Bastet

I frequently think of Esther Kaplan's book With God On Their Side: How Christian Fundamentalists Trampled Science, Policy, And Democracy In George W. Bush's White House. That detailed the first term of the Bush administration's subversion of democracy with theocratic policies and appointments, chipping away at the separation of church and state at a truly alarming rate.

It was cool having Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milleken on the same judging panel; I love their restaurants and still miss the original Border Grill. I also love the way the three, with Maneet, walked in arm-in-arm at the end. What a powerhouse. Mustache Joe vs. Fabio: It was great to see Fabio again - he still cracks me up as he did repeatedly and I've had his food - and I wish he'd won; Mustache Joe is nothing approaching the worst, but he bugged me during his Top Chef season while I adored Fabio during all of his. I got a good chuckle at his disgust with okra (Tom Colicchio famously hates it, too); I only like it in limited applications myself. I'm not a huge fan of grits, either, but can love them when made well with things I do love mixed in, so I'd have been quite happy to try both dishes. I'd have loved Fabio's shrimp crudo with okra mayo, I am sure; I thought that mayo was an absolutely inspired use of the okra and hardboiled eggs. I figured Fabio had done himself in by being so far removed from competition he was foolish enough to do two dishes at this level of competition, and indeed that's what the judges pointed to in the interview with Simon, but I was not expecting such a wide margin of victory for Joe, or that he'd score six points higher on taste! He also was up one point on presentation, but down two on randomizer, and so often it comes down to who best uses the randomizer. They really didn't show six points worth of commentary on flavor. Chris vs. Lee Anne - I like both, but was was rooting for her and most wanted her dish so I'm happy with this one. I love lamb loin chops, really like romanesco, and like marmalade so would have been all over these dishes but hers particularly appealed. I didn't know what a halogen oven was until Justin explained (I mean, I know what an oven is, obviously, and I know the halogen group of elements and a halogen bulb, but I'd never heard of a halogen oven and why it exists -- it's a halogen bulb plus a fan and heats quickly) and don't want one, but now I know. He, too, failed to heed the warning against creating two dishes that must first compete against each other before they can go on to competing against the competitor's. He got one more presentation point, down to her last-second tossing of the salad rather than anything great he did, but she nailed him, three points each, on taste and randomizer. Great job. Karen vs. Jonathan - If handed this randomizer, I'd have just sat there chowing down on a sleeve of Ritz and letting my opponent win. I've been a fan of Karen since her original TC appearance, and don't have any attachment to Jonathan, so was rooting for him. Alas. Cheftestants so often go home for "underseasoned" food that not only has more salt (because that's somehow what they exclusively mean by seasoned) than I cook with - yet to rave reviews - but even more than the average restaurant. It's wild to imagine the salt level of a dish eliminated for excessive salinity. But he got a whopping four more points on taste and either tied or lost on the rest, so that must have been it. Jet vs. Pyet - I'll eat venison if served to me, but would never choose to make it or order it, but I liked the overall randomizer requirements (and I love oyster mushrooms), so just based on the visuals I might have licked both plates clean. Great food, and great for his high score, but kudos for someone with fewer credentials also scoring high total despite losing to him on every element; in a lopsided battle, she can be proud. With four of the most successful women hanging up their belts after their victories, maybe one of the most successful men might finally be good enough against the women's second string to win. If so, I'm happy for it to be Jet; I like his food, he seems a good egg, and, as I've noted before, my mom knows his mother-in-law (not close enough that I've ever called in a favor, but close enough to give me a rooting interest). But I'm still Team Antonia.

I ran bands, but otherwise the first round was a tale of "Oh, so close!" -- I missed one each in all the rest. DJ's tale, however, was of disaster. I missed all but Pulp Fiction in movies, three each in world and book report, and two each in the rest. I rebounded to get FJ as an instaguess.

That was at the courthouse, though, not the firm. Olympia addressed her by name, and it's a nicer hallway - especially with that staircase - than any courthouse hallway I've ever been in, but we've seen it several times now when characters walk out of a courtroom and discuss something. But I never saw Olympia later implement an idea that I thought could have come from whatever unheard question she asked. I think I dozed off briefly last night when I got in bed to finish this, though, so I'll have to take another look anyway.

