Bastet

Thank goodness I've adopted the Rams as my number two team, because this is going to be a long fucking season as a Giants fan. And, yeah, while I hate to agree with Dez Bryant on anything, I'm going to go ahead and agree with you fine folks here that the Saquon Barkley/Barry Sanders comparisons are among the few times it's appropriate to draw comparisons this early in someone's career.

No go; I believe ice was already in the clue (probably via ice crystals, but the archive isn't updated so I can't check), so it would have to be a specific type, not just ice.

It wasn't ambiguous; they wanted the title of the play -- "The title of this Lerner and Loewe musical" I didn't get it, though. Halftime was over before J! was, but the Giants were playing so awful I decided to spare myself a bit of it and stick with this game. Seoul was a bit surprising as a TS, but only a bit because people suck at geography. Maelstrom surprised me a bit, too. Actually, German, too; because of the name, I figured someone would ring in with that as a guess (it was pure guess for me, too). I guessed Chevron and Rite-Aid, too, but those going unanswered didn’t surprise me – you either know stock symbols from playing the market hard core, or just guess well at them based on a given clue. I’m a dunce who had never heard of the X,Y,Z affair, but I got the other DDs. I love rhyme time categories. I love all vocabulary categories. Dog breed categories, not so much; other than Dalmation and a few others, ask me what kind of dog, and I’ll tell you something like “a medium-sized brown one.” I prefer mutts, anyway. I didn’t know the history of the tattoo needle, and I have two tattoos – that was a particularly fun “learn something new every day” moment. Only having to name Daphne OR Velma? Come on. (But that and the Jetsons were the only ones I got in that category.) And a picture of Alexis Bledel in a category about Alexises?!

I think it's just the same theory behind pricing something at $9.99 rather than $10 - research probably indicated under $20 was the sweet spot of what the greatest number of people felt they could afford to part with per month for a good cause - but I'm interested to hear if there's something behind it other than psychology.

The horse clue being discussed reminds me of something I forgot to mention last night: "Big Farmer" as the follow-up to "Big Pharma" amused me when the categories were read, and then once the clues were revealed and I realized they all really were about big farmers -- individuals who are tall and/or of substantial girth -- not factory farms, I was even more tickled.

Yep; I'm never going to need more space than I do now -- I hate kids, and hate cohabitating with anything other than a cat or two -- so I bought my house intending to be here forever. It's paid off, I've replaced the roof, plumbing, electrical, and windows over the years so those things will easily last my lifetime and beyond, done some cosmetic work to "put my stamp on it" (and I will remodel the kitchen and bathroom some day, but not as a "total gut job"), and only unforeseen circumstances would lead me to ever buy another house.

Has he been shown in the promos for tonight's episode? I know it was said he'd appear in episode three, but that was pretty early on, so that may have been before they moved episode four up a week, flipping three and four. So, if at the time they said he'd appear in the third episode they were talking about what was originally slated to be episode three, that would mean we wouldn't see him until next week. But if they'd already made the switch at the time of the statement, that means we'll see him tonight. So, since I don't know the timing, I'm curious if he's been shown in promos. Whenever we get him, I'm glad!

In the Big Farmer category, "Around 1900, strongman Louis Cyr held 2 of these pulling in opposite directions; one later came to work on his farm." I had never heard of Cyr, but horses seemed like the logical answer, so that's what I guessed. I was a bit surprised none of the contestants did, especially since it was only the $400 clue. (Mary guessed ox, and nobody else rang in.)

Yes, she said something like that to the judges, and one of them said he/she (he, I think, but I'm not sure) liked her even more now. I can't remember if she said anything different during her post-elimination interview.

Same here; I change some things about the rest of the recipe (I leave out the carrots and pasta [I used to include the pasta, but after I used up the bag of stars, I skipped it going forward] and I add more spinach), but I love those meatballs and they - plus the dill - make the soup. Like everyone else, I have to limit how many I taste test (quality control, you know) while waiting to add them to the soup. I use two different kinds of chicken sausage in making them, one with basil and one with spinach and feta, so there's a lot of good flavor that mixes well with the other meatball ingredients and the soup as a whole. I don't make a lot of soups, but two of my handful of staples are Ina recipes -- this one and her cream of wild mushroom soup.

Nope. It's going to be a long time before anyone currently on the scene has a chance at usurping her. It will have to be someone who continues racking up new achievements - as a singer and songwriter - and crossover popularity, with the concomitant influence on other artists, well after Dolly stops. And, looking down the top ten, the age (or, you know, death) of the rest of them means there won't be that kind of leap frogging in their lifetimes. It's something far in the future. Dolly Parton is a national treasure. Thanks for sharing the list, @UYI. I wouldn't have bothered checking in on it on my own (I'd have waited until the whole thing was done and skimmed over it), but I really enjoyed you doing it for us, and enjoyed reading your thoughts as you went along, since you are quite the music lover.

