Instagram superstar Alina Lando Prepares For Halloween, Washed Up Tom Brady Memes & President Trump vs. Backoff Challenge
Mailbag
• Mark from Indiana is first up.
Joe,
I like the mailbox idea for the Screencaps group and have a great question (well that will be decided by the group) from a veteran TV watcher and still tied to the cord TV person.
Do all the channels coordinate the commercials now to force us to watch commercials?
When I watch Seinfeld or Modern Family or Moonshiners or Deadliest Catch and a commercial comes on, I flip to other channels and I see commercials on every channel.
I am a "veteran" TV watcher and this probably does not apply to Millenials but I need to know.
Thanks for the question, Mark. Like the Internet, TV networks have massive piles of analytical data on you, your habits, when you change the channel, when you go grab beers during games, when you go to bed, how many hours of sleep you get based on the watches you wear, etc., etc.
While I can't find a definitive answer to this question, it's one that has been asked on the Internet going way back. Believe it or not, there were message board users asking this in 2004.
I would say the conspiracy side of the question is a no. I think it has more to do with how the shows were created and how they had to break up a half-hour into blocks. Remember, out of a 30-minute show, you're actually getting between 18-22 minutes of content.
• Drew asks:
What do you think of Elon Musk's statement about Twitter not becoming a "free for all hellscape where anything can be said with no consequences" but added he will "follow the laws of the land."
The "laws of the land" state that unless they are credible threats, you cannot be prosecuted for speech. Do you think this is what Musk meant? If not, doesn't this mean nothing will really change?
Musk also made it known that Twitter needs to be a place "where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence." He's also said Twitter needs to be better balanced and not a place where the far left or far right hold too much power.
I'm as fascinated by the rest of you to see how that happens.
The two sides will continue to find a way to have bloody street battles on a daily basis. That's not going anywhere. Remember, both sides are addicted to being right. We're living during highly aggrieved times.
As for the "hellscape" thing, even though Musk has said he didn't buy Twitter “to make more money. I did it to try to help humanity, whom I love,” I think he needs mainstream American advertising to stick around to actually legitimize his digital town square. Twitter cannot become 4chan or it's dead. There's already a 4chan.
Karate chopping a pillow
• Jon F. writes:
I actually laughed out loud reading the part about pillows in today's SC. Last week I witnessed firsthand the "karate chop thing" to the pillows and wondered if all wives have a compulsion to do this. A good friend of mine and I just finished/listed our first AirBnb in Maumee (Ohio) last week. Our wives did 100% of the decorating and the number of pillows on the beds and couch/chairs is astonishing. I'm talking like 18 pillows on 2 beds, a couch and 2 chairs. I said something about blowing the budget on pillows and you can imagine how well that was received.
Congrats on the success you've earned with OutKick. You know you're doing something right when the lib lib snowflakes start going after you in the Twitter comment section!
Last, I never knew I was a damn millennial (Born in 82) until all this millennial week stuff started earlier this month. I always thought it was 1984 and after... I think I was more disappointed than when I was a kid and learned Santa wasn't real.
You're one of those 1982 in-betweeners like Mrs. Screencaps. I can't even begin to talk early 1990s grunge with her because it's right over her head and she can't talk mid-1990s TV shows with me because I was at college bars when Sabrina the Teenage Witch was on.
Grazing board food safety concerns from someone who has studied this stuff
• JT writes:
Hi Joe, I'm really fascinated with the mailbag direction on Screencaps and I'm enjoying all the different subjects brought up.
I just wanted to give my two cents on food safety of charcuterie boards and such. I've spent way too much time with a textbook called Microorganisms in Foods not to weigh in just a little.
The emailer is totally correct to be concerned about the exposure time and temperature of these things. What I would say is if you're leaving it out the whole afternoon throw away the leftovers. What often causes food poisoning are the toxins bacteria produce as they grow and reproduce and 50 to 80 degrees are temperatures the little buggers just love.
