Waitaminit... Global Warming Friday??? Who changed the calendar on us???

I would just like to point out that I wrote this kit MYSELF.

Speaking of PowerPoint envy, just yesterday I got a mailer for an Edward Tufte course being given in Crystal City. I have no idea how I got on this mailing list, but I suspect it's a direct offensive against military staff officers--who, if forced to choose between their laser pointer and their first-born, might be given pause.

I myself abhor PP and never use it, but I'm tempted to shell out the $350 for the course just because Tufte seems like an interesting and cooky guy.

I just can't seem to get past the fact that Gore is a bore, at least in most public personas. Yeah, sure, he probably would have been a decent President. Given the current state of affairs, I could probably qualify. The Dems right now just don't seem to have a real stand-out. Hillary seems to have the edge, but she carries a lot of baggage (granted, not all of it her fault). Biden just doesn't know when to shut up. Feingold? Who? Dean? Old news, and more baggage. If McCain doesn't actually get in bed with the wing nuts, he probably has a good shot.

My son has already designed and created his Warner 2008 bumper sticker.

==

But to move off topic, I want to ask my fellow boodlers something...

How do you share items or ideas that you hear and learn from the boodle? Do you say, "a friend told me..." or "I just read..."? Or do you admit, "I spend all my time on a blog talking with imaginary friends and one of them had a good point yesterday..."

And Mudge... how did you share your glory yesterday? To show the Mudge Kit all around would only be admitting where your talent has been hiding lately. You certainly can't show it off at work, can you?

Just wondering...

Nobody is disputing your authorship, joel (if the real 9:21 boodler is really joel). The mock-kerfuffle of the day is how many other people you are. We want a full list of your aliases that serve as lackeys, fellow-travelers, marionettes, and strawmen. Just how many voices are in your head and how many of them boodle?

Oh yeah.. and I'm really Joel. Those of you at the BPHs can back me up.

Weirdly enough, it never occurs to me to pretend to be anyone else, or to post comments on other blogs that say, "Hey, check out that brilliant Achenbach guy!", or do anything in the category that I believe is known, perhaps coarsely, as blogwhoring. I only post comments under Achenbach, though I think when I posted a couple of comments recently on another blog that was mocking me, I used the handle "Joel Achenbach." I hope that's not too fast and loose.

I think I will ask the Schemer for an explanation for the frenzy of legalese in the new Comments Policy. I am pretty sure that people own their own words even if they post them to someone else's blog.

You know Thomas Pynchon is actually J.D. Salinger. Right? Everyone knows that?

But we should drift on-topic. This would be a good day for that.

TBG, I'm going to look at Warner closely when the time comes.

I remember almost hitting a guy out for a jog one early fall morning in 1992, in my rush from daycare to the office. It was only later that I realized it was Bill Clinton...

TBG, you have questions about colleges in NC?

Since I AP tested out of American History and I don't know the election results like some people know batting averages of left-handed outfielders, I would ask that one of our more historically oriented boodlers research the track record of failed candidates for the Presidency winning in a later election. The last one I know of Nixon.

Delving into Saber-politics a little deeper, what is the election ratio (wins divided by runs) of candidates that have been nominated more than once? My guess is that it is not good.

As far as I know, there is only one case of a sitting president being defeated and then winning again. (I think it was Kraft.)

Lately we seem to be enforcing the one-strike and you're out rule. Nobody has been clammoring for renominating Mondale, Dukakis, or Dole.

*trying to drift on-topic*

*failing*

I really do tell people I read things on the Boodle...

And then they ask me why I'm trying to read a dog.

I need work on my diction, obviously.

slyness... yes... colleges. My son is looking for a small liberal arts college that a smart kid with good SAT scores but a not-so-good HS GPA can get into and succeed. We like to think he's a late bloomer.

I was looking at Queens College in Charlotte? Others nearby you know about? If we come down there can we have a NC BPH?

Sorry Joel.. didn't mean to go off topic. I'll do better.

TBG

Ahhh, what fun. To dream of what migh-have-been and see the world as so much better, if-only. Of course, if Gore had been made president by Supreme Court action, than it's just as likely we would have had a repeat of the Carter years (great person, bad president) or something equally awful.

(Parenthetical aside - Clinton was a bad person, great president. On balance I'd rather have Bill in the office than Bush, Carter OR Gore).

The issue with the democrats (and frankly, why they don't yet deserve to govern) is that they can't get over a loss 6 years old. Every idiot move by the current administration is met with "this wouldn't have happened if Gore had been elected." This kit is just one more example in a long line of such foolishness. Until you people (you know who you are) stop wallowing in self pity and actually come up with a few ideas, maybe a vision or two, you deserve to wander in the wilderness.

In the meantime, run McCain, run.

Well, TR ran again after a one-term break as a third-party candidate on the "Bull Moose" ticket. Can't imagine why he didn't win with a kick-a** party name like that. He didn't win, though.

I always liked Al Gore. (Plus, I am secretly infatuated with Tipper.) I know of many people who would vote for Gore, but would rather have their spleen cut out than vote for Hillary. Besides, people always like a good comeback. (Think Rocky.) Gore is also smart, and I am one of those snobby types who think that the country should be run by really smart people instead of jus' plain folk. Finally, I think Gore can lead. To me leadership isn't about defending an ideology against reality, it is about adapting ideology to reality. Gore can do this. Of course, my nightmare is a vote-splitting third-party run. (Actually my nightmare is a vote-splitting third-party run where I end up unexpectedly naked.) Have we learned nothing from that whole Ralph Nader thing? If anybody should be encouraged to run as a third party, it should be Cheney/Robertson. There's a dream ticket.

TBG, to answer your question, nobody in my "other" life knows I am Curmudgeon, or that I even post on a blog, much less that I was a guest kitter--not my wife, nor kids, nor colleagues. Nobody in my family even goes online very much, and if I said, "By the way, the other day I posted something...blah, blah," they'd just look at me and realize that whatever I was babbling about, it was just another one of my perky peccadilloes. I do have three colleagues (actually former co-workers, not present ones) who I thought about telling, but haven't. No one at all in my present job has any clue.

So it's just you folks.

Somebody asked last night how the kit came about; no big deal. I was working on it for two nights at home, and just e-mailed Joel and said, "Hey, I've got this massive thing, and do you want to use it as a guest kit on a rainy day, or something." And he said, sure, e-mail it in, which I did yesterday morning. So kudos to Joel.

I understood at the time it was somewhat precedent-setting for this blog, but not elsewhere. It was/is my hope that other boodlers--bc, SonofCarl, omni, Tim, Loomis, etc.--might also supply guest kits from time to time. (I originally thought of it during the long "Dark Night of the Boodle Soul," when Joel left us all alone and un-kitted for a week or so. Would have been cool to have a couple of kits in the can. I mean, even Joel's allowed to take a break now and then, right? No? Whaddaya mean, no?

Sorry, Joel. I tried to get you some "me time."

The thing about Al, which the kitsch in me loves, is he's so wooden you almost think there's a drawstring in his back...
Ken ain't got nothing on this guy. Same wardrobe, too.

But he was (& is) the better candidate, the smarter guy, and he should have been Prez. I'll never forgive the Supremes for that. Yes, he's a total nerd, but a mere geek on the subject of the environment. He's living out his own fantasy 'Revenge of the Nerds.'

Bush has 9/11, Global Warming (see, I fit it in...it is Friday, after all), the War in Iraq, tons of scandals and corruption in his administration. By contrast, Al Gore has a pretty cool documentary, a decent amount of respect from the right people and lots of 'I told you so's' in his pocket.

Sounds like he came out on top.

P S Tell me there's hope that the documentary softened Al' wooden edges?

It really angers me that the decision on whom to vote for in a presidential election is predicated on "personality" rather than intelligence and competence. Who would you rather have a beer with seeming to be the deciding factor for some (many?) voters. I would like to have a president who cared more for our country than for money/politics/special interest groups, in other words - a statesman, a patriot. Bush and his lackeys squandered our opportunity after 9/11 to unite the sane world against "terrorists", ignored/discounted the causes of global warming and give lip-service to our oil dependency problem. People, including Ted Kennedy last night on the Daily Show, say that Bush is personable and likeable, I can't see it. To me he is phony, condescending and arrogant (as well as incurious and lazy-minded). I couldn't spend 5 minutes with someone like him without having my head explode. Kennedy did say that we, as a country, step up to a challenge and it's true that we used to. I'm not sure that we still have the discipline to do it. We seem to be too concerned about TomKat's baby, Julia Robert's bad reviews and a bunch of other inane fluff. Al Gore may not have a sparkling personality, but he cares about the country and the world and if he decided to run, I'd vote for him.

