July Banter 2026

[RickinBaltimore]

Why thank you BGE for informing me you're going to be cutting power for 8 hours for "emergency repairs" 10 minutes before you are scheduled to do it. 

[pazzo83]

Seattle is such a perfect venue for this game - some of the craziest soccer fans in the country, beautiful stadium and city.

[nj2va]

Let’s go USA!!!

[pazzo83]

Fox just showed DC!!!

[MN Transplant]

Just getting completely outclassed

[WxUSAF]

34 minutes ago, MN Transplant said:

Just getting completely outclassed

This is the kind of thing I’ve seen in the orioles 

[Maestrobjwa]

Man I knew they were done the second that appeal to the FIFA president happened. Nothing good was gonna come from that, lol

[H2O]

The streak continues. Just ask the knicks. 

[Kay]

Power restored yesterday mid-day or so. In the evening I went past a long line of utility trucks along route 40, where I had posted earlier about a mile + stretch of poles that were mangled in one way or another, and they were getting toward the end of it.

[wxdude64]

And we are back. Spent 12 days zig-zagging across the country and actually back a day early. Wife bought 2 bushels of green beans and 60 lbs of 'maters from an Amish farm a bit down from my sister's house in TN on Saturday. THEN decided we needed to get them home so she could process and can them all! Meanwhile I picked another 1/2 bushel of beans off of ours when I got home last evening. She's gonna be busy. Least the house was in decent shape from my niece staying here and watching over the cat. We live in a beautiful country, get off the interstates and drive the US and state routes, much more to see!

[Maestrobjwa]

4 hours ago, H2O said:

The streak continues. Just ask the knicks. 

I alreadt chalked that up as a loss on Sunday when as we heard who was involved, lol

Soiled it! Soiled it! Soiled it!

[WVclimo]

Just finalized reservations for flights, lodging and an SUV rental for a week in the Northern Rockies the first week of August.  Planning to hike Glacier National Park, Yellowstone and Grand Teton with my son.

Looks like some of the trails we plan to hit have been closed recently due to heavy rain and snow melt.  Others due to heightened bear activity !  Hoping the forecast for that ridge to set up out west the next few weeks verifies.  Will rely on bear spray for the rest.

[CAPE]

On 7/4/2026 at 7:28 AM, SnowenOutThere said:

I’ll move our conversation over to banter. I fundamentally agree with you on the doom narrative of climate change or that the environment collapsing is bad. It sets people up to no longer believe in those crisises when the world doesn’t end. Nihilism doesn’t really promote people taking action to cause change. However, I think it’s important to recognize that we both know, you as an expert and myself as a student, that 1.5+ degree C change will be bad. There is no arguing that it is warmer than before the Industrial Revolution. Additionally, there is no arguing that greenhouse gases are responsible for the majority of this increase. Finally, there is no arguing that this increase has, and will continue, to exacerbate increasingly damaging events. The last four sentences aren’t a political narrative, they’re just our scientific understanding of the atmosphere as a fluid body. I recognize that you know more about it than me, so if my logic there was wrong please let me know.  
 

The scientific part said, it is frustrating to have people come up to me and say “oh it’s hot because of climate change”. I get that. We need better communication on what it is - an exellerant to extreme patterns - and what it is not - the sole cause of all weather. My last point I want to emphasize as someone who wants to go into environment policy: the ozone hole or acid rain “scares” were extremely detrimental. It is only because of that fear and the groundbreaking legislative effort, both abroad and at home, that we live in a timeline where the ozone hole is a little known fact and confined to the poles. It is because of that effort that acid rain is nonexistent in the US. It is because of that effort and clean air act that our AQI has been in the green despite being trapped under summer ridging. I’ve never known the world my grandparents describe where in summer the sun was dim with smog. It’s important to remember that these are policies that if removed, or gutted, we can and will go back to a more polluted and less healthy planet. 

For those interested in actual science-

https://www.climate.us/

[CAPE]

2 hours ago, WVclimo said:

Just finalized reservations for flights, lodging and an SUV rental for a week in the Northern Rockies the first week of August.  Planning to hike Glacier National Park, Yellowstone and Grand Teton with my son.

