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Jiggy-Z

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Everything posted by Jiggy-Z

  1. Nope. Been trying to catch any international comps on ESPN3 but they are few and far between. Practice started up for the kids a couple of weeks ago but it is a just a 2 hour session and then they get kicked out. Thinking of unfreezing my membership to climb while they are there, but I was hoping to do that only after I got rid of my COVID weight. Also, I was hoping to hold off just a bit longer to see what happened with school and other things opening. I would use the home climbing wall more but I have to tape up and warm up so much that it loses its spontaneity.
  2. With that signature of his, he should be in the running for a coveted "Fonty" award presented annually at the "fonties".
  3. "Propaganda Organ" is a great band name.
  4. Its kind of funny that the problems I have with Obama are from him doing "republican" things. If I am being honest, I also have a problem with ACA as it has been financially almost catastrophic for me as the years go by from a slow drip bleeding kind of way. I think there was just not the political capital there to get ACA done right and he overplayed his hand. Of course, ACA could have succeeded had there been the even the slightest republican inclination to help or at least not try to torpedo the whole thing. But he was a smart guy with a good team and should have weighed the risk better. But that is a whole other discussion. I think it would have been pretty awesome to have a good system for heath care up and in place for a pandemic though.
  5. All true, and not to "but Obama", but he doubled down on that shit too. But to be fair, he had a lot on his plate, like letting all the Wall Street crooks off Scott free.
  6. Better that they just got the actual facts out there without the misdirection. However, this tells us that there will be other cases like this that will be tied to contraction of Covid at school where there is person to person contact. I would urge you all to give a listen to the Osterholm update podcast over at CIDRAP from last week (he is probably coming out with a new one today, as well). He is normally pretty guarded and qualified in his opinions on projections but was especially not so on that podcast wrt schools opening up and the next few months. Pretty grim. Actually, I would make listening to that podcast a weekly ritual if you want to be informed about COVID. Michael Osterholm is a got dammed national treasure-better than Faucci, better than Cats, and better than Surly. Linky for last week: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/podcasts-webinars/episode-22
  7. Well, to be fair by late February, there were other more reliable sources (CIDRAP) that pretty much were spot on with the threat. To tell you the truth I didn't even pay any mind to CDC or the executive branch except for amusement if that is the right word for such a circumstance.
  8. Even though my family grew up in Austin, my mom (80) has a go to, calling me a "liberal UT grad". My retort is "yeah I am a proud graduate of that bastion of free thinking progressives at the Red McCombs School of Business"
  9. The assist also came from our general existing comorbidities (both sides) which were caused by poor diet, poor health care, and stupidity.
  10. Updated routes. ..and a little free soloing at Pace Bend.
  11. Ghost of Administrations past.
  12. This with a strong assist from the American people.
  13. Trump could have downplayed this all he wanted in speeches or whatever, but as long as there was some tactical response and plan that resulted in a reasonable result (see above math post), he would have had some cover. But nope. Not only did we blow our time and lag advantage at the beginning, we blew our reduced infection rate which was hard earned through shutdown, and then once we leveled that off, appear to be throwing that away. Strike 3.
  14. Has anyone seen some actual math done on what a reasonable response result (deaths/million) would have looked like for the USA? The good old USA is cruising along at smooth 587 deaths /1MM (Worldometer)as of today but we have UK, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, and France right there with us. But look at their the responses following initial high death rates. All of those other countries named have had an initial spike (like us)and then kept daily and cumulative deaths very well under control (not like us)through policy or something even when they have had trouble controlling numbers of cases while we have highs and lows but never less than the ~550+ deaths/day along with daily case trouble. Conversely, Germany, South Korea, Norway, Japan rates are very low from the beginning. I am kind of cherry picking the data here and am leaving out China (ha) , Russia, Brazil and India for comparison purposes. But their numbers do not help our case as we are trying to compare ourselves to comparable 1st world countries. Worldometer is projecting well in excess of 400,000 American deaths by the time Trump leaves office or completes his first term. A complete analysis would breakdown the curves on a before and after initial wave and then compare, but just thumb nailing this thing, I would conservatively say that this administration and its response will be responsible for at least 200,000 deaths by Jan 21, 2020 if the Worldometer projections hold. That figure is also not taking into account the head start we had(and squandered) over some if not all of those countries. Kind of depressing when you think about it.
