Mid-Morning Art Thread

The wasteland II
Jeffrey Smart

Posted by: CBD at 09:30 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 1

Posted by: Skip at January 01, 2026 09:30 AM (Ia/+0)

2 BOING! Art.

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 01, 2026 09:30 AM (u/afo)

3 hummm

Posted by: r hennigantx at January 01, 2026 09:30 AM (gbOdA)

4 Authorized sequel to T.S. Eliot?

Posted by: Pete in Texas at January 01, 2026 09:31 AM (JsFZb)

5 The wasteland was angry that day, my friends.

Posted by: George Costanza at January 01, 2026 09:31 AM (2Ez/1)

6 Happy New Year to you too, CBD

Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 01, 2026 09:31 AM (7L0HB)

7 Would think otherwise know as New Jersey, but looks a bit dry for there

Posted by: Skip at January 01, 2026 09:32 AM (Ia/+0)

8
Artist wanted to use up all his orange and buy fresh
I rate this as Meh
no hang, would sell to slack-jawed rube

Posted by: Don Black. Message: at January 01, 2026 09:32 AM (ZxPkt)

9 Welcome to Hobbs, New Mexico, ca. 2026.

Old joke: First prize of the New Mexico Travel Contest is two days and nights in Hobbs. Second prize is three days and nights.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 09:32 AM (wzUl9)

10 Hmmm…Interesting.

Posted by: Bulg at January 01, 2026 09:32 AM (77rzZ)

11 Electric boogaloo?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:33 AM (ZOv7s)

12 Have to go see what Wasteland I is about

Posted by: Skip at January 01, 2026 09:33 AM (Ia/+0)

13 Any gasoline around?

Posted by: Max at January 01, 2026 09:33 AM (wVcYX)

14 Three Somali Learing Centers located inside.

Posted by: Omar Fateh's Misshapen Skull at January 01, 2026 09:33 AM (oftw2)

15 NSW Art Gallery

Place where the work was made
Flinders Ranges → South Australia → Australia
Date
1945
Media category
Painting
Materials used
oil on canvas
Dimensions
60.9 x 73.4 cm stretcher; 75.8 x 86.5 x 6.3 cm frame :
0 - Whole, 59.5 x 70.3 cm, SIGHT DIMENSION

Posted by: r hennigantx at January 01, 2026 09:33 AM (gbOdA)

16 OK but where's Elvis?

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 01, 2026 09:33 AM (u/afo)

17 Great place for a learing center!

Posted by: Mogadishu's finest at January 01, 2026 09:33 AM (2Ez/1)

18 It kinda looks like a Far Side cartoon, without any people or a caption

Posted by: Don Black. Message: at January 01, 2026 09:33 AM (ZxPkt)

19 Kind of depressing for New Years Day.

Posted by: Tuna at January 01, 2026 09:34 AM (lJ0H4)

20 Artist wanted to use up all his orange and buy fresh
I rate this as Meh
no hang, would sell to slack-jawed rube
Posted by: Don Black. Message: at January 01, 2026 09:32 AM (ZxPkt)

I'd buy that for a dollar!

Posted by: Slack-jawed Rube at January 01, 2026 09:34 AM (wVcYX)

21 Sanford and Son, the early years

Posted by: Martini Farmer at January 01, 2026 09:34 AM (NwnyJ)

22 I see the water tower.Where are the Bradley girls?

Posted by: Floyd Smoot at January 01, 2026 09:34 AM (oftw2)

23 Any man draws a picture of a Wasteland spends a night in the box.

Posted by: Carr, the Floorwalker at January 01, 2026 09:34 AM (PiwSw)

24 It kinda looks like a Far Side cartoon, without any people or a caption
Posted by: Don Black. Message: at January 01, 2026 09:33 AM (ZxPkt)
---
Treat it like the cartoons appearing in the New Yorker, where every single cartoon works with "I want to kill myself."

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:34 AM (ZOv7s)

25 Reminds me of Humpy Dumpy magazine quizz pictures.

Can you spot the murderer in the picture?

Posted by: thug dolphin at January 01, 2026 09:35 AM (EyfuW)

26 I see the water tower.Where are the Bradley girls?
Posted by: Floyd Smoot at January 01, 2026 09:34 AM (oftw2)
---
Petticoat Junction has seen better days.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:36 AM (ZOv7s)

27 I like this. For some reason my brain classifies this as Dali, Before the Drugs.

Posted by: bear with asymmetrical balls at January 01, 2026 09:36 AM (V9cMX)

28 I looked at some of his other paintings as well. I don't care for his Modernist style.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 01, 2026 09:36 AM (2sfNr)

29 would not hang

Posted by: Gref at January 01, 2026 09:36 AM (5rh/l)

30 Gotta climb the telephone pole to use the phone here too. This air bnb sucks!

Posted by: Oliver W. Douglas, Gentleman Farmer at January 01, 2026 09:36 AM (wVcYX)

31 Needs teenagers.

Posted by: The Who at January 01, 2026 09:36 AM (2Ez/1)

32 Maybe Wasteland I ended up in the trash, and this was his wnd attempt. Painted 1945 in Australia which he soon decamped from to go to Europe

Posted by: Skip at January 01, 2026 09:36 AM (Ia/+0)

33 Looks like the phone, telegraph and power lines are down. Is this an omen for California?

Posted by: Teenage Wasteland at January 01, 2026 09:37 AM (oftw2)

34 Place where the work was made
Flinders Ranges → South Australia → Australia
Date
1945 . . .

Posted by: r hennigantx at January 01, 2026

***
South Australia? There was a video posted here recently explaining why that stretch, the southern coast, is so poorly inhabited. Lack of water is one thing. This artwork explains it all in one visual shot.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 09:37 AM (wzUl9)

35 My first thought was that this was inspired by the Dust Bowl, but if its in Australia, that doesn't apply. Maybe there was an abandonment of rural areas during WW II?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:38 AM (ZOv7s)

36 Looks like a perfect place for another Somali franchise daycare center.

Posted by: Donny Brook at January 01, 2026 09:38 AM (Dc1Hd)

37
The Wasteland III is just a map of Minnesota.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 01, 2026 09:38 AM (iJfKG)

38 The sniper has come and gone already. Took the surviving dog with him.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at January 01, 2026 09:39 AM (mYsW1)

39 Very sparse. Me like. Needs giant armored cockroaches.
Would hang . Thx CBD, happy new year

Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 01, 2026 09:39 AM (zNwXb)

40 Saw this on Zillow for $3.4 million. Ad said bring your hammer and paint brush.

Posted by: Fixer-Upper at January 01, 2026 09:39 AM (oftw2)

41 I really love this. It looks real but it's not, there are things off, suggesting this is not what it appears, it is of some other world.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 01, 2026 09:39 AM (RIvkX)

42 Not what I was expecting to ring in the New Year.
Maybe it's an omen.

Posted by: redridinghood at January 01, 2026 09:40 AM (NpAcC)

43 Totally art.

Posted by: Weasel at January 01, 2026 09:40 AM (jUN6x)

44 Needs more red. And maybe a rectangle or two.

Posted by: Mark Rothko at January 01, 2026 09:40 AM (mYsW1)

45 The picture is to be cut and pasted into other art things.

Art regifted. Or re grifted.

Posted by: thug dolphin at January 01, 2026 09:40 AM (EyfuW)

46 The house looks like it was intended to be quite the minor mansion, like a miniature version of Downton Abbey. Apparently things happened. Or failed to happen.

Still, I like this. One can imagine dust collecting in the dry water tower, and the house being haunted with desiccated ghosts.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 09:40 AM (wzUl9)

47 Jeffrey doesn't seem all that smart. What's in a name?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:40 AM (ZOv7s)

48 Posted by: Smell the Glove at January 01, 2026 09:39 AM (zNwXb)

Happy New Year to you too!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 01, 2026 09:41 AM (n9ltV)

49 "...this is not what it appears, it is of some other world."

That's right. It's South Australia.

Posted by: Crikey! at January 01, 2026 09:41 AM (2Ez/1)

50 "Maybe it just needs teenagers."

- R Daltrey

Posted by: Don Black. Message: at January 01, 2026 09:41 AM (ZxPkt)

51 It needs that old man from Poltergeist II stalking around the place

Posted by: Count de Monet at January 01, 2026 09:42 AM (wVcYX)

52 Septic tank wouldn't perk, so the County condemned the place.

Posted by: No Shrimp, Nor Barbie at January 01, 2026 09:42 AM (oftw2)

53 Wiki says he often psinted witth a joke in mind

Posted by: Skip at January 01, 2026 09:42 AM (Ia/+0)

54 This would be more of a Senior Citizen Wasteland than a Teenage Wasteland, eh?

Posted by: The Who at January 01, 2026 09:42 AM (IG3/x)

55 South Australia? There was a video posted here recently explaining why that stretch, the southern coast, is so poorly inhabited. Lack of water is one thing. This artwork explains it all in one visual shot.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 09:37 AM (wzUl9)
---
Giant, hyper-intelligent murderous spiders are also a factor.