We had a president named Kraft? Was that William Howard Kraft? Who ran on the Cheesehead Party ticket?

Mudge and SonofCarl, I must thank you again for making yesterday, which was already a pretty good day, even better. I reread both of your posts last night and found them even more enjoyable the second time. You are very talented people. Mudge, I can't believe not even your wife knows about your 'other life' here. If I had written something as good as that (in my non-naked dreams!), I'd be handing out copies to strangers. Well, not really, but I'd probably be insufferably pleased with myself.

There's something wrong with the current president?

Kraft only managed to win Wisconsin and Vermont, yanno...

Welcome back, BS!

I think I really wanna take a (verbal) poke at Steve-2, who claims to be "tired" of hearing people "wallow in self-pity" over the 2000 election, and who might do better "if only" the Dems offered some proposals or visions of there own.

What I'M tired of, Steve-2, is people like you harping on four-year-old Rovian talking points. Turn the page, dude. Think of something a little fresher yourself. In your world, you seem to expect an entire presidential election fiasco to be "forgotten" by the loosing side, like it was just a mid-season baseball game that hinged on a questionable call. Well, it wasn't, dude. It was a Super Bowl game, and the bad calls got caught in instant replay, and it had BIG FREAKIN' CONSEQUENCES, so excuuuuuuuuuuuussssssseeeee meeeeee if I haven't quite gotten over it. It just isn't every day I have an entire PRESIDENTIAL FREAKIN' ELECTION stolen out from under me, so yeah, I'm still a little testy, if that's OK by you, which apparently it isn't.

Next, Stevorino, I'm a little tired of your other four-year-old talking point, this crap about "if only the Dems had proposals and visions of their own." What a load of crap, Steve. I'm just going to ignore the fact that the Dems have various proposals and visions, and that you're just too locked into your world view to find 'em. Rather, I'm going to concentrate on the naïve and disingenuous notion that it would do any freakin' good whatsoever if the Dems did offer some proposal or other, say on health care, or Social Security reform, or Medicare prescription benefits, or, oh, I dunno, getting the hell out of Iraq. The Dems are not only the minority party, the present political environment is so polarized that any "vision" the Dems happened to propose would simply become GOP target practice. Tell, me, Steve, just try and tell me, that Bush, Cheney and Rove just might say, "You know, the Democrats just came up with an interesting idea on such-and-so, and maybe we ought to try it."

Tell me that'll happen, Steve.

In the meantime, the Dems are exactly right in keeping a low profile, since the GOP has NO intention whatsoever of letting them into the process. And you damn well know it. So try to think of something a little more intelligent to offer.

Bayou, your 10:12 made me snort.

Couple of quick comments between meetings:

1. That thing that Al rode up into the rafters was actually Tipper's drum kit.

2. It is not true that Al Gore wants to be a Real Boy, or that Al used to refer to Bill Clinton as "Gepetto" before That Woman messed everything up. That Blue Dress should in no way be inferred as The Fairy making an appearance. So far, there is no sign of a Blue Fairy for Mr. Gore.

bc

TBG, Queens University was a small Presbyterian girls college that, on the verge of dying, remade itself into a vibrant, excellent liberal arts college - and more. My brother earned his MBA there. Your son should give it a look. Let me know, and we'll definitely do a BPH! Maybe we can corral jack and cassandra to come!

Re Al Gore, I was at a conference a couple of weeks ago, and one of the folks there said Al gave the best speech he ever heard at a Congressional Fire Caucus dinner. That's the fire service's one chance a year to mingle with the national politians, who get to act like they really care. I thought it was interesting that Gore would have scored so high with this person, who is an experienced and savvy guy.

I caught only the last bit of Ted Kennedy on the Daily Show, but what I caught was significant, and is a huge problem in your country and mine. Stewart asked him what the greatest change in his 30 years was, and he answered without hesitation. "Money" He followed that by saying they work from Tuesday to Thursday and the rest of their time seems to be devoted to being re-reclected, and gathering the money to do so.

That is without a doubt the single saddest thing about our political systems. That only 3 days (part time legislating holds true here too) are given to do the job they were sent to do.

Its really quite indefensible you know. Of course who am I talk talk. I am boodling after all. I might forgive them if they spent the rest of the time boodling rather than political fundraising. At least here on the boodle part of our time is spent in pursuit of... well stuff.

TBG, have you looked at St. Mary's College of Maryland, down in Southern Maryland (St. Mary's City)? It always ranks very high in the US News/Business Reports poll, is "far enough away" yet "close enough for Mom," and isn't mind-crushingly exorbitant yet.

(Plus it's got a terrific sailing team.)

tbg - i always say "someone said on this blog that i frequent"... then they look at me funny... but since i'm a professional techie it's more accepted and pretty much everyone i know has a blog so... trying to explain the bph, on the other hand, is quit tricky! i always say that i'm going to a small gathering with some of my friends...

btw - i graduated from highschool with a 2.3 gpa and great sat scores and got into NYU (after a year at marymount manhattan college and great gpa there) so... there's hope! he could turn out like me! oh, wait... hey! stop crying! i take it back already!

Elmo Cincinattus Kraft was the only President to serve three non-consecutive terms and the only successful third-party candidate in US history. He was first elected in 1890 as a Dinocrat and lost the following election to Plutocrat candidate Henry Harrison Higgins who had run on a platform of universal elocution for women.

Kraft regained the Dinocrat nomination in 1902 and defeated Higgins when a scandal involving a young Cockney flower girl serving as an intern erupted.

The end of the Era of Mild Bemusement quickly turned the political mood sour and Kraft was defeated once again by the Plutocrats. They had nominated Spanish-American War hero Bildius Roosebilt. The BildiBear is named after this popular president that served two terms.

Kraft's final presidential term (1911-1915) was for the Cheesewump Party, a single issue coalition determined to get dairy farming off the Muenster standard. A split between the Dinocrats and Plutocrats over tchotchke tarrifs allowed for Kraft to sweep the NearWest and New Wales states.

In order to fight the Really Mild But Still Annoying Crash of '13, Kraft had tried to institute a public works program for unemployed synth-rockers (the Moog having not yet been invented). This policy universally mocked as Kraft-work plummeted his poll ratings into the low-30's and he failed to regain the nomination of the Cheesewumps which had splintered into the Cheddarheads and Feta-natics, leading ultimately to the election of condiment mogul Heinz Gould.

Steve-2, thanks for jumping in. Don't let that Curmudgeon fellow scare you off.

TBG, I take it Wake Forest and Davidson aren't in the stars? Here are some I could think of, right off hand, that would be worth a look/see at the website: Lenior-Rhyne (Hickory), Elon University (Elon), High Point University (High Point), Campbell (Buies Creek), Gardner-Webb (Boiling Springs). If a public college is on the radar, let me suggest Appalachian State (Boone). My elder daughter graduated from there in 2004 and loved it. Their student population is about 10,000, though, if I remember correctly.

And I failed to sign my post of 10:48, thus subjecting it to potential deletion. My bad.

Pssst, Mudge, you forgot to mention that they've *NEVER* *NEVER* *EVER* gotten over Clinton.

Bush is to the Democrats as Clinton is to the Republicans.

Easy on, Curmudge. Those Bushies know not what they do.
(And yes, THAT's the problem).

Let's go back to more pleasant election memories.

I remember the 1992 election party and Gore dancing rather poorly (rather unforgettable).

Somebody quipped "He came from an era where white couldn't dance."

Now this is me, but I'd elect an android for president if it meant things would get done well and we wouldn't be headed towards WWIII with the whole Mideast (and Midwest).

Now, given the opportunity to elect an android with a sense of humor, generally compatible politics, and an apparent heartbeat... sold.

I look forward to hearing "If only I had a Heart" playing at the next election ball.

yellojkt, thanks for the Kraftwerk reference.

Steve-2, Mudge's Bund is wurst than his byte.

bc

When the political mood turned sour, did Kraft curdle?

