Bask while the basking is good.

I didn't know alligators could play basketball, or even get into college.

I had to blog about the Gators. It's a cultural requirement. Anything else would be apostasy, and just wrong. But mostly apostasy. If there's one thing no one will ever be able to call me, it's apostasic.

I enjoyed the science stuff yesterday in the Boodle and will lift-and-separate some of that material for a future kit.

Um, is apostasy even a word. I can't think straight. bc, congrats on coming in second with your bracket. That's huge.

Didn't the Discovery Channel do a "Who Would Win" program on a bear v. alligator?

Or was it a lion?

Why don't more organization have lions as their mascot? Did the Lions take out the copyright when they started that wonderful eyeglass program?

And has anyone seen the SportsCenter commercial where Steve Irwin goes after the 'Gator as it leaves the elevator?

Joel, I really am pleased that the Gators won. Sports can make people happy. I'm a big fan of happy.

omni, you're just going to confuse people, like you did with that
chipmunk-instead-of-a-mouse comment. (Ha!)

And with that, this fan is off to get some shut-eye. (What was I *thinking* staying up until midnight?)

Achenlater, alligators.

what's confusing about chipmunks?
I use a mouse at work and chipmunk at home.

As a UCLA alumnus, I take extreme umbrage at the tone and content of this article. I am therefore taking my dolly dishes and going home. So there. [Bronx Cheer]

dr, excellent word choice! Real alligators take basking extremely seriously--it's just about their favorite activity.

"Activity?" Terrible word choice. Substitute "pastime."

Not to be confused with eating out in Bakersfield, which is apparently basquing.

Huh...wha...new kit...where?...find my glasses...night table...no, I'm at work, so no night table...lessee, nodded off, fell forward, head hit keyboard...glasses on floor...coffee...where coffee...cold...damn...

I hope 'Mudge propery disinfects his head where it touched the keyboard...

Joel, I have seen Today Show hosts and you are not a Today Show host. You may have panache and vim but you need perkyness to host the Today how. Alas, you completely lack perkyness.
N.B. For what it's worth: a French person, as in Yannick Noah, would pronouce Joakim YO-AH-KIM

Scotty, I believe the elementary schools have the name "Lion" copyrighted. That and "Eagle." Every school within 20 miles of me is either the Lions or the Eagles. Lots of paw-print magnets on the minivans.

CowTown,

Your Bruins did very well this year!!!
It is nice to see them go so far with their style of play and the level of effort.

I have to admit that, after those great teams of the past, I was to the point of feeling that if UCLA didn't win another basketball game--ever again, it would be fine with me. The program has rebounded from a decade of near mediocrity to play some very good ball. Feel free to do chest pound for your team and the coaching staff.

Congrats!

As a loyal Bulldog fan, it deeply pains me to actually say that I'm glad the Gators won it all. But they're the only team out of my final four picks to actually make it, so I jumped on.

But now baseball is back so who cares right? How about the call at the plate where Lo Duca dropped the ball but they called Soriano out anyway? This would've given the Nats the tie, and most likely the win, at least in my world...

I have a real problem with bandwagon jumping sports fans based on geographic proximity to a college or university. George Mason is of course the latest beneficiary of this phenomenon.

Joel, having abandoned Gainesville to become a fancy-pants Tiger, has surrendered all right to be a Gator fan. I am sure he expressed words to the effect of "I'm getting out of this low-rent truck stop and going to a REAL school" all through his high school career. And now he claims allegiance because he was on the town end of the street while the frat boys got drunk and stole his imagined rightfully his girlfriends. If anything, Joel should be wearing a white t-shirt that says "Cutters" on it and pray for Florida's disgrace every chance he gets.

When the back-door-cut boys get beat out by Penn or whoever else wins the Ivy that year, he is out in the cold. He can cheer for the other Ivy in the tourney out of conference pride, but by snubbing Gainesville when he had the chance to go there, he has to relinquish bragging rights.

As a Georgia Tech alumnus, I hate having to defend my school against every redneck that is a UGA fan just because "Georgia" is the biggest word on their driver’s license.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a graduate of a high school in Florida and my brother has a degree from UF. This is in no way affects high moral ground of my reasoning.

Don't you also have to go through some kind of colon exam to be the Today Show host? No thank you.

Aside: I don't think I've ever seen the word "vim" used without "and vigor".

A colon exam... for the Today Show?

Does that mean if they find that you have ever used a colon in a written document, you fail the colon exam for the show?

That's worse than drug testing.

I know, TBG, I know... But why aren't there an appropriate number of talon-mark magnets, hm??? Sounds like rampant mammalianism to me.

Leftovers from the previous kit:

mo, since you are both Hispanic and Goth, would that make you Hisgothic, or Gopanic? Just wonderin'.

William Bligh was Capt. (James) Cook's navigator, which is where and how he became the superb navigator ans seaman he was, especially in the mind-boggling open boat voyage. Unfortunately, he was probably a fairly strict disciplinarian, though not the monster painted in the Nordoff/Hall and MOTB movie versions. But then, a good many captains of that era were pretty strict, though some were pretty humane (Cook himself generally had a good reputation, so one wonders where Bligh learned to be such hardass).