Everything in Australia wants to kill you.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:42 AM (ZOv7s)

56 that was not good

Posted by: Don Black. Message: at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM (ZxPkt)

57 Title checks out.

Posted by: Person who checks out titles at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM (2Ez/1)

58 Coincidentally, Amazon has started airing the second season of "Fallout."

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM (qbLEp)

59 I really love this. It looks real but it's not, there are things off, suggesting this is not what it appears, it is of some other world.
Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 01, 2026

***
A planet circling twin suns? No, there are no double shadows. Okay, a planet that rides closer to its Sol-like star than Earth does, or has a greater axial tilt so its summer is even more savage. Or around a variable star; when the colony began, the area was livable, but then the star flared a bit, and . . .

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM (wzUl9)

60 The weather vane is askew.

Posted by: Bulg at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM (77rzZ)

61 Well done depiction of desolation, but I'm not sure where I'd hang it. Happy New Year, CBD.

Posted by: JM in Illinois at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM (uejmF)

62 Wiki-

The painting depicts a stark, desolate urban scene, emphasizing feelings of loneliness and disconnection. The absence of human figures highlights the emptiness of modern life.

Posted by: redridinghood at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM (NpAcC)

63

the wasteland - a limerick

the great american desert is gritty
but there's one thing that's really a pity
punctuation is sparse
and the spelling is a farce
and the region has no capital city

Posted by: t.s. eliot at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM (/iMjX)

64 > The painting depicts a stark, desolate urban scene

"Urban"?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 01, 2026 09:44 AM (IG3/x)

65 There are 16 venomous snakes in this painting. See if you can find them all.

Posted by: Highlights For Children at January 01, 2026 09:45 AM (oftw2)

66
The melting stopwatch hanging off the roof is a nice touch.

Posted by: Line of People Watching Old Bat Balance Her Cbeckbook at January 01, 2026 09:45 AM (qsezt)

67
Not what I was expecting to ring in the New Year.
Maybe it's an omen.
Posted by: redridinghood at January 01, 2026 09:40 AM (NpAcC)

CBD drank too many stirred Manhattans made from Val-U-Rite's Finest New Jersey Bourbon and Car Lube. Sustainably made from old truck tires and roadkill.

And woke up thinking it was a-

Haunted Wasteland New Year.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 01, 2026 09:45 AM (iJfKG)

68 The chair in the foreground gives an impression of hasty departure. Why is it so far from the house? Who would drag a chair that far away and leave it there? Did it fall off Granny's truck?

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:45 AM (ZOv7s)

69 "...desolate urban scene..."

Be better, wiki. Be better.

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at January 01, 2026 09:46 AM (2Ez/1)

70 There are 16 venomous snakes in this painting. See if you can find them all.
Posted by: Highlights For Children at January 01, 2026

***
-- before they find *you*!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 09:46 AM (wzUl9)

71 "Urban"?

Posted by: Rodrigo Borgia at January 01, 2026 09:44 AM (IG3/x)
---------
That word does not mean what they think it means.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:46 AM (qbLEp)

72 58 Coincidentally, Amazon has started airing the second season of "Fallout."
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM (qbLEp)

How does the Man With No Nose smell?

Posted by: Punchlines 'R' Us at January 01, 2026 09:46 AM (Rh0Gp)

73 Moisture Farming R&D Center

Posted by: Count de Monet at January 01, 2026 09:46 AM (wVcYX)

74 Too Dust Bowl.

Posted by: huerfano at January 01, 2026 09:46 AM (98kQX)

75 I look at it and almost immediately think of Matt Damon and The Martian. It looks like the surface of Mars

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at January 01, 2026 09:47 AM (xT8gx)

76 The chair in the foreground gives an impression of hasty departure. Why is it so far from the house? Who would drag a chair that far away and leave it there? Did it fall off Granny's truck?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:45 AM (ZOv7s)
----------
Left over from a very small game of musical chairs?

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:47 AM (qbLEp)

77 Oh, I remember this one. There's a booby trap inside the front door and two ghouls in the main room. Just remember to get the fusion core in the basement.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at January 01, 2026 09:47 AM (mlg/3)

78 Coincidentally, Amazon has started airing the second season of "Fallout."
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM (qbLEp)
---
All streaming shows suck in the end. All of them. There is no point in watching any of them. No matter what the premise, how well it starts, it will become retarded and gay.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:47 AM (ZOv7s)

79 His last painting showed that he couldn't believe they were going to pay so much. With a glint of humor.

Posted by: thug dolphin at January 01, 2026 09:47 AM (EyfuW)

80 How does the Man With No Nose smell?
Posted by: Punchlines 'R' Us at January 01, 2026 09:46 AM (Rh0Gp)
-------
Terrible.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:48 AM (qbLEp)

81 The dilapidated building in the back, which looks to have only two walls, suggests that the property owner abandoned the place before finishing it. Though that's not how you build a structure, one wall at a time.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 09:48 AM (wzUl9)

82 Coincidentally, Amazon has started airing the second season of "Fallout."
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM (qbLEp)

How does the Man With No Nose smell?
Posted by: Punchlines 'R' Us at January 01, 2026 09:46 AM (Rh0Gp)

Terrible*

*low-hanging fruit picked!!!

Posted by: naturalfake at January 01, 2026 09:48 AM (iJfKG)

83 Failed "wind farm"

Posted by: Martini Farmer at January 01, 2026 09:48 AM (NwnyJ)

84 Eb Dawson and the Monroe Brothers could spiff up the place in no time.

Posted by: Sam Drucker, Editor, Hooterville World Guardian at January 01, 2026 09:48 AM (oftw2)

85 All streaming shows suck in the end. All of them. There is no point in watching any of them. No matter what the premise, how well it starts, it will become retarded and gay.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:47 AM (ZOv7s)
------------
*shrug* Still pretty good, so far.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:48 AM (qbLEp)

86
CBD drank too many stirred Manhattans made from Val-U-Rite's Finest New Jersey Bourbon and Car Lube. Sustainably made from old truck tires and roadkill.

And woke up thinking it was a-

Haunted Wasteland New Year.
Posted by: naturalfake at January 01, 2026 09:45 AM (iJfKG)
*********
French Toast with Maple Syrup cures everything.

Posted by: redridinghood at January 01, 2026 09:49 AM (NpAcC)

87
Alternate title: Los Angeles City Hall.

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at January 01, 2026 09:49 AM (hZ1gu)

88 Huh. Looks like Shoshone, WY.

Posted by: Additional Blond Agent, STEM Guy at January 01, 2026 09:49 AM (/HDaX)

89 Well, the guy can draw and paint. That's obvious. I assume this was meant to be displayed in a gallery because who the hell would want it in their home.

All that comes to mind is Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" which is powerful but not a load of laughs.

"what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"

Posted by: JTB at January 01, 2026 09:49 AM (yTvNw)

90 Mars in 2050.

Posted by: Don't tell Elon at January 01, 2026 09:49 AM (2Ez/1)

91 Left over from a very small game of musical chairs?
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:47 AM (qbLEp)
---
If you abandon stuff, it stays inside. Why drag it out and then leave it? Abandoned properties don't look like this. Weird artist making weird points.

Also, he lives in upside-down land where the government hates you and wants you to die, because everyone is descended from criminals.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:50 AM (ZOv7s)

92
Or, as some might style it, "Sinnemota Under Benevolent Somali Grift"

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 01, 2026 09:50 AM (xG4kz)

93 Not enough Gables. Would not hang.

Posted by: Nathaniel Hawthorne at January 01, 2026 09:50 AM (Rh0Gp)

94 Who butchered Fallout?

Posted by: thug dolphin at January 01, 2026 09:50 AM (EyfuW)

95 That's much more than a busted weather vane. It's a busted pump to move the ground water up to the busted tank that supplies the water to the busted toilet.

Posted by: Flush With Success at January 01, 2026 09:50 AM (oftw2)

96
That's no shotgun shack!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 01, 2026 09:51 AM (xG4kz)

97 If this had audio, we would probably hear the wind moaning and the windmill vanes forlornly creaking.

Despite its "wasteland" aspect, the painting does give you a lot to pick apart.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 09:51 AM (wzUl9)

98 *shrug* Still pretty good, so far.
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:48 AM (qbLEp)
---
Some shows were quite good, but if it isn't abruptly canceled mid-story, it will inevitably be captured by the wokes and made gay and retarded.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:52 AM (ZOv7s)

99 The dilapidated building in the back, which looks to have only two walls, suggests that the property owner abandoned the place before finishing it. Though that's not how you build a structure, one wall at a time.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 09:48 AM (wzUl9)

One piece at a time worked for me in building my psychobilly Cadillac. You might say I went right up to the factory and picked it up, it's cheaper that way!