Oh, arpie, that's so cheezy.

jw - I will be at the May 22 Tufte course. The guy's a genius. Plus, you get a way cool free poster.

My wife is an alumna of Gardner-Webb. It was very small at the time and still had many of the vestiges of Baptist affiliation: Strict co-ed room visitation rules, mandatory convocation, required 6 hours of religion history classes. She got a good education, but never quite fit in culturally.

East Carolina seems to have a good and growing reputation. The great thing about college is that there is someplace for everybody.

TBG,
Give St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC a look. Don't pay any attention to the Presbyterian part. My son tried to get into UNCCH, was rejected, went to St. Andrews, graduated, got a masters in history at UNCG and a PhD from Univ of Ill and is now head of the two man history dept at St Andrews. He got a truly wonderful undergraduate education at St. Andrews.

yellojkt, East Carolina is a party school. Nothing wrong with that, mind you...just disclosure here. Of course, it's closer to DC than it is to Charlotte, which may be a decided advantage to TBG. When my kids were deciding on college, their dad and I told them, any state campus in the system would be okay, except East Carolina. It's just sooo far away...so older child went to Appalachian and younger to Chapel Hill.

*punch card*

First, funny points, yello. (Note: immediately going off topic- sorry Joel). I do disagree with the lawyer blog opinion on Walmart, however. Should it come to it, Walmart and any other store would likely convince a court that a door checker is a reasonable safeguard against the millions of dollars lost through theft. For the benefit of the boodle, walking out of private premises and denying the right of employees to confirm that you have only purchases in your bag falls under the ancient latin maxim "carusin fora barusin"

Second, in answer to TBG, I'm all alone out here. After Mudge's kit yesterday I sent an email to a navy reserve friend telling him to check it out and disclosed my nom de blog.

TBG: I'm here...just won't be able to get back to the blog until this evening...this stuff cracks me up. Why is the post-a-commment disclaimer sooooooooo long???:????

A masterpiece of writing...drop what you're doing and get over to the Achenblog to read SonofCarl!!!!!

I've heard Gore speak in person a number of times, along with Kerrey and many others, and my gut feel says he has more ground support for a candidacy than Hillary Clinton does, although she could easily run on a Gore/Clinton ticket as the VP.

I returned from the dead to read this exquisite example of legal writing. I couldn't have put it better myself.

WTF?!?! Who let this furrener use up American 0's and 1's? We'll see about this.

oh, and most of the people who used to support McCain have soured on him in the last few years - acting as Bush's lap dog in destroying America didn't help his candidacy, no matter how many Daily Show appearances he makes.

I forgot to get back to jw and Tufte:

Go to the course if you can, man.

I found it interesting and quite thought-provoking. And, as RD mentions, there's the way cool poster of Minard's famous chart of Napoleon's Russian campaign...

bc

slyness,

That would explain the wedding I went to where the groom's side were all staunch Baptists and the bridesmaids (the bride had gone to ECU) all had great tattoos.

About PPPE...

Having worked a number of years in the presentation graphics biz in Silicon Valley, I can say with some authority that I've seen many a weak and poorly thought-out set of ideas snazzed up by the spiff-polish of bulleted lists and an authoritative-looking sets of fonts. But the sheen of the Hollywood veneer for ideas badly strung together lasts only so long when projected on the big screen.

It's the force of the ideas, coupled with the passion of the presenter, that really dazzles. PowerPoint is like rouge or mascara--it can enhance the overall image, but ultimately does little to hide the beauty--or lack of it--underneath.

I do remember slick multi-media presentations and their exorbitant costs. When I was working for Tymnet McDonnell Douglas, the company did an inservice for our sales folks and bigwigs at Palm Springs. Little did I know that all us in marketing communications would be required to don tuxes and do a dance number up on stage. Little did I know realize when I signed as a writer I would be asked to be a member of "Chorus Line." Did our little truly ridiculous vaudeville shtick really help the sales force sign up more customers for our data packet switching network? I doubt it.

The manager of our group, a tall, stunningly attractive woman, came into her position from the secretarial ranks and didn't know the first thing about data packet switching or nets or tech. She was, like Barbra Streisand always is, impeccably groomed. I wonder how long the ruse lasted--how long did J.S. eventually remain in her post? Like Bush, she put on a great appearance, but was an empty shell as far as generating ideas or being able to speak competently about our company's network business.

Using Hollywood to help to promote an idea, such as global warming, is one thing. Using Hollywood to sell a candidate is another. One need only think of the Republican National Convention in '04 as an example--Arnold Schwarzenegger and his Swiftboating phrase "girly men," used to falsely peddle Bush's machismo and the inherent message that Bush would protect Americans from Saddam Hussein and Iraqi insurgents--from faux, fabricated terrorists. That night, Arnold and his swagger was PowerPoint, more so than Bush can or could ever hope to be. Bush's jet-jockey performance aboard the Abraham Lincoln just didn't close the sale that the muddled mission statement had been accomplished.

The upcoming John McCain and Jerry Falwell Show will smash the Arizona senator's credibility--most likely among all voters except the zealots of faith. What was McCain thinking when he proposed this liaison?

Let the Democratic contest in the next two years be a battle of wits and ideas. Let the person or candidate best able to honestly articulate the country's and globe's serious problems and offer workable solutions emerge as the the '08 contender. Will Gore spring to the fore?

Will in Seattle; That is a brilliant idea. Gore/Clinton. Plus, with a pair of scissors people could recycle their old bumper stickers. Seriously, I think you may be on to something there.

TBG, there's also the University of Mary Washington in Frederiscksburg...

4,000 undergrads AND an '06 Pulitzer winner!

http://www.umw.edu/universityrelations/news/archives/umws_claudia_emerson_wins_.php

No, never attended, just lived in F-burg for awhile.

:-)

'MuJ, Steve-2 appeared to be in provoke mode. Didn't they teach you to take the higher ground in Shop Steward school?

Wilbrod, I think you hit the nail on the head, the Bushies know not what they do. I believe someone spoke recently of Bush's Presidency as a culmintation of Kennedy's vision of the office. Surround yourself with the best and the brightest and trust their counsel. They really do believe they are doing the right thing for the country, and they will protect us from ourselves if need be. The biggest problem the Bush regime has is forgetting "the other side" has some of the best and brightest as well. Any view other than that of the inner circle though is treated as an attack. The middle ground where many a compromise was previously struck no longer exists. Us vs. Them is no way to unite a country.

Amen, LindaLoo! If the Democrats could do that, I'd look forward to the election.

The boodle is sailing along too fast today. WTRG, Cardozo and Scalia all wish to point out their BOO.

*psssttt* SoC - that's BOOO... oops, i'm not supposed to correct anyone but joel, am i?

It's also sad to see that people think McCain is losing ground in his bid for '08. I thought he was rather refreshing in actually speaking his mind as opposed to other candidates just telling people what they want to hear. He really is a good legislator, always looking for the best deal for his constituents while trying to cut the pork out of politics. It's sad to see what the system is doing to the man.

This belongs in the previous boodle, but alas the place has been evacuated.

Um, I hate to quibble but SOS was adopted by German government on April 1, 1905, and became the worldwide standard when it was included in the second International Radiotelegraphic Convention, which was signed on November 3, 1906, and became effective on July 1, 1908.

The Titanic sank in 1912.

Maybe you were thinking of Mayday:

The Mayday callsign was originated in 1923 by Frederick Stanley Mockford (1897-1962) [2]. Whilst senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London, Mockford was asked to think of a word that would indicate distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency. Since much of the traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, he proposed the word "Mayday" from the French m'aidez.

OK you all can hate me, I know I do.

I need to take a walk:omniqubbler => omniquibbler. Sheesh, seems I can't post at all anymore without SCCs.

Gore was my graduation speaker. I was not impressed. He started off with some warmed-over jokes about losing the presidential election: nothing too dire, but not exactly knee-slapping. Then he started talking about his family's experience with the university hospital. Just when I was starting to get interested (in between batting the beach ball that kept landing on my head away), he tossed out some flimsy segue into...a simplified version of a stump speech on the environment. Not that I have anything against the environment (I'd better not, in case my bosses are reading this), but way to blow the audience rapport. For better or worse, presentation matters.

funny thing is, that was the first time I tried the preview option (I wanted to see what it looked like).

