Has absolutely nothing to do with anything in or around the Pool today (so far...), but does perversely harken back to an earlier discussion in these here parts on flags. And, afterall, the tent erected by the royal couple (blessed be their names) over the Pool is a large one, albeit striped, with a little pennant on top waving gaily in the breeze and calliope music wafting out of it --- allowing for just this kind of purple prose. But I regress... Yes, as you guessed by now I'm referring to Sam "The Sham" Alito whose minimal legitimacy to sit on the Court is apparently flagging by the hour.
Steve Vladeck, the former University of Texas constitutional and SCOTUS scholar (now at Georgetown) shares the Substack space with the royal couple, but is less amusing and hirsute. He does, however, also have a knack for succinctly summarizing an issue. Like this from his May 23 newsletter ("One First with Steve Vladeck") entitled: "Why Judicial Humility Matters" ("The biggest issue isn't the flags that the Alitos have flown outside their homes; it's that Justice Alito apparently doesn't think it's an issue in the first place")
"Justices are humans. Humans make mistakes. Not only is it not the end of the world to acknowledge as much; if anything, candor and reflection on the justices’ part might serve only to burnish the Court’s credibility among those who aren’t already sold on it (or who have totally given up). But instead of either not responding at all to these stories or showing even a scintilla of contrition, Justice Alito chose to piss on us and tell us it’s raining. We—and the Court, as an institution—deserve better."
Incidentally, David Franks' entry on the credit card left at the cafe WAS used on last week's episode of Wait Wait, albeit with Alzo Slade guest hosting for Peter.
"God drove a Plymouth Fury. Four on the floor. The clutch was balky." - I drove a 1970 Fury III. Automatic. It shifted fine. The starter crapped out about every six months.
At one time, I felt like that Al Capp Li'l Abner character Joe Btfsplk, the guy with the permanent cloud over his head, when it came to a succession of what were among the worst automobiles ever built. It happened (and probably deservedly) when I was in my "Ugly American" phase in Europe. These vehicles were bad when new and horrendous (but cheap, for good reason) when used, as I came to find out. There was the infamous Trabant (the "Trabi") of indifferent East German manufacture, which smoked like an oil field fire, causing pedestrians to regularly run in search of a fire extinguisher. --- or just run. A Yugo 65A GLX which, as you might imagine, had only its pretentious badge name going for it. Finally, there was an Austin Allegro, dubbed appropriately by the Brits as the "All Aggro," with its asthmatic engine, wheel bearing failure and jamming doors. And that's just for starters. Did I mention the rear window also fell out ?
I've been fortunate to have a run of pretty good cars. My first was a 1967 Plymouth Valiant (four-door). Just a couple of months after buying it, I managed to run it into a telephone pole one slushy morning on my way to teach at Sherwood High School, and the paint on the hood was dead from then on, but I had it for 13 good years. I gave up on trying to keep a thermostat in it, so it was slow to warm up, but the Slant 6 engine was so quiet that when I stopped at a traffic light I was never sure it was still running.
Car number 2, which I had from 1979 to 2005, was a Chevrolet Impala station wagon, bought one year old from the American Red Cross, which bought the wagons for its fleet and kept them only a year, selling them while they were still under warranty. The rationale for the new car was to get AC (a Gulf Coast necessity), and I probably spent more money on getting the AC fixed than anything else, but it was still going strong when I sold it in 2005 after purchasing the Saturn Vue crossover that I'm still driving. It would be nice to have a backup camera, Bluetooth, and all that jazz, but I'm happy with what I have (just getting power windows and locks was a huge step up).
The worst car I ever drove was a Ford Pinto back in the 80s. I was a mailman for about two years and those were the cars we had to use on our routes. That is, unless you were "lucky" enough to have one of the righthand drive Jeeps.
It wasn’t the funniest but I was most shocked by the right answer in the DNA one
I liked the second runner-up because all the answers seemed both incredibly stupid and plausible at the same time.
Ha. I'm glad I found the right balance. BTW, congrats on your 1,000th ink!
Has absolutely nothing to do with anything in or around the Pool today (so far...), but does perversely harken back to an earlier discussion in these here parts on flags. And, afterall, the tent erected by the royal couple (blessed be their names) over the Pool is a large one, albeit striped, with a little pennant on top waving gaily in the breeze and calliope music wafting out of it --- allowing for just this kind of purple prose. But I regress... Yes, as you guessed by now I'm referring to Sam "The Sham" Alito whose minimal legitimacy to sit on the Court is apparently flagging by the hour.
