October 2015 archive

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

October 12 is the 285th day of the year (286th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 80 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1810, Bavarian Crown Prince Louis, later King Louis I of Bavaria, marries Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen.

The Bavarian royalty invited the citizens of Munich to attend the festivities, held on the fields in front of the city gates. These famous public fields were named Theresienwiese-“Therese’s fields”-in honor of the crown princess; although locals have since abbreviated the name simply to the “Wies’n.” Horse races in the presence of the royal family concluded the popular event, celebrated in varying forms all across Bavaria.

Oktoberfest is a 16-18 day festival held each year in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, running from late September to the first weekend in October. It is one of the most famous events in Germany and the world’s largest fair, with more than 5 million people attending every year. The Oktoberfest is an important part of Bavarian culture. Other cities across the world also hold Oktoberfest celebrations, modelled after the Munich event.

The Munich Oktoberfest, traditionally, takes place during the sixteen days up to and including the first Sunday in October. In 1994, the schedule was modified in response to German reunification so that if the first Sunday in October falls on the 1st or 2nd, then the festival will go on until October 3 (German Unity Day). Thus, the festival is now 17 days when the first Sunday is October 2 and 18 days when it is October 1. In 2010, the festival lasts until the first Monday in October, to mark the 200-year anniversary of the event. The festival is held in an area named the Theresienwiese (field, or meadow, of Therese), often called Wiesn for short, located near Munich’s centre.

Visitors eat huge amounts of traditional hearty fare such as Hendl (chicken), Schweinsbraten (roast pork), Schweinshaxe (ham hock), Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick), Würstl (sausages) along with Brezn (Pretzel), Knödel (potato or bread dumplings), Kasspatzn (cheese noodles), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), Sauerkraut or Blaukraut (red cabbage) along with such Bavarian delicacies as Obatzda (a spiced cheese-butter spread) and Weisswurst (a white sausage).

First hundred years

In the year 1811, an agricultural show was added to boost Bavarian agriculture. The horse race persisted until 1960, the agricultural show still exists and it is held every four years on the southern part of the festival grounds. In 1816, carnival booths appeared; the main prizes were silver, porcelain, and jewelry. The founding citizens of Munich assumed responsibility for festival management in 1819, and it was agreed that the Oktoberfest would become an annual event. Later, it was lengthened and the date pushed forward, the reason being that days are longer and warmer at the end of September.

To honour the marriage of King Ludwig I and Therese of Bavaria, a parade took place for the first time in 1835. Since 1850, this has become a yearly event and an important component of the Oktoberfest. 8,000 people-mostly from Bavaria-in traditional costumes walk from Maximilian Street, through the centre of Munich, to the Oktoberfest. The march is led by the Münchner Kindl.

Since 1850, the statue of Bavaria has watched the Oktoberfest. This worldly Bavarian patron was first sketched by Leo von Klenze in a classic style and Ludwig Michael Schwanthaler romanticised and “Germanised” the draft; it was constructed by Johann Baptist Stiglmaier and Ferdinand von Miller.

In 1853, the Bavarian Ruhmeshalle was finished. In 1854, 3,000 residents of Munich succumbed to an epidemic of cholera, so the festival was cancelled. Also, in the year 1866, there was no Oktoberfest as Bavaria fought in the Austro-Prussian War. In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war was the reason for cancellation of the festival. In 1873, the festival was once more cancelled due to a cholera epidemic. In 1880, the electric light illuminated over 400 booths and tents (Albert Einstein helped install light bulbs in the Schottenhamel tent as an apprentice in his uncle’s electricity business in 1896). In 1881, booths selling bratwursts opened. Beer was first served in glass mugs in 1892.

At the end of the 19th century, a re-organization took place. Until then, there were games of skittles, large dance floors, and trees for climbing in the beer booths. They wanted more room for guests and musicians. The booths became beer halls.

In 1887, the Entry of the Oktoberfest Staff and Breweries took place for the first time. This event showcases the splendidly decorated horse teams of the breweries and the bands that play in the festival tents. This event always takes place on the first Saturday of the Oktoberfest and symbolises the official prelude to the Oktoberfest celebration

In the year 1910, Oktoberfest celebrated its 100th birthday. 120,000 litres of beer were poured. In 1913, the Braurosl was founded, which was the largest Oktoberfest beer tent of all time, with room for about 12,000 guests.

