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Ghost of LL

Burnt Ends
  • Joined

Everything posted by Ghost of LL

  1. Uh, yeah--this is a legitimate concern.
  2. Uh, no--what you describe is the exact definition of "predatory pricing:" setting your price below your cost in an effort to establish monopoly power and recoup those losses at a later date. See Brooke Grp., Ltd. v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp., 509 U.S. 209 (1993). If we actually ever enforced the Sherman Act, it'd be illegal af. But we've pretty much decided that antitrust law is no longer a thing.
  3. My dude--the Italians have shown a total incapacity for self-governance since at least 88 BC.
  4. No--you're dead, too. Just like the rest of us.
  5. @texasdago --I am going back to Italy this Summer and need your help. I'm doing a week in Rome and a week on Lake Como. In between, I have four days, and the family has settled on Bologna. I know that's your town, and I'm sure you've written extensively on it upthread. Can you perhaps copy-and-paste your thoughts here? It'll be me and the wife and kids (17M and 15F). My daughter loves proscuitto, so I'd like to fit in a place that might cater to that. For the boy, perhaps the Lamborghini museum? I assume I want to stay in the city. But if we're going over to Parma and such, should we find an agritourismo or something instead? Any help you may have would be appreciated.
  6. Damn, guys--shit's getting serious around here.
  7. The rules of grammar.
  8. Let's acknowledge first how dispiriting it is to see Ken fucking Paxton with a lead in the Republican primary and with a very good chance to win in a general election. I mean, wake the fuck up, Texas. Even if you wnat to go full MAGA--and you should never go full MAGA--at least Hunt isn't a criminal. At the same time, let's also acknowledge that these are pretty wretched numbers for Republicans in Texas. An incumbent senator with a 47-44 edge over a Democratic state rep . . . isn't great. Actually, it's pretty goddamned lousy. And the leader in the Republican primary being tied with the Democrats' leader? That's a flashing red fucking light. Contrast those results with Abbott's--those are the numbers a Republican in Texas should be seeing. That neither Paxton nor Cornyn are is really fucking abysmal.
  9. It just never ceases to shock me to see Texas's senior senator calling out @Brisketexan for his family tradition of baked meat slathered in ketchup.
  10. Including, but certainly not limited to, Rudy Giuliani.
  11. I mean, yes and no. "Yes" from the perspective that they are not highly predictive of how the election will turn out in November. There's nine months worth of news that's going to happen between now and voting, and opinions can (and to some greater or lesser degree, will) change between now and then. "No" from the standpoint that it's reflective of where the public is today. Assuming you have a good-quality poll--and I don't know anything about Alaska Survey Research--it can indicate that an incumbent is in trouble. And broadly speaking, I'd say that any incumbent who is (1) trailing his opponent in January (2) by more than a point (3) in a race in which both candidates have very high name recognition, resulting in very few "undecideds" is in trouble. And is that particularly surprising? Alaska is different. It relies on federal spending to make life there feasible. Three things in particular hit different up there: (1) disaster relief, (2) public broadcasting, and (3) federal protection of fisheries. And Sullivan is on the wrong side of all of those. Going full Trumpkin in Washington and cutting public broadcasting and disaster relief may get you plaudits on Fox News, but it's fucking death in Dillingham. Add to that the fact that Alaska has a very large Native American population, which is uniquely politically astute and organized. They've played ball with Republicans from statehood because it's good for business, and the tribes have a lot of business interests in Alaska. But the Republican Party until now has had the good sense not to be overtly white supremacist. And it hasn't escaped notice with the Native American population that Sullivan is a member of an avowedly white-supremacist party while Peltola is Native American herself. I'm not at all surprised that Peltola would be leading at this point in the race. And I won't be surprised if she ends up winning.
  12. Well, the one who issued the show-cause order was a Trump appointee who has only been on the bench since 2019. But to your point--six years on the federal bench is plenty long enough to turn anyone into a salty old guy who isn't going to take any shit from the likes of Lindsey Halligan.
  13. I'm just going to go out on a limb here and predict that Lindsey Halligan is going to get disbarred by the E.D. Va. I mean, it's definitely proper. And telling a federal judge to "fuck off" when he issues a show-cause order is kinda how that'd happen.
  14. Air fares actually are down. Kinda. The Delta earnings call today was interesting. Volume for economy seats is down 7% YOY. But premium was up 9% (which is a net positive, because premium seats are generally more profitable). That’s just one data point. But that’s one more data point. We’re seeing a real nasty K economy. If you’re in the top 10% of earners, this economy is pretty good. But if you’re not, it’s shitty.