For me, McCain ceased to be a seriously considered candidate when he got in bed with W. I am a lifelong Democrat, but would have voted Republican for McCain had he actually kept the earlier promise of staying true to himself.

grimmace:
couldn't agree with you more. petty partisan polarization (sorry) is no way to run a country. unfortunately, with the primary/caucaus (spelling?) system the way it is, the candidates have to be able to please their own party hardliners in order to get the nomination, and so the probability of a moderate who could truly unite the country getting nominated, much less elected, is quite slim.
i hate to say this, but the thing that i remember the most about Gore's campaign is him making out with Tipper at the convention. i guess he was trying to show the, um, exciting part of his personality.
as much as I am horrified at many, ok, most, of Bush's decisions in the Oval office, I can't really buy the argument that he somehow stole the election. The Supreme Court ruled, and that's the way it happened. Am i glad? heck no. Both sides were playing behind the scenes, and if the S.C. had ruled in favor of Gore, many who are so adament that injustice was done would reconsider. Also, in regards to the popular vote, again, that is not the way that this country has decided to elect its president. As problematic as the electoral college is, it is the system that is in place. So, yes, Gore won the popular vote, but Bush won the Electoral college. unless you are calling for an entire overhaul, that argument doesn't hold water. Not that an overhaul wouldn't be beneficial, i personally think it would. that way, the people really could decide who they want in office. in other words, blame the system, not Bush, for "robbing" Gore of the election.

Actually, I fail to think of one viable Democratic candidate who could appeal to the masses.

I kind of like Barack Obama, John Edwards and interestingly enough Joe Biden announced his bid on Bill Maher's show.

Anyone else? And no, I don't consider Hilary a viable Democratic candidate.

I get frustrated with people who say Gore is dull or stiff. Who cares. I reject the idea that a President, or any politician, is supposed to represent a given individual's concept of the American Ideal. I don't care if the President is the same race, gender, or religion as am I. Heck, I don't care if the President is a nose-picking cross-dressing hermaphrodite with an unhealthy fascination with Star Trek. I just want somebody who is willing to bend ideology to deal with reality and not the other way around.

Interestingly (or maybe not), I voted for Bush the first time, was disillusioned by him and voted for Kerry. Who lost without any help from the Supremes.

One thing I give Bush credit for is that he's identified and articulated real issues, and has taken a position on how to fix them. Now I don't agree with his approach, but at least there is one. Whether or not Bush, Cheney, Rove or the others act on them is irrelevant. Indeed, I would expect them to make fun of anything advanced by the democrats and belittle the heck out of them. The purpose of the democrats articulating a position is to GIVE US A CHOICE. Right now, there is none. Nothing but the aforementioned wallowing.

Here are the issues that I think are important and on which the current Administration has offered a solution. I don't agree with many of their positions. But where's the choice? Lest I be accused of being a position-less democrat ;-), I've offered my solution in parentheses:

1. Nuclear proliferation. (India should not have been rewarded with the treaty that was offered. Their impending shortage of fuel would have been strong motivation to agree to the non-proliferation treaty. Shoulda waited. North Korea has the bomb and has to be negotiated with. Let China, S. Korea and Japan take the lead on this - our interests are aligned with theirs, and they have more credibility. Iran doesn't yet have the bomb and cannot be allowed to create one. Cruise missles are a perfectly acceptable solution.)

2. Social Security. (Increase the age at which full benefits can be obtained. Benefits beyond a refund of previous contribution (i,e, withholding) should be taxable as normal income.)

3. Iraq. (Pull the troops out. Tomorrow. Nothing there worth another american soldier's life.)

4. The Israel/Palestine conflict and the radical islam that it fuels. (OK, I'm stumped on this one. Maybe we can give it to the British, and make them clean up the mess they made.)

Joel, pleased to see your 9:35. I have to say, I'm very hesitant about what I post now.

Because I do a lot of PPT presentations, I'm often asked by people "Can you teach me to do a good powerpoint presentation?" I tell them OK, first lesson--learn how to speak in public, don't read your slides, and make sure you have something worth saying (or if not, make sure you can say it well).

Most scientific meetings have gone entirely to ppt, and the quality of the presentations has dropped noticably, I think. The community college where I teach has tons of courses on powerpoint, but almost none on public speaking.

I missed a sentance in the above. My apologies. Corrected version below

Interestingly (or maybe not), I voted for Bush the first time, was disillusioned by him and voted for Kerry. Who lost without any help from the Supremes.

One thing I give Bush credit for is that he's identified and articulated real issues, and has taken a position on how to fix them. Now I don't agree with his approach, but at least there is one. The opposition (Democrats, Libertarians, Rastafarians, whatever) have a duty to offer alternatives. Whether or not Bush, Cheney, Rove or the others act on them is irrelevant. Indeed, I would expect them to make fun of anything advanced by the democrats and belittle the heck out of them. The purpose of the democrats articulating a position is to GIVE US A CHOICE. Right now, there is none. Nothing but the aforementioned wallowing.

Here are the issues that I think are important and on which the current Administration has offered a solution. I don't agree with many of their positions. But where's the choice? Lest I be accused of being a position-less democrat ;-), I've offered my solution in parentheses:

1. Nuclear proliferation. (India should not have been rewarded with the treaty that was offered. Their impending shortage of fuel would have been strong motivation to agree to the non-proliferation treaty. Shoulda waited. North Korea has the bomb and has to be negotiated with. Let China, S. Korea and Japan take the lead on this - our interests are aligned with theirs, and they have more credibility. Iran doesn't yet have the bomb and cannot be allowed to create one. Cruise missles are a perfectly acceptable solution.)

2. Social Security. (Increase the age at which full benefits can be obtained. Benefits beyond a refund of previous contribution (i,e, withholding) should be taxable as normal income.)

3. Iraq. (Pull the troops out. Tomorrow. Nothing there worth another american soldier's life.)

4. The Israel/Palestine conflict and the radical islam that it fuels. (OK, I'm stumped on this one. Maybe we can give it to the British, and make them clean up the mess they made.)

I always hated "Gravity's Rainbow," and the last chapter of "The World According to Garp," for a different reason...

Mostly because I felt that Irving was trying to finish the book and getting melodramatic...

I'm probably the only one in the world that's ever read "Giles Goatboy," or "Henderson the Rain King."

.

We riffed of Cohen's "valentine" at http://highwayscribery . blogspot . com
April 19. It's called "The Gore Zeitgeist."

omni, you are about 98% correct about SOS.

The other 2 percent is my own quibble, which is that although SOS was adopted in 1905, it was used intermittently alongside "CDQ" and a few other signals until about 1912. So I should have said it wasn't univerally adopted until after the Titanic went down. Per:

"Although the use of "SOS" was officially ratified in 1908, the use of "CQD" lingered for several more years, especially in British service where it originated. It is well documented in personal accounts of Harold Bride, second Radio Officer, and in the logs of the SS Carpathia, that the Titanic first used "CQD" to call for help. When Captain Smith gave the order to radio for help, first radio officer Jack Phillips sent "CQD" six times (first time 10.35 New York time) followed by the Titanic call letters, "MGY." 20 minutes later, at Brides suggestion, Phillips interspersed his calls with "SOS." In 'SOS to the Rescue', 1935, author Baarslag notes, "Although adopted intentionally in 1908, it [SOS] had not completely displaced the older 'CQD' in the British operators' affections." (It is interesting to note that Marconi was waiting in New York to return home to England on the Titanic.)

(from http://www.reach.net/~stormy/perc/sos.html) which adds:

"The U.S. did not officially adopt "SOS" until 1912, being slow to adopt international wireless standards."

Personal footnote: My great-grandfather drowned in the collision of the Mohawk off Norfolk, in 1901. Being Scandanavian, his distress called was probably "Oofta!"

I've been waiting for someone to point out that the likelihood of any of those bystanders on the beach being able to read *anything* was just about zero, much less read SOS or No More Aerosmith, Please.

RD sez: "I don't care if the President is a nose-picking cross-dressing hermaphrodite with an unhealthy fascination with Star Trek."

Thanks for the endorsement. I'm putting you number one on the campaign workers list when I make my putsch, I mean, run.

some level it has lost it's soul.

I've said this before, but maybe it bears saying again.

