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And I’m never going back / to my old school [except maybe this once]

I won’t tell you which high school reunion this is for me — instead, let’s just say that if you like Loverboy you’d be right at home there — but what I will tell you is this:  I’m going, for the first time in a long time.  Back to Baltimore.  And I plan on making it a blast.

And here’s how:  A few months ago when I got the first notice for the reunion, I decided I’d try to grow my hair out to the same cut I kept in high school, the same cut so many of my post-Rockford Files / pre-Breakfast Club high school generation wore:  the man Farrah.  The Marrah. Or maybe the Mennah. Whatever you want to call it.  It had no official name that I know of; rather, it just luxuriated in all its feathery hipness.  Behold!

highschool

By the end of my senior year, I’d moved on (I was at the forefront of the new-wave / Billy Squier mashup, sporting zippered parachute pants and Valley Girl Chams shirts) — the style I wore was what we called a bi-level (shown here with the band members of Fiction Bridge, several of who went on to very successful musical careers with Orangutan and the Blue Man Group, and another who became a critically acclaimed novelist)….

Jeff w band Fiction Bridge c 1985

 

…which is NOT the same as a mullet, so shut up, wife — but for the vast majority of high school, I sported the Marrah.  So that’s what I’m taking with me to the reunion — not only because I think it’s kinda awesome (which it is); but because I can. 

And yeah, I’m gonna rub it in the faces of some of the bald dudes there who, last I saw them, were sporting Izros or Marrahs or body waves or perms.  Because that’s what reunions are for, I’m pretty sure.  That, and breaking out the chain wallets and the Adidas shirts, then getting drunk and confessing to certain crushes you’d never made public.

At any rate, I thought I’d give you all a heads up, because between Satch’s wrestling camp (which ends tomorrow; I’m going for the evening session today), the reunion, and my wife’s mom’s coming into town to watch the kids while we’re away — coupled with the inspections of the insulation for the new house and today, the sheetrock going in — I don’t have any time to wax political.  I’ve got a girdle to buy and some Supertramp lyrics to brush up on.  So forgive me.

The reunion is Saturday night, but I’m meeting a bunch of high school friends who aren’t going to the reunion proper — along with some college buddies — on Friday for drinks.   So if you have a chance this weekend, think of me and say a short prayer:  because if there are prizes for “Best Alumni Imitation of Peggy Sue Got Married,” I’d damn well better win one.

outlaw!

 

150 Replies to “And I’m never going back / to my old school [except maybe this once]”

  1. sdferr says:

    Maybe make a concession to history and sport a touch of orange and black, eh?

  2. Remember, a firm handshake makes an impression.

  3. Jeff G. says:

    I’ll bring my buddy Cal along with me. Talk about a difference in hair styles!

  4. sdferr says:

    See that the huge bald Cal’s kid got drafted as a first baseman by the Nationals?

  5. Jeff G. says:

    A first baseman. He’s gotta be so ashamed.

  6. sdferr says:

    I haven’t seen a word fall from his lips on it, but given his cultured politic-schmoozetastic manner, don’t believe he’d ever commit such a thought to public consumption. I have had the impression (and don’t know where I got it) that Ryan, outside being a biggun, isn’t an exquisitely coordinated athlete however.

  7. McGehee says:

    And here I was thinking I might go to one of my high school reunions shaved bald but with my beard grown all out, carrying a colostomy bag and telling a different story of why I’m in a motorized wheelchair to everyone that doesn’t ask.

    Then the first time one of the brothers lays a hand on me, I’ll jump up and shriek, “It’s a miracle!” — and then collapse on the ground and moan, “Little help, please?”

  8. RI Red says:

    A firm handshake with a buzzer in it makes a bigger impression.

  9. Jeff G. says:

    I don’t do the firm firm handshake. Out of kindness. Because I’m a giver.

  10. Blake says:

    What happened to “Walk softly and carry a 1911?” To hell with a firm handshake, because nothing says firm grip quite like a 1911. (I concede I might have the quote just slightly off) Well, that and a Captains of Crush #4.

  11. Blake says:

    What happened to “Walk softly and carry a 1911?” (I concede I might have the quote just slightly off) To hell with a firm handshake, because nothing says firm grip quite like a 1911. Well, that and a Captains of Crush #4.*

    *pro tip: commenting while trying to export data from a FoxPro database to a SQL database leads to garbled output.

