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One thinks he may just see the writing on the wall (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43729218).  No idea what the House GOP are going to do; we all remember the clusterfuck when Boehner retired.  Kevin McCarthy was next in line, but he dropped out of the Speaker's race due to multiple issues last time, not least of which was that the teabaggers didn't want him, but also for publicly admitting the Benghazi hearings were entirely about hurting Hilary politically rather than legitimately investigating (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kevin-mccarthy-benghazi-committee_us_560bdeb5e4b0dd850309e5ed).

Ryan's going to stick around until the end of his term rather than bail out right now.

Gonna have to make more popcorn...

Sad to see him go.  I'm going to miss his...

...well, I'm sure he did something good.

Probably all this "investigation" turned up good blackmail material (thanks Awan brothers).  And the blackmailer wants Ryan to quit, rather than stay in office doing what the blackmailer wants.  Usually the blackmail is used to keep the politicians on narrative, and the bribe money keeps them getting re-elected.  Not the only big name politician to recently not seek re-election.

Oh wait, it's starting to come back to me (https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/11/climate-change-and-paul-ryan_n_1768171.html).

"Unilateral economic restraint in the name of fighting global warming has been a tough sell in our communities, where much of the state is buried under snow..." - resident genius

Though in fairness, he might not be insinuating that cold weather contradicts the scientific consensus on global warming, he might be calling his constituents morons who can't tell the difference between weather and climate.  Either way, what a charmer.

If you want to make the biggest hit on carbon use ... shut down China.  Of course the US, Japan and Europe contribute too.

Quote from: Baruch on April 11, 2018, 10:28:26 PM
If you want to make the biggest hit on carbon use ... shut down China.  Of course the US, Japan and Europe contribute too.

Very binary thinking, as usual.  One extreme or the next.  Have you ever stopped to think (I could end the question right here) that there are more options between doing nothing and halting all production?

Huffington Post got it right--termed his leadership (??) as 'Feckless'.  They were being too kind, I think.

Quote from: Hydra009 on April 11, 2018, 10:37:33 PM
Very binary thinking, as usual.  One extreme or the next.  Have you ever stopped to think (I could end the question right here) that there are more options between doing nothing and halting all production?

We could limit automobile use to #/per million people.  That way the Chinese get 4x as many cars as the Americans.

Quote from: Mike Cl on April 11, 2018, 10:41:08 PM
Huffington Post got it right--termed his leadership (??) as 'Feckless'.  They were being too kind, I think.

I was very unimpressed ... but he wasn't in my district.

Another Republic-lamb seeing the oncoming tsunami against Trumpf leaving the political scene to protect his career for future possibilities.  But I don't think it will help him.  He is too connected to Trumpf.

Quote from: Mike Cl on April 11, 2018, 10:41:08 PM
Huffington Post got it right--termed his leadership (??) as 'Feckless'.  They were being too kind, I think.

I question their choice of vowel in 'feck'.

Quote from: trdsf on April 12, 2018, 11:40:52 PM
I question their choice of vowel in 'feck'.

Actually "feck" seems to mean a "majority, part, or value".  Apparently, the original word seems to have faded away while the expanded meaning of "without feck" has survived.  Not off the top of my head, I had to look it up.

But it still is interesting.  "Feckless" (without feck) does indeed mean "without value".  So, I consider you to be feck.  Maybe we can get an old word active again, LOL! 

Hey world, "feck" is a good term to describe others you admire.  I self-declare myself to be "feck"!  Pass it on...

Quote from: Cavebear on April 13, 2018, 12:21:39 AM
Actually "feck" seems to mean a "majority, part, or value".  Apparently, the original word seems to have faded away while the expanded meaning of "without feck" has survived.  Not off the top of my head, I had to look it up.

But it still is interesting.  "Feckless" (without feck) does indeed mean "without value".  So, I consider you to be feck.  Maybe we can get an old word active again, LOL! 

Hey world, "feck" is a good term to describe others you admire.  I self-declare myself to be "feck"!  Pass it on...

