December 2017 – Page 10

Open Thread -12/1/2017

Posted by TomCat at 12:18 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Dec 012017

A new month is upon us, and I’m quite busy. I swapped out the poll and voted on the new one. I did today’s research. I’m writing today’s articles now. When I’m done, I’ll make the graphics and do the research for tomorrow’s Monthly Report for November. Then I’ll publish today’s articles and do my Care2 stuff. Somewhere in that mix, I’ll make and eat lunch. Finally, I’ll pop off George and rest. All along, I’m listening to the news, waiting for the Reich to explode over Flynn flipping.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:31 (average 5:31). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From YouTube (Daily Kos Channel): Sen. Sherrod Brown blasts the GOP Tax cuts

Keep calling your Republican Senators. RESIST!!

From The Last Word: Fmr. GOP Treasury official: Tax cut bill makes no sense

Bruce Bartlett, who worked in the Reagan Treasury Dept., says Republicans are cutting taxes as if it’s a game of golf: just trying to get to the lowest number possible without thinking of the impact on the deficit or the middle class. John Heilemann also joins.

There’s a simple explanation for this. They haven’t "done the work", because they know that the analysis will ever say want they want. It’s not that people have no jobs. It’s that those jobs pay too little. RESIST!!

From Think Progress: During an interview with CNN on Thursday, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was asked if he’s concerned about recent reports that President Trump has been privately questioning whether a recording of him bragging about groping women is legitimate and that he remains interested in racist conspiracy theories about President Obama’s birth certificate.

Instead of answering, Graham tried to turn the tables and attacked the media for reporting about those issues in the first place.

“You know what concerns me about the American press is this endless, endless attempt to label the guy as some kind of kook not fit to be president,” Graham said.

The notion that Trump is “some kind of kook not fit to be president” isn’t merely a media creation, however. Graham himself used those exact same words to criticize Trump during a Fox News interview in February 2016, back when he was supporting Jeb Bush.

Republicans’ mind-blowing hypocrisy in their attempt to attack the media, everyone: pic.twitter.com/EKfXQGUeiu

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) November 30, 2017

Lindsey Poo earned his PhD (piled higher and deeper) in Bullshitology. RESIST!!

Cartoons:

1201Cartoon

1201bCartoon

Friday Fun: Critter-Proofing Your Christmas Trees

Posted by SoINeedAName at 8:04 am Politics

Dec 012017

According to the old Andy Williams’ song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”. Since the calendar tells we now need to “Deck the Halls”, it’s time to head to our attics, basements, closets or storage units and drag out our Christmas decorations. And for many of us, this will be done under the vigilant supervision and “assistance” of our Critters!

So I thought it would be helpful to see how some folks go about “Critter-Proofing Christmas Trees”. Let’s start with some of the easier ways of accomplishing this. (And click on the photo to view it full-size)

Apparently this guy has combined minimalism with his “Bah Humbug” and cheapskate spirit into one. He simply finds an entirely empty corner of his home, puts up a cardboard wall so high no one can see over it, and then just TELLS people it’s there to protect the “Christmas tree” behind it from his cats.

Keeping with that same minimalism and cheapskate spirit, you could get a tree so teeny, tiny that you can carry it around in a glass test tube with a cork stopper.

But why not simply put it outside?

Well, some owners are willing to compromise with their critters and meet them halfway

Or even more foolproof …

Or just surrender …

Others are willing to work out alternatives – like decorating a wall …

Or staying with wall-decorating if you happened to be “blessed” with large chunks of Astro-Turf …

Or maybe more artfully, a fancy picture frame, which I thought was quite lovely …

But if you desire something more three-dimensional, one of your tomato cages from summer gardening turned upside-down, and covered in an old piece of macramé and a green bath towel will do in a pinch. And if you want to be extravagant, a single strand of lights adds a nice touch without going overboard …

Then there are those who have a mean streak and substitute a cactus for the Christmas “tree”. It confronts the critters with that “I-Dare-You” feel to it …

But for those who really want an actual decorated Christmas tree, there are some options, too. Like putting it – rather than your critter – in a cage …

Or if you want to be fancier, place it in a handsome vitrine

And if you’re not lucky enough to have a handsome vitrine, Saran wrap will do nicely, thank you very much …

But for those who want a more open, genuine exposure, try enlisting a couple of vacuum cleaners to serve as sentries. (Not sure how it works with dogs, but I know my cat wouldn’t even THINK of entering the room!)

If you’re artistically inclined, you can create quite a handsome ceiling art work mimicking a Christmas tree out of ornaments …

But if you’re not artistically endowed – but are handy with tools in a “DIY” way – you can hang the tree upside down from the ceiling …

AND if you’re a truly accomplished Do-It-Yourselfer who’s exceptionally handy with tools … AND happen to have a very tall tree … AND it’s very flexible … AND you refuse to shorten it … AND you want to protect it from your pet FOX!!!

Well, there’s a solution for that one, too …

Here’s hoping all your ornaments stay in one piece, and you along with your critters enjoy Christmas in peace.

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PHP is a programming language used to build websites. We have it at all through our hosting partner, BlueHost. In order to update it, we have to go through Bluehost. During his life, TomCat was the only one who had access to our account there. I (JD) am now the only one. I have been to BlueHost and investigated updating our PHP to 8.3 or even to 8.1. I found instructions to do so - in fact, I found two conflicting sets of instructions. I went through one set of the steps and got the message that Our site could not handle 8.3, but that it had successfully updated to 8.1. I then went back here to see what it looked like. But I couldn't get in - either as an administrator or as a reader. It was just gone. I had to reach BlueHost by phone. It was determined that Politics Plus is in fact not compatible with any version of PHP newer than the one we have. BlueHost therefore uninstalled it for me, and the site came back to normal. Of course, like everyone else, I care about security. But I also am aware that TomCat elected to use different providers for several of the services that BlueHost provides, for instance backups. We are backed up daily - but not by BlueHost. However, out PHP is through Bluehost. I feel that if they are not worried about the older version, I am not going to worry about it. I believe that our security here is all or mostly through WordFence, whom I trust.