  12. Jeff G. says:

    Did I not mention I’d be in Baltimore? Only the gang members and criminal element are allowed to carry weapons there. And maybe the Dreamers.

    Me, I’m a latent domestic terrorist awash in white privilege. No guns for our kind.

  13. Drumwaster says:

    I sent a text to my Eldest Daughter earlier today (it’s her birthday)…

    “Don’t think of it as 50 years. Think of it as 1/20 of a millennium”

    (Hey, I thought it was funny…)

  14. sdferr says:

    Walk firmly and carry a bag of a half-dozen bagels, a block of cream cheese and a slab of smoked sable. Oh, and a hip flask of a favorite beverage.

  15. geoffb says:

    So you actually enjoyed high school. Who knew it was a blue moon tonight.

    Have fun.

  16. cranky-d says:

    I just had my 50th. Drumwaster is not helping any.

  17. Blake says:

    Jeff, I think I need a scorecard. As a latent domestic terrorist awash with white privilege, aren’t you sort of, you know, expected to carry a gun? Or, are you worried you might be profiled as latent domestic terrorist due to the color of your skin?

    Although, I suppose it might just be that as a member of the white patriarchy, it is impossible for you to be profiled. Therefore, if you’re pulled over and busted, it’s just the man getting back at THE MAN.

  18. Blake says:

    cranky, pfft, 50. Youngster.

  19. newrouter says:

    holy shiite ace has brat as beating cantor

    http://aoshqdd.com/

  20. sdferr says:

    The numbers Levin is citing are nothing short of flabbergasting in Brat’s favor. Currently 68% of the precincts counted and Brat leads 55 to 43%.

  21. happyfeet says:

    bye bye cantor bye bye

    this is what you get when you let your lust for young mexican boys distract you from the tedious day to day business of legislating

  22. sdferr says:

    75% reporting and Brat 56.1 to Cantor 43.9.

    Looks a done deal, no?

  23. happyfeet says:

    done and done

    this is very heartening

  24. newrouter says:

    @86 brat 56 cantor 44

  25. sdferr says:

    I got a bunch of old friends who live up in Page county (doesn’t SarahW live round Richmond somewhere?) who I’ll bet are doing a jig right about now.

  26. newrouter says:

    so that makes it official: brats for dinner tomorrow.

  27. happyfeet says:

    so there’s an empty seat in Team R leadership

    I’m thinking they should go with Marsha Blackburn cause of womens being sort of a big thing this coming cycle.

    She’s socially backwards in a big way but she’s from Tennessee so it’s not really something she can help and she’s great on tv.

  28. happyfeet says:

    plus it’s refreshing that she only has two children

  29. sdferr says:

    Louis Gomert ought to toss his name into consideration just to give John Boehner the heebie-jeebies.

  30. happyfeet says:

    this is exactly the kind of spontaneous serendipitous kindling you need to fire up the grassroots and coax people out who’ve become disaffected by how generally retarded the Boehnerfag Rs have become

    it’s hand of God shit, really

  31. palaeomerus says:

    Yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yoooo.

    Cantor lost his primary.

    Thought you guys would want to know.

    Tea party dead?

    Uh huh.

  32. sdferr says:

    Time for Cantor to deploy his golden parachute and float down into his desk at the Chamber of Commerce, going to work directly for the Democrats.

  33. sdferr says:

    This is a fucking landslide too, which, nice Dave, well done.

  34. leigh says:

    Done and done, Eric. And thank God for that.

    The sumbitch is worse than Boehner, bless his heart.

  35. RI Red says:

    Every time I’m ready to give up, there is a glimmer of hope. I think I’m being toyed with.

  36. leigh says:

    I like Joni Ernst in Iowa for the wymyn’s slot in the junior pack of GOPers. If she wins in November.

    There’re some new sheriffs in town.

  37. newrouter says:

    thad cochran is going to see what landslide means in 2 weeks

  38. I have no doubt, RI, we are. God has a damn good sense of humor.

  39. leigh says:

    Red, northern Iraqistan was just seized by rebels who now have all our Kiawah and Blackhawk helicopters, plus artillery that we left behind. What didja say, Hillary?