Congratulations to all you Gatorpersons. Please enjoy your moment of glory for at least another 20 minutes (some of us are patiently drumming our fingers and staring out the window while this basketball thing winds down, so we can get on to the REAL business of Spring, which is adoration of the NATIONAL FREAKING PASTIME, PEOPLE!!!!!!! Remember? Infield fly rule? Steroids? Villanous owners who block broadcasting rights (shout-out to Little Petey DeAngelos, there, you putz). (Oops, sorry, not supposed to call people names here on the Achenblog--my bad.)

Pardon me while I go wipe the keyboard scuz off my forehead. Anybody know where the iodine is?

technically speaking peter angelos isn't on the blog so he's fair game:

Peter Angelos is a Putz.
Peter Angelos is a Putz.
Peter Angelos is a Putz.

Mudge,

Why do you have:

YUI
HJK
NM,

on your forehead? Is it a writing technique? A memory tool? Does it have religeous significance? Does it have to do with Tom Cruise? Are they nmncs?

OMNI, by now, he would be in the putz hall of fame, if we just knew where it was.

*faxing 'Mudge some Mercurichrome*

From Andy Borowitz ...

Tuesday , April 4, 2006
Get The Borowitz Report on your desktop RSS Feed
IRAQIS BITTERLY DIVIDED OVER NCAA TITLE GAME
Florida-UCLA Contest Inflames Sunnis, Shiites

Sectarian violence in Iraq surged again last night as Sunnis and Shiites found themselves bitterly divided over the NCAA basketball championship game.

As the Florida Gators and the UCLA Bruins battled it out in the final game of the NCAA basketball tournament, new tensions within the Iraqi population erupted to the surface, with Iraqi Sunnis supporting the Gators and the majority Shiites rooting fiercely for the Bruins.

From the very first jump ball of the title game, Sunnis and Shiites poured out into the streets of major cities like Baghdad, overturning cars and burning the opposing team’s mascot in effigy.

Iraqi’s third major population group, the Kurds, were largely on the sidelines last night, having rooted for George Mason University, which was eliminated over the weekend.

The United States had broadcast the NCAA tournament across Iraq in the hopes that the population would be swept up in the mania of college basketball and put sectarian rivalries aside, but just the opposite appears to have happened, the State Department acknowledged today.

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del), a harsh critic of the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq, took to the floor of the Senate today to question the wisdom of introducing the NCAA tournament to Iraq in the first place.

“I’d like to know what genius thought it was a good idea to bring March Madness to Iraq,” Sen. Biden said. “The last thing that place needs is more madness.”

Elsewhere, a new study shows that obese children have a difficult time fitting in car-safety seats, giving parents a new excuse not to show them in public.

hah! mudge - i like gopanic cuz of course the other would have to be hergothic or persongothic if we were being pc...

turns out my alma matter actually has sports! who knew? but the basketball team has a TERRIBLE name! the violets! feh! that outta be outlawed! the NYU violets... for a man's basketball team!

YES BASEBALL!!!! like Gene i am a YANKEES fan! and not a fair weather fan - i am a DIE HARD yankees fan!

The Word of the Day, brought to you by the NCAA and JA ...

Main Entry: apos·ta·sy
Pronunciation: &-'päs-t&-sE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -sies
Etymology: Middle English apostasie, from Late Latin apostasia, from Greek, literally, revolt, from aphistasthai to revolt, from apo- + histasthai to stand -- more at STAND
1 : renunciation of a religious faith
2 : abandonment of a previous loyalty : DEFECTION

I've been a fan of the ol' Achenblog since its birthing a while back but I only recently started paying attention to the comments section too (after Joel's comment that the 40k-odd posts were mostly by 15 people). And I must say - you people are wierd.

By the way Yello-boy, the Mason love during the past tournament wasn't necessarily proximity based, it just seems that way here since it's close. It was more underdog based than anything. Didn't you notice that everyone in the dome that wasn't a Gator fan was rooting for Mason? If there was a 11 seed from Alaska playing in the final 4 I'd be rooting for them no matter who they play against (unless it was my Hokies, but we're talking about basketball, so this will never be an issue for me).

Anyway - back to your hi-jinks people.

Regarding the letters on my forehead: I am a Druid. The letters themselves are part of the Da Vinci Code. If you twist my head in a secret way so that some letters line up exactly right, the top of my head pops open to reveal a secret map showing the location of half a bag of Cheetohs I hide from my 20-year-old son, so that they will still be there when I go home this evening. Otherwise, if he found them, the Forces of Evil and Youth would consume them.

Life is hard at my house.

mo, you're a Yankees fan? And to think I used to be quite fond of you. Where have I failed? *sigh*

That explains the not-so-subtle orange-yellow tinge you have, 'Mudge...

*dyin' ROFL here* :-)

I want to point out the, in all the hoopla over march madness, UC Santa Cruz hammered Pitzer in tennis.

Now there is a team!!! GO!!! what???

I agree with mattvbh about GMU getting a big boost from the Cinderella storyline. That's a cachet perennially underperforming Gonzaga is quickly losing. Everybody loves an underdog.

Gators, however, are repulsive reptiles that eat dogs of all varieties. That Bulldogs are within their dietary guidelines is their only redeeming value.

I would rather see Joel as the host of the CBS Evening News, rather than Katie Couric (speaking of the Today Show).