I have no ties to Ireland (other than I've visited several cities there and enjoyed them) - or Catholicism - so I don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day. (If I did, I wouldn't have corned beef as I don't like it.) I'm not going to give a moment's thought to the holiday in deciding my dinner tonight, so I cannot fathom telling someone else what their dinner should consist of even if they do celebrate it.

Well, that and the Supreme Court. I've loved this from the moment it first aired, and when I re-watched it last week, I disturbed my cat by sitting up and cheering. From Bruno, Democratic campaign strategist, on The West Wing: And that was back before the GOP was this extreme. Now it's even more important to have an actual opposition party. In that same episode, Bruno advocated for using the same loopholes re. "soft money" in campaign finance laws everyone else was using, rather than taking the high road and leading by example, arguing that's the way you lose an election and the stakes are too high: Back in 2001, there was such merit to Sam's advocacy of using what the standard should be, not what the standard actually is. Now we live in a political world where there can be no reasonable argument against Bruno's position -- we have to play the cards we're dealt, not fold and hope some day the game magically goes back to what it used to be.

They're paid per episode. An actor can negotiate it into their contract that they're paid for any episodes in which they don't appear, but I doubt any of the ghost actors had the clout for that when the series was cast.

I'm not sure if I'm going to continue my re-watch; I skipped "Isaac & Ishmael" for the sake of my blood pressure, but I'd forgotten how much of season three pisses me off. Not any other entire episodes like that one, but so many lines/scenes/storylines. I'm not in the mood to be pissed off by fiction right now. While I hate with the heat of a thousand nuns the CJ/Simon Donovan storyline, I like the beginning of that arc (when it seemed like CJ being stalked might serve some meaningful purpose, not be an excuse to do The Bodyguard) when Bartlet is trying to get her to sign the letter accepting Secret Service protection and she's trying to make him understand her reluctance. Her "You're not a woman in a man's job" response when he says being surrounded by guards doesn't make him look weak is great, but my absolute favorite moment is when Ron Butterfield shows her the photos of her the guy sent -- feeling vulnerable, she pulls her jacket closed as she looks at them. It's a great touch.

She recently announced she's going to run for governor of CA. We're going to start out with practically every high-profile Democrat in the state in that race, but if Kamala tosses her hat into the ring, a lot of them are going to drop out (Porter has already indicated she'll do so).

I've seen them both before, but I know them by face, not by name. Just keep checking that iSpot page to see if the actor info gets filled in -- it was only posted two days ago.

Oh, don't be! I remembered her looking at the directory in the opening "two years ago" scene and know the flashback episode is "Sixteen Steps" but had to pull that episode up on P+ to get the numbers.

Oh, man, I'm torn between Margaret and Kamau. I'd be very happy with either of them winning. (I didn't see Jackie Tohn's game; I don't know her by name, and didn't recognize her face in a picture, but her credits include a couple episodes of The Good Place, so maybe I'll recognize her when I finally see her "in person".)

Not mistaken; per the sign at the lobby elevators (that Matty studies in the flashback to two years ago), Jacobson Moore takes up floors 19-25.

Susan Lewis was also a very good doctor, specifically an ER doctor in a teaching hospital. She kept a calm head, she had a good bedside manner with patients, and she was a good teacher; Carter was Benton's student, but in the first season she often took the initiative to ask Carter if he'd done a procedure before and guide him through it if he hadn't.

They don't even mention the absence of whichever main ghost is missing each episode. Only Flower's extended absence. They get a lot of Prime deliveries, and usually leave it at that, but once they included dialogue about how fast Prime delivery is and once the delivery guy came to find them in a room and announced "I have a delivery from Amazon Prime for you" in a totally unnatural way.

I've found it different, yes. I've had one fish in my life, a goldfish creatively named Fishy, and she/he lived for more than five years. She/he died because our neighbor who was feeding our pets while my family was on vacation fed the cats but forgot the fish. I mourned, and I never forgave the neighbor (thankfully, he moved a few years later). If he'd done that to the cats, he'd be dead and I'd have a record. It wasn't nothing because it was a fish, but it was definitely less.

