Olympic chatter will probably dominate conversations for the next two weeks.  By now, most people have formed an opinion on the opening ceremonies.  Its seems that people either loved it or hated it.  There seemed to be very few in the middle.

It looks like Vollmer and Lochte are dominating Team USA.

Poor Phelps isn’t on top of his game, for sure.

 

105 Thoughts to “Open Thread………………………………………………………Monday, July 30”

  1. SlowpokeRodriguez

    Forget the opening ceremonies….how many think that gold medal design is hideous?

  2. SlowpokeRodriguez

    Did I hear right that Phelps said he’s not even sure he wants to be there? Who says weed doesn’t affect your judgement.

  3. I didnt hear him say that. Maybe he is trying to save face.

    As for the medal design, I can’t get past the Team USA uniforms. Men do NOT wear Peter Pan collars. The berets are not appropriate either. I can’t even say why.

  4. The gold medals are worth about $600.

  5. Steve Randolph

    http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/312172

    Dogs advocating against feline voting rights?

  6. Back to School state sales tax holiday August 3, 4, 5, on back to school items

    .

  7. Steve Randolph

    “At times it felt like Boyle had just dumped out an eccentric relative’s
    junk drawer, piling up all references that would communicate
    Britishness … Close up shots of the Quenn showed her looking
    rather We Are Not Amused. Clearly parts of it were not her cuppa.”

    – Comments on the opening ceremony in the Atlantic Monthly.

    1. I thought if those kids on the beds and Mary Poppins went on much longer, I would have to put my foot through the TV.

  8. Morris Davis

    August 1st will be the 10th anniversary of the first of the torture memos. I have an op-ed on the topic in today’s L.A. Times and I’m on a panel tomorrow night at the Hammer Museum in L.A. Then it’s home to cut the grass and a trip to Costco for some “samples” and a little shopping.

    http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-davis-torture-memos-bybee-20120730,0,6058023.story

    1. Isn’t it happy birthday time also, Moe? I look forward to reading your op-ed.

  9. marinm

    An interesting read today out of Forbes and shows the possible collision between the 1st and 2nd Amendment. By that I mean it’s now possible to manufacture guns from a “printing press”. 😉

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/markgibbs/2012/07/28/the-end-of-gun-control/

    The gentleman was able to use a 3D printer to manufacture the lower reciever (for non-gun people that’s the part where everything “fits” into and includes the handle and the trigger and is the part that is stamped with a serial number.

    So, this guy had the idea to manufacture an AR-15 lower from a ~$500 3D printer using about $30 worth of plastic resin. The result? A plastic bastardized AR15 able to shoot .22 (~200 rounds) without fail. No more trips to a gunstore or a gunshow or to “the gun supplier of the East Coast”. You can just set up one of these bad boys, get the designs off the interwebs and start up the printing presses!! 🙂

    The article does go into detail about how he tried using .223 (for the non-gun nuts thats a much bigger round used to hunt deer for example) but it failed. The guy thinks it wasn’t because of his part but because of the add ons..

    You gotta love innovation!

  10. punchak

    Someone is suggesting Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as
    Romney’s running mate.
    A beautiful blonde, twice divorced, perfect for FOX News and,
    after Romney’s defeat, for Dancing with the Stars and on to Hollywood.

    1. I will have to check her out. Smarter than Sarah? Is she the one who gave the local police chief such bad advice on Zimmerman?

  11. Ray Beverage

    @marinm
    Not really suprised at the .22 rounds working – the M-16 series had for years the adapter to shoot .22 rounds through it; primarily for shooting at indoor ranges and also a way for the military to save money. I found the times I had to qualify on the indoor with the adapter, the .22 actually jammed less than the .223 round. Still, this is slick, real slick!!

  12. marinm

    @Ray Beverage

    As others have pointed out nothing stops anyone from a metal press, some tools from Home Depot or a mold injector from doing the same but this is makes it a lot easier for someone with limited skills to manufacture thier own weapons.

    Now, would I *buy* someones homebrew reciever… Probably not. But man the idea of cranking out 20 of these bad boys during a zombie invasion…………

  13. punchak

    @Moon-howler
    Yes, the very one!

  14. @Punchak, I guess she has too many dings for Romney.

    I am horrifed over what he said in Israel. I can’t move past it. I am almost speechless now I have seen what he said in its entirety.

  15. A little too much plumber’s butt in the men’s synchronized diving.

  16. These athletes are amazing. It is like they aren’t even human.

    It makes you wonder what these young people have given up in the way of childhood and family to achieve their goal and to continually push their talents into excellence and who knows what world record.

    This level of competition seems to go beyond our regular sports of basketball, football, lacrosse.

  17. Steve Randolph

    Note that on the morning of 7-31-2012 the Washington Nationals (61-40)
    have the best record in Major League Baseball. Wow.

    Go Nats!

  18. Steve Randolph

    The last time a Washington team had the best record in baseball
    this late in the season — 1933.