I'm glad that the Kit is about sports and Gators, a subject about which I could care less. Our mayor and former mayor were in Florida this week trying to reel in the Marlins for our cowtown. Certainly, they would have to give up their fishy name if the move ever took place? Of course, since we're the nations 37th media market, the deal has the potential to turn as sour as Florida orange juice without all the added sugar.

George H.W. will be in town tonight at Trinity, on the lecture circuit. Wonder what his speaker's fee is? Will it be just an hour of spin or will it be an honest, intellectucal address? Will the audience become barbaric with boos and catcalls if a tough, hard yet honest question is tossed Pappy's way?

The weather is good, and we are attracting the out-of-towners. The Northeasterners just don't show up when it's hotter than blazes. Carl Bernstein of Woodward & Bernstein fame will be out in little ol' biddy Uvalde, about an hour to our west, on Thursday night, speaking for free.

Further factoid on Bligh. He was (arguably) indirectly responsible for Cook's death, and it cast a blight (hee hee) over his early career. There was something to do with a stolen canoe. Cook was on a shore party and meanwhile the locals came out on the water and were apparently acting aggressive in Bligh's view. Shots were fired and all hell broke loose. Cook, still on shore, was cut to pieces.

The mythology of Bligh being the hardass apparently comes from the trials that followed (see the Tooney book I noted, as my recollection is weak on this point). I think there were a couple of courts martial arising from the whole open boat affair (a sub-mutiny if you will). Anyhoo, in fine criminal defence tradition, they trashed Bligh as The Worst Captain Ever as part of the defence, and as is a well known property of certain matter, if you throw enough, some of it will stick.

For mo:

I'll be in Yankee Stadium on the 26th of June to watch your team lose. I'll be the loud guy in the other team's jersey.

Also, from The Times, apparently Jesus did not walk on water, it was ice. The only thing I wonder about is, didn't he wear sandles most of the time?

Read for yourself:

In the night that followed the miracle of the loaves and fishes, as Mark tells the story in the New Testament, Jesus further astonished his disciples by walking on water.

It was a stormy night on the Sea of Galilee and the disciples were out in a boat, battling a contrary wind, when they saw Jesus approaching, as if a spirit. "And he went up to them into the ship; and the wind ceased," it is written in Mark 6:51. "And they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered."

Doron Nof also wondered, in a measured, scientific way. A professor of oceanography at Florida State University, he conducted an inquiry and found what might be a natural explanation: ice.

Writing in The Journal of Paleolimnology, Nof and his colleagues point out that unusual freezing processes probably occurred in the region in the last 12,000 years, icing over parts of freshwater Galilee. This has not happened in recent history, but there were much colder stretches 1,500 to 2,500 years ago.

The scientists note that Galilee has warm, salty springs along the western shore, an area Jesus frequented. The water above the springs does not convect when it is cold. If air temperatures dipped below freezing, as sometimes happened then, surface ice could have formed thick enough to support human weight and inspire the biblical story.

From a distance, the scientists suggested, a person on the ice might appear to be walking on water, particularly if it had just rained and left a smoothed-out watery coating on the ice.

In a bow to biblical literalists and other skeptics, Nof's group concluded, "Whether this happened or not is an issue for religion scholars, archaeologists, anthropologists, and believers to decide on."

'mudge - please don't tell me your a *gasp* red sux fan? i've allowed special dispensation for jw cuz he's military and, well, just doesn't know any better - but YOU 'mudge? twood break my little dark heart!

Dolphin Michael:

Go Banana Slugs!! Way to show those Sagehens!!!

As a Georgia Bulldog alumna and fan, I was pleased to see an SEC team take it all. But I'm sure I won't be feeling so charitable once the annual Gators-beating-the-pants-off-the-Dawgs football game comes around.

Hah!! Another Bulldog fan. And sadly right about the cocktail party...

Maybe this year we win?

Our local ABC-affiliate weather guy, Steve Browne (originally from Plymouth, Mass.) was goofing around on his weather segment during the last month, as he does every single day. He does his comedy schtick with anchors Leslie Mouton, blonde and you know the rest of the story, and Steve Spriester.

Browne said jokingly that he was related to Mark Twain. (Do you think they read the Boodle?) Browne then asked what Twain character convinced another kid to whitewash a fence in his place, making the task seem like a great adventure? After a moment's hesitation, anchors Steve and Leslie yell back in unison, "Huck Finn!"

Cultural literacy took two steps backward that afternoon and on that broadcast here in San Antonio.

mo, a warning...

DO NOT read the "Say it is So" Boodle from the weekend. Members of the Nation will be revealed therein.

:-)

the braves beat the yankees? awwww, mr. cabbage - it's cute the way you dream big! keep reaching for those stars dear! one day you may reach them!

Don't you be bad mouthing those Sagehens.

Red Sox? Nah. Phillies ('cause I was born and raised there, and so grew used to decade after decade of pain and abject humiliation, kind of like Silas in DaVinci Code, or Cubs fans), and then last year quite easily made the transition to Nationals fan.

My son berates me because when I moved to Maryland from Philly in 1978, I was never able to fully transition to an Orioles fan, because I hated Earl Weaver (and as a 17-year [local level] umpire, hating Earl Weaver is mandatory). After Weaver left, I liked them well enough for a while (and of course admired Cal Ripken tremendously), but Angelos makes it too hard to stay loyal to them.