Posted by: The Man In Black at January 01, 2026 09:52 AM (wVcYX)

100
Not enough Gables. Would not hang.
Posted by: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Agreed

-- Clark

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 01, 2026 09:52 AM (xG4kz)

101 Not enough Gables. Would not hang.
Posted by: Nathaniel Hawthorne at January 01, 2026

***
There was only one, and he was the King.

Posted by: Clark Gable Fans Everywhere at January 01, 2026 09:52 AM (wzUl9)

102
Weird Brush Strokes - a limerick style art critique

Australia is a land of men and thunder
Where you die if you make one small blunder
At the top I would say
This painting's okay
But it's just a little squiggly down under.

Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026 09:53 AM (/iMjX)

103
"It's a busted pump to move the ground water up to the busted tank that supplies the water to the busted toilet."

And that's why we had to stop counting votes!

Posted by: South Australian voter registrar at January 01, 2026 09:53 AM (2Ez/1)

104 Did anyone else think, 'gary larson' before reading the name?

Posted by: BifBewalski - at January 01, 2026 09:53 AM (QVmho)

105 58 Coincidentally, Amazon has started airing the second season of "Fallout."
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM

----

I watched the first episode. Does it get any better?

Posted by: JM in Illinois at January 01, 2026 09:53 AM (xlcwc)

106 Not enough Gables. Would not hang.
Posted by: Nathaniel Hawthorne at January 01, 2026 09:50 AM (Rh0Gp)

Ladies, ladies! There's plenty of me to go around. Just wait your turn.

Posted by: Clark Gable at January 01, 2026 09:54 AM (wVcYX)

107 French Toast with Maple Syrup cures everything.
Posted by: redridinghood

Should it be called "toast" if the bread never enters the toaster?

Posted by: Misnomers Abound at January 01, 2026 09:54 AM (oftw2)

108
Another potemkin village in the desert. We'll get there as soon as the boys return with the shitload of dimes ...

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 01, 2026 09:54 AM (xG4kz)

109 I watched the first episode. Does it get any better?
Posted by: JM in Illinois at January 01, 2026 09:53 AM (xlcwc)
-----------
I like it. Don't know if you would or not.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:54 AM (qbLEp)

110 Overseer of the dirt farm.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO at January 01, 2026 09:54 AM (36PRH)

111 At futurism.com, "Scientists Graft Human Ear Onto Foot"

Pressed for comment, the Foot remarked "Well, now I know why people hate Nickelback. Thanks a whole bunch for that, medical science."

Posted by: gp at January 01, 2026 09:54 AM (GHIyr)

112 Alternate caption: Joseph R. Biden Presidential Library.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:55 AM (ZOv7s)

113 Posted by: naturalfake at January 01, 2026 09:45 AM (iJfKG)

There's a distillery about 30.minutes from my house. Maybe I should contract for a run of Jersey bourbon!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 01, 2026 09:55 AM (n9ltV)

114 Looks like there's some action in Tehran. Reports of clerics shedding their vestments and IRGC cops defecting to join protestors. I know, here we go again, but hope springs eternal.

Posted by: Lincolntf at January 01, 2026 09:55 AM (vV6n9)

115 Would think otherwise know as New Jersey, but looks a bit dry for there
Posted by: Skip at January 01, 2026 09:32 AM (Ia/+0)

Nah. Some southern or western state, with junk on was once a front yard. Missing an engine block or two.

Posted by: thatcrazyjerseyguy at January 01, 2026 09:55 AM (5xuJ/)

116 I see you've been to West Texas...

Posted by: lin-duh is offended at January 01, 2026 09:55 AM (VCgbV)

117 Maybe I should contract for a run of Jersey bourbon!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at January 01, 2026 09:55 AM (n9ltV)
-----------
*record needle scratch*

Jersey bourbon?!?!

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:55 AM (qbLEp)

118 > Did anyone else think, 'gary larson' before reading the name?

Posted by: BifBewalski
----

Yes

Posted by: Don Black. Message: at January 01, 2026 09:55 AM (ZxPkt)

119 Should it be called "toast" if the bread never enters the toaster?
Posted by: Misnomers Abound at January 01, 2026 09:54 AM (oftw2)
---
Toasting existed before toasters. Strange but true!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:56 AM (ZOv7s)

120 Ladies, ladies! There's plenty of me to go around. Just wait your turn.
Posted by: Clark Gable at January 01, 2026

***
My mother was a big fan of The Fugitive because, she said, he reminded her strongly of Clark Gable. I guess I know who her favorite movie star was!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 09:56 AM (wzUl9)

121 109 I watched the first episode. Does it get any better?
Posted by: JM in Illinois at January 01, 2026 09:53 AM (xlcwc)
-----------
I like it. Don't know if you would or not.
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January

‐‐------

Thanks. I'll give it another try. I think I foolishly expected it to be too much like the game

Posted by: JM in Illinois at January 01, 2026 09:56 AM (xlcwc)

122 I look at it and almost immediately think of Matt Damon and The Martian. It looks like the surface of Mars
Posted by: LinusVanPelt at January 01, 2026 09:47 AM (xT8gx)
---
Could be the house from "Usher II" by Ray Bradbury.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 01, 2026 09:57 AM (ESVrU)

123 The 100 Comment lamp is lit

Posted by: Don Black. Message: at January 01, 2026 09:57 AM (ZxPkt)

124 Jersey bourbon?!?!
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:55 AM (qbLEp)
---
Canadian Club with some hair tonic for color.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:57 AM (ZOv7s)

125 "Nah. Some southern or western state, with junk on [what] was once a front yard. Missing an engine block or two."

Amateurs.

Posted by: West Virginia at January 01, 2026 09:57 AM (2Ez/1)

126 Looks like there's some action in Tehran. Reports of clerics shedding their vestments and IRGC cops defecting to join protestors. I know, here we go again, but hope springs eternal.
Posted by: Lincolntf

I've been thinking that for 20 years. But...

Posted by: weft cut-loop at January 01, 2026 09:57 AM (mlg/3)

127 @117 World's gone to hell I tell ya.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO at January 01, 2026 09:57 AM (36PRH)

128 I see you've been to West Texas...
Posted by: lin-duh is offended at January 01, 2026 09:55 AM (VCgbV)

Rosa's Cantina?

Posted by: Zombie Marty Robbins at January 01, 2026 09:57 AM (wVcYX)

129 There's a distillery about 30.minutes from my house. Maybe I should contract for a run of Jersey bourbon!
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo

Thirty minutes means within a mile in North Jersey.

Posted by: Root Tree at January 01, 2026 09:57 AM (oftw2)

130 Alternate caption: Joseph R. Biden Presidential Library.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

LOL

Posted by: Tuna at January 01, 2026 09:57 AM (lJ0H4)

131 Thanks. I'll give it another try. I think I foolishly expected it to be too much like the game
Posted by: JM in Illinois at January 01, 2026 09:56 AM (xlcwc)
-------------
I've never played the game, so I have no referent for in-game lore. But the show strongly is like a tabletop post-apocalyptic game I played called "This Is Not A Test." So I have that vibe going for me.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:58 AM (qbLEp)

132 Coincidentally, Amazon has started airing the second season of "Fallout."
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 09:43 AM

----

I watched the first episode. Does it get any better?
Posted by: JM in Illinois at January 01, 2026 09:53 AM (xlcwc)

You mean the episode titled:

"We're Gonna Blow-Up Heads 50 or 60 Times This Episode Using the Exact Same Head Blowing Up EFX. See? See How Cool It Is!?!? Quality Writing This Is. 'Casablanca's Got Nuthin' On Us"

I liked Series One of Fallout, but Episode One of Series Two kinda discouraged me from further watching.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 01, 2026 09:58 AM (iJfKG)

133 Happy New Year, Horde!

Posted by: 2009Refugee at January 01, 2026 09:58 AM (8AONa)

134 I watched the first episode. Does it get any better?
Posted by: JM in Illinois

No, the series is shit. They bastardize the game to boost idiot 'she-ro' characters.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at January 01, 2026 09:59 AM (mlg/3)

135 Looks like the inspiration for the movie “giant”. That’s what a lot of West Texas (and parts of New Mexico) looked like after the dust bowl years. Nothing green anywhere in sight.