  15. Counterpoint: "Trump’s tax law will require at least $1.5 trillion in added federal debt because it falls far short of paying for itself through increased economic growth even without the pandemic. Most of the tax savings were showered on rich Americans and the corporations they control. Most of the negative effects will fall on the middle class and poor Americans in the form of Trump’s efforts to reduce government services." Pretty much textbook definition of "trickle down" or lack thereof.
  16. Posting this here, because I could not find the 2017 tax bill thread and did not want he subject matter buried in DT thread. https://www.dcreport.org/2020/09/05/the-ugly-numbers-are-finally-in-on-the-2017-trump-tax-rewrite/ https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2020reports/202030015fr.pdf No surprises if you were paying attention. TLDR: Shit does not "trickle down".
  17. Is cousin a cop? They seem to know a lot about everything.
  18. Tried to post this in another thread today. Something did not work. So again: Made it out to Pace Bend today to lifeguard for 4 boys 12-14 as they did some serious rock climbing and cliff jumping. First time I ever saw a boat with a Trump flag this whole summer, and we have probably been cliff jumping/deep water soloing at least 6 times. Trump vessels seem to be devoid of sporting equipment in the form of skis, tubes, or fishing gear. They are generally larger and are among the worst offenders for wakes which is not generally a big deal except for rock climbers. I saw 8 Trump boats today by noon. Lake traffic and wakes got to gnarley after that for any more climbing. From what I saw, they just want to be seen doing Trump stuff and not actually enjoying the lake like normal people doing lake stuff. Will try to follow with a cool pic or two of climbing to rescue thread.
  19. I bet they would be so proud that their decendants came together on a c list football board.
  20. There is a certain amount of patriotism fatigue that set in. I don't remember all of the particulars, but only 3-5 years ago, there was a hub bub with Jerry Jones charging some extra $ at a Cowboys game for some "troop appreciation" ceremony. By that time we had already been at war for 10+ years with no end in sight. Perhaps I am a little bit skeptical, being that I played in high school and college bands during the Reagan and Bush I years and during that time of the waning cold we we kind of had to manufacture some battle weary troops, and we did. Now there is no shortage. Not to mention we still have holdover first responder fatigue from 9/11. I had a cousin of mine who was female firefighter that died in a McDonald's fire in Houston back in 2000. She has all but been forgotten. I guess the Pixar film "The Incredible's" said it best : "when everyone is special, no one is special." I am not even really sure what I am trying to say except that when you are at war all of the time on one front or the other, you kind of lose your bearing. I am not a rah rah flag waiving kind of guy, but I respect military sacrifice. In fact here is a story: CSB: I had an uncle that died a few years ago that was an old Navy guy. He was in his 80s, lived a good life and raised a great family. His wife (my aunt)asked me to play TAPS at his internment, which I did, but it was not easy. I had been out of practice for a few years as I had switched instruments to classical guitar from trumpet. I had been given enough notice to get my chops in shape. I was kind of pissed about it because my oldest son is a pro trumpet player, but he was not going to be able to make it. On top of that there were expectations. Even though I was never a professional trumpet player, I had played for many family weddings free of charge. So I practiced every day for weeks. So finally the day came and I get to the cemetery and am immediately escorted over to the color guard where I have to hang out and get the schedule. The color guard were a bunch of old dudes who do this stuff all of the time, but I could tell this was pretty much old hat and no big deal for them. Pretty much paint by the numbers for them. It was a Catholic ceremony and when the time came I did my deal and tried to give a really meaningful rendition of TAPS. This was my uncle after all and I really liked the guy and I had put in a bunch of hard work to do this. As I played, I could feel the gravity of the event. The fact that it was me playing it, and not some hired gun, did make a difference. It was all I could do to not get choked up while playing. Once that was done there were a few more words and the ceremony was over. Once we were done, the whole family was scheduled to go down to Port A for a family reunion, so I was expecting a few light comments and a few lets get the fuck out of here to go drink beer on the beach type of thing. What happened was something completely different. I was greeted by person after person with red eyes and snot running sown their noses to thank me for paying an adequate tribute to a good family man that never saw combat. Even the salty color guard guys came up to me afterwards with tears in their eyes with compliments. The point is not that I gave a stirring rendition of TAPS. The point is that our vets mean something to this country and that they deserve better than some jack off ceremony at Cowboys stadium or some paint by the numbers color guard bullshit....and they certainly deserve better than the Commander in Chief minimizing their contributions. Upon reading, I know this it almost sounds like one of Trump's BS stories or an aggy visiting team story, but it is not. It was real and spectacular in unexpected ways and I am glad to have been a part of it as it lessened my doubt in humanity. Fuck Trump and God bless the USA and our military personnel and Fuck you Surly Horns if you think this is just BS. Out.