    1. That’s a long darn time! Depression team.

  19. SlowpokeRodriguez

    Moon-howler :
    A little too much plumber’s butt in the men’s synchronized diving.

    Who the hell is your plumber, whose butt looks like that?

  20. Something really cool to stay up late for. This will really be “sticking the landing”!!!

    1:31 a.m. EDT Aug. 6

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki_Af_o9Q9s

    1. Hi Bruce. You have been missed!

  21. What is that horrible screaming in fencing?

  22. marinm

    This is awesome. I can totally see Timmy greeting our conquering heroes back to the United States with a handshake and a tax bill.

    http://atr.org/win-olympic-gold-pay-irs-a7091

    By the way, you didn’t earn those medals! Government did.

  23. A roving reporter just called and told me Chief Deanee is retiring. That’s probably real smart. It looks like nothing but trouble coming down the road. Chief Deane should enjoy his retirement.

    He has paid his dues. Get out while the getting is good as they say down where Chief Deane is from.

  24. Lafayette

    We as a county are very lucky to have a Chief that’s served us so long. I wish him well in his well deserved retirement.

    Moon, check your email. I’ve sent you a picture of phone banking for Romney. I’ll definately keep the fax machine hooked up to avoid political calls. sigh

    1. I got a call from George Allen last night. He was having a town hall meeting. Just as I was beginning to think he sounded ok some woman called whining about her church having to pay for contraception. Rather than straighten her out that churches were exempt, he started agreeing with her….which made me decide he was still a jerk, after all these years.

      NO vote for Macaca from the House of Howler.

  25. SlowpokeRodriguez

    Moon-howler :
    NO vote for Macaca from the House of Howler.

    So someone who would NEVER have voted for Allen isn’t going to vote for Allen. That ought to do it for Allen!

    Now tell us all how you might have voted for Allen! I could always use a chuckle!

    1. I am not the only person who lives in my house or who is resgistered to vote from my house.

      Would I vote for Allen? As a matter of fact, I have before. I did not this past primary but someone from my house did.

  26. Lysis a

    Interesting site. Heard about you so I thought I’d check it out.

    1. Hi Lysis a

      Welcome. Feel free to comment.

  27. punchak

    Exciting news /to me anyway/ :
    Julio Castro, mayor of San Antonio, 37 years old, to speak at the Democratic
    convention.

    1. Maybe he will be president eventually. The Dems seem to be ushering him in early. Do you think his name will work against him? @Punchak.

  28. Lyssa

    Interesting news about Deane. I’m a long time PWC resident and have always thought he seemed pretty sincere and independent of the Board, that is. I like that.

    1. HI Lyssa, I will work on spelling your name right. Doh!!!

      I have always thought highly of Chief Deane also. He runs a professional operation and he doesn’t cave to whatever political muscle tries to bully him and the people of Prince William County. He really has been responsible for bringing Prince William County police from definitely Bubba to professional.

  29. Is streetlight acquisition for community street lights?

    It sure has missed Sudley all these years. Dark as a dungeon…black as coal…

  30. Need to Know

    I’m going to jump off a bridge. I just took a survey and it ranked Obama as the third candidate I agree with most. I scored 82% agreement with both Romney and Ron Paul, and 53% with Obama. I find consolation that my score with Romney and Paul was significantly higher than with Obama, however.

    The link is: http://www.isidewith.com/

    Credit to Al Alborn. I found this link on his blog.

    1. I expect you had a lot of info on Obama that probably is not true. Don’t jump off a bridge.

      I had some match ups with Ron Paul. I didn’t feel like jumping off a bridge. I just figure I agree with him on some things. It didn’t hut my image of myself. Now, if I match up with Ken Cuccinelli, then I might ask for some assisted suicide.

  31. SlowpokeRodriguez

    I got Paul 95%, Romney 87%, and Obama 39%. I love those quizzes, don’t know why.

  32. Need to Know

    @SlowpokeRodriguez

    I enjoy these too. I think I recall that Moon took one earlier that showed Newt Gringrich as the candidate she was closest to. Moon, is that correct? Maybe take this one and see how you do.

    1. I don’t remember. It was someone repulsive.

      My problem is getting past the social issues. It always throws everything off.

      I came out strongly Obama in the test. Him and someone I had never heard of. Next up from that was Ron Paul at 40 sdomething percent. I did it earlier. Romney about 20%. Actually old Romney and I would have had quite a fit, before his makeover.

  33. Need to Know

    I probably scored over 50% with Obama because I said that I approved of the bailout, albeit with restrictions. We’ve discussed that topic on MH. I despised the idea of the bailout but under the circumstances at the time it was needed to avoid a complete collapse of the banking system.

  34. SlowpokeRodriguez

    I got banned from politix.topix today! They didn’t like my username. Instead of a badminton shuttlecock, I chose Thunder—-. I love getting banned!

    1. Should I be looking for a new user on here soon? @pokie Think of the nicknames I could have for you then. 😈

  35. Mom

    In honor of Jerry Jones can I be “Glory Hole”

    1. Who the hell is Jerry Jones? Does he have a nick name?

  36. Need to Know

    Isn’t anybody else going to take the test and report their results?

