January 30, 2026

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Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

I had to protect you from some of these articles!

JP Steve
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Reply to  Arfside
1 month ago

The indefinite ones were bad, but the dangling participles were even worse!

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  JP Steve
1 month ago

Articles of War may be the most dangerous.

JP Steve
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 month ago

Those are the most definite of articles!

DancingBuffalo
Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

The real problem if you have a hound like this one is that you can’t make it stop. You have to dog-proof your entire world. Nothing left out within reach…and bassets have a lot of reach. And even then they’ll tear something up. Carpet. Vinyl floors. Walls. Furniture. Even the brick hearth all have permanent doggie damage in my house.

Liverlips McCracken
Liverlips McCracken
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Reply to  DancingBuffalo
1 month ago

Brick! Your hound isn’t easily discouraged.

Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

Now I understand some of the gates that just go across an asphalt path through a lovely patch of grass that would feel soooo good on bare feet. How many gates hold us back? And do some of the gates exist for a good reason as a warning?

Saint
Saint
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

Reminds me of the toll gate in Blazing Saddles!

Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

It’s hard to hear them whinney under water. You have to be in just the right place at the right time.

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

Another thing that’s hard is to believe they’re fish.

Unlike other fish, they have long necks they can bend. They also have bony plates instead of scales, and no ribs. They have prehensile tails, and long snouts, can barely swim, and the males carry the eggs in a pouch.

You read sometimes about an animal that scientists discovered has this minor difference from the animals they always thought it was one of, so it’s no longer considered a … I dunno.. a wombat or a hyena (just making that up cos I can’t think of a real example, but they’re out there).

It has a different kind of… tail? Fur? Left pinky? So it’s now put in some other classification altogether, or forms a new one.

But seahorses have somehow stayed fish.

How? Does anybody look at a seahorse and think “ooh, a fish?

BTW… I only discovered fairly recently that in some places, people eat them. They eat so many seahorses that they’re threatened!
That’s terrible.

happyhappyhappy
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 month ago

They are used in traditional medicine.

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  happyhappyhappy
1 month ago

Yeah…. I’d already heard that, but I didn’t realize they’re also street food in Southeast Asia and China, eaten in massive amounts.

I saw pictures of platters of them, sticking up on toothpicks or skewers… I’d post one but they creeped me out, and I don’t want to see them again.

happyhappyhappy
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 month ago

That’s okay. I think im with you. I’d rather not.

JP Steve
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 month ago

I’d feel threatened if I ate a seahorse too…

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  JP Steve
1 month ago

Its mama fish is probably no threat…. but if Daddy horse finds out….

Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

That would take some very sophisticated hydraulics (I assume) to make it happen.

JP Steve
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Reply to  Arfside
1 month ago

Just have God rock the temple…

Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

Plotchers are a deduction.

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  Arfside
1 month ago

Google’s new AI “assistant” won’t let me search for plotcher…
It tells me I’m misspelling “pitcher” and searches for that instead… And there’s no option to turn it off!

So what’s a plotcher?

More_Cats_Than_Sense
Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 month ago

Use ‘Google’ through startpage.com, it anonymises searches. and no AI.

So I found:

Plocher : German: from an agent derivative of Middle High German bloc(h) ‘block stocks’; either an occupational name for an official who put prisoners into stocks hence a jailer or a nickname for a clumsy or crude man

A lot of sites were not making any differentiation between ‘Plotcher’ and ‘Plocher’. One gave a definition of the surname ‘Plotch’ as being dynamic.

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  More_Cats_Than_Sense
1 month ago

Thanks. I don’t think that was what Arfside meant, though, cos that wouldn’t be a deduction from your squats.

More_Cats_Than_Sense
Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 month ago

I didn’t think so either, but that’s what I found. There’s probably other slang meanings.

Arfside
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 month ago

I’ve only heard the term used in context on a farting contest that was popular on Dr. Demento years ago. It followed 3 sitzlers and 4 fragrant fuzzies, causing Lord Windismear to lose 15 points off of his initial 80 points:

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  Arfside
1 month ago

Thanks. A little too long to watch right now…

So it’s a type of fart?

Arfside
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 month ago

My guess is it’s probably a rather wet one.

JP Steve
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

LOL!

Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

Practice makes perfect!

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  Arfside
1 month ago

Unfortunately, I don’t think he can practice being thinner.

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

As I recall, Cleo had a similar problem.

DancingBuffalo
Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

Don’t blame the dog. Blame the owner who bought the wrong size door!

At least it’s an easy fix…putting in a larger door is much better than putting in a smaller one.

Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

Oh yes, we agree. Treats are a good thing!

Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

Is it really the money? Or the lady with the money? Inquiring minds want to know. Stay tuned for the next issue (still only 10 cents).

Tigressy
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago
Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

I like the way they solved the “first billing”, “second billing” problem.

JP Steve
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

Now that’s real acting!

Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

She looks like a cat watching a ping pong match with live birds.

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

And now Google Lens tries to tell me this is Bette Davis!
No it’s not.

I was trying to see whether it was anyone we know… but I doubt it.