    #winning

  40. Drumwaster says:

    Virginia law prevents his name from appearing on the ballot as a third-party candidate, but it also allows his name to be added by the voters as a write-in candidate, but I don’t think Cantor can Murkowski his way back into office…

    He’s done.

  41. sdferr says:

    Kelly just read a rush transcript of Cantors’ statement which said not a word about supporting Brat’s coming campaign.

  42. happyfeet says:

    Stuart Rothenberg, who publishes the Rothenberg Political Report, a nonpartisan handicapper’s guide to elections nationwide called the results “a political version of the San Francisco earthquake.”

    “It came out of nowhere,” he said. “It was a stunning, unimaginable, impossible defeat.”

    The lesson for other leadership figures, he said, is that tea party activists are less concerned with winning elections than expressing their anger.

    “This is the grass roots flexing its muscle and reminding members of the Republican leadership—and reminding all Republicans—that this is a very conservative party at the grass-roots and they’re angry,” Rothenberg said. “And they care more about their anger and expressing their anger and electing someone who will express their anger than they are about electing someone who get the best deal in negotiations with the White House or the Senate.” – LA Times

  43. sdferr says:

    Hey, Mississippi! Notice the aroma of the coffee?

  44. sdferr says:

    No doubt Stuey would talk shit like that, bein’ a dependable fascist to his bitter end.

  45. newrouter says:

    >And they care more about their -anger- and expressing their -anger- and electing someone who will express their -anger- than they are about electing someone who get the best deal in negotiations with the White House or the Senate.” <

    amnesty folks are angry

  46. sdferr says:

    Party unity for me, none whatsoever for thee.

  47. leigh says:

    Amnesty and gun-grabbing. What could go wrong?

  48. serr8d says:

    Did NPR Market Watch just tell me Cantor lost? Levin had Brat on yesterday, and all but told him he didn’t have a chance.

    The elite GOP’s collective asshole is clenching right now. Either from fear or fury matters little to me; that they are rocked to their foundations is good enough. For now.

    Moar, please!

  49. newrouter says:

    next on the platter: thad on pike with bbq sauce

  50. McGehee says:

    I wonder how many early voters had come to regret voting for Cantor when the DREAMers’ Crusade crossed our southern border?

    Betcha that’s what done him in.

  51. McGehee says:

    “Say, Senator Cochran, what’s your position on amnesty?”

  52. sdferr says:

    Could be McG, or could be the valley Virginians can tell a swollen-headed rat when they see one, no matter the sounds that burble from his mouth as his lips are aflappin’.

  53. Drumwaster says:

    People arguing “we need to have a pathway to citizenship” seem to have forgotten WE ALREADY HAVE EXACTLY SUCH A PATHWAY. It’s called “filling out the paperwork and waiting your turn”, not “bypassing the border and filing for welfare/Medicare”.

    Let’s enforce the laws we have before trying to rearrange the deckchairs on the Titanic.

  54. Blake says:

    Let’s see, Boehner has threatened anyone that votes against him for Speaker. Meanwhile, house members threatened by Boehner now have to worry about retaining their jobs.

    Unfortunately, my rep, Kevin McCarthy will ably fill in for Eric Cantor. Damn him.

  55. Darleen says:

    cranky-d

    I just had my 50th. Drumwaster is not helping any.

    I just had my 60th last Thursday. My 1st cousin delightfully reminded me I got there first (she’ll be 60 in Oct.)

    She lives in Germantown, MD. Maybe I can talk Jeff into stopping by her place and giving her a firm handshake. ;-)

  56. Darleen says:

    Kelly just read a rush transcript of Cantors’ statement which said not a word about supporting Brat’s coming campaign.

    IOW, when the uppity, hobbity, visogothy poopy-heads lose, they are to suck-it-up and rally ’round the GOP nominee least the Dem get elected…

    But never the other way.

  57. sdferr says:

    Hey Kansas! How about drop-kicking your non-resident jerk of a $enator out on his ass and put a decent fella name of Milton in his place, huh? Howsaboutit? Alfalfa!

  58. newrouter says:

    insurrection is in the air

  59. dicentra says:

    I think Jeff should take Dan Collins’s suggestion from a long time ago and get that tonsure.

    Sure to make an unforgettable impression.

  60. newrouter says:

    knashing of teeth news

    link

  61. sdferr says:

    Sayonara Shimon Peres, konbanwa Reuven Rivlen.