The chair could be there just because some transient pulled it out and left it there, the house itself having been abandoned for some time.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 01, 2026 09:59 AM (m7iZ5)

136 SanFran's suggestion of this depicting another world . . . it could also be an alternate Earth, or an unknown planet in an alternate dimension.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 09:59 AM (wzUl9)

137 Painting: I served with Wasteland. I knew Wasteland. Wasteland was a friend of mine. Painting, you're no Wasteland!

Posted by: gp at January 01, 2026 09:59 AM (GHIyr)

138 I look at it and almost immediately think of Matt Damon and The Martian. It looks like the surface of Mars
Posted by: LinusVanPelt at January 01, 2026 09:47 AM (xT8gx)
---
Could be the house from "Usher II" by Ray Bradbury.
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at January 01, 2026 09:57 AM (ESVrU)

Or the Australian setting for From Dusk To Dawn.

Posted by: Count de Monet at January 01, 2026 09:59 AM (wVcYX)

139 ...Reports of clerics shedding their vestments and IRGC cops defecting to join protestors. I know, here we go again, but hope springs eternal.
Posted by: Lincolntf at January 01, 2026 09:55 AM (vV6n9)
====

If accurate this would be key. The Basij are the street-level enforcers and if they are abandoning their posts, this could proceed rapidly.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 01, 2026 09:59 AM (RIvkX)

140
My mother was a big fan of The Fugitive because, she said, he reminded her strongly of Clark Gable. I guess I know who her favorite movie star was!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

Physical chemists everywhere continue to live with profound disappointment because the long-promised sequel, The Fugacity has never passed muster with Hollywood's movers and shakers.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 01, 2026 09:59 AM (xG4kz)

141 but Episode One of Series Two kinda discouraged me from further watching.
Posted by: naturalfake at January 01, 2026 09:58 AM (iJfKG)
---------
There are way fewer exploding heads.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 10:00 AM (qbLEp)

142 There are structures like that in this part of KS. They are built with the local limestone. And the roofs caved in a long time ago. Most abandoned during the Depression. We have more vegetation though.

I like to think how proud the locals were of those buildings when they were new.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at January 01, 2026 10:00 AM (+mUZM)

143 Ladies, ladies! There's plenty of me to go around. Just wait your turn.
Posted by: Clark Gable at January 01, 2026 09:54 AM (wVcYX)
---
Thanks to the Horde, I added "Soldier of Fortune" to my DVD library and Gable is great. Actors can achieve greatness in one of two ways. They can either immerse themselves in roles, or they can just be themselves because they have so much charisma.

Gable is in the latter category. Women want him, men want to be him. Not many left like that.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:00 AM (ZOv7s)

144 @132 I see now why Todd Howard from Bethesda allowed the story to center around New Vegas... so they could hamhandedly tie in the Commonwealth lore from his games.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO at January 01, 2026 10:01 AM (36PRH)

145 The weather vane is askew
Posted by: Bulg.

********

Pffft. Next you'll try to tell us the door is a jar.

Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026 10:01 AM (/iMjX)

146 Willowed;
who writes out paper checks anymore?
----
*raises hand*
To the yard guy
To the pest control guy
Property taxes

Posted by: lin-duh is offended at January 01, 2026 10:01 AM (VCgbV)

147 Gable is in the latter category. Women want him, men want to be him. Not many left like that.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

Bite your tongue!

Posted by: Carrot Top, Chairman of the Board at January 01, 2026 10:02 AM (oftw2)

148 Nice picture.
cbd if you're around, another Hopper.
https://tinyurl.com/ynmhbsmn

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at January 01, 2026 10:02 AM (2NHgQ)

149 "Gable is in the latter category. Women want him, men want to be him. Not many left like that."

###
This is about me, isn't it?

Posted by: William Henry Gates III at January 01, 2026 10:03 AM (2Ez/1)

150
Sashay up to the front door and knock in order to inquire about directions to Judge Roy Bean's place. He's the law west of the Pecos, iffn you didn't know that.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 01, 2026 10:03 AM (xG4kz)

151 There’s nothing living in that painting, except for a couple century plants near the telephone pole. (desert dwellers)

A dry water trough for horses and cattle that will never come back.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 01, 2026 10:03 AM (m7iZ5)

152 Midwest Chick has some good memes encapsulating some of the past discussion at this smart, military blog about the lack of any actual action against those who have committed crimes against the Constitution.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 01, 2026 10:03 AM (RIvkX)

153 who writes out paper checks anymore?
----
*raises hand*
To the yard guy
To the pest control guy
Property taxes
Posted by: lin-duh is offended at January 01, 2026 10:01 AM (VCgbV)
---
Contractors aways want cash or its close equivalent. I used to go through checks pretty steadily, but now it's down to just a handful a year. But I still use them from time to time.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:04 AM (ZOv7s)

154 147 Gable is in the latter category. Women want him, men want to be him. Not many left like that.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

Bite your tongue!
Posted by: Carrot Top, Chairman of the Board at January 01, 2026 10:02 AM (oftw2)

*brandishes Sledge-O-Matic*

Posted by: Gallagher at January 01, 2026 10:04 AM (Rh0Gp)

155 I used to go through checks pretty steadily, but now it's down to just a handful a year. But I still use them from time to time.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:04 AM (ZOv7s)
----------
That's the way of it with me.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 10:05 AM (qbLEp)

156 Never got what the ladies saw in ol’ jug-ears Gable.

Posted by: Bulg at January 01, 2026 10:05 AM (77rzZ)

157 Never got what the ladies saw in ol’ jug-ears Gable.
Posted by: Bulg at January 01, 2026 10:05 AM (77rzZ)
---
Confidence. It counts for a lot.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:06 AM (ZOv7s)

158
A rejected set for the "Near Algodones" episode from "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs"

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 01, 2026 10:07 AM (xG4kz)

159 Ah, another work from back in the days when shades of brown were the only colors available. The Sepia Age. Bleak. And lifeless.

Happy Happy New Year and Happy New Month to those using that calendar. Happy New Day to everyone.

I am disappoint. Last year's NYE ONT got 888 comments. This year only made it to 856. So close!

Posted by: mindful webworker - but no cigar at January 01, 2026 10:07 AM (dESj/)

160 102 ... "But it's just a little squiggly down under."

Only Muldoon could make a reference to one of my favorite movies in his limmerick.

Posted by: JTB at January 01, 2026 10:07 AM (yTvNw)

161 The wasteland II

I get it but would pass hanging it. Jeffrey Smart's body of work is fascinating but not what I would routinely display.

Wikipedia, The Waste Land is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important English-language poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line[A] poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the October issue of Eliot's magazine The Criterion and in the United States in the November issue of The Dial. Among its famous phrases are "April is the cruellest month", "I will show you fear in a handful of dust", and "These fragments I have shored against my ruins".[6]

The Waste Land does not follow a single narrative or feature a consistent style or structure. The poem shifts between voices of satire and prophecy, and features abrupt and unannounced changes of narrator, location, and time, conjuring a vast and dissonant range of cultures and literatures. It employs many allusions to the Western canon: Ovid's Metamorphoses, the legend of the Fisher King, Dante's Divine Comedy, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and even a contemporary popular song, "That Shakespearian Rag". (More.)

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at January 01, 2026 10:08 AM (NFX2v)

162 The water there, is very hard to drink

Posted by: Skip at January 01, 2026 10:08 AM (Ia/+0)

163 Oh, wait. Now I see the two yucca plants, so, not completely lifeless. Still bleak.

Posted by: mindful webworker - but no cigar at January 01, 2026 10:08 AM (dESj/)

164 By the way, Planet Fitness has a pretty good offer right now if you're interested:

https://tinyurl.com/349wfh47

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at January 01, 2026 10:08 AM (2Ez/1)

165 Painting: Artemis Lunar Base XVII up for auction after the moondust market collapsed.

Posted by: gp at January 01, 2026 10:09 AM (GHIyr)

166 Or the Australian setting for From Dusk To Dawn.
Posted by: Count de Monet at January 01, 2026

***
I loved the first half of that movie, like a hardboiled thriller . . . until they got to the giant bar in the desert. Somehow I have trouble believing that so many predators could exist in such a lonely locale. The prey always outnumbers the predators in a given area; when the prey numbers fall too far, the predators go elsewhere.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:09 AM (wzUl9)

167 Years ago there was a video where they showed blind surveys of men and women rating the opposite sex on attractiveness.

They used the same stock photos with three different samples.

One had the photo without a caption, one had the photo with income, and the other had the photo with occupation.

The men had zero difference in ratings across all three groups. Hot is hot. Income, occupation are irrelevant.

Women had immense variation. The organizers made a point of making repulsive men rich or doctors or something, and it proved the point quite well.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:09 AM (ZOv7s)

168 Those plants are yucca it up.

Posted by: Bulg at January 01, 2026 10:10 AM (77rzZ)

169 I like the art. Would hang.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at January 01, 2026 10:10 AM (g8Ew8)

170 Confidence. It counts for a lot.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd

Driving a Duesenberg helps, though I'm pretty popular with the ladies in my Pacer.