Looks like some of the trails we plan to hit have been closed recently due to heavy rain and snow melt.  Others due to heightened bear activity !  Hoping the forecast for that ridge to set up out west the next few weeks verifies.  Will rely on bear spray for the rest.

Have fun!! It will be incredible. Did both those on a trip quite a few years ago now(jeez). Went white water rafting and did the scenic float and plenty of hiking. All great fun. The Grand Prismatic is insane. Took high res shots of that and Yellowstone Falls. Both are framed and hanging on the walls along with shots from Canaan etc.

[MN Transplant]

6 hours ago, WVclimo said:

Just finalized reservations for flights, lodging and an SUV rental for a week in the Northern Rockies the first week of August.  Planning to hike Glacier National Park, Yellowstone and Grand Teton with my son.

Looks like some of the trails we plan to hit have been closed recently due to heavy rain and snow melt.  Others due to heightened bear activity !  Hoping the forecast for that ridge to set up out west the next few weeks verifies.  Will rely on bear spray for the rest.

Did the exact trip last summer.  Incredible stuff.  One note - parking in Glacier is damn near impossible, even with the reservation system.  Traffic flows, there is just nowhere to stop near the major trails/sights.  So, consider the buses.

[nw baltimore wx]

19 minutes ago, MN Transplant said:

Did the exact trip last summer.  Incredible stuff.  One note - parking in Glacier is damn near impossible, even with the reservation system.  Traffic flows, there is just nowhere to stop near the major trails/sights.  So, consider the buses.

We hiked from Logan Pass a couple of years ago and got there at about 5AM to ensure parking. It was already filling up so I definitely agree on the bus recommendation.

[WVclimo]

@MN Transplant@nw baltimore wx
Thanks for the bus suggestion guys.  Will definitely look into it.

[Chris78]

Going back exactly 2 years from today since  7/07/24 they are 151- 174. That's a .464 winning %

Time to do something different here. It's not working.

This team is not good and hasn't been good with this core in 2 years.

Pretty much everyone that is considered there core is either underperforming or not available. 

 

 

[Chris78]

Go back and take a look at their 2023 roster that won 101 games. Most are gone.

If there still here they've been progressively worse the last few years.

I think some of those players Elias lucked into as he was not planning on actually contending in 2023. He was thinking they were still a year away. 

Look at them the last few years when Elias thought this was the time for them to contend lol.

Time for Elias to go bye byes.

[CAPE]

Anyone watching Cape Fear, the series, on Apple TV? Pretty damn good.

[CAPE]

31 minutes ago, Chris78 said:

Go back and take a look at their 2023 roster that won 101 games. Most are gone.

If there still here they've been progressively worse the last few years.

I think some of those players Elias lucked into as he was not planning on actually contending in 2023. He was thinking they were still a year away. 

Look at them the last few years when Elias thought this was the time for them to contend lol.

Time for Elias to go bye byes.

The 'awesome' core is largely mediocre or gone. This team is awful. Elias has failed. As I have said, fire that fucker and rebuild. The hell with buying at the trade deadline. SELL. That's just Elias trying to save his job. Trade a 'valuable' commodity( to a contending team) like Alonso. Get a few prospects in return. Why the hell would he want to waste the prime years of his career with a loser? He would likely be amicable with a trade to an actual contender. 

[CAPE]

Thankfully, NFL training camp is just a few weeks away. Yeah baby!!

[Chris78]

10 minutes ago, CAPE said:

The 'awesome' core is largely mediocre or gone. This team is awful. Elias has failed. As I have said, fire that fucker and rebuild. The hell with buying at the trade deadline. SELL. That's just Elias trying to save his job. Trade a 'valuable' commodity( to a contending team) like Alonso. Get a few prospects in return. Why the hell would he want to waste the prime years of his career with a loser? He would likely be amicable to a trade with an actual contender. 

Yeap. This team is much less talented than they were made out to be. 

Lots of AAA mashers that weren't able to replicate the same success against MLB pitching.

And most are below average defensively. Pair that with Free agent signings like Tyler O'Neil and stop gap starters like Charlie Morton and Chris Bassett and this is what you get.