So it's pretty much the Nationals, then the Phillies in default mode.

I have to say, I really enjoyed the Nationals' season last year.

We lived right down the road from the Calgary Cannons park for a couple of years when my boys were small. The Cannon were at that time part of the Mariners organisation. For 2.99 your kids under 12 could be a member of the Junior Cannons, and could get into every weekday game for free. Parents had to pay 5.00 for the bleacher seats. Through spring and summer we went to baseball, in full winter regalia. Mitts and toques were mandatory till late June and were optional for July. We had a blast.

To be appreciated, baseball must be live, in a park somehwere, winter gear or not. It is an event, not a tv show. As a tv show, it really sucks.

RD, no not at all.

Next year, I would suggest that the Sagehens bring some salt to put on the Banana Slug team.

Although the Stags are better.

In Alexander's book, the details of the mutiny change, Rashomon-like (sigh, where are you K'guy?), depending on the crew member telling the story.

When we lived in Fla. the first time, the g-girls had a crush on a Gator football player, Danny Warfel, No. 7, I think. Anyway, we made a gator flower bed; two foot long concrete alligator surrounded by out orange marigolds and blue cornflowers (actually they were lavendar but the closest to blue I could get to bloom). I still have my gator, so when we move back, we'll recreate the Gator Bed. It's gonna be like deja vu all over again.

Joel, congratulations on the Gators decisive win last night. Enjoy it now because who knows when you'll see it again. My Kansas Jayhawks last won it all in 1988. Although they've been to the Final Four a few times since and even made it to the championship game a few years ago, the big prize continues to elude them. Did anyone else think that Noah was perhaps a little bit too full of himself after the game? C'mon, booty shakin' on the court as the last seconds ticked off the clock. Maybe that's just sour grapes on my part because my team was eliminated in the first round (again).

Some of the comments in today's boodle are laugh out loud funny. The collective wit of the boodlers is amazing.

The Banana Slug of Santa Cruz is the best college team name. Many mascots inspire fear, but only one inspires revulsion. And leaves a slime trail.

Dynasty in Florida? Maybe, but who cares, people? The STEELERS are once again super bowl champs. That's the dynastic return true sports fans have been waiting for. 'Nuff said.

Alright, enough with the men's b-ball nonsense. Game over. Fear the Turtle!

I L L !

I N I !

Maybe if my meridians were more precisely aligned, I wouldn't be so strange.

Dolphin Michael asks:
Mudge,

Why do you have:

YUI
HJK
NM,

on your forehead? Is it a writing technique? A memory tool? Does it have religeous significance? Does it have to do with Tom Cruise? Are they nmncs? [mneumonics?]

Not an acrostic, nor a momento mori, but it all likelihood steganography.

"Muy kin"??? Perhaps referring to Mudge and my relatedness through our common Swedish bloodline, with Mudge veering off into Spanish--perhaps having to do with that whole Cid-El thing of Mudge's a while back?

Good thing, Mudge, can be open about the secret code on his forehead and doesn't have to revert to these ancient tricks:

Herodotus tells the story of a message tattooed on a slave's shaved head, hidden by the growth of his hair, and exposed by shaving his head again. The message, if the story is true, carried a warning to Greece about Persian invasion plans.

It's entirely permissible for Florida kids to go to Princeton (remarkably, 3 from the local high school did so a couple of years ago--it was like the school had won the lottery). These kids freed up space in Gainesville, which is becoming rather crowded. I doubt that UF is quite as hard to get admitted to as UCLA, but it's getting there, even as a monster state university, potentially larger than the University of Texas, is growing in Orlando. It ties up traffic on the side of town opposite Disney.

'mudge - why for the nasties against the yankees? they are not without fault - i'll give you that - but they embody PERFECTLY the city that is new york city - glitz and glammer - the gritty underbelly - all perfectly and neatly wrapped up in the stripes that make my yankees look so good!

Linda Loo - look down on your keyboard. All will be revealed.

One word: Steinbrenner.

Dave,

After a recent week in Florida, I would have to say that Florida should consider re-labeling themselves as the "traffic jam" state.

What's going on down there?

The state needs to get more Highways, eh?

love that story about the scalp. I have to remember that one to tell my students.

I know my LSU Tigers lost, but isn't it great that both teams made it to the final four?

ok...lost is an understatement.

A colon test to be on the Today Show would be easy. How about a semicolon or hyphenation test?

RD,

Linda doesn't know, her family has used DVORAK boards since they arrived on the Mayflower.

Yes, we can all be glad that 'Mudge's forehead hit the middle of the keyboard...think of how bizarre it would be if he hit the number pad instead. Nobody would be able to figure that one out!

I'm not so sure "Num Lock" wouldn't be a more appropriate message to have across my forehead.

'mudge - i'll give you steinbrenner... that being said, he never ever said he was a saint - in fact, i think IMHO that he's quite clear about exactly who he is and what he's about... it's about the players, man, the players!

For a long time UF and FSU alumni enforced a prohibition against other state schools having Division I football. That made Florida prime recruiting ground for Georgia, Alabama and other SEC rivals. Now several other schools are fielding potentially competititve teams.