We, the average citizen, don't have time to think.

Multiple reasons for that, but the important thing is that working harder isn't going to give us that.

But having authentic people in control, might.

If people are themselves when they run, instead of trying to please other people, we might see more interesting candidates..

You have a bunch of candidates that are trying to please and electorate dreamed up by their campaign managers.

They ought to just talk as themselves and see if anyone likes them. Candor is a refreshing thing.

Gore isn't Carter for multiple reasons. The most important is that he is known in Washington...

And as you can see, you don't have to be president to run things, Cheyney is actually your president right now...and Poppy is running things behind the scences...or at least his cadre of spooks is...

Why not Hillary, Gore, and Edwards....why not a team president? With Bill as the tie breaker?

Arrange it how you want to right now, it's puppet monkey-boy in front of the machine with darth cheyney the real president and rummy as his confidante....with Rove as the shoesalesman.

.

I stand corrected (said while sitting).

boy - I have read Henderson - interesting book - and Gravity's Rainbow is very easy to hate - but compelling

apropos of nothing

"boy, speaking of Thomas Pynchon":

You're freakin' me out. I just recommended Giles Goat Boy on my blog; I did read it, so you're not the only one. On this blog, generally you're not the only one who has read any book you can name.

TBG, is that you, messin' with me again?

yello: LOL. Someone had to say it. I also described me, but I was wondering if I was disqualified as only having an unhealthy fascination with Star Trek TNG.

I've also learned that SOS is sometimes used as a visual distress signal while Mayday is strictly a vocal distress call (I think).

'Mudge, I always thought it was "Uffda!"

And you were expecting our reviews to have rational criticism???

I actually did some reviews for sci-fi (or straicht sci) movies a few times. "Minority Report" scored very well for the "technology" it suggested, while I gave "K-19: Widowmaker" very low marks for playing the "reactor go boom and take the warheads with it" card.

SCC: It also, not I also

Good afternoon, folks. Running a little behind today. Hope your day, and your weekend turn out great. There are a lot of small colleges in North Carolina, and many of them quite good. Check them out. And Saint Andrews is a student's dream. Very good school, not a lot of students, good teacher/student relationship. And don't let the Presbyterian name throw you off.

Like your comment, Mudge, in regard to Steve's post. And welcome aboard Steve. Don't agree with your politics, but you have every right to love them, they're yours. I'm a registered Democrat and have not seen anything to change my mind. I used to like John McCain until he fell under the present administration's spell. The way they treated him in South Carolina, I don't know how McCain can even look at those folks. They were some kind of awful to him. They talked about him, and African-Americans so bad, I could not believe some of that stuff. And now he's in bed with these folks? Politics is so greasy and just plain nasty. What folks won't do to win these offices. Promising everybody what they want, and knowing full well they can't deliver, even if a gun was placed upside their head. I believe they call that "lying". It's hard life, and I suppose someone has to do it.

SCC: straight sci

Feh.

omni:thanks for the info on "mayday" I'd rather read that than Steve's post *twice*

Steve, next time just give us the missing sentence. It is simple boodle courtesy.

Good point about the Brits, though

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20060421.html

John Dean of Watergate fame sees an "October Surprise" 2006 on the horizon:

As the 2006 midterm elections approach, this active/negative president can be expected to take further risks. If anyone doubts that Bush, Cheney, Rove and their confidants are planning an "October Surprise" to prevent the Republicans from losing control of Congress, then he or she has not been observing this presidency very closely.

What will that surprise be? It's the most closely held secret of the Administration.

How risky will it be? Bush is a whatever-it-takes risk-taker, the consequences be damned.

*summarizing Dean*
Dick Cheney's resignation for health reasons, to be replaced with Rudy Giuliani?

A great diplomatic coup in forming a Great Powers Coalition to present a united "no-nukes" stance to Iran?

A unilateral strike against Iran's nuclear facilites?

As Dean concludes:

If there is no "October Surprise," I would be shocked. And if it is not a high-risk undertaking, it would be a first. Without such a gambit, and the public always falls for them, Bush is going to lose control of Congress. Should that happen, his presidency will have effectively ended, and he will spend the last two years of it defending all the mistakes he has made during the first six, and covering up the errors of his ways.

There is, however, the possibility of another terrorist attack, and if one occurred, Americans would again rally around the president - wrongly so, since this is a presidency that lives on fear-mongering about terror, but does little to truly address it. The possibility that we might both suffer an attack, and see a boost to Bush come from it, is truly a terrifying thought.

Damn! I'm going to be out of town for the Tufte course. And I think I could have totally talked work into paying for it. Oh well...

It's a hard life, but I suppose someone has to do it.

My tongue is twisted this morning, as well as my thoughts, it would seem.

Here's wishing each and all, a blessed life, and more than you can imagine through Him that loves you, God, through Christ.

Although I enthusiastically back efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, I wonder if Al Gore might have been indulging in just a bit of chart manipulation in his presentation. You know, the kind of stuff that Edward Tufte guy frowns upon.

jw - maybe I can snag an extra poster for you.

I might suggest that anyone who parrots the "they don't have a plan" line just chooses not to find one. You do have to look since there isn't much interest in the press to let you know. Thanks to the internet, they are out there, if you indeed give two shakes.

As for people finding Gore a boring speaker, try listening to him again. There are a number of recent speeches out there. THen, I would suggest that you go back to a Bush speech. Flip back and forth. Tell me again?

I know that you would have to get over the issues thing, but it should be quite clear. I, of course, listen to Bush when I have to clean. I just put him on the screen and put on an old sweater and spray it with endust and proceed to roll around on the floor laughing.

Loomis, do you suppose Bush & Co. woul *let* a tearist attack happen for the sake of the election?

Dolphin, you should pause your rolling just enough to see a couple of his facial expressions. Then resume laughing, even harder.

My unhealthy obsession is with ST:DS9. I would love to referee a mud wrestling match between Kira and Jadzia.

scotty, I had a lot of trouble with "oofta" and "uffda," spellings, since there were several alternatives, and I picked "oofta" first. But I've seen "uffda" bumper stickers, and probably should have gone with that.

Everybody realizes that "Giles Goat Boy" is by John Barth, not Salinger or Pynchon, right? I heard Barth lecture at my college my senior year, right after "Chimera" came out. Great speaker, by the way. I was assistant editor of our college paper, which ran the headline, "Noted author to speak." I went a little bats--- crazy (hard to believe, I know) and went off on how that was the dumbest, worst headline ever written, and we journalism majors should be ashamed, yadda yadda. (I didn't see it before publication--wasn't my turf.) But after that "Noted author to speak" became a sort of generic joke, and it appeared about 12 times in our April Fools issue. My favorite, of course, was about William Shakespeare returning from the dead to give a lecture on poetry and the identity of the "Dark Lady," which of course had the headline, "Noted author to speak."

Down yello, down.

dolphin micheal, I'm laughing so hard. Do you take medications? And I'm not asking that to offend you, but you certainly have a way with words. I can hardly write this post for laughing at that last comment of yours. Are you serious? I suppose that is one way of looking at it, but I never thought of it that way. My face is hurting. Help me please, I can't stop laughing.

While we are in full confessional mode, I do not ever mention this blog by name in public. I will occassionally preface comments with "I read somewhere on the internet...".

If my wife knows that I blog, she is very discrete in not ever mentioning it to me. When my Achenblog t-shirt arrived in the mail, she viewed it with the same curiousity she would if she had found dainty undergarments not in her size in the glove compartment, a mixture of suspicion and willful ignorance.

Mudge, in reference to your "I've been waiting for someone to point out that the likelihood of any of those bystanders on the beach being able to read *anything* was just about zero, much less read SOS or No More Aerosmith, Please."

I submit that we were to enchanted to care, suspension of disbelief is sometimes a good thing.

"The Sot Weed Factor,"

I know, I'm the only one that has read that...

I liked Barth because he was complex, and could surprise me. I felt that Pynchon was complex, but out of touch with the world.

I like Bellow _in general_ but I read most of his stuff by the time I was 13...and reread it.

Catch-22 is my all time favorite, as well as that book about someone commiting suicide by jumping off a water tower...that might have been Salinger, Cannery Row was very good, a surprise.