  21. Tell me how you really feel. The way we camp is pretty easy as we are able to drive into our spot on the bay and set up a kitchen/hang out area with generators and washers and horseshoes with really great meals. The old timers have been doing it for so long that in many ways it is superior to a few nights at home, at least for a few days. I am usually able to wake up, make my coffee and and slide into my kayak which is literally only a few feet from my sleeping quarters-within 30 minutes . I typically fish hard in the morning, take a break to start drinking beer at 10ish and then go back out for a few hours during the day. We get a fire going before sunset and then go fishing again for perhaps an hour or so. Come back in and eat dinner and then hang out by the fire to tell stories and jokes, smoke a little weed, do some shots, and one or two songs on the guitar. I will usually have something new from the last trip, but is is typically a new piece by Bach, Sor, Tarrega, or another old composer. The whole performance last about 5 minutes and then we get back to the usual stuff. I have tried to do a few folk songs or some Willie Nelson stuff and that is where I get into trouble and where I understand your comment. I am solid on the instrumental but the vocals mes me up. But camping is awesome. I had a good trip back in 2013 with some of you on this board, except for the gratuitous firearms.
  22. ..and in addition to having no regard for honor systems he has no regard for actual laws and prohibitions.
  23. Don't judge a book by its cover. In this case, however, we have more than a cover. So judge away. Its kind of funny how that cover thing works: Among my fishing buddies, I am the guy from Austin, who is always doing his morning stretching (they call it yoga) that listens to NPR and plays the guitar(classical style) at camp outs. I get a good bit of good natured ribbing as the camp liberal even though some of them are vegetarians and smoke a lot of pot. We have a good thing going with our semiannual camp outs and kayak trips, so the regulars never bring up politics and the new guys that do are shushed. On the flip side, my dad is a cattle rancher, I hunt, fish, am a middle aged white man from Texas, I own a gun, drive a truck, am in the construction business, dip Skoal, and drink a lot of shitty beer, and have a couple of degrees from the Red McCombs School of Business. So I end up being privy to a lot of conversations from "the other side" and am often taken into confidence as an assumed friendly from Trumpers. From this position I have been given some hope as I have seen that, in general, we all want the same things and that on the occasions where I do get to talk politics I try to keep it topical and on policy rather than palace intrigue. Some of the more hilarious discussions I have had the poor guys did not know what hit them as they were just expecting a conservative bitch fest. Imagine their surprise when I bring up the failings of the Laffer curve, banking deregulation, tax policy, public education, and corporate socialism. But in this context, they are generally open to my explanations. But, one thing that did shock me was the amount of racism still present...and this is not the tone deaf, wink wink at the the Brazil nuts, black quarterback type of racism. I would estimate that 1/3 of my "conservative" associates subscribe to using the "N" word, think that blacks are in general are lazy and stupid, see no issues with Confederate Flags etc., and of course, see no problem with what happens to people like George Floyd. Its true we have a subtle racism problem in America, but we also have an overt and aggressive racism problem in America. i do my best to call them out on it and make them feel stupid, but often I am so in shock that I just freeze up. Anyway, there is a way to bring this around to Covid, which will be "solved" soon enough, but we have a lot of work in front of us on other fronts.
  24. Walleye has an overrated reputation due to its regional freshwater competition. I have had it many times as both my ex wife and current wife are from South Dakota(that is another story) and I have traveled to the SD/ Minn/Wisc. tri state area annually for the last 30 years or so. It is still very good and miles better than any bass and not as good as trout. I have a fishing buddy that I visit here in Austin on occasion and this topic always comes up after a few cocktails. He swears walleye is better than speckled trout, flounder or pompano, but I think he is also associating it with childhood memories and he is also a Trumper(just to keep it topical), so I am pretty sure he is full of shit. I have not had any luck catching walleye up north. The LMBs are as stupid as the day is long up there though and they love them some saltwater topwaters in the summer as do the northerns.
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