LCHorn

Not in the UT system…

Are there “non-academic” universities in the UT system? What are they doing that you object to?

I wasn’t spending a lot of time hanging out in small town Spain, but in Madrid there’s tons of dining out with great food. I don’t think they are keeping slender by forgoing protein or because their meals are costlier for the locals and that it requires portion or quality compromise. They do have 100 Montaditos 1 Euro Wednesday’s, after all. I think that’s connected to education level. As college has gotten more attainable, it’s easier to disregard those who can’t go as intellectually inferior. Some of that has merged into a cultural criticism (the whole Hillbilly Elegy “they do this to themselves and therefore deserve it). Hell, that’s almost the thesis for the thread.

It’s getting released. The whole “hackers might have gotten it” is cover for someone on the ethics committee to leak it. Probably a Republican, in fact.

No, I’m not kidding about my Redmayne dislike. Even that All-Star team of performers can’t get me to overlook his casting, even paired with the added fun to play Sorkinism drinking games. I doubt The Good Shepherd is worth a re-watch. It’s kind of a frustrating movie* but I thought Matt Damon was terrific trying to subdue a lot of what makes him fun to watch and play everything internally. There was a review I recall from back in 2006 that described Angelina Jolie as wildly miscast and I agreed with that-the reviewer described her acting style and look as indefatigably contemporary and that it just doesn’t fit in a period piece that’s trying so hard to be authentic of its setting. I think I was mostly eager for some more of Syriana, which I loved (and fat Clooney is the best). *Now that I think of it, it’s kind of two movies (it’s long enough for that). The first half is great as Damon learns about spy craft and begins working for the government. It pairs well with Charlie Wilson’s War as you can see the genesis for a lot of the bullshit elitism that Gust Avrakotos complained about. The second half gets Redmayned.

Staples were not cheaper in Madrid, although they have VAT that pushes the price up. Now that they have Costco at least you can buy in bulk because grocery products are smaller than in the US. Also, grocery store shelves were fully stocked with processed foods-chips, crackers, tons of candy. Even the breakfast cereals are mostly the overly sweetened variety like Frosted Flakes and not Kashi. Anyway, that was a little surprising because you’re right, they aren’t a bunch of fat asses waddling around.* *I do think culture plays a part-eating and drinking to excess is far less socially acceptable there.

So what’s the downside from crippling the Russian oil refineries over the next six weeks? If it results in inflationary pressure on oil then won’t that just help US oil producers? Trump is about to get a honeymoon in which complaints about inflation can be blamed on Biden. And it’s clearly supportive of the Ukrainian war effort.

Speaking of not spending money at a restaurant, has anyone been to the Leroy and Lewis steak night? Looks awesome from the Texas Monthly article.

A solution in search of a problem, imo. Also, Mark Calabria eats more dicks than anyone not named Bob Stoops. He is about as anti-consumer as I have ever seen as a FHFA Director.

I hated his character in The Good Shepherd so completely I can’t see him as anything other than a sniveling runt. The Oscar campaign for The Theory of Everything didn’t help, either, as snippets of the film taken out of context made him look like he was doing a bad impression.

I’d love a review so thanks for making the thread. Big fan of the original (mainly Michael Lonsdale) so have to weigh that against the fact I absolutely hate Eddie Redmayne as a screen presence (I’m sure he’s a swell person off-screen).

If there was someone out there willing to offer Bregman the Machado contract he would have signed already. Also, Ken Rosenthal is the Chip Brown of national baseball coverage. I have it all on good authority (aka @Wulaw Horn) that if it’s not on Jose De Jesus Ortiz’s Twitter you can ignore it.

Maybe the years are different, but I doubt there’s much difference in annual salary.

No way, too high. I will say that, like on this board, the election has them out of their caves and public with their support, at least on the USMC social media groups I’m in.

Lotta Ewers fellating by the announcers considering he’s had a rough game. Can’t throw deep and can’t threaten run.

We haven’t had this many drops in a game since Brennan Eagles.

