First Looks category archive

Note: During the election season, meeting day has been moved to Thursday.

Drinking Liberally is a gathering place for liberals. Socialize and laugh in a friendly atmosphere.

When: 6 p., Thursday, September 13.

Where:
Lola’s Caribbean Restaurant
328 W 20th St (map)

Details here. Meetup page here.

I went to a Hooters once.

Back when I was a road warrior, I was stuck for a week in the suburban wasteland north of Atlanta and running out of restaurants for dinner. So, in a spirit of public service and exploration, I figured I’d try the Hooters in the parking lot of the shopping center about two blocks up the street.

Anyone who has ever traveled for business will tell you that dinner is normally the high point of the day.

I was not impressed. The aggressive mediocrity of the menu was slightly surpassed by the lackadaisical service, but not by the skill of the kitchen.

And, frankly, Hooters’s most publicized selling point doesn’t interest me, not because I don’t like to admire the flowers, but that I favor spotting them in the wild instead if looking through a glass at a garden on display. A stolen peek is more interesting than a burlesque show (not that the poor kids working in that dive would have qualified for burlesque).

Then there’s the smarmy sanctimony of Hooters’s efforts to rationalize their name . . . .

From Bloomberg:

There’s reason to look for a happy balance. After Hooters’ U.S. revenue peaked in 2007 at $960 million, the recession took a toll, pushing down sales every year since, according to Technomic Inc. Revenue dropped 3.4 percent to $858 million last year, while U.S. full-service restaurant revenue increased 1.8 percent, data from the Chicago-based researcher show.

Hooters, which is facing increasing competition from other so-called “breastaurants,” including Titled Kilt and Twin Peaks, is vying for customers as U.S. consumer confidence declines and prices for raw ingredients rise. Confidence among Americans fell in August by the most in 10 months as households grew more pessimistic about the economic outlook.

Offered without comment:

Traffic cameras along Ga. 400 remained on the blink Friday, apparently because of the repeated thefts of copper and fiber-optic wiring that connects the cameras to the state Department of Transportation’s nerve center.

Are the political conventions over?

Contradict Me sees the irony:

I guess to commemorate the achievements of the unions and the progress to more humane treatment of…humans, the government made it a federal holiday, meaning that folks can get the day off…

…except for laborers.

Now this isn’t 100%, and I’m only speaking from my own observations, but the only people who seem to get to honor Labor Day with an actual day off are those who work for the government, are in positions of power within their companies, or both. Meanwhile the service industry is alive and kicking pretty much all day long? Want bubble tea? Labor Day sale! Want to go clothes shopping? Labor Day sale! Wanna see a movie? Well..I don’t think there’s a sale for that, but the theater is still open.

Via OhMyGov.

But it hasn’t gone away.

Warning: Some language.

No doubt this was served here.

The cable modem is celebrating the birthday of this blog by going to that big recycling bin in the sky.

It’s not completely gone, but goes in and out. 

The regularly scheduled insanity will resume when the connection does.

Meanwhile, visit some of the fine blogs in the blogroll, over there, on the sidebar.

—————–>

Celebrating seven years of
uninterrupted drivel unleashed
on the innerwebs!

Every time I think I’ve run out of blogging juice, Republicans do something to re-energize the outrage.

I shall celebrate by taking it easy today.

Connection issues. Back when it is.

Off to drink liberally.

Thoreau has a wonder.

. . . it would be fascinating to see how many Americans would simultaneously support Pussy Riot and support punishments for burning the US flag.

Fun and fellowship for liberals. Join us and help our chapter leader celebrate her birthday.

When: Tuesday, August 22nd, 6 p.

Where New Location:
Croc’s 19 Street Bistro
620 19th Street (Map)

More here.

This is merely happenstance.

When storms move in or a full moon rises, waters from Madison Bay consume Amy Keene-Applegarth’s property, leaving her trapped.

“It looks like a house sitting in the middle of the bay,” the Cambridge-area resident said. “We just live with it.”

Sea level rise is a reccurring nightmare for the people, environment and species of Wicomico, Dorchester and Somerset counties. The low-lying land floods regularly, marshes are disappearing, and plants and animals are becoming endangered, some extinct.

Off to drink liberally.

Update: Date corrected.

Note: During the election season, meeting day has been moved to Thursday.

Drinking Liberally is a gathering place for liberals. Socialize and laugh in a friendly atmosphere.

When: 6 p., Thursday, August 9.

Where:
Lola’s Caribbean Restaurant
328 W 20th St (map)

Details here. Meetup page here.

They keep changing their name, but the John Law keeps tracking them them down.

Blackwater Xe Academi was assessed $7,500,000.00 in fines for violating arms regulations.

The charges unsealed Tuesday included two counts of exporting satellite phones to Sudan and four counts of violating arms trafficking laws, in part by providing body armor and ammunition to Iraq and Afghanistan without U.S. approval.

There also were six counts of violating federal firearms laws regarding possession of unregistered automatic weapons and five counts of lying to authorities about the ownership of weapons given to the king of Jordan or his entourage.

Ah, the challenges of making a living as hired guns in this modern age..

Olympic twits.

The controversy started Sunday when the account of Guy Adams, a correspondent for The Independent and a vocal critic of NBC’s Olympics coverage, was suspended after he tweeted a corporate email address for a network executive, which Twitter claimed was a violation of its privacy rules.

Twitter restored his account Tuesday, admitting that “we did mess up” when its staff encouraged NBC — which Twitter is teaming with for Olympics coverage — to file the complaint that resulted in the suspension.

Tempest in a twitpot.

Six months from now, no one will remember this.

Six years from now, no one will remember Twitter (CompuServe, anyone?)