I have very fond memories of Oktoberfest. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Europe, do it in late September because this is a must see and experience.

Can you pick The Onion without hovering your mouse over the links?



Not much of a challenge really, but if you just looked at the headlines you’d have an easy 50 / 50 shot at being wrong.

Woman stops intruder with medieval combat skills, sword

An Indiana woman says her training in medieval combat helped her corner a home intruder.

The Indianapolis Star reports 43-year-old Karen Dolley of Indianapolis threw punches until she had the man cornered during the Thursday night break-in. She then kept him subdued with a Japanese sword she keeps near her bed.

Dolley says she learned to fight as a teenager in the Society for Creative Anachronism, a group that recreates skills of the Middle Ages. She also skates with roller derby team Naptown Roller Girls.

Police responding to Dolley’s 911 call arrested 30-year-old Jacob Wessel of Greenwood, charging him with residential entry. Police say he forced open the home’s back door. Police reports say he was taken to a hospital because he was high on an unknown substance.

Popular New Exercise App Just Tells Users They Ran 5 Miles A Day No Matter What

LOS ALTOS, CA-Having reached nearly 2 million downloads within its first month of release, the new smartphone app ProMiler has quickly become one of the nation’s most popular exercise tools by informing users that they ran five miles each day no matter what, the app’s creators told reporters Friday. “With ProMiler, achieving your exercise goals is as simple as turning on your device in the morning and being notified that you’ve already run five miles,”

ProMiler spokesman John Lyons said while demonstrating the app, which uses advanced GPS technology to display a new, randomly generated five-mile running route near the user’s location every day. “The more you take advantage of ProMiler, the better runner you become, as the app automatically reduces your running time by several seconds per day. And with our ‘Calories Burned’ counter staying fixed at the number 1,000 each day, 100 percent of our users report hitting their fitness targets.

The results speak for themselves.” Officials added that the app comes pre-synced with Facebook, allowing users to automatically post their time and running route on their feed for all their friends to see.

Friday’s Game

Top 1st Leadoff Double.  RBI Single.  Rangers 1 – 0.  Single, Runners at Corners.  RBI Sacrifice cuts down the Runner at Second.  Rangers 2 – 0.

Bottom 1st Solo Shot.  Rangers 2 – 1.

Top 2nd Leadoff Walk.  Sacrifice advance Runner to Third.  RBI Sacrifice.  Rangers 3 – 1.

Bottom 2nd Error, Runner at First.  Ground Rule Double, Runners at Second and Third.  RBI Single. Rangers 3 – 2.  RBI Double Play.  Tied at 3.

Bottom 5th Leadoff Double.  Sacrifice.  RBI Single.  Blue Jays 4 – 3.

Top 8th Leadoff Single.  Sacrifice.  RBI Single.  Tied at 4.  Caught Stealing.

Top 14th Infield Single.  Single.  RBI Single.  Rangers 5 – 4.  RBI Single.  Rangers 6 – 4 Final.

Rangers lead Series 2 – 0.

Analysis and Setup

No doubt about it, the Blue Jays (93 – 91) are in trouble.  You don’t drop 2 at home in a 5 game series and expect to advance.

If you’re a fan and you want to see them play one last time, you better watch today’s game.

If on the other hand you’re a Rangers (90 – 74) fan (though I can’t imagine why) you’re in the Catbird seat (yes a bird pun, what about I haven’t slept in days are you not understanding?).  Today, tomorrow, who cares?

Well I do dammit.  If they win today it’s one less thing I have to do tomorrow.

Bye bye Birdie (getting it?).

Martin Perez (L, 3 – 6, 4.46 ERA) will be on the mound for the Rangers.  The Blue Jays will be starting Marco Estrada (R, 13 – 8, 3.13 ERA).  Alas, on paper the Jays cream ’em.

Game time is 8 on Fox Sports 1.

I set out here to write about capitalism and how it shapes our relationships to everything. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for quite a while. I had planned to write about how competition, individualism, and the insecurity of having to “earn a living” or be denied survival, defines how we approach one another and the way in which we interact with people in our lives. I started by examining the definition of capitalism. I turned to Wikipedia first and got this:

capitalism is “an economic system in which trade, industry, and the means of production are privately owned and operated via profit and loss calculation (price signals) through the price system.”

Most of my prior thinking had been focused on the profit and loss aspect and how the only valuation system capitalism uses is money. I had originally thought that I would want to discuss the lack of any ethics or social values in the definition and how that void gets filled by the profit imperative.