I thought the nominee for Sec of Defense was ridiculous. I cannot think of a more unfit candidate for AG than Gaetz so this is perfect. I’ve been trying to see all of this disappointment with some optimism but I think I’ll join @Brisketexan on Team World Has Gone to Shit.

Makes sense….

I love that one, too (I’m guessing you mean 25th hour), even if the story is a little 1980’s movie of the week. It’s a good reminder of what excellent directing looks like.

Nobody knows if the number today is as good as it’s going to get. As @Wulaw Horn mentioned, there were five days in September in which some folks got locked in the fives. It could very likely be that we are there again in a month because there hasn’t really been any economic events besides the election (which is over) that would make the economic conditions materially different than they were 60 days ago. Regardless, as @UTPhil2006 mentioned, every LO is selling some variation of “marry the house, date the rate”, but that’s not moving someone who has a house already at 3% and doesn’t HAVE to make a change.

I’m not sure in what industry that gives you so much presumed visibility into ours, but licensed LO’s are 60% of what they were in 2022 and I bet that number declines further after the 2024 renewal period concludes at the end of the year. No idea on realtors and title co folks, but the former has a lot of people doing it as a side gig and I know the latter has been hammered. Sorry to pick on you but an appraiser presenting to mortgage folks on interest rates is a bit pedantic, as well. Sorry, why would that be our responsibility? Most buyers aren’t stupid, they can do the math themselves and if they bought before 2022 most of them couldn’t buy the SAME house today without paying hundreds, and sometimes thousands, more a month.

It really shouldn’t be that hard. Upthread I referred to yesterday’s PSA podcast with Sarah Longwell. They also talked about who is the Joe Rogan on the left and one of them said “Actually, Joe Rogan WAS the Joe Rogan on the left.” Point is that a big part of elections going forward is you have to include a media strategy of everywhere all the time, and you can’t forego media like Rogan or conservative outlets. The Dems aren’t stupid, they have four years now to polish a message and Trump has done absolutely nothing to think there won’t be huge areas of popular discontent in two and four years. Dems policies continue to be favored over GOP policies. I think a bigger challenge is they have to break the cycle in which every election is a change election.

Disagree-they have multiple governors and legislators with the personal charisma. As James Carville has said, they have a lot of young upcoming talent, they just haven’t been the ones in charge. I might have agreed with the sentiment that Mayor Pete just needed more seasoning and would be a great candidate, but this election should be a wake-up call that anyone culturally conspicuous is out of the mainstream. And this goes for women, too. One of the PSA boys said this the day after but everyone else seems too afraid to repeat it (including PSA)-this should be the last female nominee they run for a while. You’ve had two elections in which that’s been rejected. Also, everyone that cares about the deficit are currently hiding in the MAGA shadow and are unlikely to constitute a significant contribution to the next Dem coalition. Sarah Longwell on today’s PSA talked about survey groups she ran and finally answered a question that I’ve been asking myself. “What’s a more consolidated theory of what comes next?” She stated that change candidates are likely the voters preference going forward as we in the west settle into something of an institutional malaise (so this isn’t just the US). She imagines a Presidency where the incumbent always loses, a Congress where the party out of power regains it every two years, and voters who are never happy with anyone. She places the blame on the prevalence of social media, connectivity via our phones, and the pervasive sense both help create that “those people over there have it better than me and that pisses me off.” I thought that was interesting because I think Bernie’s “we need to appeal to working people more” only scratches at the real issue. David Brooks writes about this kind of thing all the time, in which he concludes current politics isn’t nurturing the soul. The Democrats have a great opportunity over the next couple of election cycles to build a movement that doesn’t require a black man with a funny name and once in a lifetime charisma to take back the Presidency.

Wow, I see your point.

Not that I disagree with your intention, but to clarify, only 30% of veterans receive any disability payment. Your 56% award rating is for those who receive disability. That’s about $1k a month, so far from enough to live on. According to the CBO, the most common award for Gulf War veterans is for hearing loss, which relies on a screening designed to weed out those trying to fake a disability. I’m all for trying to dissuade illegitimate awards, but let’s not surmise this is some huge potential savings for the government or that it should rank highly in a hierarchy of systems in need of reform.