  62. BigBangHunter says:

    insurrection is in the air

    – And the Constablishment won’t believe they are out on their asses til they’re standing on the corner of Penn avenue holding a one way bus ticket home.

  63. Ernst Schreiber says:

    this is exactly the kind of spontaneous serendipitous kindling you need to fire up the grassroots and coax people out who’ve become disaffected by how generally retarded the Boehnerfag Rs have become
    it’s hand of God shit, really

    It’s the hand of Democrats crossing party lines, and don’t kid yourselves about it.

    That said, take the win.

  64. happyfeet says:

    ok

  65. newrouter says:

    >It’s the hand of Democrats crossing party lines<

    why would proggtards take out a pro amnesty guy? the "bipartisans" want to know?

  66. newrouter says:

    it may be that cons are flexing muscle. hi thad, roberts.

  67. newrouter says:

    >It’s the hand of Democrats crossing party lines,<

    va 7 is so r they had to make up a d on the fly

  68. McGehee says:

    They habitually voted for the guy they thought their nominee could beat, forgetting they didn’t have one in that district.

  69. McGehee says:

    For some reason I am put in mind of a certain question: “What is best in life?”

  70. newrouter says:

    >It’s the hand of Democrats crossing party lines<

    reagan democrats?

  71. newrouter says:

    the eric got so blown out tonite that d’s are not the cause. orangey stuff yes

  72. McGehee says:

    I’m not saying they were right to think their guy could have beat him, if they’d had a guy. They assumed as Cantor’s supporters did that bigtime Stab money made Cantor the more formidable candidate.

  73. McGehee says:

    The lamentation of Establicans is music to the ears.

  74. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Don’t thank God, thank Cooter

    Former congressman Ben Jones (D-Ga.), better known as “Cooter” from Dukes of Hazzard, has a plan to knock Eric Cantor out of the House. He’s urging his fellow Democrats to cross over and vote for a tea party-backed candidate in Virginia’s primary election.

    Cooter, who ran against Cantor in 2002, has penned an open letter calling upon Democrats in his former Virginia district to vote in the open primary next Tuesday for tea party opponent Dave Brat in order to defeat U.S. House Majority Leader Cantor.

    The key point here being that when the Cantors and Boehners and Bushes and Roves of the world start saying that Brat is an extremist who can’t win because the Democrats set him up to fail, we need to come back with Cantor wouldn’t have been vulnerable to that kind of manipulation in the first place if he hadn’t already lost his base.

    I also think this just became the most important House race in the country because it’s a kind of litmus test for the Republican Party. Electing Republican Brat is better than electing a Democrat, right Karl?

  75. palaeomerus says:

    “why would proggtards take out a pro amnesty guy? the “bipartisans” want to know?”

    They think they can win the general in Virginia.

  76. sdferr says:

    Jeez, that Daily Caller poll was only off by 26% in the wrong direction. Wonder how that happens, don’t we?

  77. Drumwaster says:

    They assumed as Cantor’s supporters did that bigtime Stab money made Cantor the more formidable candidate.

    Brat was outraised 25-to-1 and outspent 40-to-1, and still won.

    When people get a chance to say “we don’t agree with you”, sometimes they can make it a pretty painful lesson.

  78. guinspen says:

    What was the name of that Spencer Tracy movie?

    Now I remember, The Last Hee-Haw.

  79. Ernst Schreiber says:

    John Ford directed that!

  80. newrouter says:

    >They think they can win the general in Virginia.<

    nah va 7 is gerried r. the eric lost because he has no balls. si se pueblo11!!11

  81. Ernst Schreiber says:

    The Eric lost either because his position in the leadership forced him to compromise his conservative principles* or because his position in the leadership revealed those principles were never deeply held in the first place.

    This happens fairly often to conservatives in the Leadership (see, Santorum, Rick). I don’t know if that’s by design or by circumstance. In any event, the solution to that problem is to stop leaving the moderates in charge of the leadership, or rotating the leadership before it can sell out.

  82. Ernst Schreiber says:

    A leaf on the wind:

    But is this primary such a disaster? I am not so sure – and I was the one defending Cantor not long ago in these pages. To put it mildly, politics as usual has obviously been failing. That of course means Obama and the rest of the tawdry “progressive” crew but it also inevitably means his loyal (actually too loyal) opposition. The old pas de deux must go. Now maybe it will – or more of it anyway.