So you put those 75-degree leftovers into the fridge and it's going to be hours until they're chilled below 40. Even then 40 degrees only slows down the reproduction of bacteria so if you leave them a few days and pull them out to eat you're just begging for extended toilet time with a nasty gut ache. Even if you reheat it above 160 to kill whatever is growing on that food the bacterial toxins are still there and you won't like it.
All that said, I would personally relax and eat off of it while it was out that first afternoon without too much concern.
Folks, this is why you read Screencaps on a daily basis. One minute we could be talking karate chopping a pillow and the next minute the subject could be why you're on the toilet after crushing leftover wings.
People helping people in Florida
• Chris B. writes:
Hi, Joe — Greetings from Cape Coral, Florida, the middle of the Hurricane Ian Cone of Uncertainty.
No kidding, the line up the middle of the cone went right over our house. We came back down after the power was restored about two weeks later, and we found that we had 8 of our avocado, mango, and coconut palm trees down. Several were sitting on the house (along with somebody’s roof truss) and two were sitting on the fence.
The Missus and I were out in the yard Sunday morning, trying to figure out where to begin. We had already received totally non-gouging quotes of $6-12K to clean up the trees, which mostly wouldn’t be covered by our insurance even after we paid the $4K deductible. We’ve had dozens of “contractors” walking around and leaving their cards; most of these are probably collect-the-deposit-and-run scam artists.
A guy walked up in a gray t-shirt reading Team Rubicon and said “Looks like you folks could use some help.” We talked to him for a bit, mostly in disbelief that someone would just offer to help as he insisted that there was no charge. He gave its a phone number to call, which I did as soon as he left, and I thought that was the end of that.
(We had been hesitant to apply for help because, even though we had damage, a lot of people had worse damage and need help even more. We could scrape together the 10 G’s if we had to, although it would be a burden.)
About two hours later, my wife came around to my side of the yard and said “Want to see what angels look like?”
TR had sent about a dozen people with chainsaws and safety equipment — they were all volunteers from all over the US and even from Israel, mostly but not entirely retired military and first responders, male and female, from 22 to 72. They worked alongside us for two days to cut away and remove all of the damaged trees, get other people’s roofs off our house, and so on. They wouldn’t accept a penny — although we made a stout donation to the organization — and wouldn’t even let us feed them. The missus snuck a few six-packs into the truck, at least, and sent them away with some home-baked cookies. They worked tirelessly in the 95-degree heat (always a treat after a hurricane) and may be the greatest group of people I’ve ever worked alongside.
Want to help people who are delivering unbelievable results on the ground? Donate or volunteer at TeamRubiconUSA.org
Ts Gone Wild in Europe
• Michael in Pittsburgh is worried about Mike T. and self-control in Europe
Seriously, that guy has to put on some serious pounds and crushes his cholesterol on these trips to Europe.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m jealous. It looks beautiful and delicious, but I know I wouldn’t have the self-control
I'm not going to speak for Mike T. here, but if I'm going to pack on some pounds, I want it via that Italian food he's been showing off. I have to post all that stuff before I even get a chance to eat breakfast. Some days are extremely rough as the Ts are showing off grazing plates and real Italian pizza.
Look at Mike's lunch from the other day. Unreal. Screw the cholesterol reading. Give me this six-days-a-week and those cigs the Italians smoke and I'm not even a smoker.
You can't make 'em all happy
Hey Todd, I thought the first sentence of the python post would've told you this post was going to be different. Toddy made a huge mistake plunging into the 22-foot python post. This isn't a straight news site, Toddy. You're going to get some commentary and sometimes it's not going to be comfortable like you're reading the New York Times, big boy.
For the guys who have lonely single garage beers hanging out
Some just keep going with their internal Thursday Night Mowing League even though TNML is officially done for the season
• Jim M. in southern Rhode Island writes:
Got a mow in!!! Or a chop, as leaves are starting to fall.
I'm over my time this morning. Let's have a strong Friday and a great Halloween weekend. Let's see the best of the best costumes. If you see something on social media, say something. Tag me. Send an email. Don't text me. Please allow me one form of communication that isn't inundated.
Take care,
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com