However, what I found myself focusing on first was the phrase “privately owned”. I was immediately writing about the concept of ownership. In the wake of three mass shootings in the US, this week, I found myself reaching the conclusion that any society which embraces the idea of private property is, at it’s core, violent. Violence is the very foundation that society. I found myself unable to focus on anything else. I realized that any system which includes any kind of ownership claim has to be violent. So, this isn’t a strictly anti-capitalist exploration. It’s an ownership exploration.

So, can we talk about how we are a fundamentally violent culture? How that’s a feature and not a bug? Can we talk about whether we want to be that? Whether we can change that?

I’ll walk you through my thoughts which led to “ownership = violence” and my not-yet-fully-formed ideas of alternatives and a vague sense of how to get there. My hope is that we spark the beginning of a growing dialogue.  

Today’s Meta (because what good is a day without Meta?).  BIG meeting Monday about our transition to Wordpress on the 15th (that’s Thursday folks!).  Blogging this week will be especially sucky, starting today and continuing until next Sunday probably.

While I’m attempting to keep up with my responsibilities for content and technical direction, I’m not particularly familiar with some of the issues we have already identified.  TMC and I will probably be in conference until well after midnight, and this comes on top of what has already been a stressful week or 3.  I got three whole hours of sack time in the last 48 hours and at that I can’t complain because it’s been worse for TMC.

I would certainly like to be providing you with live blogging but that’s not going to be possible and the posts themselves are going to be highly abbreviated if available at all.

In my exhausted state I find it hard to pretend that greatly grieves me today, but you know- I don’t really care about the Junior League anyway.

I’ll probably continue to rant about my Metropolitans especially after that criminal assault on Tejada last night.  Be of good cheer, it’s season not career ending and in 5 game series tems that split the initial road games advance over 60% of the time.

Friday’s Game

Top 1st Walk.  RBI Double. Astros 1 – 0.

Top 2nd Leadoff Single.  Walk.  Single, Bases Loaded.  2 RBI Single.  Astros 3 – 0.  Double Play.

Bottom 2nd Solo Shot.  Astros 3 – 1.

Top 3rd Leadoff Solo Shot.  Astros 4 – 1.

Bottom 3rd Leadoff Double.  Infield Single, Runners at Corners.  RBI Double Play.  Astros 4 – 2.

Bottom 6th Double.  RBI Single.  Astros 4 – 3.  Single, Runners at Corners.  Walk, Bases Loaded.  RBI Walk.  Game Tied at 4.

Bottom 7th Leadoff Triple. RBI Single.  Royals 5 – 4 Final.

Series Tied at 1.

Analysis and Setup

So the Royals (96 – 68) won the Battle of the Losers.  Remember what I said above about the Mets chances?  Well, the Royals are on the short side of that.  They must at least split on the road to force a deciding 5th game.

If you’re an Astros (88 – 77) fan (can’t imagine why) don’t sweat Friday’s game.  Sweep at home and advance.

The Astros will send out Dallas Keuchel (L, 20 – 8, 2.48 ERA) and the Royals Edinson Volquez (R, 13 – 9, 3.55 ERA).  Keuchel is the Astros Ace.  He pitched six scoreless innings in a 3 – 0 win over the Yankees.  On paper this is a blowout.

Game time is 4 on MLB.

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 81 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1982, The Mary Rose, a Tudor carrack which sank on July 19 1545, is salvaged from the sea bed of the Solent, off Portsmouth.

The Mary Rose was a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. After serving for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany and after being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her last action on 19 July 1545. While leading the attack on the galleys of a French invasion fleet, she sank in the Solent, the straits north of the Isle of Wight. The wreck of the Mary Rose was rediscovered in 1971 and salvaged in 1982 by the Mary Rose Trust in one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology. The surviving section of the ship and thousands of recovered artefacts are of immeasurable value as a Tudor-era time capsule.

The excavation and salvage of the Mary Rose was a milestone in the field of maritime archaeology, comparable in complexity and cost only to the raising of the Swedish 17th-century warship Vasa in 1961. The finds include weapons, sailing equipment, naval supplies and a wide array of objects used by the crew. Many of the artefacts are unique to the Mary Rose and have provided insights into topics ranging from naval warfare to the history of musical instruments. Since the mid-1980s, while undergoing conservation, the remains of the hull have been on display at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. An extensive collection of well-preserved artefacts is on display at the nearby Mary Rose Museum.

