Open Thread: Just Some Clouds

So, on the one hand, this is a day late.  On the other hand: four weeks in a row!

I really am sorry for failing to keep up with the open threads.  Too early to say that that's changed, this streak is, at least, promising.

On the topic of the picture, for a while I thought the micro USB port on my camera was broken because I couldn't charge the camera and had great difficulty getting the connection to remain active for long enough to get pictures off.  As such, I haven't been taking many pictures lately.  This picture is over a month old.  Specifically, it's from January 14th.

I believe it was taken from a Marden's parking lot, where I happened to be sitting inside my sister's van without much to do.  For a very long time, "Marden's" was known to me solely from a catchy jingle I heard on the radio, which went:

I shoulda bought it
When I saw it
At Marden's.

(The catchy nature of it was tied up in delivery, not wording.)

After 2010, that changed for me because I learned that Paul LePage ran the company.  I've sort of spent the decade (slightly less, but not by much) thinking of them as evil because of that.  That's honestly unfair.  While I question their staffing decisions, given that they had someone like him as general manager for four years,* his association with Marden's ended when he became governor, and it has never been reestablished.

* The same can arguably be said of the State of Maine.  While LePage never received a majority of the vote, and under current rules definitely wouldn't have won election and probably wouldn't have won re-election, he came pretty damned close to a majority when he ran for re-election.

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Now, having told you all more about Marden's and LePage than you ever wanted to know, we can get on to the rest of the open thread post.

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We have special open threads set aside for discussing various movies, said discussions including plain text spoilers.  This is currently the only one:
   ● Star Wars: Episode IX -- The Rise of Skywalker

You do not need a special open thread to discuss a movie.  Provided you encipher any spoilers (the standard method is by summoning Cthulhu) discussion of movies is quite welcome in the regular open threads.

The special threads are for cases where movie-talk might threaten to drown out other discussion, is expected to take place over multiple weeks, or both.  If you believe a given movie calls for one, simply say so.

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Friday Saturday Recommendations!  What have you been reading/writing/listening to/playing/watching lately?  Shamelessly self-promote or boost the signal on something you think we should know about - the weekend’s ahead of us here, so give us something new to explore!

And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!