Posted by: Pacer DL Wagon at January 01, 2026 10:10 AM (oftw2)

171
Pffft. Next you'll try to tell us the door is a jar.
Posted by: muldoon

No, the door is alarmed...

Who touched me?

Out with it!

Don't touch me!

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 01, 2026 10:11 AM (xG4kz)

172 Never got what the ladies saw in ol’ jug-ears Gable.
Posted by: Bulg at January 01, 2026

***
Rumors abound that he had bad garlic-breath and his leading ladies hated to kiss him. Still -- who else, then or now, could have embodied Rhett Butler?

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:12 AM (wzUl9)

173 Still -- who else, then or now, could have embodied Rhett Butler?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius
---
Brad Pitt

Posted by: lin-duh is offended at January 01, 2026 10:13 AM (VCgbV)

174 "I will show you fear in a handful of dust",

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at January 01, 2026 10:08 AM (NFX2v)
---
One of Evelyn Waugh's darkest satires is titled A Hand of Dust and includes that quote. The main character loses his son, his wife leaves him, and he ends up trapped in the Amazon jungle, condemned to read Charles Dickens for the rest of his life to a blind man.

For some reason, it's one of his most adapted works.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:13 AM (ZOv7s)

175 Painting: Tourists flocked from all over the countryside to see the World's Largest Marshmallow.

Posted by: gp at January 01, 2026 10:14 AM (GHIyr)

176 Of course the water there is hard to drink. Everything is upside down.

Posted by: thug dolphin at January 01, 2026 10:14 AM (EyfuW)

177 I might use it as a book illustration, but wouldn't hang.

Posted by: tankdemon at January 01, 2026 10:14 AM (4p5Zb)

178
...when the prey numbers fall too far, the predators go elsewhere.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere

And now you know why we have Mogadishu on the Mississippi.

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 01, 2026 10:15 AM (xG4kz)

179 >>Women had immense variation. The organizers made a point of making repulsive men rich or doctors or something, and it proved the point quite well.

Women. Am I right?

Still kind of like them even if they are evil. Maybe that's why.

Posted by: JackStraw at January 01, 2026 10:16 AM (viF8m)

180 Or the Australian setting for From Dusk To Dawn.
Posted by: Count de Monet at January 01, 2026

***
I loved the first half of that movie, like a hardboiled thriller . . . until they got to the giant bar in the desert. Somehow I have trouble believing that so many predators could exist in such a lonely locale. The prey always outnumbers the predators in a given area; when the prey numbers fall too far, the predators go elsewhere.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026

***
Though a line of speculation from Harvey Keitel's character about this -- that the vampire hangout will fall apart someday -- could have handled that. George Clooney's character Seth would have said, "That's great, Jacob. But we're here *now* and so are the vampires!"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:16 AM (wzUl9)

181 This is a stark warning about what happens after a society adopts carrots in chili.

Stay vigilant, my friends.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at January 01, 2026 10:16 AM (0sNs1)

182 So they sunk some roots down in this dirt
To keep from blowin' off the earth
Built a town right here
When the dust had all but cleared

They called it Levelland

/McMurtry Jr.

Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026 10:17 AM (/iMjX)

183 "Of course the water there is hard to drink. Everything is upside down."

It's got electrolytes. Plants love it.

Posted by: Brawndo at January 01, 2026 10:17 AM (2Ez/1)

184 ...when the prey numbers fall too far, the predators go elsewhere.
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere
*
And now you know why we have Mogadishu on the Mississippi.
Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 01, 2026

***
Minneapolis, or New Orleans? Could be both.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:17 AM (wzUl9)

185 I just saw footage from Tehran, largely blurred out, showing an obviously dead body being dragged out of a government building by protesters. Looked like he was wearing a uniform of some sort.

Posted by: Lincolntf at January 01, 2026 10:17 AM (vV6n9)

186
"... When the Ampersands Ran Out"

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM} at January 01, 2026 10:17 AM (xG4kz)

187 One of Evelyn Waugh's darkest satires is titled A Hand of Dust and includes that quote. The main character loses his son, his wife leaves him, and he ends up trapped in the Amazon jungle, condemned to read Charles Dickens for the rest of his life to a blind man.

For some reason, it's one of his most adapted works.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026

***
I know the short story extracted from that novel as "The Man Who Liked Dickens."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:18 AM (wzUl9)

188 American Truckers @atutruckers

SHOCKING: A truck driver who can't speak or read English gets caught TWICE — placed out of service for the SAME dangerous violation — yet he's RIGHT BACK on our highways, endangering YOUR family! This is happening NOW, in direct defiance of President Trump's orders!

No impound. No arrest. Driver gets to stay in the truck and gets to keep his commercial driver's license.

This is how dangerous, unqualified drivers keep rolling down OUR highways, endangering all of our families!

Weak enforcement is putting everyone's lives at risk.

X video: https://bit.ly/4jneqaS

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at January 01, 2026 10:19 AM (P5BPp)

189 Pffft. Next you'll try to tell us the door is a jar.
Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026 10:01 AM

Sometimes a door is just a door.

Posted by: Sigmoid Freud at January 01, 2026 10:19 AM (0sNs1)

190 Wires down.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at January 01, 2026 10:19 AM (Kt19C)

191 Nuketown!

Posted by: Boomer at January 01, 2026 10:19 AM (+abK1)

192 "Artists need inspiration," Tom mused.

Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026 10:20 AM (/iMjX)

193 Painting: Original title: "Yes, But It's A Dry Heat."

Posted by: gp at January 01, 2026 10:21 AM (GHIyr)

194 Would hang. Reminds me of home.

Posted by: Don't blame the alligators at January 01, 2026 10:21 AM (1Nv0l)

195 Nuketown!
Posted by: Boomer at January 01, 2026 10:19 AM (+abK1)
---
Megaton hardest hit.

Posted by: Fallout 3 Reference at January 01, 2026 10:22 AM (ESVrU)

196 A Tom Swifty! Well done, Muldoon!

Posted by: Bulg at January 01, 2026 10:22 AM (77rzZ)

197 "Sometimes a door is just a door."

But usually it's a phallic symbol.

Posted by: You're sex starved 10th grade cat lady English Literature teacher at January 01, 2026 10:22 AM (2Ez/1)

198 Depressing painting.. Like January itself..

Posted by: It's me donna at January 01, 2026 10:22 AM (VE6XX)

199 Sometimes a door is just a door.
Posted by: Sigmoid Freud

*********

A door is a door is a door...

Gertrude Stein

Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026 10:22 AM (/iMjX)

200 Painting: Trusty log trap snares another unsuspecting trunk! Struggle as it might, it's not going anywhere now.

Posted by: gp at January 01, 2026 10:22 AM (GHIyr)

201 I know the short story extracted from that novel as "The Man Who Liked Dickens."
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:18 AM (wzUl9)
---
The British literary establishment loathes him, perhaps because he's enduringly popular in America.

Waugh never passed up an opportunity to mock American tastes. The Loved One is just one massive, extended slam, but very funny because it targets Hollywood, which totally deserves it.

In the Sword of Honour trilogy, he has a literary-minded closeted homosexual write an overwrought pot-boiler of a novel, which "naturally" becomes a best-seller in America.

Perhaps not coincidentally, his elder brother Alec moved to America and had great success, particularly with A Place in the Sun, while Waugh's books languished.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:23 AM (ZOv7s)

202 There are what look like salt flats out behind the main building, stretching off into the distance.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:24 AM (wzUl9)

203 You could probably buy the land and the structures for half a dozen Nuka-Cola bottle caps.

Posted by: PabloD at January 01, 2026 10:24 AM (tfChy)

204 Never got what the ladies saw in ol’ jug-ears Gable.
Posted by: Bulg at January 01, 2026

***
Rumors abound that he had bad garlic-breath and his leading ladies hated to kiss him. Still -- who else, then or now, could have embodied Rhett Butler?
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:12 AM (wzUl9)

Wrong!

CG had dentures and very funky denture breath.

Probably the studios thought garlic breath sounded nicer than rotting food and slimy bacteria and fungus breath.

Pro Tip: Clean your damn dentures and leave them out overnight.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 01, 2026 10:24 AM (iJfKG)

205 Ironically, Alec Waugh is all but forgotten. Evelyn is the Waugh people are most likely to know, perhaps because his son Auberon was a popular columnist in his own right.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:25 AM (ZOv7s)

206 OJ Simpson is just off scene realizing he didn’t actually land on mars, is real pissed off now, and has decided to do some stabbin’.

Posted by: banana Dream at January 01, 2026 10:25 AM (fIo92)

207 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:16 AM (wzUl9)

The ending shows all the abandoned trucks of the prey.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 01, 2026 10:26 AM (KDPiq)

208 Who names their son Evelyn?

Posted by: Just got here at January 01, 2026 10:26 AM (2Ez/1)

209 "There are what look like salt flats out behind the main building, stretching off into the distance."

