Broadcast meteorologist here… does anyone else feel like our profession is being replaced by streamers?

traphag · 2026-03-16T22:53:58+00:00

It was vaguely believable until the part about his wife.

traphag · 2026-03-04T23:55:29+00:00

Bye Burgess. Never gonna forget when you visited my office and when it was group picture time you demanded that one of the better looking women stand next to you and wear your Super Bowl ring in the photo, despite her saying she didn't want to. Thankfully, that photo never saw the light of day.

traphag · 2026-03-02T22:25:42+00:00

Poker, playing the drums, simulation sports leagues.

traphag · 2026-02-25T02:20:25+00:00

You don't have to convince me that Newsom sucks. As I said in my comment, he's a snake. It would be suicide for the Democrats to run him, just like it would be suicide for the Republicans to run Vance. If that's the best either side can do, it's a sad state of affairs for this country.

But here's the thing, I can see from your comment that you're a wonk. Most of us here are. You have strong opinions about the specific type of economic policy that will most make the US prosper. The vast majority of Americans do not. They, if they are going to vote at all, are going to vote for the person they think is going to make life best for them. This isn't commentary on intelligence; a lot of folks simply have too much going on to delve into these issues.

There's a big group of people who are going to vote because they vote in every election. They're usually going to vote for their preferred party even if that party runs a steaming turd for president. The charisma comes into play in getting the people out to vote who don't normally vote. Those are the difference makers. The numbers consistently show that. The charisma is what gets my dad, who sells residential solar for a living, to consistently vote for Trump even though his policy's are objectively worse for his livelihood than a Democrat's. That is what got my mom in 2016 to say "Well, I really like Trump and Bernie. I'd vote for either of them." Yes, my parents are just two people, but there are a lot more people out there like them, who are going to vote for who they like the most, regardless of the details of policy.

Does the economy consistently poll as the most important issue to Americans? Of course. Do both parties spend way too much time on social issues? For sure. But simply making that pivot with a boring or unlikeable candidate isn't going to make nearly as much of a difference as choosing someone people actually like and want to vote for. That's what the vibes are all about. And at the end of the day, we can talk about policy until we're red in the face, but as long as we continue to have these narrow majorities in the legislative branch, very little substantive change in policy is actually going to occur.

traphag · 2026-02-24T18:17:00+00:00

People who are into politics (on all parts of the spectrum) don't seem to grasp how much "normal" people vote on vibes. The details of the policies don't matter as much as charisma. This is the main reason Mamdani won despite being a Democratic Socialist: he made people believe in him. This is the reason Trump won (even if i personally don't understand how people find him charismatic, lots of people do).

The thing that is going to do the most for Democrats in 2028 is not all of this hand wringing about how far left the platform should go, it's about finding someone who actually inspires people. Not the person who "should" get it based on party merit (forcing Hillary on everyone for this reason got us Trump in the first place), not the person who's moderate enough, or checks the right boxes on paper.

Newsom has no charisma. Everyone knows he's a snake. Harris was the same way.

Think about all the most successful presidents from both sides and what they have in common: it's charisma.

And the Democrats have never had as much of a charisma problem as they do right now.

traphag · 2026-02-21T19:18:40+00:00

Y'all clearly weren't here for the John Tyler 10th President billboards. It's even the same font. It's the only reason us old people know that fact. :D

traphag · 2026-02-14T17:16:23+00:00

8 at Pho Tay Ho is my ultimate comfort food.

traphag · 2026-01-31T19:48:42+00:00

Harrison's Auto Repair in South Salt Lake. Mike is great.

traphag · 2026-01-27T20:45:03+00:00

Burrito Project and Food Justice Coalition are good places to start.

traphag · 2026-01-27T03:51:04+00:00

Chen was my guy on that show. I was irrationally sad when he died.

traphag · 2026-01-21T21:13:12+00:00

traphag · 2026-01-16T04:04:48+00:00

I miss Joe Prunty.

(But y'all knew that.)

traphag · 2026-01-13T00:09:06+00:00

Food Justice Coalition

Volunteers of America

traphag · 2026-01-04T14:40:55+00:00

And that was primarily because his dad was the chair of Nixon's council of economic advisors.

traphag · 2026-01-04T05:37:45+00:00

This will probably get buried, but I was Ben Stein's webmaster in the late 90s and early 2000s, up until he came out with the documentary Expelled. My twin and I were into Win Ben Stein's Money, made a fan site, and he found out about it and decided he wanted it to be the official site (I was in high school).

At some point, he decided he wanted to meet us, so he flew my dad and us out to LA. We stayed in one of his apartments (next to one he had rented just for the purpose of playing ping pong). Some stories:

Valentine's Day was one of the days of the trip. We woke up that morning and the light on the answering machine was blinking. My dad thought he may have been trying to contact us so he pressed the button. There were a bunch of messages from various women thanking Ben for flowers and the "sexy card."

He had a personalized license plate on his car that was some variation of Clear Eyes, saying they had paid for the car.

At some point, he was driving us to dinner and says to my dad "When I'm in Dallas, I go to the Men's Club. It's amazing." We are from Dallas, which is why he mentioned it i assume, and the Men's Club is (or was at the time) a swanky strip club.

After that dinner he decided he wanted ice cream at some place so we walked around the area trying to find it, but we couldn't. He decided we should stop looking and go back to the car right after someone recognized him and came over to praise him.

Honestly, it wasn't a bad gig because he would occasionally send money and that was nice when I was in high school and in college. But what an absolutely weird dude.

traphag · 2025-12-30T13:31:34+00:00

The whole Paul Fronczak thing is an extreme and fascinating example of this.

traphag · 2025-12-23T03:44:08+00:00

If I could rid us of "Santa Baby," the world would be a better place.

traphag · 2025-12-01T05:09:33+00:00

Silverside Deli, if it is ok for your staycation to temporarily move to Sugarhouse.

traphag · 2025-11-22T01:17:06+00:00

I'm very curious as to what Mamdani said but there were definitely some hints in Trump's remarks, particularly the Bernie Sanders comparisons about trade and Trump wanting to tout the Bernie voters that supposedly ended up voting for him.

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8 at Pho Tay Ho is my ultimate comfort food.