josie

Just gave a listen. Daaaamn. They're right, that dead on rant won't break the news cycle. And that's sad. Glad I hit play.

Ok. Thank god. I was seeing red there for a minute. :blush: Believe me, I've seen a lot of utter bullcrap popping up around the interwebs today on this subject- I need to step away from the social media and cool down. Carry on, gentlemen.

Please tell me that's sarcasm. I don't know a damn thing about his wife, or why she's stood by this dude for years through all his nefarious schemes, be it money or for the kids or who cares what else, that's her business, and perhaps all 3 should be shot to the moon for being poor representatives of the human race, but wow. He's a womanizing, racist, slumlording piece of human filth, but yeah, let's blame it on the wife.

aaaand I'm outta here

I don't know but I'm not looking forward to...

Yeah. Some of his views rankle me a bit here and there, especially on his Common Sense podcasts, so I don't take his words as gospel, but he has a vast detailed knowledge on the subjects he tackles that I find both impressive and educational. I value the way he puts a modern/tangible face on ancient battles/peoples. Imagining the Barbarians as a biker gang in attitude and style? Works for me! The series on the fall of Rome would get very confusing for me, listening while working, if he didn't help illustrate this Scipio from that Scipio, and all these big famous names that were actually contemporaries. Between his stuff, I listen to all the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcasts- they're good at introducing a subject to me so that I'll get super curious and go do my own research.

I know there's a couple other fans of his on this forum, so in case you hadn't heard, Dan Carlin has put up the third part of his latest Hardcore History podcast subject, Blueprint for Armageddon, which is his take on WWI. I'm listening now, it's typical Carlin goodness. If you have an interest in history and haven't ever listened to his work, give it a shot. My favorites of his works are Wrath of the Khans ( a series), which is about Genghis Khan and crew, and Ghosts of the Ostfront, about the Russian front in WWII. The Ostfront series isn't on the site anymore, you have to buy it in the archives, but it's cheap and well worth it. http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php/hharchive

I hope things turn back to fantastic for you and yours soon.

I grew up listening to George Strait. I have a lot of family who still live in Tennessee with hogs and horses, and am only one generation removed from farming folk. My home is the proud town of the National Tractor Pull Championships and my first beer was on the back of a pickup truck in the mud ring watching a combine derby after a demo derby at the fair while dudes in Wranglers spat chew and argued Chevy v Ford. I don't consider myself the least bit country compared to those kids I knew, but damned if I'm not more dirt road than the girls I know in the jean miniskirts, white tanks and high heeled cowboy boots with fringe hollering about being Country Girls. Argh. Plus most the "country" music these days sucks. :sick: ooh that got a little ranty.

Aw. He comes out to Sabrespace on our 3 year anniversary. Boo.

haha see, I wear them when I am riding horses! Or mucking horses. etc. But yeah, I did wear them outside of that, too. There's nothing fancy about these boots. They're work boots. Carter's are fancier than mine because they're black and shiny. Mine are dark brown and kinda suede.

Can confirm. Have a pair as well. They're women's sized, of course, but that's worthy of note too- they make good looking, classic, strong boots in a women's size without feeling the need to put rhinestones, crazy colors, or extensive decorative tooling on them. Mine are brown and covered in mud and horse ######. Best 170 bucks I've ever spent. Good for hiking, working, and stomping around town. And the little old lady working at the place mentioned above is amazing. She's from Britain originally and loves cartoons. Told me all about the days she'd pay a nickel on a hot summer afternoon to watch old school cartoons.

I'll tell you something I just remembered about Samantha. After a while, a lot of the stories blend together and I can't remember who came from where, especially when they come in groups or they stay at the rescue for a rather long time (as she did). After racing, she ended up at a farm that the police/humane society had to raid. She had been chained to a tree with no shelter during this winter, and she'd gotten barbed wire fencing wrapped around her pastern/was covered in scratches/had rainrot. Her and the others we got from this situation were very very thin. The thing that made me wonder about her past treatment was we knew these people hadn't had her TOO incredibly long, but she had scarring on her face that was healed that would have predated the farm she ended up on. She has since been happily adopted by a very capable lady who loves spirited TBs. I myself feel guilt occasionally- I rode at a barn throughout my time at RIT as a wellness course (which d4rk took to meet me, but that's another story). Loved everyone there, never saw a hint of neglect/abuse, occasionally came out during the week to observe/assist veterinary procedures. We got a horse at the rescue who was one of the worst cases I'd ever seen. Didn't recognize the name. Long story short, this 29 year old mare was one of the horses from the stable I rode at. They'd put her up for auction, fortune did not fall her way, and she ended up in our hands. I didn't know it was her until 2 weeks after she'd been readopted. I guess there'd been some fighting involved with her. I felt awful- I'd had such high respect for the barn, but I also knew they'd been hurting for funding, so I understood why they took Prima to auction. At the same time, they still had a good 30 horses, and Prima was gentle/perfect for girl scouts/young and new riders. I don't know. It's really a complicated business. A quick aside- we have a standardbred right now with a freeze brand on her from racing- oh my god, she's the most aggressive horse I've ever worked with. I think she's ill. I know she's in heat. But I bet she has a UTI or something. Two of us went out to bring her and the mare she was with who she won't let eat and won't let us get near (a very mild mannered TB, opposite day in this paddock), and she kept rushing us. Head down, full sprint, stopping a foot shy of bulling us down. We stood our ground long enough to give her the message she wasn't going to win by being a bully, but holy crap. She does not appreciate cross ties either. We have an open house tomorrow for the ASPCA's Help a Horse Day- I hope she's on some better behaviour!

Wellp, I'm going to go punch a wall, vomit, and chug all the booze in the house, not necessarily in that order. I don't care who wins the cup as long as it's not Boston.