Pepper mines played out in the 1880s, and then the salt market collapsed. Trouble all around.

Posted by: gp at January 01, 2026 10:27 AM (GHIyr)

210 Raining cats and dogs on rose parade.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at January 01, 2026 10:27 AM (Kt19C)

211 Geez. This place has gone downhill.

All I hear inn the comments these days is "Waugh, Waugh, Waugh!"

Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026 10:28 AM (/iMjX)

212 Who names their son Evelyn?
Posted by: Just got here at January 01, 2026 10:26 AM (2Ez/1)
---
Used to be a guy name. Sir Evelyn Wood VC and Evelyn Waugh, for example.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:28 AM (ZOv7s)

213 Raining cats and dogs on rose parade.
Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at January 01, 2026 10:27 AM (Kt19C)
---
I thought it never rained in southern California.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:28 AM (ZOv7s)

214 Sir Evelyn Wood VC
----------
The most accident and injury-prone officer in the British Army, ever.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 10:29 AM (qbLEp)

215 Sometimes a door is just a door.

An adowable widdle bwanket!

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at January 01, 2026 10:29 AM (Kt19C)

216 *Raining cats and dogs on rose parade.*

We can help with that.

Posted by: Purina at January 01, 2026 10:30 AM (2Ez/1)

217 If he would have painted a dome cage in the back and a suped up Camaro next to it it would have been a winner.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 01, 2026 10:30 AM (KDPiq)

218 Pro Tip: Clean your damn dentures and leave them out overnight.
Posted by: naturalfak

********

How am I supposed to remember what I had for supper yesterday?

Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026 10:30 AM (/iMjX)

219 The British literary establishment loathes him, perhaps because he's enduringly popular in America.

Waugh never passed up an opportunity to mock American tastes. The Loved One is just one massive, extended slam, but very funny because it targets Hollywood, which totally deserves it.

In the Sword of Honour trilogy, he has a literary-minded closeted homosexual write an overwrought pot-boiler of a novel, which "naturally" becomes a best-seller in America.

Perhaps not coincidentally, his elder brother Alec moved to America and had great success, particularly with A Place in the Sun, while Waugh's books languished.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:23 AM (ZOv7s)

"Island in the Sun"

Anywho, it just goes to show-

Drama is easy. Comedy is hard.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 01, 2026 10:30 AM (iJfKG)

220 Kitten Dagny is toddling around looking for something to do, or something to kill. I should bring her a nice live mouse or hamster from Petco.

(No, I wouldn't really do such a thing! The cats would love it, but I could never forgive myself.)

(Besides, think of having to clean blood out of the carpet. . . .)

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:30 AM (wzUl9)

221 The most accident and injury-prone officer in the British Army, ever.
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 10:29 AM (qbLEp)
---
Bored of the Rings describing how the Natalie Wood over time became the crochety old Evelyn.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:31 AM (ZOv7s)

222 Sir Evelyn Wood VC

***
The Nattily Wood became the crotchety old Evelyn.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:31 AM (wzUl9)

223 Besides, think of having to clean blood out of the carpet. . . .)

And?

Posted by: O. J. at January 01, 2026 10:32 AM (Kt19C)

224 *Raining cats and dogs on rose parade.*

*************

wear your galoshess and be careful not to step in a poodle!

Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026 10:32 AM (/iMjX)

225 AH Lloyd beat me to the Bored reference!

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:32 AM (wzUl9)

226 Bored of the Rings describing how the Natalie Wood over time became the crochety old Evelyn.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:31 AM (ZOv7s)
----------
They were undoubtedly referring to the Evelyn Wood (no relation) speed-reading school.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 10:32 AM (qbLEp)

227 224 Ha!

Posted by: gp at January 01, 2026 10:33 AM (GHIyr)

228 Regarding this whole Iran situation - I've seen footage where allegedly people are shouting for the return of the Prince in exile. I have to wonder if this guy really has support on the ground, considering his family got the boot in 1979 and his father wasn't exactly the nicest guy (not the the Mad Mullahs are any better). If Iran does fall, can he fill the power vacuum or will it become a free-for-all as Islamists - whether external or internal - scramble to fill the void?

Posted by: PabloD at January 01, 2026 10:34 AM (tfChy)

229 Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:31 AM (wzUl9)

*********

So can we assume that Robert Wagner dressed nattily before tossing the body in the ocean...?

Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026 10:34 AM (/iMjX)

230 Just stopped snowing. A light, little wet snow. All the trees are coated with snow and the light is perfect.

Nature is the best painter.

Posted by: JackStraw at January 01, 2026 10:34 AM (viF8m)

231 Painting would make a perfect little homestead if you could find water.

Posted by: Eromero at January 01, 2026 10:34 AM (Slgjz)

232 Good Morning!! Happy New Year!

trying to get my sh*t together to go to the parade but was up way too late last night ...

I have a GREAT feeling about this year! It's going to be awesome! (note: not applicable to NYC)

Posted by: BlackOrchid at January 01, 2026 10:35 AM (emBoF)

233 "Island in the Sun"

Anywho, it just goes to show-

Drama is easy. Comedy is hard.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 01, 2026 10:30 AM (iJfKG)
---
Yeah, that's it. Never read it or watched it.

Alec was old enough to serve in World War I, and did so with distinction, but he also wrote a book (The Loom of Youth) that referenced homosexuality in his boarding school, which got him kicked out of the alumni association (a very big deal) and got his younger brother blackballed.

So going to America was a logical choice, and his biggest seller was about interracial sex, which perhaps only an outsider could write at the time. He was a lifelong bachelor, who used his celebrity to bed lots of women.

Evelyn of course became Catholic and cranked out kids who - despite his unpleasant personality - remained loyal to their father's legacy, particularly Auberon. Auberon's son Alexander is also an author.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:36 AM (ZOv7s)

234 Animal precipitation scale:
Elephants and whales > Snakes and frogs > Cats and dogs > Tardigrades and bacteriophages.

Posted by: gp at January 01, 2026 10:36 AM (GHIyr)

235 I think the Islamists are generally discredited with the population which is mostly young and has no memory of the Shah's abuses.

The clerisy has been brutal and corrupt, they have started and lost war after war, they have mismanaged the infrastructure and the economy, they have only survived thus far through repression and violence.

There is always a clock ticking on that.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 01, 2026 10:37 AM (RIvkX)

236 AH Lloyd beat me to the Bored reference!
Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:32 AM (wzUl9)
---
The Horde mind at work!

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:37 AM (ZOv7s)

237 wear your galoshess and be careful not to step in a poodle!
Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026

***
Oy with the poodles already!

As a catchphrase it's right up there with "What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?"

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at January 01, 2026 10:38 AM (wzUl9)

238 First thing that a government has to address after the overthrow of a dictatorship is organized crime.

They can’t have any competition.

But seriously that’s what survives any revolution.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 01, 2026 10:38 AM (KDPiq)

239 Eromero if Amazon delivers there as well

Posted by: Skip at January 01, 2026 10:39 AM (Ia/+0)

240 The first wasteland featured solar, this wasteland is wind power. No surprise.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at January 01, 2026 10:40 AM (nljXp)

241 I think the Islamists are generally discredited with the population which is mostly young and has no memory of the Shah's abuses.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 01, 2026 10:37 AM (RIvkX)
---
People may look at the Shah's time favorably because women were uncovered, and Iran was more nationalist in character, celebrating their Persian heritage rather than aping the Saudi Wahabbists.

The Persian new year is still a big deal, and even when it falls on an Islam day of mourning, people light bonfires and party.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:40 AM (ZOv7s)

242 Happy Public Domain Day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0lUxJeHQ9A

It sucks!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, seeing life through the shadows with Otto Preminger at January 01, 2026 10:41 AM (GBKbO)

243 68 The chair in the foreground gives an impression of hasty departure. Why is it so far from the house? Who would drag a chair that far away and leave it there? Did it fall off Granny's truck?
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 09:45 AM (ZOv7s)
There used to be a tree with a rope close to the chair. But old guy died of natural causes in the outhouse.

Posted by: Eromero at January 01, 2026 10:41 AM (Slgjz)

244 One of the drivers in the 1979 revolution was the poverty of the clerisy. They were not state-supported and did not receive remuneration other than the charity of the mosque. Of course that changed after the revolution and they were all enriched almost overnight. They literally looted the treasury.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 01, 2026 10:42 AM (RIvkX)

245 Most abuses of a Right wing dictatorship is summary killing of even worse commies trying to overthrow them. Unfortunately it includes some of their useful idiots who are otherwise innocent.

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 01, 2026 10:42 AM (KDPiq)

246 The mullahs would have been overthrown a decade ago if Obama hadn't propped them up.

Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd at January 01, 2026 10:42 AM (ZOv7s)

247 Yuri Bezmenov's Ghost @Ne_pas_couvrir

Demoralization isn’t about sadness. It’s the long-term conditioning of perception so reality is filtered through an inverted moral and causal map.