  83. Considering the rank incompetence of the GOP Leadership in the Congress, this landslide loss by Eric Cantor is not really surprising. He ran his campaign the way he ran the House Minority Leader’s Office – with a arrogance full of sound and fury, but lacking any real accomplishments that could allow people to forgive his arrogance [see: MacArthur, Douglas].

    Cantor betrayed his starting principals and his District and The Constitution when he decided to become one of the supports of the edifice of the Despotic State.

    The grating, off-key voice of this Cantor has been silenced.

    Of course, he will land some high-paying job somewhere [probably in Washington], but, one has to ask: what good does it profit a man to gain riches and forfeit his Soul?

  84. leigh says:

    I am heartened that the people are no longer listening to our “leaders” and, indeed, are saying a hearty “Fuck you!” to them.

    I quit taking any of the Stabs seriously years abo. And polling? Please. Rasmussen has the Boy King dead even (including MOE) between the approve/disapproves for more than a month.

    I believe their methodology may be flawed. Or they’re lying. Take your pick.

  85. I’ve been thinking about reverting to the Joe Dirt/Billy Ray Cyrus look myself. After all, it’s almost County Fair time out here in Kentuckiana.

  86. RI Red says:

    Good- cantor out.
    Bad – Iraq/irainian “militants” stealing my Black Hawks.
    Great – Darleen achieving senior status and with a nice new pic.

  87. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Somebody needs to start a Cantorpalooza thread.

    But not me. I just point out the existence of a problem and complain about it, loudly.

    Like a good Democrat.

  88. leigh says:

    It’s delegating, Ernst. You’re management material.

  89. They’re grooming you for a top spot in the corporation.

  90. sdferr says:

    J. Christian Adams contra crossover: data demanded.

  91. sdferr says:

    Frenzy!

    It’s all the jobs all the time, ‘Mericans.

    Their jobs, ya silly dopes. You’re not the boss of them.

  92. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I saw that Adams piece. And while I think he’s right on the merits (8000 actual votes –that’s a lot of crossover!), he struck me as awfully defensive about it.

  93. sdferr says:

    I’m not clear what defensive about it counts for, outside making war on pernicious propaganda right from the outset in order to cut it off before the lies take hold? There’s everything proper about that, and so far as I can see, and particularly in the light of his call for effective objective measures of any asserted claim of Democrat causation, nothing lacking confidence.

  94. Ernst Schreiber says:

    The prove it tone struck me as petulant more than pre-emptive.

    Particularly since, absent exit polling, I don’t know how you go about proving who voted for whom and why they voted the way they did.

    My impression, for what it’s worth.

  95. sdferr says:

    I take for granted that Adams’ knows (every states’) election laws inside and out, down to the jots and tittles, wherefrom, I assume, his knowledge of the Va public record-keeping by law on the subject. So exit polling in this instance isn’t his point, but other rolls available.

  96. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Other rolls available tell you how many people are registered, and how they’re registered, and also how many people voted yesterday, and how many people voted in previous primaries. But other rolls can’t tell you why people voted the way they did.

    Adam’s knows that too.

    As I said, I think he’s right on the merits. I seriously doubt 8000 Democrats suddenly decided to cross over and screw with the hated Eric Cantor. And I’m sure Adams doesn’t believe that’s what happened.

    But that’s not what Adam’s said now, is it?

  97. sdferr says:

    I don’t recall Adams asserting one way or another why people voted how they voted, nor pointing to some explanation of that — beyond looking to see whether individuals voted four years (or one) in Democrat primaries and now suddenly change over to the Republican primary, which change can be understood as indicative of a crossover vote. Or course, I’m not expert in the intricacies of Virginia primary rules, so I took his meaning to be that some account can be given by means of what primary ballot a voter takes, i.e., either Democrat or Republican — such that a choice is made which can be measured in some way over many years by means of records kept. So I don’t understand what Adams said that contradicts that notion, assuming my guess as to the records he alludes to is reasonable.

    In fine, I just think he saw a claim which in his capacity as a student of voting rules he thought — and he doesn’t tend to speak this way — bullshit. Y’know, something which jumped out at him as obvious hooey which could be easily discovered.

    Who makes the claim though? Now I’m hearing the the pollster for Cantor who’s polling results had Cantor ahead by as much as 35% last week is one such claimant. I’ve heard Democrats are also making the claim.