Wouldn't the opposite of 'feckless' be 'feckful'?  :)

Quote from: trdsf on April 13, 2018, 07:19:03 AM
Wouldn't the opposite of 'feckless' be 'feckful'?  :)

That is interesting, because I have always had a tendency to use non-standard word-forms.  Insuccessful, unoppertunististic, anything logical word construction permits.  Funny story, My senior high school english teacher challenged us to understand 'Jabberwocky' as a study assignment and I stood up and diagrammed it on the board in terms on nouns, verbs, etc  on the spot.

He was actually kind of pissed, but the pleasing result was that he told me to just read serious books during class and I was happy to oblige.  There were no AP classes then.

Oh, and he had THE WORLD'S GREATEST NAME EVER "Aubrey Wafford Thomas".  Pity I never had a child...  I would have named a son after him. 

Quote from: Cavebear on April 13, 2018, 08:04:01 AM
That is interesting, because I have always had a tendency to use non-standard word-forms.  Insuccessful, unoppertunististic, anything logical word construction permits.  Funny story, My senior high school english teacher challenged us to understand 'Jabberwocky' as a study assignment and I stood up and diagrammed it on the board in terms on nouns, verbs, etc  on the spot.

He was actually kind of pissed, but the pleasing result was that he told me to just read serious books during class and I was happy to oblige.  There were no AP classes then.

Oh, and he had THE WORLD'S GREATEST NAME EVER "Aubrey Wafford Thomas".  Pity I never had a child...  I would have named a son after him.

I love words where the opposite seems perfectly reasonable, but has disappeared anyway.  It seems to me that if you're satisfied with a situation, you're gruntled.  If you're not puzzled by a situation, you should be plussed.

I also love sensible additions to the languageâ€"I have been known to use 'zarking' and 'belgium!' from Hitchhiker's Guide in place of stronger invective, and my favorite addition is 'cromulent' from The Simpsons because it was so perfectly clear from context exactly what it meant.  The great thing about that word is that it fits all the 'rules' about what a word should be like.  It naturally lends itself to the extensions we put English words through: you can sensibly speak of something having cromulence, or being presented cromulently.

I puzzled over the antonym for cromulent for a while, because 'uncromulent', 'non-cromulent', 'incromulent' and 'acromulent' are all awkward.  The best to me seems to be 'anticromulent'.

I think the word "cromulent" itself may well be cromulent.

Quote from: Unbeliever on April 13, 2018, 01:27:08 PM
I think the word "cromulent" itself may well be cromulent.

Or it has achieved cromulence.  :)

Paul Ryan retireing? didnt he have a wet dream to write a budget or rewrite tax law or something like that? So now that he got to do it, its alll downhill from here?

you get the Cromulous Award. I hadnt thought about the twisting of words so much. But I have enjoyed the humor of freeway signs

speed enforced by aircraft - does that mean that if you slow down the cops are gonna buzz your car?

do not report fire - yes we already know there is a fire please stop calling and bugging the hell out of us

high wind ahead - well I’m not flying a plane, I’m in a car. If you got some wind by the ground let me know

Quote from: fencerider on April 14, 2018, 03:10:56 PM
Paul Ryan retireing? didnt he have a wet dream to write a budget or rewrite tax law or something like that? So now that he got to do it, its alll downhill from here?

It is time for him to join the $500,000 per speech, rubber chicken circuit.

Quote from: trdsf on April 13, 2018, 10:18:07 AM
I love words where the opposite seems perfectly reasonable, but has disappeared anyway.  It seems to me that if you're satisfied with a situation, you're gruntled.  If you're not puzzled by a situation, you should be plussed.

I also love sensible additions to the languageâ€"I have been known to use 'zarking' and 'belgium!' from Hitchhiker's Guide in place of stronger invective, and my favorite addition is 'cromulent' from The Simpsons because it was so perfectly clear from context exactly what it meant.  The great thing about that word is that it fits all the 'rules' about what a word should be like.  It naturally lends itself to the extensions we put English words through: you can sensibly speak of something having cromulence, or being presented cromulently.