The Mary Rose had no known career as a merchant vessel. She was one of the largest ships in the English navy throughout more than three decades of intermittent war and was one of the earliest examples of a purpose-built sailing warship. She was armed with new types of heavy guns that could fire through the recently invented gun-ports. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she was also one of the earliest ships that could fire a broadside, although the line of battle tactics that employed it had not yet been developed. Several theories have sought to explain the demise of the Mary Rose, based on historical records, knowledge of 16th-century shipbuilding and modern experiments. However, the precise cause of her sinking is still unclear, because of conflicting testimonies and a lack of conclusive physical evidence.

“Punting the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.

Thanks to ek hornbeck, click on the link and you can access all the past “Punting the Pundits”.

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The Sunday Talking Heads:

This Week with George Stephanopolis: The guests on “This Week” are: Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT); and Republican presidential candidate Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA).

The roundtable guests are: Reihan Salam, “National Review“; LZ Granderson, ESPN; ABC News’ Cokie Roberts; and Mark Halperin, Bloomberg Politics.

Face the Nation: Host John Dickerson’s guests are; Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson; Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and Washington Post‘s David Ignatius.

His panel guests are; Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus; National Journal‘s Ron Fournier; The Federalist‘s Ben Domenech; and the Washington Post‘s Robert Costa.

Meet the Press with Chuck Todd: This Sunday’s guests on “MTP” are; Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Rep. David Bratt (R-VA); and Rep. Charles Dent (R-PA).

The panel guests are: Eugene Robinson, Washington Post; Katleen Parker, Washington Post; Nathan Gonzales, The Rothenberg & Gonzales Political Report; and Hugh Hewitt, talk show host.

State of the Union with Jake Tapper: Mr. Tapper’s guests are: Democratic presidentaate former Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-MD); and former House Benghazi Committee investigator Air Force Reserve Maj. Bradley Podliska.

Ankara attacks: Turkey in mourning after blasts kill almost 100

 

BBC

Turkey is beginning three days of mourning after two blasts at a peace rally in the capital, Ankara, killed at least 95 people on Saturday, the deadliest ever such attack in Turkey.

The attack left 245 people injured, with 48 of them in a serious condition.

TV footage showed scenes of panic and people lying on the ground covered in blood, amid protest banners.

The government called the blasts a “terrorist act” and angrily rejected allegations that it was to blame.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said there was evidence that two suicide bombers had carried out the attack, which comes three weeks before a re-run of June’s inconclusive parliamentary elections.

It’s the second ever race in Sochi, famous for it’s summertime Black Sea beaches and it’s Winter Olympic-time brown, snowless hills and it is really kind of ill omened.  Much of the first Practice was lost when a Cleaning Truck dropped a load of Diesel on the track, the second Practice was in constant rain, and the third Practice (the one right before Qualifying) kind of stopped when Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso pounded his car into a barrier after ripping off the left side on a wall.

He’s said to be ok, but he was going 120 when he hit and has been held in the hospital overnight (or not) while Formula One decides whether he can race.  You see it’s not whether he’s been concussed.  He has, you don’t decelerate like that with no effects, though they seem not to be serious, yet.  It’s really about what happens should he crash again (nothing good).  It has been only a year since Jules Bianchi died in Suzuka, the last stop of the Circus.  My money is that Bernie the Greedy, Cheating, Bribing (oh, the Bribe wasn’t about the money I stole from the shareholders, I was cheating on my taxes) Bastard makes Sainz race, because it’s all about the money.

You see, without Sainz, Bernie is only putting 19 cars on the track while his guarantees with the Track Owners are for a minimum of 14 and if he fails the financial penalties are quite substantial.

Take the issue of engines.  Engines you say?  Yup, they’re really quite important.

Next year Mercedes is providing their fabled Plants to Manor.  Manor?  Aren’t the one of the poorest teams?  Why, yes.  But these are not just any engines, these are leftovers from this year which any other team is FORBIDDEN to use.  Kindly, benevolent Uncle Bernie is graciously allowing them to play with his new favorite child’s cast-offs.

Favoritism is the rule, not the exception in Formula One.  Mercedes openly admits that only the factory werks Silver Arrow get the best, most up to date engines-

Since last month’s Italian Grand Prix, won by Hamilton, Mercedes’s factory team has had a different specification power unit to their customer teams Williams, Force India and Lotus.