Mudge, yes, John Barth, who also wrote the Sot-Weed Factor. Your historical (and hysterical) posts have been reminding me of the Sot-Weed Factor from the beginning.

boy, stick around--these are your folks at the A-blog!

dolphin: Bush stinks as a speaker, but he gets by because he can make his Texas "ah-shucks" gig sound like he's sincere and just folks. Unfortunately, politics is as much a fashion show as it is an ideas debate. In order to get people's attention, first, and their vote you need to be able to connect with them. I haven't seen Gore speak in recent years, so maybe he has taken some speaking lessons. Dean had the mojo for a while last time, but the "scream" took him out. Kerry just seemed to be distant, and then sometimes pandering (the pheasant shoot). Roberts was pretty good, though sometimes he let his rich lawyer side peek out. And what was that lump in the back of W's coat at the debate??

yello refers to t-shirts (and such shirts were visible in the BPH photos). My relative newbieness is showing (still, no excuse for staring at my décolletage). Where can one find such items?

TBG, I used to try to "explain" the blog everytime I referred to it, but you know that got old fast. Now I just say, "one of my internet friends was sayiing..."

I again have but two minutes to give to my Boodle.

It's clear to me that Al Gore would have been a better president than the current White House Occupant. But, that's not a ringing endorsement of the former, rather it's an indictment of the latter.

I quote the Boodle to family and friends, but I don't tell them I'm part of a secret kabal that trades thoughts, humor, and DIY literary pieces.

Warner for '08? Could happen. Anyone hear Morning Edition today? He's out there.

Curmudgeon said "I've been waiting for someone to point out that the likelihood of any of those bystanders on the beach being able to read *anything* was just about zero, much less read SOS or No More Aerosmith, Please."

I was willing to overlook the anachronism of universal literacy in the 1400's, if you were.

Just an odds-and-ends post before I head outside. An inch of long-overdue, much-needed rain yesterday. Our near-empty rain barrels are now brimming again. Many of the city's parched lawns may regain color. It's muddy as heck outdoors around the patio-in-progress, so we put on hold working in the yard for the morning. However, area-wide deluges have not come without tornado warnings--the last two nights to our southwest and northwest. Last night our county was included.

Dooley and Science Tim, like you both I am concerned about the ownership-rights-on-this-blog issue. Last November, I posted the first part of a poem to the Achenblog that I had submitted about a year earlier to a women's poetry competition in Liverpool, and another, a parody of Chaucer. This ownership of intellectual property on its blogs should be spelled out by WaPo in much greater detail. Dooley, I would hate to think the WaPo "owns" your ideas about Romer, or any of Science Tim's stellar explanations, for that matter.

Mudge, I was so tired and it was so late that I ended up just Boodleskimming your Kit very late last night. You, amazingly, even worked Britain's Guy Fawkes Day into your effort (but sadly, not the Throckmorton Plot of 1583...*w*)!

And..
Moi bei dich
"I'm close by you."
Awww, how sweet, how incredibly sweet. No wonder that you have so many women's hearts aflutter. And not a soul, even your family, knows of your Blog life? I understand being mum about your Achenblogging with your coworkers. My hubby knows about The Boodle and Boodling, but shows not a wit of interest, which lets me carve out my own private space.

How nice that Joel would share the Kit spotlight with a Boodler. That says a lot about Joel and both his "serious journalism" deadlines and magnanimity (a volcanic term, for those not in the know)!

jw & RD et al -- re Tufte and Powerpoint:

Tufte is actually fighting against the overuse and abuse of Powerpoint. If you haven't already, you must read his little essay "Powerpoint is Evil" at

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html

was a possiblity of a terrorist attack by the administration...

however, I feel my boys over a the agency, checking out some of the things that noname poster has been puttin gout...

let's all pray that it will happen, and the bush extended family will be dressed in orange come October....Halloweenie important..

.

I gave my boss the Tufte flyer and pitched it as a "great opportunity for the office" because he's one of those 'bullet-points zooming across the screen with a tire-screeching .wav file' types of people. *shudder*

SonofCarl,
We know you're a lawyer up there in southern Alberta, but you have decolletage? Now, as a person who dabbled in art, I've seen plenty of montages and decoupages...

Maybe, SonofCarl, you should be investigating the Seinfeld manbra, rather than the Achen T's? You may be able to make it almost as famous as the Mudge Bund!

Maybe this is the day to tell us a little bit more about yourself, Sonof Carl?

Oh, I'm gonna get myself in trouble, I can just feel it...

ebtnut,

I don't think Bush can see getting by from the speakers podium, it is way too far away.

Gore is an absolute firebrand next to that guy. First Gore can write his speech and does. Second, he can speak for over 10 minutes and, in the spirit of Lincoln, provide a long thoughtful discussion of the issues. Third, Gore can be very gracious and also pretty damn angry when it is warranted. (That may be the new Gore).

It's a shame what passes for public speaking these days. Maybe my friend Cassanadra will agree that we are just hearing a series of encoded words that signal (maybe with flags) that we must feel a certain political emotional response.

Rather, we should have people who are thoughtful and deep enough to ponder and then present points that we don't currently hold. We should be challenged much like the Washington Post Blog.

Mr. Lonely Reader aka (boy talking about Thomas Pynchon...)

I'll give you "Giles the Goatboy",
but I've read "Henderson the Rain King."

Nice book, not a classic but fun read. Anybody read "The Crying of Lot 51?"

jw,

I just had a strange vision thanks to your PP bullet point...

I saw a bullet point whiz by in my minds eye, and heard the screach with the message get a cup of coffe at 2 pm.

This is soooo far out of order, it's pathetic. I've been slaveing away so hard that I haven't had time to boodle, much less breathe. On any other such occasion, I'd just let it go, but I cannot let 'Mudge's kit go by unobserved.

BRAVO ZULU, 'Mudge. You are THE MAN.

(I now return you to the regularly scheduled boodle.)

Wilbrod, nice posts this morning!

Loomis, hee hee. Wasn't is the 'manzier' or the 'bro'?. The decolletage was a reference to the end of yesterday. RD, and our mutual owner, WaPo, gets the credit for that one.

dolphin: No quarrel with your last at all. I find it damnable that politicans think they can only pander, and appeal to the lowest common denominator. I voted for Gore, and would again if he ran. I just hope the Democrats can assemble some kind of substantive platform of ideas that we can rally around, and not just hope that Rove has run out of new ways to tar and feather the competition in '06.

Loomis, it was the manzeirre or bro, depending on your choice of pseudo-contraction. I would be interested in an A-Blog tee as well. I think Hal's eyes are spinning wildly just about ready to stop on the dollar signs...

Dadgummit! Late again...

We do a lot of PowerPoint here, and some of it comes across my desk for editing. I'm always proselytizing for Tufte (he has a great Web site at http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/index )but have long since given up ever getting anybody here to pay attention to him. Almost as good is Peter Norvig's masterful PowerPoint of the Gettysburg Address, at http://www.norvig.com/Gettysburg/index.htm which is pants-wettingly funny.

Joseph Heller lectured a month or so after Barth, and read the death of Snowden section of Catch-22, which made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Heller had a slight speech impediment, but when he read from the book, you never noticed it. Catch-22 came out three years before Vietnam got going, but if ever there was a book that "defined" the mess in Vietnam it was that book. IIRC, Heller said he wrote the book about an hour or two every night sitting at the kitchen table, for TEN years.

I only wish Gore had been a more comfortable speaker in 2000, I think it would have at least swung whom the Republican party chose.

In a way, I always regretted that Clinton wasn't running in 2000-- if only because it was very likely McCain would have been nominated for the republican candidacy instead of Bush.

2 minutes' debating with Clinton and Bush would have looked like a twerp. Mccain, on the other hand, would have summed up the republican party vs Clinton beautifully and held his own in sound bites.

Kerry... and Bush. Sigh. I really think Edwards had the better chance of winning on a national platform.

I got about 8 pages into "Crying of Lot 51," wilbrod, and then said, OK, back to the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Couldn't hack Gravity's Rainbow, either. But I'm a big Salinger fan, and praise "The Laughing Man" as his best short story at every opportunity (like this one).

jw - The Tufte class I am going to stresses his excellent work on the statistical presentation of data. I find his rants against PowerPoint less compelling. Although, having sat through endless meetings where the presenter does nothing but read bullets, I can understand his wrath. Nevertheless, I have seen many vibrant and exciting presentations using PowerPoint. Further, I am old enough to remember being stultified by speakers using nothing but good old-fashioned overhead projectors.

nut and Wilbrod, isn't it funny how all the negative framing about Edwards has stuck to him?