That’s why these moments are so striking. For a split second you can see the programming fail, just before it snaps back into place.

Concerned Citizen @BGatesIsaPyscho

Meanwhile in Cologne, Germany

German Streamer Kunshikitty sets out with the intention of showing that Women can walk safely through the streets that are occupied by new foreign Men

Ends up being attacked twice live on stream

X video: https://bit.ly/48ZGjCg

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at January 01, 2026 10:42 AM (P5BPp)

248 Happy New Year, all!!

Interesting choice for today, CBD. Mood!

Posted by: Lizzy at January 01, 2026 10:42 AM (NuV6c)

249 >>. . .Ends up being attacked twice live on stream

She survived, at least, right?

Posted by: Lizzy at January 01, 2026 10:44 AM (NuV6c)

250 If Iran does fall, can he fill the power vacuum or will it become a free-for-all as Islamists - whether external or internal - scramble to fill the void?
Posted by: PabloD
=========
The dirty secret about Iran is that religious feeling, particularly toward Islam, is now a minority proposition in a population run by clerics for 46 years. An internal letter among clerics intercepted by intel, indicates that only about 24-25 percent are now faithful, many mosques have shut their doors, and a resurgence of ancient faith of Zoroastrianism and even Christianity have become a covert practice among the people.

Historically, any alliance of church and state in a theocracy for a long period of time diminishes both of them. So as the state's regime becomes despised, so does the religion of that state because they are intertwined.

Posted by: whig at January 01, 2026 10:44 AM (WDjG6)

251 The Iranian revolution’s greatest strength is also their greatest weakness. This is not a color revolution; this is a spontaneous, grass roots uprising by a mass of people who just can’t take it anymore, and it will be hard to stop,

However, this also means that it has no leadership and no organization to coordinate its actions. That makes it impossible to predict what direction it will take.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 01, 2026 10:44 AM (m7iZ5)

252
I'd like to see the Prince comeback leading a revival of Zoroastrianism, Iran's true traditional religion before Arab jihadist imperialism and conquest.

and giving the heave-ho to to islam.

It would be a nice rebuke to islam that might light a fire throughout that world.

Posted by: naturalfake at January 01, 2026 10:44 AM (iJfKG)

253 Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh

WTF? They are now SUSPENDING students in Maine if someone refuses to use transgender pronouns

"If a student misuses the pronoun, they are suspended?"

"Yeah. That would be harassment!"

DEFUND MAINE!

X video: https://bit.ly/3LfLhBN

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at January 01, 2026 10:44 AM (P5BPp)

254 My fault. My skirt was too short.

Posted by: Kunshikitty at January 01, 2026 10:44 AM (KDPiq)

255 246 The mullahs would have been overthrown a decade ago if Obama hadn't propped them up.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd
=====
Likely to have been true but we will never know.

Posted by: whig at January 01, 2026 10:45 AM (WDjG6)

256 MOMof DataRepublican reposted

Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays

Seems unlikely Republicans kept their hands out of the cookie jar. I only wonder who and how much.

The Gateway Pundit @gatewaypundit

Senate Majority Leader John Thune Faces FEC Complaint Over Alleged $1.1 Million Campaign Money Laundering Scheme

X: https://bit.ly/4q1XPvD

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at January 01, 2026 10:46 AM (P5BPp)

257 New Year's resolutions: Gird loins. Roll up sleeves. Hoist by bootstraps. Tighten belt. Whip it good.

Posted by: gp at January 01, 2026 10:46 AM (GHIyr)

258 WTF? They are now SUSPENDING students in Maine if someone refuses to use transgender pronouns

"If a student misuses the pronoun, they are suspended?"

"Yeah. That would be harassment!"

DEFUND MAINE!

X video: https://bit.ly/3LfLhBN
Posted by: Clyde Shelton
=======
Lawsuits over the matter have already been adjudicated in other states. Maine schools doing this are likely to be successfully sued to end the practice.

Posted by: whig at January 01, 2026 10:46 AM (WDjG6)

259 >>Just stopped snowing. A light, little wet snow. All the trees are coated with snow and the light is perfect.

Nature is the best painter.

Sounds lovely!
There's this weird dark overcast, but oddly warm thing going on here.

Posted by: Lizzy at January 01, 2026 10:46 AM (NuV6c)

260 Today is a auspicious day for executing tyrants.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 01, 2026 10:46 AM (RIvkX)

261 No dog. Not art.

Posted by: No one at January 01, 2026 10:47 AM (qFwJc)

262
No Miners Allowed - a limerick

Their homesteading efforts were in vain.
Since repairing the windmill was in vane
This year's crops will not be sowed
'Cause they've found the Mother Lode
And now all of their efforts are 'in vein'

Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026 10:47 AM (/iMjX)

263 >>GOP fiscal hawks balk at $5.7B for refugees in 2026 HHS funding bill

… The amount is less than the $6.3 billion that HHS’s Administration of Children and Families, which runs various refugee and asylee support programs, received in fiscal years 2024 and 2025.

But it is still three times higher than funding levels prior to Joe Biden's presidency, leading U.S. Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rand Paul, R-Ky., to vocally oppose the Labor-HHS funding bill.

https://tinyurl.com/2uakukf3

This is where you bound the table and ask what the hell are Republicans doing on the budget? $6 billion for refugee assistance?

Read the whole article. At this point it’s fiscal irresponsibility.

Do. Your. Jobs.

Posted by: Vengeance at January 01, 2026 10:47 AM (Viiux)

264 Nick Sortor @nicksortor

LMAO! The Somali Daycare who falsely claim someone broke in and stole their “student enrollment” documents are now showing off the where the “burglar” entered

Unfortunately for them though, the cuts in the Sheetrock seem to have been made on the INSIDE

Total clown show

X video: https://bit.ly/3MT8FFM

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at January 01, 2026 10:47 AM (P5BPp)

265 No dog. Not art.
Posted by: No one at January 01, 2026 10:47 AM (qFwJc)

It was implied.

A Boy and His Dog

Posted by: Kunshikitty at January 01, 2026 10:47 AM (KDPiq)

266 Historically, any alliance of church and state in a theocracy for a long period of time diminishes both of them. So as the state's regime becomes despised, so does the religion of that state because they are intertwined.
Posted by: whig at January 01, 2026 10:44 AM (WDjG6)

The Holy Roman Empire lasted for a loooong time.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at January 01, 2026 10:48 AM (g8Ew8)

267 >>Seems unlikely Republicans kept their hands out of the cookie jar. I only wonder who and how much

Yup. You aren't a performatively angry yet do-nothing GOPe in DC without a reason. Start with MN's Emmer who co-founded with Keith Ellison the Somali Caucus.

Posted by: Lizzy at January 01, 2026 10:48 AM (NuV6c)

268 Senate Majority Leader John Thune Faces FEC Complaint Over Alleged $1.1 Million Campaign Money Laundering Scheme

X: https://bit.ly/4q1XPvD
Posted by: Clyde Shelton

Lady Lindsay Graham has about 11 million or so bucks involved in his campaign fund. The heartwarming thing is it appears that if campaigns are found to have accepted illegal funds, then that money is removed from their campaign accounts and if a deficit still exists, then the candidate is personally liable for the deficit.

Posted by: whig at January 01, 2026 10:48 AM (WDjG6)

269 Imagine being in Tehran right now and looking at what we've allowed to happen in this country.

Since the CIA was largely responsible for destabilizing Iran after WWII which led to the mullahs, maybe we should this one out. We have a pretty bad record of running the world. Not doing so good even running this place lately.

Posted by: JackStraw at January 01, 2026 10:48 AM (viF8m)

270 174. One of Evelyn Waugh's darkest satires is titled A Hand of Dust and includes that quote. The main character loses his son, his wife leaves him, and he ends up trapped in the Amazon jungle, condemned to read Charles Dickens for the rest of his life to a blind man.

For some reason, it's one of his most adapted works.
Posted by: Ace-Endorsed Author A.H. Lloyd
---
Thank you. That's really interesting.

Eliot wrote The Wasteland after World War I (1914–1

. Perhaps Waugh took a sliver & used that to frame what he personally knew - his own disillusionment. (His life would stink whether in England or a jungle.) 🤷‍♀️

Now I'm going to look for Brideshead Revisited on streaming. (That I can understand.)

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at January 01, 2026 10:48 AM (NFX2v)

271 Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh

HOLY SMOKES. Washington Democrat Sen. Lisa Wellman just pre-filed a bill PROTECTING Somali daycare fraud now that it's all being exposed.

This will hide swaths of information from being accessible to the public.

She is essentially admitting Democrats are IN ON THE FRAUD.