  15. I am just back from a trip that routed AUS-DFW-LHR-VCE on the outbound and VCE-LHR-ORD-AUS on the return. I had the double connect both beause of cost and timing (the return would've required me to catch a 7:00 AM flight out of VCE if I wanted to catch the BA nonstop from LHR to AUS). On both the transatlantic flights, I was up front on the new 787-900 Premium plane, with AA's new Business Class product, and have a few thoughts: 1) On both flights, I was in the front row, which actually has a fair amount more room. They also provide extra bedding, though the food and drink are the same. I presume the plan is to start charging for that seat in the future, but for right now its available to anyone. I'll tell you that, as a larger guy, it's well worth it even though you are close to the galley/lavs. 2) The crew on the outbound flight (DFW-LHR) were fantastic. I normally fly BA straight out of Austin, but the AA crew blew away any BA crew I've ever had. I'm not saying that's a super-high bar. But I was a bit surprised. The crew on the return (LHR-ORD) were pretty league average. Not great; not terrible. The real problem with American is the high degree of variability. On Singapore, I know I'm going to get oustanding service. On BA, I know it's going to be mediocre but with a very pleasant accent. On AA, it's just a fucking crapshoot. 3) To precisely that point, the lounge situation is just wild. At T3 at LHR, you can go to the Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge if you're Emerald on OneWorld and hang out at one of the best airline lounges in the world. At T5, you go over to the BA First lounge, which isn't nearly as good but is still very comfortable. On American at DFW, you go to the Flagship lounge. Is it great? No. But it's probably within spitting distance of the BA First lounge at LHR. And then you have O'Hare. I gotta tell you--I really don't understand American's strategy at ORD. Supposedly they're competing with United. But if you're really competing with United, shouldn't you . . . compete? Instead, American puts absolutely minimum investment into its terminal. On the American side, O'Hare probably has the worst food and beverage option of any major airport in America. It's fucking abysmal. And that's pretty consistent with the Flagship Lounge at Terminal 3. Honestly, it was shocking how mid it was. I'd have been disappointed if that had been an AAdmirals Club. Food offerings were sparce. There were no real hot dishes, and certainly nothing that could be ordered a la carte. But here's the wild thing--there was no bartender. None. There was a bunch of booze out, and they had little laminated index cards with recipes on how to make various cocktails. But goddamn--that's why there's supposed to be a bartender. I mean, this is supposed to be a first class lounge, after all. So in my trip, I went from one of the best first class lounges in the world to what has to be one of the worst. And that's the real problem with AA. I just don't know what I'm going to get from one flight to the next or from one station to the next. It's just a complete goddamned crapshoot.
  16. Oh, and by the way--don't order an Aperol spritz. Only tourists and teenagers just learning to drink order an Aperol spritz. Select and Cynar are the preferred local aperitifs for turning into a spritz. They're more bitter and complex than Aperol (but neither is nearly as bitter as Campari, which is also a favorite). One other recommendation--the bacaro on the San Marco side of the Rialto bridge and to the right of the bridge is great. Get there a bit before noon and you can grab a table facing out on the canal and just people watch. They serve Paulaner by the liter and the cicchetti and panini are actually pretty good. Yeah, the prices are high. But you're looking out on the Rialto bridge--what do you expect?
  17. I mean, on the one hand it's impossible not to get lost in Venice. No street goes for more than a couple blocks. They dead-end into canals or, more maddeningly, the follow a bridge over a canal that is then just a closed private door. They meander around with no apparent reference to the cardinal directions. And the normal reference to landmarks is limited because one campo quickly starts to look like any other. On the other hand, it's kind of impossible to get too terribly lost in Venice. If you can just keep heading in the same general direction, eventually you'll run into St. Mark's. Or the Grand Canal. Or the Rialto. Or at least a sign pointing you to one of them. It's such a genuinely weird city.