Quite a few silent movie stars had trouble transitioning to talkies, because they couldn’t stop mugging for the camera…
The only way they’d learned to express themselves without dialogue.

Some had actually learned to overact on the stage, first… they could speak, but gestures and expressions needed to be quite visible in the cheap seats.
Reinforced in silent movies.

Then came sound, but by then, they were not masters of subtlety, and a few big stars fell by the wayside… joining the ones with funny voices or unintelligible accents.

Tigressy
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 month ago

Oh; Brigitte Helm did quite alright even in talkies.

Alexikakos
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

 
Brigitte Helm?
 
comment image?format=png8&s=5f69651183c5c188e889b4785f614bdbfb7ead2e
 

Tigressy
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Reply to  Alexikakos
1 month ago

I think you nailed it! In “Metropolis”

BrigitteHelm
Tigressy
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Reply to  Tigressy
1 month ago

And here you’ll find the fully restored version of the movie:
https://archive.org/details/metropolis_202511

Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

With all that tasty calamari? Who cares about fish?

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

He’s trying to hide…

But I think that I found him

right here….

comment image

JP Steve
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

“Nope, never happened…”

Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

It’s hard not to comment. I’m biting my keyboard instead of my tongue.

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  Arfside
1 month ago

I think a lot of us are doing that, but not all for the same reasons… which is why we keep doing it.

baconboycamper
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago
happyhappyhappy
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

I am so very frightened right now.

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  happyhappyhappy
1 month ago

You’re not alone.

Arfside
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

Should have left them in place. Maybe the arsonists would have had a more difficult time trying to destroy it..

baconboycamper
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Reply to  Arfside
1 month ago

Not arsonists, but rather than sloppy work and protection by a contractor doing renovation work. Added to that was the slow response to the fire, where the night watchman was sent to the wrong location to investigate a fire alarm, and even then when the actual fire was discovered the fire brigade wasn’t notified until much too late.
But I agree, if the sandbags would had been there when the fire of 2019 happened there would have been a lot less lost to the flames.

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  nighthawks
1 month ago

Yeah…. It’s like saying if the Mona Lisa were only kept in a vault it would be safer,

More_Cats_Than_Sense
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1 month ago

Cheap pet food is not cheap if you end up throwing half of it away….

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  More_Cats_Than_Sense
1 month ago

Or if it’s not good for your pet, or just not nutritious, and you end up paying for supplements, and even vet bills because of it.

Even if it doesn’t cost you money…. not having your pet in top condition isn’t worth it, and you may not even know what you could have had.

My little dog was 14 months old when I got her. She had a skin condition, and a “hot spot’ she chewed raw near her tail. I asked the vet for advice, then a couple of breeders at a dog show… They all recommended bad food. The vet food was expensive but still not nutritious.

I finally found good food for her, and all those problems disappeared. I was so happy I went to work for the company.

This was 25 years ago… The brands have changed since then, so I hesitate to name them. Plus, there are a lot more premium brands now.

But just for the record, the vet put her on Science Diet, which I think is better now, but was made of corn and byproducts back then… and the food that saved her was Nutro, which was one of the first truly premium brands, but has changed ownership since then. The difference was amazing.

happyhappyhappy
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Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 month ago

One reason i want all my babies to eat both wet and dry food, as well as a variety of different kinds of treats.
And that’s the reason i started making my own chicken tender jerky.

DancingBuffalo
Reply to  SusanSunshine
1 month ago

Same with Maggie – Nutro lamb and brown rice was the best thing we ever found for her. (Didn’t help stop her tearing up my house though…)

SusanSunshine
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Reply to  DancingBuffalo
1 month ago

My dog was on the original chicken and rice formula. After a while they came out with a senior formula… It was the first kibble she ever ate up immediately without grumbling.

Her coat got even better; she was eager to eat it… You could absolutely tell.

She lived to be almost 15. A few years later, I saw an ad saying Nutro was looking for product demonstrators. So for about a year, I set up displays and sampled out Nutro dog food in pet stores.

Not exactly “career” stuff, and only part time, but it was fun… I missed my dog, and I liked geting to pet a zillion others, and give them treats, and give their owners samples. I got little bonuses for the owners actually buying some.

By then they had come out with the lamb formula… And Nutro Ultra, which really helped a friend’s dog.

But th3n they sold the company to the Mars Corporation, which owned Friskies, but promised to keep Nutro premium. I’ve always hoped they kept their promise.

More_Cats_Than_Sense
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1 month ago

Highline Trail, Glacier National Park, Montana.

Highline-Trail-Glacier-National-Park-Montana
SusanSunshine
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Reply to  More_Cats_Than_Sense
1 month ago

No thanks.

happyhappyhappy
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Reply to  More_Cats_Than_Sense
1 month ago

At one time i would have loved that.

JP Steve
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Reply to  More_Cats_Than_Sense
1 month ago

Is that the trail? Most of the highway looks like that too..

More_Cats_Than_Sense
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1 month ago

Orange-chinned Parakeet.

Orange-chinned-Parakeet
Alexikakos
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1 month ago

 
From today’s London “Daily Mail.”
 

Hackman
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