  98. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I don’t recall Adams asserting one way or another why people voted how they voted, nor pointing to some explanation of that — beyond looking to see whether individuals voted four years (or one) in Democrat primaries and now suddenly change over to the Republican primary, which change can be understood as indicative of a crossover vote.

    All that tells you is the change in particpation from one primary to the next. It’s the why that matters. e.g. maybe some working class Dems were voting for Brat because they rediscovered their inner Reagan Democrat. Maybe Democrat turnout was down because after all this time, “what difference does it make?”.

    As for the rest, Cantor ought to sue his pollster. You don’t lose 45 point in a single week. That’s pure malpractice.

    And at least one Democrat was actively campaigning for Democrats to cross over.

  99. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Again, something about the Adams piece bugged me. I don’t know, maybe there wasn’t enough Irish Cream in my coffee this morning. I’m not arguing that the Brat win is somehow illegit. I’m glad he won.

    The saugage, chicken, onion and peppers are off of the grill. I have to go put it all together now.

  100. sdferr says:

    It’s certainly an interesting thing to know the underlying motivations of a large Democrat crossover vote, which after all could range (as you indicate) quite far and wide on various political perspectives, if there were a large Democrat crossover vote.

    But if there were none? Then any interest in non-existent motivations would tend to disappear altogether, which seems to me more or less what we have here, so far, at least.

    Maybe though, someone will go ahead to demonstrate through the available data that lo and behold, indeed there was a large Democrat crossover, and at that point the field researchers will have their work cut out for them, possibly even funded from somewhere.

  101. geoffb says:

    I thought the most telling thing about what the Democrats expected from the race was the protest at Cantor’s HQ which was clearly setup to influence him after he won.

  102. geoffb says:

    BTW, Ron Jeremy’s kid was in Jeff’s high school?

  103. Pablo says:

    I saw someone who had the data and determined that there was no significant Dem crossover, though I can’t recall where it was. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, though, and someone would also have to come up with some proof of such a plot.

    Why would Dems want someone to the right of Cantor? They can’t actually believe that district is going blue.

  104. Pablo says:

    Ah, it was Nate Cohn.

    I must apologize for overlooking the Cooter factor. Everybody loves cooter, even in Virginia.

  105. Pablo says:

    …it’s worth noting that Cantor’s pollster, at the very least, thinks Brat’s cross-over support made a real difference.

    (No link because it’s at Salon and I love y’all to much to do that)

    Someone needs an explanation for why he was off by 46 points or so. He loves Cooter.

  106. Jeff: You were quoted in the New York Post today [sadly, only in the print edition].

    One of your Tweets was the first quoted in the side bar to this article:
    http://nypost.com/2014/06/10/hillary-clinton-says-shes-obviously-blessed/

    The quoted Tweet:
    #HillaryIsSoPoor John Kerry will no longer sit next to her at the Yacht club.

    The Comeback begins!

    [I’ll take a pic of it and send it to you if you want.]

  107. McGehee says:

    We all need to see that, Bob.

  108. Question is: Can I take a picture of it with my phone and wipe-off all identifying information [‘meta-data’ I believe it’s called], so no one can find out where I am?

  109. McGehee says:

    You should be able to turn off a lot of that in your phone before you take the pic.

  110. I will try.

    I’ve had the damn smart phone for nearly two years and I’ve hardly learned how it works…and I used to be in IT [I want my WordPerfect 6.0 back!].

  111. John Bradley says:

    A (roundabout, admittedly) way of de-EXIFing an image without mucking with your phone settings: take the photo, copy it to your PC and display it. Then take a screenshot of the window displaying the image, and send that out.

    I didn’t say it’s a great way, mind you. Just a way, adequate for the occasional one-off.

  112. serr8d says:

    Oh, to kill EXIF data? Download the free GIMP software, open your image (make it prettier if you like) then export it to .jpg. In the advanced export options, you can easily kill all the EXIF data.

  113. serr8d says:

    Wait. Don’t download from that site. It is not the original GIMP; seems that company, GimpShop, has ‘added’ some of it’s own spammy crap to the original, which will clog your PC’s pores. Use the original “real thing”, which is located here:
    http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

  114. McGehee says:

    My wife’s iPhone 4 wasn’t going to get IOS 8 so she recently upgraded to a 5S. The 5 should be good ’til 2016.