My brother-in-law briefly attended UCF in Orlando and can therfore claim some rights to cheering the Silver Knights. Tampa is home to the University of South Florida, which lately prefers Sun Bulls to its original mascot of Golden Brahmans, telling us something about the spelling level of the student body.

I like colleges with nicknames that match the indigineous wildlife. Florida Atlantic University is the Owls because the campus is literally peppered with Burrowing Owl nesting holes. Yes, the same critters that are the MacGuffin of Hiaasen's book and forthcoming movie, "Hoot".

I was a Banana Slug fan before Travolta wore the t-shirt all through the second half of Pulp Fiction. I may have to switch my Division III California allegience to the poor beleagured Sagehens.

>but they embody PERFECTLY the city that is new york city

mo, surely you're referring to the Mets?

All can be revealed. 'Mudge's marks are indeed a mnemonic device that remind him of the three shorthand responses for anything that happens during the day:

You're Unusually Inspired (meaning "good work")
Hilarious Joel Kit (meaning "busy boodling, complete editing later")
Needs More Commas (meaning "more work required")

Sheesh - I've been gone a week, but I did skim the Kits quickly last night - and what did I see in the "40,000 Comments" Kit but my poor attempt at a joke. I'm so Achenembarrassed! I may have to become alwayslurking...

Dolphin Michael:

No one told you about the crummy flood-prone highways in Florida?

How about the pet-eating alligators, car-swallowing sinkholes, seasonal hurricanes, enormous cockroaches, pet-eating alligators, or obnoxious sports fans?

Well, everywhere has obnoxious sportsfans.

Sign me an FLA-expatriate.

Did I mention pet-eating alligators?

yellojkt, you left out Miami. Nothing is worse than fashion in Miami. It hurts to look...

"fashion in Miami"

/add to list of oxymorons

jellojkt, I have your back on the cockroaches... I thought I was looking at yet another funky Honda minivan design... then it got up and walked around the side of a building. No wonder it didn't have tags.

yellojkt, sorry about the Cuban spelling.

Speaking of banana slugs and slime trails, I have to go to a two-hour "listening" session my colleagues and I are dreading. So when I return at 4 p.m. I'm likely to be fairly testy.

You all have been warned.

Carry on.

Sorry about taking "the other side," but call it what you will, I find the mode of dress *enlightening* that you find in the Miami area.

Sorry, Dolphin Michael, no Mayflower connection. A little boat three years later to Plymouth in 1623, but no Mayflower.

Since Mudge has decided to call out the Silas character from Dan Brown's "Da Vinci Code" in his Boodling today, you must known that one of the groups protesting the release of the Da Vinci code is NOAH:

http://movies.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1148514.php/Albino_group_to_protest_`Da_Vinci`_film

(Scottynuke, a lot of interesting activity regarding this film coming out of New Hampshire lately.)

EAST HAMPSTEAD, NH, United States (UPI) -- The National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentationare is launching a campaign against the Tom Hanks film of 'The Da Vinci Code.'

NOAH had unsuccessfully asked film director Ron Howard to change author Dan Brown`s 'hulking albino' character Silas, [portrayed by actor Paul Bettany] The New York Post reported Sunday.

A California teacher who is albino wrote to Brown in 2003 voicing her concern over the 'hateful' stereotypes assigned to albinos in literature and film, the newspaper said.

Brown swiftly replied, writing: 'You might be interested to know that Silas ... is a far more sympathetic character than anyone else in the novel.'

Details of the NOAH campaign against 'The Da Vinci Code' and Hollywood`s history of 'evil albinos' were not spelled out.
***

Now, if I, with a rare genetic disorder, were to be a guest of Sony/Cannes, that might help to quash that protest. I have some interesting news as of this morning--a glimmer of hope. Let me emphasize *glimmer.*

However, I also can say that my hubby now has my severe bacterial infection of the throat. (I was misdiagnosed with a severe allergic reaction in the throat, misdiagnosed since apparently what I had is contagious. Medical care in San Antonio leaves a great deal to be desired. *sigh*) I'v now gotten up after a week of feeling like death warmed over, behind in all *my* duties, to have to now play nursemaid. The quest to go to Cannes shall resume in a day or so.

2 minutes:

Thanks, Dolphin Michael, for your kind words about the Bruins. It made me feel better. And, I cheer the Banana Slugs, simply because I think banana slugs are really, really cool.

Best wishes to both of you Linda!!!
I like your Cannes do attitude.

And I concur with your family's approach, I say, "never go on the first boat anywhere!"

Yes, the albino assassin in DaVinci Code is made out of a much higher grade of cardboard stock than the other characters. My wife and I will see it just to play "We saw that!" from when we visited Paris, not for the intricate plot or the deft characterization or the paradigm-shifting themes.

Post-script for DM:
We were acquainted with August Dvorak before The Big Sail. Ergonomica was the family motto back then. No QWERTY for us!

Linda...... SHOW OFF!!!!!!

error - the METS? BAH! they don't even deserve to represent the same state! i'm talking about HISTORY here! *grumble grumble* the mets! are you sure we lived in the same city?

btw - it appears i was wrong about the NYU mascot - it is the bobcat - NYU bobcats... (can you tell i never went to a single game in my 4 years there?)

There are lots of issues with Gainesville, specifically, and Florida, generally. We are a growing state that doesn't have a government that knows how to adequately manage that growth.