Steve Vladeck, the former University of Texas constitutional and SCOTUS scholar (now at Georgetown) shares the Substack space with the royal couple, but is less amusing and hirsute. He does, however, also have a knack for succinctly summarizing an issue. Like this from his May 23 newsletter ("One First with Steve Vladeck") entitled: "Why Judicial Humility Matters" ("The biggest issue isn't the flags that the Alitos have flown outside their homes; it's that Justice Alito apparently doesn't think it's an issue in the first place")
"Justices are humans. Humans make mistakes. Not only is it not the end of the world to acknowledge as much; if anything, candor and reflection on the justices’ part might serve only to burnish the Court’s credibility among those who aren’t already sold on it (or who have totally given up). But instead of either not responding at all to these stories or showing even a scintilla of contrition, Justice Alito chose to piss on us and tell us it’s raining. We—and the Court, as an institution—deserve better."
I loved my first car - a mid/late 1960s NSU Sport Prinz.
Two cylinder engine, 6 gallon gas tank (no gauge, just a 1/2 gallon reserve).
No real back seat - they called it a luggage rack, though I fit a friend or two in it.
So much fun to drive!
(Something like this - https://www.oldtimers.ch/angebot/nsu-sport-prinz-coupe-1969-2)
Cute car.
I am amused that so many people made the right answer B. I don't think there were any A.
Everybody knows A just isn’t as funny.
In the first runner-up, what antique items did he do the nasty with? If a knife, I hope he inserted it handle first.
Seems to me that Gene's weekend question should be, "What's the worst vehicle you have ever owned? "
Incidentally, David Franks' entry on the credit card left at the cafe WAS used on last week's episode of Wait Wait, albeit with Alzo Slade guest hosting for Peter.
He's been out of town. How you know that someone is actually getting a vacation!
"God drove a Plymouth Fury. Four on the floor. The clutch was balky." - I drove a 1970 Fury III. Automatic. It shifted fine. The starter crapped out about every six months.
The worst car I ever owned was a Ford Fiesta. More on this later.
The Ford Fiesta was so bad that it should have been named the Ford Mierda.
Fiesta! First boyfriend drove a yellow one. Truly, epically awful!
At one time, I felt like that Al Capp Li'l Abner character Joe Btfsplk, the guy with the permanent cloud over his head, when it came to a succession of what were among the worst automobiles ever built. It happened (and probably deservedly) when I was in my "Ugly American" phase in Europe. These vehicles were bad when new and horrendous (but cheap, for good reason) when used, as I came to find out. There was the infamous Trabant (the "Trabi") of indifferent East German manufacture, which smoked like an oil field fire, causing pedestrians to regularly run in search of a fire extinguisher. --- or just run. A Yugo 65A GLX which, as you might imagine, had only its pretentious badge name going for it. Finally, there was an Austin Allegro, dubbed appropriately by the Brits as the "All Aggro," with its asthmatic engine, wheel bearing failure and jamming doors. And that's just for starters. Did I mention the rear window also fell out ?
I've been fortunate to have a run of pretty good cars. My first was a 1967 Plymouth Valiant (four-door). Just a couple of months after buying it, I managed to run it into a telephone pole one slushy morning on my way to teach at Sherwood High School, and the paint on the hood was dead from then on, but I had it for 13 good years. I gave up on trying to keep a thermostat in it, so it was slow to warm up, but the Slant 6 engine was so quiet that when I stopped at a traffic light I was never sure it was still running.
Car number 2, which I had from 1979 to 2005, was a Chevrolet Impala station wagon, bought one year old from the American Red Cross, which bought the wagons for its fleet and kept them only a year, selling them while they were still under warranty. The rationale for the new car was to get AC (a Gulf Coast necessity), and I probably spent more money on getting the AC fixed than anything else, but it was still going strong when I sold it in 2005 after purchasing the Saturn Vue crossover that I'm still driving. It would be nice to have a backup camera, Bluetooth, and all that jazz, but I'm happy with what I have (just getting power windows and locks was a huge step up).
The worst car I ever drove was a Ford Pinto back in the 80s. I was a mailman for about two years and those were the cars we had to use on our routes. That is, unless you were "lucky" enough to have one of the righthand drive Jeeps.