    Me, I’m an Android man.

  115. I have Photoshop. I’ll check to see if I can do it in there.

    Thanks for the advice, y’all.

  116. leigh says:

    Same here, McGehee. I have never owned an Apple product and plan to keep it that way.

  117. McGehee says:

    Well, my wife still has an iPhone 4 as backup, the one I replaced with an Android phone. By my lights Android wasn’t ready when I wanted a smartphone, but unlocked Nexus phones are the bee’s knees.

  118. leigh says:

    My son, the hipster, has an Apple phone and loves it. We have Androids and they work just fine for us since we don’t do anything fancy with them. We just, you know, make calls. I text youngest when he’s at school or work now and again.

  119. McGehee says:

    I like Android partly because to get the most out of my iPhone I’d need a Mac. I can do all those interconnectivity things on Android with Windows, Linux, and probably ChromeOS.

    Never put Daddy in a corner.

  120. Ernst Schreiber says:

    But does your fancy-schmancy phone have a rotary dial? Nobody every butt-dialed noone on a rotary phone!

  121. cranky-d says:

    I replaced my android phone with a 5s. Android phones are a pain in the ass to deal with.

    With iTunes I get all the connectivity I need on my PC.

  122. McGehee says:

    Backslider. Don’t you know libruls prefer iPhone?

    Android is what us overalls-wearin’ right-dingers use!

  123. leigh says:

    Android is one hell of a harder to compromise, too.

    Stupid libruls.

  124. McGehee says:

    Seriously, a bad Android UX is usually because of the kludge added by your carrier. I wasn’t going to touch that, but when Google came out with the Nexus line running unadulterated Android (and installing OS updates as they came out, instead of waiting months), that was for me.

    Blaming Android for what your carrier did is like judging Android after using a Kindle Fire.

  125. cranky-d says:

    Android is by Google. Google is evil.

    A real right-winger wouldn’t even HAVE a smart phone. They would have a cheap flip phone that doesn’t even text, and they would never actually use it.

    Now, realsies:

    I have a friend who has had to develop for Android so he has been exposed to the official version. He agrees with me that it is annoying to use. YMMV.

    I could not get internet access to work at all in my favor. Stuff popped up, but not what I wanted. The keyboard was crap. I misdialed all the time trying to flip through email addresses. I got tired of dealing with it.

    On the other hand, I took to the iPhone interface immediately. Plus, I have an iPad, so I’ve already imbibed the kool-aid.

    I know it’s wildly overpriced and loved by people I hate, but it works great for me.

  126. Ernst Schreiber says:

    A real right-winger wouldn’t even HAVE a smart phone. They would have a cheap flip phone that doesn’t even text, and they would never actually use it.

    Yup.

    Also, it would be a pre-paid/pay as you go phone. No plans for real right-wingers.

    Which means right wingers use their phones a lot. But only once in a while and all at once.

  127. geoffb says:

    A real right-winger wouldn’t even HAVE a smart phone. They would have a cheap flip phone that doesn’t even text, and they would never actually use it.

    Mine is exactly that but it does do text. I don’t. Costs $7 per month and I don’t want more. I only have it and one for my wife [disabled] so she can get me if I’m not in the house and she needs help. Most people love phones, I don’t.

  128. McGehee says:

    The keyboard was crap.

    The stock keyboard is, yes. There are dozens of better ones in the app store. How many are there for iPhone? Google may be evil, but Apple is monopolist.

  129. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I hear you.

  130. Ernst Schreiber says:

    That was in re geoff.

    Apple isn’t monopolist. They’re anal-retentive to the point of OCD.

    But that’s why you don’t have to go to the app store to get a keyboard that isn’t shit.

  131. Danger says:

    “But that’s why you don’t have to go to the app store to get a keyboard that isn’t shit.”

    But if you want to navigate somewhere who ya gonna call?

  132. palaeomerus says:

    “A real right-winger wouldn’t even HAVE a smart phone.”

    He would if Virgin Mobile fucked him over on his pay as you go plan by requiring a $20 top up once per quarter to maintain service, and a maximum balance of $500 worth of minutes which forces you to buy a smart phone or just lose the money/purchased credits due to not paying the $20 quarterly because you can’t.