X: https://bit.ly/493nFti

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at January 01, 2026 10:49 AM (P5BPp)

272 The Holy Roman Empire lasted for a loooong time.
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at January 01, 2026 10:48 AM (g8Ew

---------
It was a secular empire, not a theocracy.

Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 10:49 AM (qbLEp)

273 257 New Year's resolutions: Gird loins. Roll up sleeves. Hoist by bootstraps. Tighten belt. Whip it good.
Posted by: gp at January 01, 2026 10:46 AM (GHIyr)
By ammo.

Posted by: Eromero at January 01, 2026 10:50 AM (Slgjz)

274 She is essentially admitting Democrats are IN ON THE FRAUD.

—

Quick. Someone get my angry letter machine started up.

Posted by: GOP at January 01, 2026 10:50 AM (/CkK4)

275 A Boy and His Dog
Posted by: Kunshikitty at January 01, 2026 10:47 AM (KDPiq)
=====

Very apt.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 01, 2026 10:50 AM (RIvkX)

276 Also, the HRE was pretty decentralized.

Posted by: Bulg at January 01, 2026 10:52 AM (77rzZ)

277 Since the CIA was largely responsible for destabilizing Iran after WWII which led to the mullahs, maybe we should this one out. We have a pretty bad record of running the world. Not doing so good even running this place lately.
Posted by: JackStraw at January 01, 2026 10:48 AM (viF8m)

I think Britain and Russia occupied Iran after WW2. CIA got involved in the 50’s.

Posted by: Kunshikitty at January 01, 2026 10:52 AM (KDPiq)

278 The Holy Roman Empire lasted for a loooong time.
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons
=======
Holy Roman emperors had varying degrees of power which diminished over time. Charlemagne was the most powerful and the office diminished after that. Power in Germany lay with the princes. Same in most other nations so the Pope did not rule except in the Vatican states in Italy. And in some cases, like the Avignon popes or the later Hapsburg dynasty in Spain and Austria, the kings/emperors controlled the papacy.

Posted by: whig at January 01, 2026 10:52 AM (WDjG6)

279
Sustained heavy rain in San Diego County. I'm thinking flooding, maybe some soil movement.

Posted by: Semi-Literate Thug at January 01, 2026 10:53 AM (azNOR)

280 "We have a pretty bad record of running the world. Not doing so good even running this place lately."

Concur.

Posted by: gp at January 01, 2026 10:53 AM (GHIyr)

281 Off karma blogger sock

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 01, 2026 10:53 AM (KDPiq)

282 The UK and USSR occupied Iran during WWII.

Posted by: Bulg at January 01, 2026 10:54 AM (77rzZ)

283 The Holy Roman Empire lasted for a loooong time.
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at January 01, 2026 10:48 AM (g8Ew

I spent a little bit of time trying to figure out what it really was, and finally concluded that it was just the Family Business of the Hapsburgs.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 01, 2026 10:54 AM (m7iZ5)

284 Since the CIA was largely responsible for destabilizing Iran after WWII which led to the mullahs, maybe we should this one out. We have a pretty bad record of running the world. Not doing so good even running this place lately.
Posted by: JackStraw
=======
I think probably the best thing the US can do is verbal acknowledgement of the movement as legitimate and prevent outside powers from interfering.

Posted by: whig at January 01, 2026 10:54 AM (WDjG6)

285 The Holy Roman Empire lasted for a loooong time.
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at January 01, 2026 10:48 AM (g8Ew
---------
It was a secular empire, not a theocracy.
Posted by: Captain Obvious, Laird o' the Sea at January 01, 2026 10:49 AM (qbLEp)

Tell that to all those popes and the RNC that presided over it.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at January 01, 2026 10:55 AM (g8Ew8)

286 >>I think Britain and Russia occupied Iran after WW2. CIA got involved in the 50’s.

Exactly. Right when the "coup" happened.

And we've been dealing with the fallout ever since.

Posted by: JackStraw at January 01, 2026 10:56 AM (viF8m)

287 I spent a little bit of time trying to figure out what it really was, and finally concluded that it was just the Family Business of the Hapsburgs.
Posted by: Tom Servo
=====
The old saying of historians is that "the Holy Roman Empire was neither Roman nor particularly Holy".

Posted by: whig at January 01, 2026 10:56 AM (WDjG6)

288 Jeez Jack, 24° in Providence, how is your snow wet? That much ocean effect?

Posted by: From about That Time at January 01, 2026 10:56 AM (sl73Y)

289 I doubt Iran needs any sort of encouragement, CIA or otherwise to implode. It's going to be messy no matter what. And likely very violent.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at January 01, 2026 10:57 AM (NwnyJ)

290 There were Protestant princes in the HRE, too.

Posted by: Bulg at January 01, 2026 10:57 AM (77rzZ)

291 Meanwhile in Cologne, Germany

German Streamer Kunshikitty sets out with the intention of showing that Women can walk safely through the streets that are occupied by new foreign Men

Ends up being attacked twice live on stream

X video: https://bit.ly/48ZGjCg
Posted by: Clyde Shelton at January 01, 2026 10:42 AM (P5BPp)

One wonders if lessons were learned, if eyes were opened. One suspects not.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at January 01, 2026 10:57 AM (ExV1e)

292 Who names their son Evelyn?
Posted by: Just got here

Well, you see, there's this island nation called Britain...

Posted by: weft cut-loop at January 01, 2026 10:58 AM (mlg/3)

293 =======
I think probably the best thing the US can do is verbal acknowledgement of the movement as legitimate and prevent outside powers from interfering.
Posted by: whig at January 01, 2026 10:54 AM

Was just discussing that with a friend, Iran is really too big for outside powers to do much with - at a population of close to 100 million, it’s one of the most populous countries in the region. China could have no traction there, and Russia is occupied elsewhere.

Posted by: Tom Servo at January 01, 2026 10:59 AM (m7iZ5)

294 Tell that to all those popes and the RNC that presided over it.
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons

If you read history about it, the Holy Roman Emperors were elected by 'electors' in various principalities in Northern Central Europe, not popes after Charlemagne and that is where we got our electoral college idea from.

Emperors clashed with popes about as much as they got along with them.

It simply was not a theocracy no matter how you slice it. Vatican states were but that was a relatively small slice of Italy for the most part (Borgia period excepted).

Posted by: whig at January 01, 2026 10:59 AM (WDjG6)

295 NOOD.

Posted by: Nazdar at January 01, 2026 11:00 AM (NcvvS)

296 >>Jeez Jack, 24° in Providence, how is your snow wet? That much ocean effect?

It's pretty amazing how different our weather pattern can be from yours. Sometimes storms roll through North Kingstown and then either move north or largely dissolve before they hit us.

Posted by: JackStraw at January 01, 2026 11:00 AM (viF8m)

297 WE HAZ A NOOD
FREE BE

Posted by: Skip at January 01, 2026 11:01 AM (Ia/+0)

298 Was just discussing that with a friend, Iran is really too big for outside powers to do much with - at a population of close to 100 million, it’s one of the most populous countries in the region. China could have no traction there, and Russia is occupied elsewhere.
Posted by: Tom Servo

Interference probably would be more like importation of Hezbollah, Houthis, Iraqi Shia militias, etc. to act as enforcers in Iran on behalf of their sponsoring regime.

Posted by: whig at January 01, 2026 11:01 AM (WDjG6)

299 I know I’m biased but imo it’s always the commies that create situations that make leaders we support look bad . They are the inventors of victimization propaganda .

Posted by: Opinion fact at January 01, 2026 11:01 AM (KDPiq)

300 The Holy Roman Empire lasted for a loooong time.

*************

But it wasn't wholly Roman...

Posted by: muldoon at January 01, 2026 11:03 AM (/iMjX)

301 290 There were Protestant princes in the HRE, too.
Posted by: Bulg

Not until Luther. HRE as an institution dated back to Charlemagne and ran from 800-1806. Protestantism did not exist for about 600 years of that history.

Posted by: whig at January 01, 2026 11:03 AM (WDjG6)

302 The Holy Roman Empire lasted for a loooong time.

Sure, if you don't count its three official collapses, several interregnums, the Investiture Controversy, the Reformation and the Thirty Years War. So, for certain values of "last."

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at January 01, 2026 11:22 AM (zdLoL)

303 Best wishes to The Horde for a Safe and Persecution-Free New Year … or: "So let it be written; so let it be done". Now: Which movie is the quote from, who spoke it, and what character did he play? I'll wait over here in Da Con'dah, 'kay …

Posted by: Dr_No at January 01, 2026 11:56 AM (ayRl+)

304 This Swiss New Year's party fire is horrific. Preliminary count is 40 dead in a bar. Crans-Montana ski resort. Flare gun free zone.

Posted by: Oglebay at January 01, 2026 12:02 PM (GPa4z)

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