It's kinda hard to see the problems with infrastructure when there are dollar signs in your eyes...

But, I digress. I am a native of Florida and of Gainesvile and last night was fantastic. People were partying here until 3am and the streets were a mess. The O'Connell center was jam-packed with folks watching the game on a large screen inside.

Historic would be a definite understatement. And Billy Donovan's paycheck just expanded exponentially, kinda like Spurrier's did after Gator Football won the Nat'l Championship way back in the day. And the man deserves it; basketball is popular down here, but generally it can't touch football for sheer number of fans & attention.

Last night, all eyes were on those boys and their magic and they absolutely, inequivocably deserved it.

Go Gators!

re: boats, it's all a matter of timing. My paternal grandfather came over (successfully) on the Lusitania. In other words, its not the first boat to avoid, its the last one!

Speaking of the Mets (who I also despise), when are they going to realize that the black in their uniforms is horrible. Stick to blue and orange.

And also, when are they (and the Yankees for that matter) going to realize that you can't buy a championship? I don't mind that they keep trying though, because there is nothing funnier than a $200 million dollar 5th or 6th place team.

CowTown, actually, I'm GW through and through. BTW, I had the pleasure (amazing pleasure) to play ball with uber-Bruin KAJ every day one summer at a gym called the Tin Tabernacle at GDUB. Probably the most amazing player ever.

Curmudgeon, when you get back, I have a stupid maritime challenge for you:

As a knowledgeable sailing man and former boat-builder, please analyze, discuss, and rank the following three persons:
(a) William Bligh
(b) Ernest Shackleton
(c) Joshua Slocum

No further explanation on my part will be forthcoming. For the venerated 'Mudge, none will be necessary. Have fun! (or spit on my childishness. Whichever.)

There was an issue of ScienceKid #1's favorite magazine, Muse, which dealt extensively with cryptography, codes, and secret messages. It included the Herodotus story (what kind of pension do you give a guy who has carried a single message through mortal danger and now can carry no further messages? Not to mention that he can no longer travel freely, especially when he becomes old and bald?)

If you have any small persons, age 8-14, for whom you take some responsibility to educate and entertain, I command you to scamper over to the Carus Publishing web site and order a subscription to Muse.

I hope I'm not late on this one, but Joel, if Katie Couric does in fact leave the today show then I think you might just have a shot.

That is of course if you pass the colon exam.

Good luck...

>error - the METS? BAH!

For what it's worth (from a complete non-fan) the only baseball prediction I've ever made was in 1969, when someone asked who I wanted in the World Series.

I said the Mets.

While I enjoy the banter, I can't get interested in either baseball or basketball except as a vehicle to engage in drinking beer and eating hot dogs.

As a friend once said, "baseball is the only game I know where you can work up a good sh** WHILE PLAYING it".

Still here, the storms went north of me, just windy. Beautiful day here today, but a little chilly.

Congrats on your team winning, Joel. Don't look at basketball or much of any sports.

yello
In the last kit you mentioned working in a meat plant? I thought about my days working in a chicken processing plant. Oh, the things one sees working in a chicken plant, yet I still eat chicken, and ate it while working there. I'm telling you the "barn yard pimp" is nasty. And I won't even go into the Imperial Fire disaster some years back.

Mr. Cabbage -

Yepper, another Dawg fan. We can be hopeful but not expectant for the World's Largest Cocktail Party. Still, maybe this is the year they get past the huge mental block. Go Dawgs!

(and on behalf of my partner: Fear the Turtle!)

amo sez:
"There are lots of issues with Gainesville, specifically, and Florida, generally. We are a growing state that doesn't have a government that knows how to adequately manage that growth."

Unrestrained growth in Florida is not a new phenomenon. It is a deliberate policy on the part of politicians designed to exploit the Greater Fool theory to the hilt. By constantly remaining behind the curve on growth and infrastructure development, the true costs are never apparent to the current residents, which keeps attracting new growth. It is a runaway positive feedback cycle that makes global warming look benign.

Pick up about any John D. MacDonald book at random for a far better explanation of the "lock the gate behind me" mindset of Florida immigrants.

I will second Science Tim's recommendation to Muse magazine. Our personal F-1 offspring adores it. Muse isn't just science and math, but a young teenager's version of a liberal-arts education. Great stuff.

http://www.cricketmag.com/ProductDetail.asp?pid=12

KB

Borders had a deeply discounted, bargain book on cryptography during WWII within the past month. I passed on purchasing it and am now sorry.

Since Science Tim is venturing down this topic (your post made me laugh, Tim, especially about employee pension benefits for Herodotus), there are some unusual and fun tales about steganography at Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steganography

More obscurely, during World War II, a Japanese spy in New York City, Velvalee Dickinson, sent information to accommodation addresses in neutral South America. She was a dealer in dolls, and her letters discussed how many of this or that doll to ship. The stegotext in this case was the doll orders; the 'plaintext' being concealed was itself a codetext giving information about ship movements, etc. Her case became somewhat famous and she became known as the Doll Woman.

IMHO, codes and secrets have pirate talk beat any day of the week.

thanks Science Tim. I ordered Muse for my son. Can't wait to get the first issue!