How magnananimous of him -- he's "okay" with sharing a room, just not a bed, with someone with whom he has ZERO relationship, let alone an intimate one, and, bonus, he's paid for most of the room's cost. 🙄 This guy is 100% creep, and presumably one of those who thinks creeping around women who share his church will give him some cover. You don't need a reason, ever. You certainly shouldn't feel pressured to come up with one to spare feelings when the person you're saying no to is this wildly inappropriate.

I only watched the first episode of the first season - I hated the vibe (I think I called it FN's version of The Real World) and the chefs were not of the caliber I like to watch compete, so I was one and done - so I hadn't seen either of them. I clearly did not miss anything. As for this week's episode, I love crab so much that crab cakes which have one pinch more binder than is needed actually make me angry. They should barely hold together to survive the flip. So once I saw flour, and a lot of it, in the first round crab cake, I was all in for the other chef. If it was just the crab cake, I wouldn't have had a second bite. With the brown butter calabrian chili crab on top, it's possible I'd have cleaned my plate. And the first round winner's whole mint leaves were a stupid decision. But I'd still eat that plate clean and declare it the winner. I wanted the first round food! Pasta carbonara, though, I generally don't like because I hate egg yolk, so anyone making a properly balanced dish is probably not going to have enough of the good stuff to drown out the flavor of the yolk. I'd have refused to even taste the second round challenger's dish, with that extra yolk. But Bobby's, especially with the pepper in the pasta, I'd have given a whirl. "If they ever take bacon away, I'm leaving Earth." Same, dude.

It would have been fine in this thread even if it was a spoiler. But in an episode thread, yeah, it's that little eyeball icon to cover up anything that needs to be hidden.

To be clear, my post was in response only to the statement I quoted.

He barely knew any of them, including Nigel. Just disappearing without telling anyone he was leaving would have been odd, but he ran into Isaac, so told him, and figured he'd pass that information on to anyone who asked where the new guy went. It would have been nice to go find Nigel and say, "Hey, it turns out I can fly, so I'm off to explore, but it was nice to have met you, mate," but I don't think a few chats and smooches make it a dick move not to. I don't think he'd have any reason to think Nigel was attached already, and it's unlikely Nigel had opened up to him about feeling rejected and lonely.

It is well documented many pet owners feel this way. One of my best friends is going through it for the first time, and she "confessed" to me she's grieving this death much more strongly than any human loved one (her parents and sibling are all alive, and she's child-free, so she's talking about grandparents, an aunt she was very close to, and several friends), that it's even worse than the terrible hurt she'd imagined. I reassured her I am the same way, as are many, and sent her links to studies. It comforted her. It's not about human vs. animal. Pets love you unconditionally, and you just walking through the door makes them happy. They are dependent on you for their very survival. They live with you, and don't go to work or out to lunch with a friend; when you're home, they're there with you. They are part of your daily life in a way no human family member is, and a particular type of relationship comes with a particular type of grief.

I watched with friends, so didn't keep track, but we made it an early night so I remember more of it than usual. FJ was an instaget for all three of us, and none of us could believe Johnson was a TS. The triple rhyme time category was hella fun, especially for me as the only one to run it. I was terrible in writers within books, only correctly guessing sportswriter and Margaret Atwood. But otherwise I did quite well.

Brooke's "Oh, you guys exist?" about being told to talk to camera crew, as opposed to ignoring them like on TC, was funny. "Look at that fourth wall." I also liked their dirty whore sauce banter. But I was hoping to see Stephanie Cmar when Kristen went backstage, or when they showed her in the season 10 clip. I guess she's not working on the show this season. I am so hungry now!

I was in quite a few western European countries in the months immediately preceding the 2008 election, and had numerous conversations about WTactualF America was thinking, having re-elected Bush, and did I think Obama could win the White House back for Democrats. So I heard a lot of "Wow, you're not like most Americans". I assured them there were plenty of us while acknowledging, yes, there are a metric shit ton of bigoted morons with little connection to reality walking our streets - and going to the polls on Election Day. But those were great conversations.