  18. Just back from Venice and have a handful of thoughts. We did a cicchetti tour one evening with Barbara at Devour Tours and had a great time. She grew up and went to university in Venice, so she took us to some of her familiar haunts where she knew the owners and all the bartenders, told us about the history of what we were eating and drinking, and the local culture and etiquette. I'd highly recommend. Gondolas are a fixed price set by the City. It's 90 Euro for 30 minutes, but longer times & routes can be negotiated. We took two gondola rides, because why not? One during the day and the other in the evening. From that, I can tell you that the gondoliers are a fantastic resource. On our daytime ride, we asked whether we could grab a bottle of wine for the ride. Yeah--sure. No problem. He ran with us to a bacaro around the corner. He obviously knew the staff. We bought a bottle and they loaned us a couple glasses, which we brought back after the ride (we had plenty of wine left after the ride, so we hung out and had some cicchetti, which the gondolier recommended). On the evening ride, we figured out that the gondola ride doesn't have to be roundtrip. Now maybe that's just in the evening, because we were his last fare of the day. But I suspect anything is negotiable. We told him that we'd want to go to dinner afterwards at some trattoria and gave him some thoughts on what we were looking for. He gave us a couple suggestions, we picked one, and he took us right over there. A gondola ride in January is amazing--we didn't see another boat (gondola or powered boat) during our 45-minute ride until the very end when we had to cross the Grand Canal. Even then, we just saw a vaporetto and a couple taxis. The vaporetto is an easy way to see a lot of the archipelago and get around the city, but it's not cheap. A single ride is 9.50 Euro. But you can get a full-day pass for 25 Euro or a 72-hour pass for not just a whole lot more. That's the way to go if you have any ambitions of making it out to Murano and want to see a bit more of the city than just the bits around San Marco and Rialto. Mrs. LL decided she wanted to see the bridge from the fight scene in Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, which is up in Castello (it's the Ponte dei Conzafelzi). It's a bit of a hike, but I'm glad she did because it was our favorite part of town. There were a ton of great little bacaros and such that we stopped in for a drink and a snack. Can I tell you where they were? Fuck no--we were lost af. But that's the point of Venice. Just roam around and get lost. And when you're done, use Google Maps for directions back to your hotel. It's probably only like five minutes away.
  19. I just cleared Customs an hour ago at O’Hare. By the way—I really hate as a philosophical matter the government having my face on record, but damned if it isn’t nice to clear customs in less than two minutes. Anyway, I’ve never come back and felt anything other than the joy a free man feels on returning home. This time, it felt like a three-time recidivist heading back to Lew Sterritt. I really need a new passport.
  20. I was having a perfectly lovely weekend in Venice and you have to go and say this? Fuck you, man.
  21. We are on our third day in Venice today, and I'll tell you--I would never again do Venice in any month other than January. During the height of the day, Piazza San Marco is nearly empty. In the evening--it's absolutely deserted. It’s moody at night. The canals are empty. There’s Mystery. I can't give you just a whole lot of recs. Most of the places I've found have just been bacari that we've popped into for a couple cicchetti and a spritz (I've been told that only the children drink Aperol--it's like a Bartles & Jaymes; adults drink a Cynar spritz). We're just spending every day getting lost in town. In January, though, you can just grab a space at the base of the Rialto and they’re happy to have you. I've been here in the Summer. It's miserable. It's full of tourists who are only here for the day. It's hot. It doesn't particularly smell good. In January, it's nearly empty. Everyone is chill. The mornings are foggy; the afternoons have been sunny. It's genuinely amazing.
  22. This is becoming about vastly more than merely the murder of an American citizen by the agents of the United States Government. Let’s pause for a second and reflect on the gravity of what I just typed. But beyond the murder of an American citizen at the hands of the agents of the United States Government, this is becoming a question of the ability of a sovereign state to enforce its own laws within its borders. The State of Minnesota is sovereign, and has the right as the sovereign to promulgate and enforce its own criminal laws. While the United States is the superior sovereign, it does not have the right to vitiate the sovereignty of the State of Minnesota. Unless it does. We’ve had this fight before. We might have to have it again. Minnesota is perfectly within its rights at this moment to detain every ICE agent for questioning in connection with the murder of one of its citizens. And given the federal government’s coverup, it might just have to take that action.
  23. I’m never going to argue with a night in London. On a trip a few years ago when our children were a bit younger, we planned on taking the overnight train to Fort William. We got all the way to the platform at Kings Cross (or was it Easton?) when a very nice conductor told us that there had been a mudslide that took out the tracks and that passengers for Fort William would get off at Glasgow at 4:00 AM and take a bus to Fort William. Mrs.LL and I looked at one another and said “y’all may be doing that, but we’re not.” We went to the W in SoHo and got a suite and had a helluva night. Got up the next morning, took a train to Glasgow, rented a car, and drove to Oban. Damn, that was a fun night in London—the whole family still talks about how much fun that was. And so I think that’s the way you probably still want to go. If you’re connecting to another UK destination, my understanding is that you still have to clear customs at LHR and then you get spit out landside. So in that instance, you have to clear security again. The no-security connection is strictly for passengers connecting from the United States to other non-UK destinations.
  24. Well, it is with regret and no small amount of angst that I agree that avoiding relegation has to be Priority 1 at this point. We don’t want to have The Best Goddamned Stadium In Championship. But that is where we are as a club. A Big Six hoping just to avoid relegation. This club needs major organizational overhaul.
  25. I mean, ok. But really—what’s the fucking point? We have gone through what? Two managers every season for like three years in a row now? Sure. Let’s fire Frank. And while we’re at it, let’s rearrange some more deck chairs.
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