LindaLoo, both of you get better immediately!! That's an order!!! :-)

EAST Hampstead, NH??? My pediatrician practiced there -- REALLY my old stomping grounds! And the Granite State's full of interesting nooks and crannies.

And LindaLoo, pirate talk IS codes and secrets, innit???

Yellojkt, so you attribute this to the deliberate & calculated destruction of Florida while I took the much more naive and generous route of 'gross incompetence'.

Unfortunately, yellojkt, it's becoming crunch time with things like roadways, bridges and utilities. Here in Gvl, we're maybe (maybe) 5 years out on a majorly catastrophic situation where we won't be able to provide utilities to all current residents - and right now we're locked into a struggle with various local factions (and I'm not judging their respective positions, mind you) that want only a certain *type* of energy used, etc, and more factions still trying to determine if a new plant is needed at all.

In fact, things got so heated that our General Manager for the utility 'resigned' last week. Now, they are looking for a new one, mostly likely one who will kowtow to whatever it is they command. It was highly political and made many residents here very, very upset.

We've been trying to educate consumers as to conservation, but some of the apartments are so old and the a/c units are antiquated enough to require almost complete replacement. They've tried incentive programs, but the truth is most landlords don't live in town and could care less as long as they get the monthly rent.

Gainesville has a sprawl problem. It's being built out, not up, virtually unchecked. Our current City Commission basically gives developers a blank check to do as they please. The housing market is bad; they keep building apartments & condos but it's only making the situation worse.

A lot of proposed solutions, like roundabouts, are too little too late because Gvl never developed a comprehensive growth policy nor did it every attempt to pull in enough large employers to have competitive wages in the area. If you don't work in government, or for the city (I work for the city), or for the University, then you are paid well below market average for your efforts.

Additonally, Gainesville appears to be in some bizarre Bermuda Triangle when it comes to gasoline delivery. Allegedly because of taxes, but also because we're off the 'route', our gas prices average anywhere from $0.05 to $0.10 higher than the surrounding area.

Loomis has unwittingly mentioned one of my biggest peeves: Wikipedia is the most unreliable source ever to masquerade as a real one. I have STUDENTS who have written entries for Wikipedia; students whom I wouldn't trust to give me accurate directions to the nearest bar. So, while I'm sure that indeed there are some "unusual and fun" things in Wikipedia about steganography, I'd hesitate to call anything therein written a "fact."

amo - arlington virginia seems to have a similar problem with unchecked growth - they are building townhouses and condos that start in the $700,000 range and not doing anything to improve the roads that were built in the 60's in what was largely a rural area... i fear the traffic is just going to get worse... sad part is that a lot of arlington land is protected park land, therefore not available for the widening of roads...

Loomis unwittingly mentions very little.

amo,
Excellent synopsis.
I returned to Florida from '87 to '94 after graduation and finally ran away. We moved out partly because school planning in Florida consists of waiting until an entire school's worth of trailers are in the playground, then build a new school. By the time the school opens, there are half a schools worth of trailers in the playground.

In '87 there were plans to rebuild the I-4 and I-275 interchange. It is still being worked on.

Incompetence, greed, corruption and naivete all brew together to make the stew that is the upcoming disaster in Florida. Once the acquifier is pumped dry, and the roads are gridlocked, the wetlands are paved over, and the schools have sunk to Mississippi standards, they may wake up and start doing something about the situation.

Mo, you may be able to move more cars in Arlington, but to where? Other parts of Virginia aren't doing any better with the traffic. DC isn't going to expand its system of roads.

Telecommuting may become the only real out. Or more and larger mass transit efforts. I wonder if Townhouses are the best use of the building footprint?

Congrats to the Gators from a Kentucky fan. Go SEC!

Cassandra, I'm glad you checked in! We were worried about you being in the line of fire, stormwise. To help out at home, my dad worked in a meat plant nights when he was a teenager. His job was shooting rats with a pellet gun. The boss gave him a nickel for every rat he killed. Dad said those nickels were worth gold during depression times.

For yellowjkt: a secret coded message...

Thanks much for your directions as to how to leave you a message on your blog. Unfortunately (sigh) I just didn't get it.
I did surf around on the Udvar-Hazy Center site,and see that permission has to be given to photograph there... and have since sent in a form to see about acquiring one of their photos of the Mothership, from "Close Encounters" for use.
Have also enjoyed the pictures you--and others--have posted on blogs. Looking forward to seeing some cherry blossom shots.

I was being too cloak and dagger-ish. Just go to my blog, pick any post - an old wone would be most disrete, leave a comment wiht an e-mail address where I can reach. When I get the comment (and I will, they get e-mailed to me), I will reply. I need to add that to my contact info somewhere on my blog.

http://livebythefoma.blogspot.com/

I've been trying to get Weingarten to look at my blog since I have been obsessing over comic strips all month and that's his balliwick, but he never bites. If I just had a video of some lame juggler, I might make the cut.

If you ever see "Fo, MA" in the address field, you know I've gotten through to him.

SCC: Boy is Daylight Savings Time a tax on the powers of clear typing. There is no hidden code in the patern of misspelled words. Although that is the only coherent explanation for how I managed to get so many in so few sentences.

SCC: First phrase should read: "Child of undetermined gender, is Daylight Savings Time..."

Um, Nani, in this meat plant, just what exactly happened to those rats after your dad shot them? I may become a vegetarian now...

