after the Internet came along, local newspapers had only one demand: local news. The last few years I was getting the paper, I never read the front section. I already knew about most of it. Local, Obits, and some Sports. It didn't take long for daily circulation numbers to suffer. As those numbers suffered, advertisers started looking more at TV and radio. As advertisers left, advertising prices, subscription prices went up and staffing started to go down. Reduction in staffing led to mistakes and bad service ... less circulation ... fewer advertisers .... you see the cycle/snowball effect. Unstoppable. There will always be a need for local news. How long that remains on print remains to be seen. We also have a weekly "paper" called the Chronicle, but I can't consider anything weekly as "news," simply by definition of the word. I loved the Op/Ed pieces from the paper and I do hope there's a way to keep those ... but I doubt it. It's a shame, too. It was never like turning on MSNBC and knowing, 100%, they're going to shove anti-right wing rhetoric down your throat. I'm a liberal and that even makes me sick (although I would Rachel Maddow). These are good Editorials and they could slam a local Republican one day and praise another local Republican the next; same with Dems. The Post Star has always been great at that. They call a spade a spade and bow to no one. Long-story, short: There's a lot of reasons local papers are dying. To me, the bottom line is that it's just too expensive to maintain. Technology killed them more than anything else, including age gap. It's all about those advertising dollars and once their audience started to realize the majority of what they were paying for is on the Internet for free, it was just a matter of time. Frankly, I'm shocked they've lasted this long and I hope the can continue to limp along in some fashion, because they do bring value.

"A Few Thoughts About Joe in No Particular Order ...."

Pretty sure that was Jeff Garcia.

You're going to make me believe that blindness actually exists!

Do we really need to take this thread into this direction?

I do, too. They were also the ones who got the ball rolling (no pun intended) on cancelling college basketball conference championship tourneys, weren't they?

REPORTED! Enjoy your vacation!

Just think where he'd be if he didn't get suspended 3 weeks out of every month!

This seriously shocks me. I had no idea you were bi.

There is no way that's a woman.

Story of my life ...

The long-time editor of our hometown paper (The Post-Star) just announced his retirement yesterday. It saddens me. Reading the paper in the morning before work was the beginning of my day for many years. After spending four months on the Editorial Board (as a citizens' rep) and even working there for ~9 months (sales job to fill the gap between when I got laid off and found another job in my field), I not only made friends but I also grew a great appreciation for everything everyone did. First, it was getting rid of copy editors. Then the reporting staff was slashed. Then they shut down the printing press (a newspaper about an hour south of us prints it every day). They priced me out a few years ago. The delivery service became horrible and the prices went up, without notice, multiple times/year. Finally, I had to pull the plug. It's a shame to watch this industry die.

@BringBackFergy

When I bought my suits at S&K they had someone mark them up and they were sent to a tailor for alterations. I was very pleased. But I've only ever worn suits to wakes, funerals and weddings .. you know, all things associated with death.

Are you ***** kidding me?

I always found it to be a ***** snobfest in there. Little a-hole is making $11/hour and he's going to look down his nose at everyone who walks in the door? Eff you, pal. I haven't bought a suit in over a decade, but I was happy with my S&K suits and still wear them when the occasion calls for it.

Just don't call it an "NFL season," don't let the stats count and don't call the championship game the Super Bowl. This would be nothing but a series of exhibition games. Ain't gone be no football.

Well, look what the cat dragged in!

The only oddity that sticks out to me is that Darnold got a vote. Other than that, looks pretty accurate to me.