    You’re right about never using it though. And mine is a 2010 model LG Optimus anyway using an old version of Android. It gets me laughed at. Virgin keeps trying to get me to move up to a 4G Samsung for $250. Meh. Probably not.

    I keep it in the car as an emergency measure. The 3G is so slow in Austin that it’s useless as a browser/e-mailer. Oddly when I took it out to Elgin and used to get a map, it FLEW like th commercials claim 4G does.

    The night-sky star map app was fun though.

  133. palaeomerus says:

    “Blaming Android for what your carrier did is like judging Android after using a Kindle Fire.”

    I bought a Kindle fire and rooted it within it’s first two hours. I wanted it to be more than a fancy catalog with a password.

  134. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Virgin Mobile fucked him over on his pay as you go plan

    So you’re saying it’s okay to stay with tracfone?

  135. helloiamamotherlessfish says:

    I’m looking for something that doesn’t cost a fin and a tail.

    Plus, it needs to be waterproof.

  136. cranky-d says:

    You don’t NEED a new keyboard for the iPhone. The stock one is great.

    With Apple, stuff just works. I spend all day at work dealing with balky software, most of which was written by someone else and isn’t documented. I don’t want to spend my off-time doing that too. I have long since tired of screwing around trying to get stuff to work when I’m not getting paid for it.

  137. palaeomerus says:

    “With Apple, stuff just works.’

    Meh. I sure wish someone’d told my old Apple dual G4 w/ 23” ADB display that. And my even older cube.

  138. cranky-d says:

    Also, I love Miracle Whip.

    One more peeve and it can be a trifecta.

  139. cranky-d says:

    That’s sort of like complaining about Windows 98, palaeomerus.

  140. serr8d says:

    Android gives me quick access to files; data is easily ported, so I use a Droid Razr (aka “Thin Man”) for telephony – email – &c. I also have an iPad Air, which is elegantly stuffy and won’t accept files easily, but there’s never much worry about viri. Without iTunes, don’t even try to import musics. But it’s very slick and pretty, even in the mandatory MilSpec Griffin (Herman) Survivor case.

  141. serr8d says:

    Also, I love Miracle Whip.

    I put Miracle Whip on my ketchup. )

  142. geoffb says:

    He would if Virgin Mobile fucked him over on his pay as you go plan by requiring a $20 top up once per quarter to maintain service, and a maximum balance of $500 worth of minutes which forces you to buy a smart phone or just lose the money/purchased credits due to not paying the $20 quarterly because you can’t.

    Does that mean that if my balance goes to $500 then they won’t accept a new $20 payment unless I burn off the minutes? Do they just cancel all the minutes and start over? Or do they not allow me to pay and just cancel my account.?

    Like I said these two phones are just for emergency communications between my wife and I. Originally they charged $7 per month plus 10 cents a minute. Then they changed to $20 every 3 months with that $20 buying 200 minutes. I think there is a balance of $120 on each phone now so I guess I need to burn some up. If nothing else I can call from one to the other and just leave them going all night.

  143. McGehee says:

    I like Miracle Whip better than plain mayonnaise, but I could happily live in a world where neither had been invented.

    Unless I wanted a tuna salad sandwich. Then I would haz a sad.

  144. palaeomerus says:

    ” Or do they not allow me to pay and just cancel my account ?”

    They don’t allow you pay and then they give you several months to think about how you can SPEND your balance down to where they will take your $20 a required pay-period again. if you call their bluff long enough then they will cancel your account and eat your credit but they give you some time (say a couple of months or so) to work out what you want to buy. Of course once you get a smart phone you can’t use the flip phone plan with it, and the flip phone plans go away once you leave them because they are grandfathered deals. The voice and data plan for the smartphone is $35 a month for something like 300 minutes and unlimited text and data. Of course you can keep your flipphone plan and just put the smart phone in a drawer. The LG I bought is not really useful outside of the Virgin plans. The Samsungs they sell now at least you could probably sell to get some of your credit/money value back to being liquid. Or you could run two phones if your family could use an extra phone.

    it’s quite a racket.

  145. palaeomerus says:

    Of course you can start and stop your new smartphone voice and data plan at will without losing any “credit” since it is a monthly paid in advance bill. There is no total balance to protect. And they’ll use the remainder of your old fliphone balance to pay your bills if you whine a little.

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