Ye Olde CARWASH probably shouldn't advertise one of its key selling points as "LASERS!"
Yeah, this is how you do it right.
Ha, great name. I do often take my car to the carwash just before Christmas, thinking of it as a Christmas treat (for the children *and* the car). This year, kid B has offered to wash and valet the car, for money, so it looks like we won't go. (She's the only child without an autumn birthday and has been thus spending money and getting none back, and is feeling pretty skint.)
They really give themselves away there -- it should of course be "Ye Olde Carwashe".
Beware: they might laser your brains!
(Just noticing the latest epic CT thread has grown by 100 comments since I last checked it. I could read them, but then again, I could not.)
6: You could reword the 2nd comment with a sneer about how nobody else thought of the question from that angle from before.
Huh, I'm finding that thread amusing so far (only 40 comments in); I suspect it deteriorates. Shall I check?
... Right, well.
OT: I came across a review of a French police thriller writer, Jean Claude Izzo, that seemed promising. As I normally do in such situations I checked BPL to see if they have it, and if so whether just in English. As it turns out, they have a good half dozen of his books in each of two different languages: English and Polish. Maybe I'll just check it out when I'm home.
As I normally do in such situations I checked BPL
Ogged moved on. Why can't you?
I love that they maintain a significant stock of Polish-language books originally written in French.
Also, I didn't mean to drive everyone away from the other thread.
I'm spooky! Let's be amigos, can we?
Our downtown holiday kickoff was supposed to be especially exciting this year, apparently. My favorite bit is this:
Federal agents also said that Mr. Mohamud thought Portland would be a good target because Americans "don't see it as a place where anything will happen."
"It's in Oregon, and Oregon, like, you know, nobody ever thinks about it," the affidavit quotes him as saying.
Who has time to worry about terrorists when there's all those goddamned Californians just over the border?
To what extent is this another of those cases where the person would have done nothing if not for the FBI sting operation that encouraged him and gave him his "bomb"?
all those goddamned Californians just over the border
They keep messing up my game, yo.
His planning unfolded under the scrutiny and even assistance of undercover agents, officials said.
To the same extent as the others, I'd guess.
Remember, kids: if somebody tries to convince you to plant a bomb, they're probably from the government and thus shouldn't be trusted.
"This defendant's chilling determination is a stark reminder that there are people -- even here in Oregon -- who are determined to kill Americans."
NOT IN OREGON! WE TRY SO HARD TO ONLY HAVE WHITE PEOPLE!
16: They didn't catch Mary Louise Parker, did they?
18: To be fair, we're pretty generous about our definition of "white". Those crops aren't going to pick themselves, you know.
Anyway, I love how the attraction of Portland as a target was that nothing happens here, and now it's earned its place in US terrorism history for nothing happening here. Working together, the FBI and a Somali teen have satisfied my sense of irony.
20: Nor will those canals dig themselves.
Today my parents' local paper contains a letter to the editor decrying nanny-state interference that removes drugs from the market just because they're known to cause heart problems, and says that such decisions are best left to the invisible hand. I honestly can't tell if it's joking.
23: The invisible hand that comes and squeezes your heart in the middle of the night.
From Oregonian
According to the FBI affidavit, the case began in August 2009 when Mohamud was in e-mail contact with an unindicted associate overseas who was believed to be involved in terrorist activities. In December 2009, while the unindicted associate was in a frontier province of Pakistan, Mohamud and the associate discussed the possibility of Mohamud traveling to Pakistan to participate in violent jihad.
Assuming this is true, that's reason enough to look into this guy.
Mohamud also indicated he intended to become "operational," meaning he wanted to put an explosion together but needed help. The two met again in August 2010 in a Portland hotel."During this meeting, Mohamud explained how he had been thinking of committing some form of violent jihad since the age of 15," the affidavit says. "Mohamud then told (the FBI operatives) that he had identified a potential target for a bomb: the Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square on Nov. 26, 2010."
The FBI operatives cautioned Mohamud several times about the seriousness of his plan, noting that there would be many people, including children, at the event, and that Mohamud could abandon his plans at any time with no shame.
If, and I repeat, if this is all true then I'm not really all that worried about the entrapment stuff. Pretending to go along with someone who has indicated that they want to set off a bomb in a crowd, while also expressing doubts about whether it's such a good idea seems like a different thing than some of the other 'plots' the FBI has busted people for.
Remember, kids: if somebody tries to convince you to plant a bomb, they're probably from the government and thus shouldn't be trusted.
Either a pig or a fool!
After the revolution, the free citizens of our socialist utopia will only refer to each other as "brah".
Hey, speaking of California things, it has been recently brought to my attention that (some? maybe Northern?) Californians deploy an interjection of "What?!" not to express a failure to hear or comprehend what's been said, but rather to express a sense along the lines of "Holy cow!" For instance, an interaction might go as follows:
Person A: I have acquired a large amount of heady nugs for a very small amount of dinero.
Person B: What?!
Person A: I know, right?
So, enlightened West Coasters, tell me: is the person who claimed this usage of "What?!" exists just pulling my leg, or what?
What? Is that really just a west coast thing?
30: The Californian who brought it to my attention poked fun at me for repeating what I had said following her "What?!" She said it happens all the time on the east coast.
28: "Citizen brah", for the retro set.
29: What, Comrade brah? This is new/a regionalism?
I think I said that before I ever lived on the west coast, but maybe I picked it up here unknowingly.
(Apparently Al Jazeera thinks it's spelled "pone".)
I think it might be an inflection thing, with the West Coast version being more muted than the East's, such that I (and others! others do it too!) mistake it for a sincere request to repeat myself.
I've achieved rudimentary proficiency in Spanish, all from watching Taco Bell commercials. Isn't that neat-o burrito?
You guys are the best.
35: I join my brahs and lady-brahs in saying: what?
Well, 37 was nice. Good to know that's out there.
I absolutely refuse to believe this use of "what" Is a regionalism, and do not think it is. Don't people In Virginia say "Whaaaa?"
Californians also make rampant use of the word "and". Those weirdos!
Don't people In Virginia say "Whaaaa?"
Yes. See 35.
35: I think it might be an inflection thing, with the West Coast version being more muted than the East's
If this is true, I'd be caught up too: California dudes, there is a difference between "What?" and "What?!"
But anyway, do you really just say "What?" when you haven't heard someone and need a repeat? Don't you say, "I'm sorry, what?" or "Say what?" or "Say again?"
And speaking of what ho, ATC just presented, uncritically, the opinion of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget as an objective view of the debt/deficit situation, including its appraisal of the Simpson/Bowles plan as a responsible solution.
Being of Western coast extraction (though in a NASCAR-loving subregion), "what" can take many values with but small variation in pronunciation. It's, like, tonal, brahs and brahettes.
