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DINGELL-NORWOOD, muthafucka!

Xul’s fedora has won the dick with John Dingell. I’ll be honest witcha – I thought about disallowing this pick. Dingell is not exactly a household name. Not anymore, anyway.

And then I recollected that he gave me, albeit indirectly, one of my favorite ever moments in politics: the moment Al Gore tried to intimidate George Bush in the 2000 presidential debates.

Remember? Somebody must have told him to get in George’s space, so he goes clickity-clacking over in the middle of an answer and blares, “WHAT ABOUT THE DINGELL-NORWOOD BILL?”

George gave him a little nod, got a little laugh and Al looked like a Boston Dynamics prototype reject.

So congrats, Xul. It’s too late to queue up a Dead Pool for today, obviously, so everyone keep your powder dry and come back next Friday for DEAD POOL ROUND 119.

p.s. you owe me one. The header graphic I originally did was animated, but I decided to be merciful. Do go watch the clip at the link above, though. And have a good weekend!

p.p.s. If you haven’t seen the video making the rounds of the Boston Dynamics door-opening robot dog, here you go. It’s creepy as hell. Though I have to admit, I feel an awful pang when the demonstrator hits it and kicks it and pulls its tail.

Comments


Comment from dissent555
Time: February 8, 2019, 7:14 pm

Albert Finney RIP


Comment from DurnedYankee
Time: February 8, 2019, 8:05 pm

“t’s creepy as hell. Though I have to admit, I feel an awful pang when the demonstrator hits it and kicks it and pulls its tail.”

Sweasy – I realized how much we anthropomorphize our creations when watching an early Boston Dynamics video of testing “Big Dog”. The tester repeatedly kicked it to try and knock it down. After about 6 tries with it scrambling to stay up I found myself hotly mumbling “Leave it alone you bastard!”.
Had to remind myself he might as well have been pushing a lawnmower.
It will only get worse when we give them some sentience.

Boston Dynamics should probably get into the extremely amorous robot business


Comment from Ric Fan
Time: February 8, 2019, 9:43 pm

Albert Finney was one of my all time favorite actors. Very handsome man tho the drink took its toll. Recently looked him up and could see that he was not healthy. 82 y/o is too young….


Comment from BJM
Time: February 9, 2019, 8:49 pm

@ Ric Fan, I’ve always thought that Finney was very underappreciated in the US.

One of my favorite roles is from Alan Parker’s 1982 “Shoot the Moon”. He really nailed George.


Comment from Pupster
Time: February 9, 2019, 10:58 pm

I feel an awful pang when the demonstrator hits it and kicks it and pulls its tail.

It is even more heart-wrenching with (NSFW) dialog.

Unmute. pic.twitter.com/z3qa2TmQJv— AGAR and 99 Others (@Utterly_Black) February 5, 2019


Comment from BJM
Time: February 10, 2019, 2:36 am

Maybe it’s just my overactive imagination, but the robot’s movements are more Velociraptor than canine.


Comment from BJM
Time: February 10, 2019, 2:38 am

The robot’s movements strike me as more Velociraptor than canine.

[Well, Duh, I posted a draft, sorry about the double post.]


Comment from Rich Rostrom
Time: February 10, 2019, 6:25 am

“I thought about disallowing this pick. Dingell is not exactly a household name. Not anymore, anyway.”

When did “not anymore” become a criterion?

Lots of people who were enormously famous at one time are largely forgotten today – but still alive. That’s typical of elderly celebs who are likely winners.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: February 10, 2019, 11:06 am

Yes, Rich, but it’s all about ME. Whether *I* remember the celebrity.

Fortunately, we are all old on this blog. I mean ‘fortunately’ in the narrowest possible context, obviously.


Comment from xul’s fedora
Time: February 10, 2019, 10:44 pm

Well thanks for ruling in the affirmative, Stoaty! Being the longest “serving” Congress critter kinda made him one of the biggest examples of why we need term limits IMO. 😉


Comment from Rich Rostrom
Time: February 11, 2019, 8:22 am

If it’s all about YOU, i.e. who you’ve heard of…

These names are 28 of my last 39 entries. Which would you accept, i.e. recognize?

Peggy Montgomery – 1920s child star (>$1M year)
Licia Albanese – star soprano at the Met, 1940-1966
Gough Whitlam – former PM of Australia
Atal Bihari Vajpayee – former PM of India
Liliane Bettencourt – wealthiest woman in the world (L’Oreal)
Anne Cox Chambers – newspaper billionairess
Everton Weekes – Hall of Fame cricketer
Doyle Brunson – poker legend
Islam Karimov – President of Uzbekistan
Lee Teng-hui – former President of Taiwan
Jack Steinberger – 1988 Nobel prize in Physics
Piet De Jong – former PM of the Netherlands
Dési Bouterse = president and sometime dictator of Suriname
Robert Frank – world’s most influential photographer
Jiro Ono = world’s greatest sushi chef
Ennio Morricone – composer of 500+ film & TV scores, 2015 Oscar winner
George Walker – black composer, winner of Pulitzer
Yuri Oganessian – Russian nuclear physicist
Omar Bashir – president of Sudan
Hayden Fry – college football coach (SMU, North Texas, Iowa)
Alan S. Boyd – First US Secretary of Transportation, 1967-1969
Liu Kuo-sung – Taiwanese artist
Xi Jinpin – ruler of China
Ron Dean = Hollywood character actor
Roy Haynes = Hall of Fame jazz drummer
Michel Aoun – President of Lebanon
Tommy Steele – 1950s British rock n roller


Comment from Wolfus Aurelius
Time: February 11, 2019, 2:11 pm

With that long neck, the robot looks more like a four-legged realization of Larry Niven’s puppeteer species, than it does like a dog. Except for the tail pulling bit. What was it that fell off when the guy seized the tail rope?


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: February 11, 2019, 8:02 pm

About four of them, Rich Rostrum. But I hardly ever have to make that judgement, so I don’t do it on spec. It seems unnecessarily confrontational. Also, I hardly ever read the Dead Pool threads. But the me-centric nature of the DP is literally Rule #1.

Wolfus: its butt.

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