We, as a nation, are so easily fooled into believing anything and then holding that belief FOR EVER. That is the gift of Rove. Someone said earlier that there are a lot of talented representatives on the Democratic side, but many aren't able to contribute much because we have been conditioned to tune them off by the political masterminds.

I noted some of the comments made about Biden, for instance, but most inside political people know that he has amazing skills. He never speaks TOO LONG, even guys like Don Imus love him. He is a pretty straight forward and frank public servant and a true asset to our country.

Sure he has his "warts" but who doesn't?

We just nee bright leadership for about 12 years now to sort everything out. We can't keep ignoring the major issues facing the country.

I just wanted to point out that I haven't really had warts since I was a youth.

I am compelled, for a variety of reasons, to use PowerPoint. I was going to switch to KeyNote, but I found too many things that I wanted to do that were not convenient to apply to my presentation, although it correctly recognized them in an imported PowerPoint. I am addicted to the dissolve as a slide transition, and I have a genuine need to put the occasional animation into a talk. My big aesthetic choice in PowerPoint is that I try to avoid words almost entirely. I prefer to fill up the screen with big pictures and let my spoken words fill in the details.

I do a better job with my education PowerPoint than with my strictly science talks. I tend to make bad choicesof coolor in trying to transfer graphics into my science talks -- so much so, that I often find that I am describing the details that you WOULD see, if the picture were clearer. It's just awful.

I am compelled, for a variety of reasons, to use PowerPoint. I was going to switch to KeyNote, but I found too many things that I wanted to do that were not convenient to apply to my presentation, although it correctly recognized them in an imported PowerPoint. I am addicted to the dissolve as a slide transition, and I have a genuine need to put the occasional animation into a talk. My big aesthetic choice in PowerPoint is that I try to avoid words almost entirely. I prefer to fill up the screen with big pictures and let my spoken words fill in the details.

I do a better job with my education PowerPoint than with my strictly science talks. I tend to make bad choicesof coolor in trying to transfer graphics into my science talks -- so much so, that I often find that I am describing the details that you WOULD see, if the picture were clearer. It's just awful.

What I posted yesterday is that Curmudgeon's writing should not be picked apart as some were doing, but viewed with restraint like the décolleté of a buxom lass. SonofCarl has kindly and subtly pointed out that I really should have said décolletage, which is a noun. Décolleté is an adjective. So to say "the décolleté writing of Curmudgeon" would be correct, but weird. To say "the décolletage of Curmudgeon" would just be weird.

Hmmmmm. The first time that I tried to post, it said that I had failed, because I had not entered a name and comment. So I backed up by one screen, copied my text (just in case) and tried again. Now I see that I have the same post, posted twice. What's up wit dat?

It's cool SciTim. Like most things you post, it was worth a second read.

"bad choicesof coolor"?

That's it, folks, that there is quality. You don't get that kind of stuff for free, yet that's what WaPo wants. You won't have MY spoonerisms and malapropisms to kick around any more, to reproduce by technologies known or unknown, antique or yet-to-be-developed! Nosirree, I'm going to use the Preview function next time. I mean, this time.

This doesn't really relate to anything, but SciTim's post reminded me of it. When I was in high school, Harvard used to have this series of lectures that were open to the public, where someone talked about the research they were doing--behavioral studies of fish, random stuff like that. The neat thing about them was that they weren't really dumbed down at all, and they were always pretty interesting. Anyway, I wonder if they still do that. Beacuse they should. It was cool.

Tim, no preview... you have to find some time to work. BTW, I either go with something unwieldy or just way too small. It is certainly hard to get the right cooler.

ScienceTim, a couple PowerPoint suggestions for you:

1) Chose a dark, dark background, such as Navy blue or shocking purple. People love a little color. Heaven forbid you should use white as a background. Bright, garish colors are also helpful--they keep people awake and alert.

2. On that dark, dark background, use a reverse type, as small as possible, preferably with teeny-tiny extenders and serifs that are obliterated by the overwhelming background. Remember, if possible, you want to hurt people's eyes and make them wince and turn away from the screen.

3. Number everything. If you have three points to make on a slide, make sure they are numbered 1, 2, and 3. Otherwise people might think there are four or twelve or ninety-one points, and they get all confused.

4. Outline your presentation with roman numerals. People love roman numerals. Start with I, II, and III, and then just for chuckles, make the fourth slide MDXCLI, or something. No one will notice. Mix them up with slide outlines that use letters, both capital and lowercase. No one cares if the sequence is correct. And you can move slides around if you want, and not be bothered keeping all those numbers and letters in "strict" (read: anal retentive) order.

5. People love sound effects. Use lots of them. Crank the volume way up, too.

6. Use lots of creative clip art. Don't bother your graphics people with requests for tailored stuff; they are way too busy. Instead, just pull some crap off the wizard or the Microsoft clip art. People just can't get enough of seeing those same six or eight doofusy characters in that clip art! They'll thank you for it!

7. Whenever possible, have text fly in from all different angles, and fly away off the slide in interesting, creative ways. This helps distract people from the actual lousy content of any particular slide, and besides, many people have never seen animation before, so they'll just love seeing things move.

8. Cram as much data into your slides as possible. Use of "white space" is just so boring, and people lead busy lives, and don't want their time wasted looking at air.

9. Remember the Inverse Rule. The larger the audience, the smaller the typeface. If you've only got six people in the room, use nice, big letters. If there's 300 people, use tiny letters, so not even people in the front row can read the slide. That way, it is fair to everyone, and no one at the back can complain that only the people up front can read the slides. This is only fair, as I'm sure you realize.

10. The proper length of any PowerPoint presentation is directly proportional to how much coffee or other beverages are available before getting started. Ideally, you want everyone tanked up on liquids before you start. The go for at least an hour and a half, which will make sure 80% of the bladders in the room are distended. This makes people pay attention to your presentation. When you see people get up and start leaving the room and running to the facility, that's the time to hit 'em with your best slides and most important data and/or conclusions.

Hope this has been helpful.

Dolphin Michael,

I have tried, numerous times, to compare & contrast Bush & Gore's speaking styles but always come up short; probably because I can only watch W speak for about 1 min 45 sec before I start hurling objects at the television and stalk off in a hissy fit.

I tried to last a full 2 min for the last SOTU, but didn't make it. I'm considering the possibility of hiring a coach to help me increase my stamina. The training program I envision will consist of watching Bush smirk, smarm and aw shucks his way through certain pre-allotted periods of time (1 min 45 sec, 1 min 50 sec, 1 min 55 sec) until I build enough strength and endurance to reach my goal.

On the topic (a new experience for me) why are folks who try to protect our environment so easily lampooned as "wingnuts?"

... same with providing health care to everyone.

The "Acehnblog: we click" t-shirts -- available in white, gray, and most popularly, lime green -- were only commercially available for a few hours before the intellectual property lawyers at WaPo decided they could be the final straw on the tipping point of print media profitability.

They are so very highly sought after that none have ever appeared on e-Bay. Thus, their true collectible value can never be known. I find such a rare and valuable keepsake perfect for wear while lawn-mowing, car-washing, and dog-walking.

Hey, what's the matter with my décolletage? You don't like my décolletage? Well then, you can just avert your eyes, buster.

I only wear mine to the library.

my t-shirt!

amo,

I go with the viewing at a bar concept. Easy access to beverages of my preference and often with the company of a distracting individual who can assure me that the world is not all bad.

(also, you tend not to throw things at another person's tv)

I have to admit to the occasional Ralph Cramden moments, "one day Alice, ...."

Now I understand the true purpose of the preview function: it's to increase the chaos that results from boodling out of order.

Crying of Lot 51, but I'm not remembering what it was about,

but I do remember reading Canterbury Tales in middle english when I was 9, and thinking....man, these are some sick fairy tales...even worse than those germanic guys, the grimm brothers...eyes getting poked out and cooking people over fires...

the olde style books were, very much _more_ graphic, in what giants and ogres did to people...

And I always try so hard to look nice your you. *tears welling*

SCC: for you.