  37. Mom

    Hmm, my non-standard answers must have really screwed it up because Romney, Paul and Johnson all finished within two percentage points. O’Savior was forty points behind.

  38. marinm

    Libertarian 100%, Republican 86%, Green 33%, Democratic 30%

    I side with Ron Paul 100%, Gary Johnson 98%, Mitt Romney 86% (that’s horse crap!), and Barrack Obama 30%.

    Interesting test and I like that you can go beyond a simple YES/NO answer.

    1. I liked it also but didnt put my own opinions up, just expanded ones of theirs. They said it was less accurate if you did that.

      I think I liked that Gary Johnson character fairly well. He didnt come across like Ron Paul.

  39. Need to Know

    @marinm

    How do you think I felt about 53% with Obama? Moon, I won’t jump off a bridge, but I’m going to see my doctor.

    1. Frontal lobotomy time, NTK?

      I still say it is because you listen to the media about Obama. I wasn’t an Obama supporter at all in 2008. I have actually not been all that displeased. I was a Hillary supporter…you know, white, middle aged+ rednecks seemed to like her. That was her demographic. I still don’t believe that.

  40. marinm

    @Need to Know

    There is always seppuku.

    I’m having trouble figuring out the 86% for Romney as I just don’t really see it. I see him to the slight right of Obama which is to say he’s a left leaning liberal to Mr. Obama’s progressivism. Well, progressivism when he’s not assasinating American’s, starting up new wars, supplying rebels, using drones to surveil Americans, and anything else the left gives him a pass on but would savage a “R” for doing.

    1. To those of us who call ourselves progressive, progressive is left leaning but still right of liberal.

      It sounds like you just described Ronald Reagan by the way, except for maybe the drones. RR was starwars…oops. Sorry.

      New Romney isn’t progressive. Old Romney is. You are forgetting he had a make over. I actually really like the old Romney. I think he was a Republican back then too.

      @marin.

  41. Need to Know

    @marinm

    Did you adjust the bars to the left of your answers for how important they are to you? That makes a difference in the final result.

    1. I did not. I saw it, did it a couple of places and then stopped caring. Maybe I will do it again.

      I want to see if MY GUY shows up again.

  42. Lafayette

    I got 99% Ron Paul; 81% Romney. I don’t remember the less ranked. I do remember that none of them had a score over 40%.

    Moon, if either one matches up with the Cooch. We’ll need to have Dr. Kavorkian(sp?) resurrected. 👿

    1. Oh dear God, Lafayette, get out of my head!!!! That is exactly what I almost wrote but I couldn’t spell Kavorkian.

      Well, I guess you have your candidate. I know what lowered the Romney score.

  43. Rogue lightning strike on the west end @8:11.

    Lafayette, did you hear that?

  44. Replanting the link everyone is enjoying so much:

    http://www.isidewith.com/

  45. Lafayette

    @Moon-howler
    Mom must not realize that you get always get an F on pop culture. Jerry Jones is the owner of the Dallas Cowpies. The glory hole part speaks for itself. Or “mommy dearest” can explain it to you.

    Ahh, speaking of the letter F. Only 7 more days until the F-word is up and running. There will be no chick or bunny sales at the fair this year. This is a first. Sadly, some stupid punks bought a couple of bunnies last year and killed them while on the fair grounds. I’m looking forward to enjoying a candy apple or two. 🙂

  46. I would make you a candy apple to save you from the F word, Laf.

    I guess I never told him or her about the F in pop culture. Yup yup yup. Plus I don’t think about the cowpies. My daughter roots for them and it isn’t allowed in MY house–anyone BUT the cowpies.

    I am glad there are no bunny or chick sales. There is always some jerk who wants to turn our neighborhood into farmland. Plus too many kids torture animals. I think that stems from the increased use of video games. I think kids are desensitized.

    But I do know who Gary Johnson is. Do I get credit for that?

  47. We are tied with China for number of Gold Medals. We have three more medals in all than they do as of 9 pm Thursday.

  48. The Olympics are a place where Americans (and other nations also) really shine as they show their patriotism.

    Funny that the flag wavers never give recognition to this kind of national pride. It seems those types always want to erect a flagpole and run some flag made in China up the pole to disparage the rest of us and some how hint that they are the real patriots and the rest of us are just schlocks.

    I see a lot of patriots sitting in the stands and I see a lot of patriots singing the words to their national anthem as they stand at the awards ceremony.

    All those years of dedication and striving towards excellence have to, in part, give some patriot cred to our athletes.

  49. SlowpokeRodriguez

    Moon-howler :
    Rogue lightning strike on the west end @8:11.
    Lafayette, did you hear that?

    I believe I heard it too. I looked at the weather maps right away and saw that there was one thunderstorm cell (a little one) growing right near Manassas, and nothing else for miles and miles and miles.

    1. It just came out of no where. I didn’t have any warning. The sun was shining..well…sort of. Scared the Hell out of me.@pokie

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