Open thread, but found this interesting.

I missed this story early this year, but Miami-Dade will pay back $1.2 billion on a bond package valued at $91 million starting in the late 2020s for the Miami Marlins new stadium. This is only one on the bond packages. The total is close to $2.5b on $500 million borrowed. Amazing.

Meanwhile, Major League Baseball's attendance is down around 2.9% and the Miami Marlins alone are responsible for 40% of that.

Is anyone aware of any examples of public financing of sports team stadiums working out well for taxpayers? I'm really asking. Please link one in the comments if you find any.

Posted by: JohnE. at 02:09 PM | Comments (298)
Post contains 135 words, total size 1 kb.

You drive on the Parkway and park in the driveway while you shoot the breeze because it's raining cats and dogs.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 01:29 PM | Comments (375)
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.

Just 88 rogue IRS agents? I'm gonna say that's on the low end. Just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. What say you morons? We should probably open up a betting pool. Closest to the actual number of wayward IRS agents wins a premium AoS HQ membership. more...

Posted by: CDR M at 05:52 PM | Comments (745)
Post contains 434 words, total size 5 kb.

This morning rdbrewer asked nobody in particular on twitter:

Really? Well I'm glad you asked.

Water Displacement formula, 40th attempt.

It took them 40 attempts to get the water displacing formula worked out. But they must have been really good, because the original secret formula for WD-40®—which stands for Water Displacement perfected on the 40th try—is still in use today.

Convair, an aerospace contractor, first used WD-40 to protect the outer skin of the Atlas Missile from rust and corrosion. The product actually worked so well that several employees snuck some WD-40 cans out of the plant to use at home.

DrewM seemed surprised to learn this too, even though I thought this was well known. He told me I should never assume everyone posesses valuable redneck knowledge. So I'm sharing.

Stay lubricated my friends.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 10:43 AM | Comments (322)
Post contains 150 words, total size 1 kb.

Happy weekend to one and all. And now for something completely different. Or, not:

Richochet has already done this, but I thought I'd rip it off and do it here, because I'm not very original or creative. Also, it sounds like fun.

OK, so the question is, what is the craziest, dumbest, most relentlessly idiotic, jaw-droppingly imbecilic thing ever said to you by a liberal? And I don't mean the usual "Obama is good", "Republicans are mean" LIV talking points, I'm talking about remarks that are just so full of weapons-grade stupid that you're left gasping for air like a gutted fish, completely speechless, and feeling like your head has been filled with Elmer's glue.

Just how dumb can they get? Let's see what you've got.

And no fair just Googling for quotes from Nancy Pelosi or Keith Olbermann, it has to be something that was said directly to you personally.

I'll prime the pump with a few examples:

"The main stream media are hopelessly biased in favour of the right - a result of the fact that they are owned by mega-corporations."

A woman I met in a dog park in San Diego told me that she didn't mind illegal immigration as long as it didn't bring down her property values

Another one responded to my reference to the famous Chesterton quote about how people shouldn't change things without first understanding why they are the way they are in the first place by asking me if I thought women should be allowed to wear pants.

And this last one is moron-worthy:

I was once told by my friend's girlfriend that Kentucky Fried Chicken had to change its name to KFC because all the antibiotics they gave to the chickens had mutated them to such an extent that they could no longer be legally called chicken. I thought she was joking and laughed. This resulted in an hour-long lecture on the evils of GM food, meat, hydrocarbons, the Iraq War and country music. We were on a road trip and I was a captive audience. It was one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life, and I've been arrested in Mexico.

Heh.

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:41 AM | Comments (641)
Post contains 416 words, total size 3 kb.

June already? Unpossible!

Posted by: andy at 03:23 AM | Comments (312)
Post contains 11 words, total size 1 kb.