“The decision we took is to do an R&D (research and development) exercise in order to learn more for next year and you can’t do this kind of exercise with a customer team,” Wolff told reporters at the Russian Grand Prix.

“If you go into a development direction, you can’t make eight engines because it could be the case that it was the wrong direction we went in.”

Bafflegarb.  But they’re not the only ones, Toro Rossa uses Scuderia Marlboro cast-offs too which explains why Red Bull doesn’t just snarf up their allocations from Ferrari and slap Hondas (the Gerbil on a treadmill of engines) in them and tell their developing drivers to “embrace the suck”.

Why does Red Bull need engines?  Well, they’re running Renaults which is the slightly less sucky twin Squirrel Power Plant and they basically told Renault at the beginning of the season to piss up a rope.

So Renault bought Team Lotus (well kinda, the deal is firm enough that they paid the back taxes so that the court didn’t confiscate the cars and equipment) and said- “Screw you Horner.  We’re a major international automobile company and you make soda pop.”

Then Chris went to Scuderia Marlboro who said- “We’re very sorry, but between supplying your ‘B’ team with our rejects, we also are committed to Haas now so our Maranello elves have a market for all the floor droppings they can possibly produce, lazy serfs.  Besides, are you demenziale, maniaco, pazzoide?  Why would we give our good stuff to our chief rivals?”

The Germans were more direct- “Give our best stuff to our competition?  Are you verdammt verdreht, verrückt, versessen?  Vögeln off.  Oh and yes, too much demand.”

So, the awesome twin Squirrel (maybe- you have purty lips, squeal like a pig for me) or the less than awesome Gerbil (I’m getting pumped from all this exercise!)?

Once Masters of the Universe who find themselves cut tend to be petulant, or get themselves a Reality TV Show and run for President, or both.  Chris Horner is no different and has been throwing his own tantrum- “I’ll fold my teams and go home unless I can get a competitive engine.”

Now this is a decision with a price tag attached- $500 Million in penalties.  It is also a threat.

Bernie needs 14 cars or he pays Billions in penalties.  He has 20.  Manor is a field filling Zombie, 18.  Red Bull packs up, -4.

Why, that makes exactly 14!

Haas rides to the rescue and becomes the new Manor (or not), 16.  Renault/Lotus says- We’ve had our revanche, au revoir, 14 again.

And most of the also rans are equally unhappy with the current state of affairs, except for Williams who are just grateful that kindly Uncle Bernie has hooked them up with Mercedes ‘B’s in that abused child sort of way.

Kaboom!

Greedy, Cheating, Bribing Bernie assures us Red Bull Engine Supply Is ‘Sorted’

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone played down fears on Friday that former champions Red Bull could walk away from the sport by saying he was confident their engine supply problems were ‘sorted’.

Without giving any details, and despite reports that Ferrari had joined Mercedes in refusing to supply their rivals with engines for 2016, the 84-year-old sounded upbeat at the Russian Grand Prix.

“Everything’s been sorted out so I wouldn’t worry about it,” he told reporters.

C’est vraiment des conneries!

But why, why would lying Bernie lie?  Is it because of that multi-Billion dollar deal he has to sell out to Stephen Ross and the Qatari Sovereign Wealth Fund?

Couldn’t possibly be.  He has two other offers you know-

(W)hen asked on Tuesday about those negotiations, the sport’s 84-year-old chief executive told the Camp Beckenbauer Global Summit in Austria: “There has been a lot of interest and I would say there are three parties at the moment, where I would be surprised if one of them did not buy them (the shares) shortly.”

…

Max Mosley, former president of motor sport world governing body the FIA, said in June he did not think new ownership would bring an end to Ecclestone’s reign.

Nothing can possibly go wrong.

What kind of asshole wants to be called “El Supremo”?  Benito Mussolini?

Racy Stuff

Softs and Super Softs.  Jenson Button got begged back to McLaren, Alonso says he will end his career there.  Grosjean has signed with Haas.  The other Mercedes that gets blown away on the start anyway is on the pole.  Alonso has a 35 grid penalty, Merhi 20.  Perelli signs a 3 year deal.  Mercedes is virtually guaranteed a Constructors Championship today which comes with lots of money.  The Drivers Championship gets you a nice trophy to pawn and the best endorsement contract your agent can negotiate.

There’s other things, but deadlines you know.