PowerPoint...here where I work they not only read the slides and say very little else, they also print out several copies, one for each attendee. I usually end up with drivel all over mine as it takes me a few minutes to read the damn thing, while the presenter drivels in another manner putting me to sleep. At least its good for an afternoon nap.

lampooned as an administration and corporate decision...

think in terms of Carl Rove, who gave you an election won by homophobia...

demagoguery, was made fashionable by him _again_

these are very olde techniques, since midwives were called "witches"...

.

it's called "appeal to emotion," and in the simple, defeats "appeal to reason."

I have read both "The Crying of Lot 51" and "V", but my memory of them is pretty distant. "Gravity's Rainbow" is a distant second to "Ulysses" as the book I have gotten the farthest into but am least likely to ever finish.

I recently bought a used copy of "The Floating Opera" to re-read it since I now live in the same geographic vicinity as the setting of the story. Please do not read too much erudition into this statement. I bought Michener's "Chesapeake" for the same reason.

as well as Trinity by Uris.

Curmudgeon, you've just described almost every PowerPoint presentation I've seen. It's truely the Devil's instrument. You forgot to mention that one has the option of slowly reading the slide verbatim, or just remaining silent and advancing to the next slide before anyone has a chance to read more than half of it.

as it was a continuation of the Sot Weed Factor, I sort of saw it as a "Connecticut Yankee," in it's involvement.

infinite jest - never sure if the title was an inside joke or not

I don't think you should have to apologize for buying a Michener, yello. I have no problem with middle-brow (or even low-brow) reading. "The Source" is my favorite Michener, and I liked "Hawaii" a lot.

(I once sat next to Michener in 1968 when I was covering a political event in lower Bucks County, Pa. I didn't know who he was, and just sat down at an open spot at the table. The guy sitting next to me was wearing a gray checked suit, but when I looked down I saw he was wearing fire-engine-red socks. Only when the MC introduced him did I learn who the guy was. Some day I'll tell the story of the reporter who was one of Michener's best friends, but I don't have time now--gotta leave soon.)

Just stop trying to look down my décolletage.

kberto,

Reading your post & 'Mudge's in such close proximity startled me & caused a re-read.

I wondered how a decolletage could help someone at a Library...Maybe it helps them get their books checked out faster? Flash the girls and they don't fine you?

Dolphin Michael, if I went to a bar to watch W, I'd probably be drunk before it started because I'd know what was coming...But I could try the buddy system and rapid breathing. Sorta like Lamaze class, but without the great result.

Ha, ha, y'all.

Guess what I've been working on today?

A one-hour presentation with a total of 6 slides, four of which are high-contrast graphics for illustration. No noises, no fancy transitions. "Just the meat." as I like to say.

Just finished delivering it, hooray.

yellojkt, I'm a bit surprised that you didn't propose a wrestling match between Jadzia and 7 of 9.

bc

I'm so sorry kbertocci, but the notion that you only wear your décolletage to the library will forever haunt me.

ebtnut, apparently channeling CNN: John EDWARDS, not John ROBERTS!!!! Dolphin: "wingnuts" is usually a shorthand term for "right-wing nuts", who generally don't give a damn about either environmental issues or universal health care. Maybe it's a good Friday to take off early.

We'll stop, 'Mudge, as soon as you stop putting your "I'm perky, dammit!!" button there.

:-)

Curmudgeon, you forgot the first rule of PowerPoint presentations: "The Admiral Rule." The more important the audience, the less complex the slides can be. Which means, naturally, that presentations to the most important person available must, by necessity, be totally devoid of any meaning whatsoever. Which, now that I think about it, helps explain a lot.

ammo, between you and dolphin micheal, I'm on my way to the shower. I cannot stop laughing, and I know I shouldn't do that, but it just so funny. I cannot look either. It's just too hard. And that has never happened to me before. I'm ancient, and have looked at many Presidents in the past, but not this one. Just cannot do it. And don't know why. It's just something about his speaking style and stance that will not allow me to look. And I don't believe him to be a bad person, just can't look when he's talking.

'mudge - i heart your décolletage!

Mudge, I think I saw that presentation.

Jadzia would so kick 7's butt. This is a woman (at least in this life) that picks barfights with Klingons.

Cassandra, have you tried polarized lenses? They only allow light in from the RIGHT frequency.

I guess that would be the political lite. (chinese)

How about "Tipper in '08"

Works for me.

I liked "V" and "The Crying of Lot 49" (mentioned Strip Botticelli here once) and "Floating Opera" a lot. Saw Barth reading from "Letters" while I was in college. Was standing next to him in the bathroom before the reading and had my copy of "Floating Opera" in my pocket. Said to myself, "this is not the right time to ask for an autograph," so I don't have his autograph. Haven't made it through "Gravity's Rainbow" yet. Tried twice, though.

Ahhh a powerpoint bible at last! I knew I was a heretic somehow, but I never knew from what sacred text others were reading from on the powerpoint screens.

I have been corrupted by public speaking and mime courses.

I stand now as a heretic for my belief in large, simple pictures and words at least 72 point or more, even in the captions.

And of course, keeping it simple because I want all eyes on my decolletage, begrudging the audience only 5 seconds looking at the screen per slide.

Language is too precious to disjoint and butcher in speech or on screen.

Therefore I serve up few words in complete phrases, and I speak not what I can mime.

I, being already condemned, also venture to say that Science Tim should reject powerpoint graphics altogether.

He could better convey complex biochemical and spatial concepts through interpretive dance. Some ASL training would help.

I'd like to see the Ballet of the Odysessy to Mars performed by a bearded, middleaged scientist in work clothes.

I would pay gold to see Curmudge lecture via interpretive dance, complete with decolletage, of course.

I have seen ScienceTim do the hydrocarbon pavane.

How about Karenna in '08? Much hotter than Tipper. She turns 35 that August, which squeaks her in under the wire.

In 1997, we were coming out of Georgeown on the day she married Andrew Schiff at the National Cathedral. I tried to talk my wife into crashing the reception, but she wouldn't go for it.

Oh, and a bit of trivia about Catch-22. Heller's initial title was Catch-18, but there was a Leon Uris novel out at the time with 18 in the title. So Heller's publisher wanted him to change the title. Heller really, really didn't want to (I don't know why he chose 18) but eventually conceded the point and now we have Catch-22.

Toodles, boodle. Gotta run--we're having company for dinner. Even though I'm bloating, I think I'll wear the strapless.

(Just had to leave you with that image--heh heh.)

Just wanted to point out that I wasn't dissing on the Trekies in the crowd yellojkt, but somehow saying "Obsessed with Babylon 5" didn't seem to have the same panache.
I too, am a Trekie, although only of the Classic Series. Which is why this seems kinda cool:

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=filmNews&storyid=2006-04-21T071334Z_01_N20133512_RTRIDST_0_FILM-LEISURE-STARTREK-DC.XML

kurosawaguy stopped by Liz Kelly's blog a couple of times today.

My goodness...

I go out for half a day and end up having to spend the other half just catching up with the boodle. (It's a Mom day and not an Employee day, so no boodling while volunteering at school.)

I'd like to thank all the folks here for the great college advice. This hunt has been fun and will continue to be up until the thin envelope/thick envelope drama unfolds next spring. I believe a road trip through NC is in the cards and the family looks forward to an all-state BPH.

I also look forward to what Jack can add this evening. I think he's a teacher, no? Just don't know at what level or where.

I, too, heard Mark Warner this morning on NPR and my husband says he did well on Al Franken's show earlier this week. We have to remember: governors win presidential elections. Southern governors. We must repeat that over and over until the Democratic powers that be hear it and remember it.

The thing that strikes me about Warner is that he seems to have a moral stance in his performance. He walks the walk.

He improved education in Virginia, got a Republican legislature (in a decidedly RED state) to raise taxes to balance the budget (leading to surpluses) and helped get a second Democratic governor elected here. Warner reached out to the rural areas not by talkin' like a country boy and pretending to be one of them, but by actually showing them how he and his party could improve their lives.

Let's all say it: governors, governors, governors.....

Yelllojkt, Would either Kira or Jadzia stand up against River Tam? I doubt it.
It also might be too fast a fight.

Pollen is falling like rain in the DC area. On my way to the bus stop I drew the "Wash Me!" si