I puzzled over the antonym for cromulent for a while, because 'uncromulent', 'non-cromulent', 'incromulent' and 'acromulent' are all awkward.  The best to me seems to be 'anticromulent'.

I love word-formations.  English is really good for that.  I did have to look up "cromulent" but if I was called that, I probably wouldn't be offended (depending on context).

And I'll bet that "gruntled" is likely one of the most logical words seldom-used.  I am often gruntled...

Great post!

Quote from: Cavebear on April 15, 2018, 01:10:20 AM
I love word-formations.  English is really good for that.  I did have to look up "cromulent" but if I was called that, I probably wouldn't be offended (depending on context).

And I'll bet that "gruntled" is likely one of the most logical words seldom-used.  I am often gruntled...

Great post!

OK, as long as you aren't Grendled ;-(

https://beebo.org/smackerels/how-i-met-my-wife.html

You folks are gonna love this:
 

Quote
How I Met My Wife

Jack Winter, the New Yorker, July 25, 1994.

It had been a rough day, so when I walked into the party I was very chalant, despite my efforts to appear grun­tled and consolate.

I was furling my wieldy um­brella for the coat check when I saw her stand­ing alone in a corner. She was a de­script person, a woman in a state of total array. Her hair was kempt, her cloth­ing shevelled, and she moved in a gainly way.

I wanted des­per­ately to meet her, but I knew I’d have to make bones about it, since I was trav­el­ling cognito. Be­knownst to me, the hostess, whom I could see both hide and hair of, was very proper, so it would be skin off my nose if any­thing bad happened. And even though I had only swerv­ing loyalty to her, my manners couldn’t be peccable. Only toward and heard-of be­hav­ior would do.

Fortunately, the em­bar­rass­ment that my mac­u­late ap­pear­ance might cause was evitable. There were two ways about it, but the chances that someone as flap­pable as I would be ept enough to become persona grata or a sung hero were slim. I was, after all, some­thing to sneeze at, someone you could easily hold a candle to, someone who usually aroused bridled passion.

So I decided not to risk it. But then, all at once, for some ap­par­ent reason, she looked in my di­rec­tion and smiled in a way that I could make head or tails of.

I was plussed. It was con­cert­ing to see that she was communicado, and it nerved me that she was in­ter­ested in a pareil like me, sight seen. Normally, I had a domitable spirit, but, being corrigible, I felt capacitatedâ€"as if this were some­thing I was great shakes atâ€"and forgot that I had suc­ceeded in sit­u­a­tions like this only a told number of times. So, after a ter­minable delay, I acted with mit­i­gated gall and made my way through the ruly crowd with strong givings.

Nevertheless, since this was all new hat to me and I had not time to prepare a promptu speech, I was petuous. Wanting to make only called-for remarks, I started talking about the hors d’oeuvres, trying to abuse her of the notion that I was sipid, and perhaps even bunk a few myths about myselfs.

She re­sponded well, and I was mayed that she con­sid­ered me a savoury char­ac­ter who was up to some good. She told me who she was. “What a perfect nomer,” I said, advertently. The con­ver­sa­tion became more and more choate, and we spoke at length to much avail. But I was defatigable, so I had to leave at a godly hour. I asked if she wanted to come with me. To my delight, she was committal. We left the party to­gether and have been to­gether ever since. I have given her my love, and she has re­quited it.

Quote from: Unbeliever on April 15, 2018, 06:01:09 PM
https://beebo.org/smackerels/how-i-met-my-wife.html

You folks are gonna love this:

Great piece.  :)

I have seen 'evitable' used before; Asimov used it in the story title 'The Evitable Conflict' which was the last story in I, Robot.

Quote from: trdsf on April 15, 2018, 06:53:38 PM
Great piece.  :)

I have seen 'evitable' used before; Asimov used it in the story title 'The Evitable Conflict' which was the last story in I, Robot.

Wow, wouldn't it be great to be evitably gruntled (meaning for some short time, I think.  LOL!