Heartworm in cats is extremely rare in California; I know in my area, there were fewer than twenty cases over the course of ten years. But, yes, I believe they still do the test before writing the prescription (which Revolution requires), just in case.

The Jimmy Dean commercial has been the subject of scorn here for quite some time; I read about it long before I saw it. I tried to figure out why it bothers me in a way that running Elizabeth Taylor's White Diamonds commercials long after Taylor had died did not, and I think it's that it's a repackaging of an old commercial rather than simply a posthumous airing of an old one intact, with something about turning the old on-camera visual to a VO over non-Dean footage, plus the specific verbiage -- "I wish I could tell you how I feel about a morning like this." Except, you know, instead of the guy on the mountaintop in front of the backdrop he's describing talking about it, these are now the words of a dead guy who thus cannot feel anything, and couldn't tell us about it even if he could. He's DEAD. There's no feeling or talking. It bugs.

Three On a Couch, when they introduce themselves to the therapist: "I’m Sophia Petrillo, and my idea of a good psychiatrist is a bartender who pours without a spout."

That's why I said I shouldn't have been so surprised - that a lot of people likely travel just that way. There can be a good deal of difference between size of seat, legroom, amenities, etc. between aircraft on the same route, and I only fly first class, so when I'm shelling out for a ticket (or even if my company is), I want the best possible plane that fits my schedule. Plus, as I said, I don't like the negative consequences of the degree of automation on Airbus planes. So I pay attention to what I'd be flying on if I picked flight A vs B vs C to get from City 1 to City 2 on X date. But many people don't. But I think if that had been a regular clue, rather than a DD, it wouldn't have been a TS -- asked for a commercial aircraft manufacturer, pretty much anyone could come up with Airbus and Boeing, if no others, and with A in there (plus the "terrestrial" part of the clue), well, someone should come up with Airbus.

Somehow, despite all the warnings, I remained convinced I could find a DMV office that had an appointment available within the next two weeks if I cast a really wide net, but I spent the entire episode checking increasingly-distant offices with no luck (so, yay, now I get to waste an entire day in line). So I only paid partial attention, and checked the archive to fill in the blanks. As per usual with most religion/mythology clues, I had not even a guess for FJ. (I did know Book of Mormon, though, heh.) While nowhere near as bad, I'm still pretty bad with composers, so I was surprised to run that category; they must have been very easy clues (Vivaldi certainly was; that's Teen Tournament level). I had a good game overall; I ran quite a few categories, and didn't miss more than one or two in most of the rest. I'm surprised hometown was so hard for the contestants to get to. [In the] pipeline being a TS also surprised me. (Maybe because, looking at the archive, the clue said "'in' this word"? So they thought "in X" phrases rather than "in the X" phrases.) Same with Call of the Wild. Horses as a TS was a bit surprising, but not as much - I think of that one as one where at least one would figure that was the answer (as I did), but not want to guess, not knowing for sure. The Airbus DD being missed is what really surprised me. How does anyone who travels by air not know the A in an aircraft designation means Airbus?! I didn't even need the part of the clue hinting at bus. This was a case when I liked Alex's snark, when he told her she may well have flown on one to get there. Thinking on it, though, I don't think I'm right to be that surprised; I doubt most people pay as much attention to what aircraft they're flying on as I do (I check schedule, cost, and aircraft in picking a flight -- and I avoid Airbus [too automated] if I can).

It has been a bad year for fleas in CA; a lot of vets/owners found that Frontline (topical) wasn't working anymore, but Revolution (topical) was. Some had to reach for the Comfortis (pill). Chester (one of my parents' cats) got fleas something fierce this summer, and then Bandit picked up a mild case from him; Revolution worked for both of them. Because I go back and forth and Chester was so infested I could have wound up bringing fleas home with me, I gave Riley one dose of Frontline (it's what I had left over, and I wasn't going to go buy Revolution for something I probably didn't need in the first place). She never had any fleas that I could see. Other than that instance, though, I never do preventatives - I only treat if I see evidence of fleas. (Knocking on wood, that has only happened once, with Baxter.) One month's dose was enough to eradicate them, and then I treated the following month as well just to be good and sure. (This was with Frontline.) If the fleas are gone after the first month's dose, and you're now going to be treating to make sure they stay that way, you could try Revolution for month two instead of the pill. Or go ahead and put yourselves through the purrito process (if you can't just hold him without getting clawed/him getting away from you) for one more pill, hoping you won't have to give any more after that (at least not this year; they're less plentiful in the cooler months). You could try a pill pocket to hide it in rather than having to actually pill him, but if he can sniff out little bits of ground-up pill in his food, I suspect he'll sniff the pill pocket, laugh at you, and walk away. If you go the pill route, I'd definitely try it at home, because that's a shorter period of stress than hauling him to the vet. But if you just can't get it down and the tech offered, you know you have that option. They make pill holders/dispensers to help get them into the back of the cat's mouth, but I've always just used my fingers, so I can't give any feedback on whether those help. If you're taking a poll, in your shoes - assuming the fleas seem to be gone, and you are making good and sure rather than still killing active fleas - I'd probably try one more pill, since I knew it was effective on this cat/flea combo, but if I just couldn't get him to swallow it, I'd see how Revolution worked rather than taking him in. Good luck!