I am not going to survive this overtime.... Monster is playing out of his gourd. I wonder how long he can keep it up....

Tootoo, despite being a bit of a thug on the ice, is a fascinating dude to follow. He posts a lot of pictures of his life up in Nunavut on his Instagram. He runs around in a seal skin traditional outift and eats lots of raw caribou and beluga and such with knives made of horn and bone. Plus the "pond" hockey is pretty much never-ending up there. Also, that kid is a mad scientist in the making. Holy crap. What have you done, 22.

I apologize if it seems I painted with a broad brush- I realize from my post that I may come across as pessimistic. I definitely know that the good owners of all breeds and racers and racetrack owners highly outweigh the bad. I work with the heart breakers, and though I will admit it has made me cast a (unfair) critical light and attitude towards smaller tracks, I am fully aware that the big tracks are owned, managed, staffed and used by passionate, responsible people and talented, healthy animals. I'm also very aware of the extreme costs of ownership, especially for racers. It's a prohibitive thing, and a lot of times the passion takes over the common sense of financial ability. I would love to work with the higher level someday, or own my own stable/rescue- I just have never found an opening. I only have experience riding western and of all things, cossack, and generally lack knowledge about the operations of big, clean, efficient stables. I have good horse sense and can clean, tack, train and groom but I never got any formal experience that I feel you need to work at those places. We do a lot with the little we've got, and I find a lot of heart/therapy/healing for myself through what I do. Later this fall I hope to volunteer at a mounted police seminar. I'm excited to be around well groomed/trained horses. I haven't ridden in years now, either, which is a shame. I love the Derby, I love seeing the pinnacle of the sport, and I'm glad there's good people in the organization. The pound of bad always catches attention over the ton of good. I'm just there to help anyone who falls through the cracks :)

From what I've experienced, a lot is simply because they're Thoroughbreds or Standardbreds- which means they're livelier, moodier, and in some cases, more aggressive. But we get TBs and SBs that aren't racers as well, and the difference I've noticed between those who have and haven't (check the inner lip for a tattoo, some have freezebranded numbers on their necks or haunches) is that those who did have track time are more skittish and a lot more difficult to handle (several were face-shy, which I wonder if it was any relation to racing), while also exhibiting nervous bad behaviours, like cribbing or pawing. And they HATE being in a stall/closed up. We've had issues trailering some of them, too. Livewires. Now, I can't say that's always true- each horse is a completely different personality and has an entirely different past. Some have been abused, others were raced, didn't perform well, and were bought by well meaning owners who simply couldn't care for them anymore, hence they ended up at the rescue for re-adoption. Remember, for me to work with them, it's often a worse case scenario, sometimes involving kill pens and meat auctions. But most of our sad cases act that way- sad. Head hung, low energy- I have yet to work with a low energy/easy going racer. One of the odder things I learned about one TB ex racer in particular who'd had a decent track record at Finger Lakes (Sizzlin' Samantha was her name, her retirement name was Scarlett) was whoever had worked with her in the past only cleaned/worked on her hooves from one side because it was "quicker". She hated having anyone come on the other side. I haven't been to a track, so I'm not really familiar with how things work there, but some of my co volunteers attend/have worked at tracks and can tell you when a horse has been treated well or not or drugged up or pushed upon one day of working with them. Most the racers we get competed at Finger Lakes or somewhere in Canada. We get them from all over the eastern seaboard, as well. I'm sure the participants in the higher stakes races are treated very very well- studs live a life of leisure for sure. I'd love to see one of those races. The money... oh man, the money goes so far for those animals. Sorry that turned into a book- I could babble about this stuff for days. Each one of those horses that comes through our rescue is like a kid to me, and I've learned/am learning so much. Poor d4rk has to listen to it every Saturday.

I'm always open to these threads. Nice to talk horses with other people. Since the last Triple Crown season, I've worked with several more ex-racehorses. Nothing elite, of course (we did have one who was the mother of a few decently successful racers I guess, i can't remember details), and they're in bad shape when I get them, but their stories/temperaments are vastly different from the usual rescues. It's been interesting learning more about that industry.

Absolutely. Daario should make my lady bits quiver. Honestly, he should look more like the gent they have portraying Oberyn. Exotic, dark, the blue beard, a wicked smile. Have a resemblance to Khal Drogo, even. The first Daario was too Fabio for me, the second is monochromatic like a dusty turd left by a horselord's steed.

It's raining here and pretty much the entire office is being super unproductive because someone discovered this. Neat little thing, perfect for a kinda dreary day like today. http://tonematrix.audiotool.com/ for more time wasting: http://www.audiotool.com and if you like watching sound, http://www.georgeandjonathan.com/#1

Yeah, no one shitting down the throats of beheaded vanquished enemies.... man. We did get a few brief blurry dick shots though....

I'm upset that the producers chose to use rape as a tool of shock value in a place where it wasn't needed. I understand tweaking/editing the book to enhance/unmuddy the visual experience, especially when condensing pages of text/development into hour long shows. But to take a scene that was memorable because it was originally consensual and so much creepier as such and turn it into what they did makes no sense to me. There's enough rape in the books and show, implied and described, for atmosphere and plot device, that to add more is unnecessary, and never the better option. Besides, part of Jamie's story in the books was how his good side, if you can believe he has one, begins to show through, and you're left to wrestle with the idea of that. I think the worst thing he does towards Cersei physically is slap her. Also, I miss Strong Belwas. And Oberyn looks like Ovechkin's much more handsome cousin.

I've been hearing similar comments about this. I'll find the episode tonight and really can't have a fair opinion until I see it myself, but... if it's done how I think it's going to be done, I'm really really disgusted. I figured producers would know better by now. Besides, wasn't the book version gut squirmy enough?