I learned that on Top Chef. I don't eat much fish, and I don't like sushi and am only a mild fan of ceviche, so I had no reason to know it. Someone who cooks professionally, though? Having learned it on TC, when she announced what she was going to make, I actually gasped. Bye bye. Is she the one who's a private chef (meaning there isn't a kitchen full of people who could stop her)? Good for her clients that now she knows.

The redwood TS really surprised me; alpha a bit, too, but that one really threw me. (I knew Mary Leaky as well, but that one didn’t surprise me at all, sadly, and I also got Leroy Neiman Marcus but wasn't surprised to see that one go unanswered, either). FJ, though, was a total blank for me. I thought based on the category I was going to struggle in the Greek letter category, but those were easy clues. The Amanpour clues were easy, too, but I wasn’t dreading that one. I must thank the Everything Else TV forums here on pTV for me immediately knowing the abbreviations of shows I don’t watch in the TV For Short category – I’ve spent so long seeing them in discussion of various issues and trends on TV, they translated with no problem. I had a good first round. Decent in the DJ round. I’m so annoyed they didn’t finish the crossword clues category. I'm joining others in wondering about Alex’s delay in ruling Barnes & Noble gases correct? I didn't hear any mumbling that would have led them to have to consider whether the contestant said it right. And WTF with “Can I do that?” on the $2500 DD bet, Jen? Um, yes. And speak with some confidence, damn. Not content with showing photos, like of Gaddafi, this time they progressed to showing long performance clips to identify Gwen Stefani, P!nk, and Shawn Mendes. (Now, the P!nk clue is the only one that would have got me to the answer without the clip, but they could have written better clues rather than going the "identify the musical artist seen here" route.)

I can't be objective on that one, because people spewing off about the McDonald's coffee case as some supposed example of tort litigation gone wild sends me into a distracting white-hot rage because they inevitably know jack all about the facts of the case. But, to the extent I can focus on you, heh, I don't think you're overreacting, even though your own special circumstances - of making such a long drive to attend - do color the degree of your reaction. You're there for a specific purpose, and you're required to be there, so some general chatter is fine, but that which extends the session is not. And it's not okay for the person in control of the classroom to get on a soapbox; she's in charge, and that inhibits rebuttal from those with a differing opinion when she pontificates on something unrelated (as opposed to on-topic debate and discussion that would be part of the learning process).

I was watching football last night, so I just checked the archive for the clues. I guessed Moses for FJ, but more because he's one of about three dudes in the Bible whose names come to me than because I truly knew he had anything to do with laws. I groaned at seeing a military history category in the first round, but the presence of one about liquor offset that. I always do well in vocabulary categories like "EZ" too, so that was a decent round. I did really well in DJ, except I was as stumped by Lithuania as the contestants were. I didn't know whist or The Hunger Games, but I think I got pretty much everything other than those three.

Yep, the 9/29 episode was the last of the season.

I'm annoyed they're doing the unexpected pregnancy storyline yet again, but of the possibilities, I'm leaning towards Becky. It could be Harris, continuing the family tradition of having kids too young, but she's really young, and we haven't had enough time getting to know her yet to get properly invested in a teen pregnancy storyline. They've positioned Darlene as the new Roseanne and Becky as the new Jackie, so a middle-aged pregnancy from a one-night stand would follow in her aunt's footsteps. It would make sense that she wasn't on birth control, because she wasn't in an ongoing relationship and knew her odds of pregnancy were low, so she just used condoms and hit the statistical shithole -- it happened to fall into the failure percentage, at the exact moment of peak fertility, and against the odds the doctor quoted, she did indeed get pregnant. I also lean towards Becky because they keep using unexpected, rather than unplanned, which makes me think of someone who just didn't think pregnancy was a risk in the first place. So that's her or Jackie, but Jackie has to be well through menopause, so that's not unexpected, that's inexplicable. (Plus, even if possible, knocking Jackie up would call a whole lot of extra attention to the fact they're not addressing the existence of Andy, and I don't think they want to do that.) It would be nice to see whoever it is have an abortion for a change of TV pace, but even this franchise doesn't have the guts to go there, so I guess we're going to go down the same old road yet again.

How awful! I would hate for this to happen to anyone so young, but she came across as such a lovely person that it makes me all the more sad.