I didn't say I ws selling Wikipedia stock, did I? Wikipedia has made some egregious errors concerning the Loomis family tree. But it can be a first stop look-see, simply a springboard to more serious inquiry or scholarly pursuit. Wikipedia is Q&D.

Thanks for the Muse info. I'll check it out. My own kids are a bit young, but my students should like it. I wonder how I'll incorporate that into my Spanish curriculum.

About roads in VA, you should see what's going on in Chesterfield County. We have approximately 2500 new homes being built over the next year and a half, all feeding into two small, already crowded elementary schools, with only a rural two-lane road leading in or out of the area. We are considering moving to NC since ALL of VA is moving in the same direction. Raleigh and the surrounding area seem to be doing a better job of managing growth. If anyone here is from the area and has a different opinion, I'd love to hear it.

dolphin m - u make a very good point. i think we should prolly look into teleportation pretty darn soon!

beacantor, I live in Charlotte but will agree that Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill appear to be doing okay with growth. Chapel Hill has the most expensive real estate in the state, so you may want to look elsewhere. Cary has a good reputation for managing growth. Durham city government hasn't quite caught up with the rest of us, so I wouldn't go there. The word is that Wake County (Raleigh) will eventually have more residents than Mecklenburg (Charlotte) so you may want to keep that in mind. We do have our issues, though. Highway maintenance is deplorable, but the schools are decent. Emergency services are okay also. That's all I know...

Sorry I missed out on Joel and the other Gators enjoying a day in the sun.

Have a sick daughter home from school, had to do the stay home/reschedule meetings/ schedule doctor appt/pick up prescription thing today. And I taught my sick kid about computers today: command line interfaces, bits, bytes, disk storage vs RAM and CPUs, the beginnings of DARPAnet, DOS and Windows, Bill Gates, Marc Andressen, operating systems, eMail servers, IP addressing, etc.

A good sick day, I guess.

bc

Hmm, interesting challenge, StorytellerTim.

First, Bligh. Easily the best “pure” navigator of the bunch, as well as the best sailor (though not the best captain as a manager of men--that was Shackleton). Fair writer. On a human level, probably the man you might want to command your longboat, but not the man you’d want to have dinner and/or a drink with. I always found him kind of a boring personality.

Next, Slocum. Easily the best writer of the three, and the second best sailor. He’s different from the other two in that Slocum almost always sailed alone, and always sailed in a small craft (and built/rebuilt “Spray” himself. He is one of those strange men who prefer to sail alone (something I’ve often read about, but don’t “understand,” and wouldn’t do myself in a million years). Probably the best single-handed sailor there ever was, and when you combine his writing and his sailing, one helluva storyteller. Circumnavigated the globe solo, the first ever known to do so. Set off on a second voyage, and was never heard from again (probably run down and sunk by a freighter somewhere off New York. Probably an interesting guy to sit and listen to him talk, if he would talk (instead of write). Lousy husband and father—went off sailing all the time, leaving his family at home. (But perhaps they didn’t mind.) The only boatbuilder in the group, though Bligh could probably have knocked something together if he had to.

Shackleton: excellent sailor, but a big ship man, unlike Slocum. Easily the best/most charismatic leader of the three. But known not so much for sailing ability as for explorations of the Antarctic and the Endurance voyage, which was trapped in the ice, crushed and sunk, and the subsequent rescue. Easily the guy to have dinner and drinks with at the Explorers’ Club. On his fourth or fifth voyage to the Antarctic, he led a cruise to circumnavigate the Antarctic and died of a heart attack on the day he completed it.

(I used to have a childhood fascination with Byrd’s explorations, but have since lost interest in Arctic/Antarctic stuff: too darn cold. Much rather go someplace warm and where they serve beverages with tiny umbrellas, and there are women in grass skirts.)

All three, of course, were circumnavigators, and “first” navigators of one sort or another (Bligh being on “first” voyages to discover this or that, though not a “first” circumnavigator). Conrad’s my guy.

I have a collected book of Slocum's work, but I got sort of bogged down in the "Voyage of the Liberdade". I love the story that Slocum sailed the Straits of Magellan 3 times -- twice at night, by hearing, because he got turned around and sailed back through when it seemed the boat was in danger but in fact, he was almost all the way through, and then again the next day.

I should add: Go Terps!

The ladies are playing archrival Duke (boo! hiss!) for the NCAA Women's Basketball National Championship tonight.

It will probably be a better actual basketball game than the second half of last night's...

bc

My alltime favorite book about sailing, Tim, is "Princess--New York," by Joe Richards. It's actually more about boatbuilding than sailing, and tells the story of how Richards, at the end of WWII, came home and found an old Friendship Sloop (my favorite design type, of course) and in the middle of NYC found a boatyard and rebuilt her pretty much from the keel up.

(Yes, I used to be--and in many emotional ways still am--one of those "wooden boat guys," a hopeless romantic. Varnish is my V*iagra.)

(Metaphorically speaking, of course.)

(It has to be metaphorical, because otherwise who wants to apply six coats and sand between each coat? Ouch.)

Cavet emptor:Do not confuse activity with achievement.

Hah! Fooled you, TypePad!

I tried to submit the previous post three times, and three times the infamous, villainous TypePad Interceptor commandeered it and sent it to Cyber Oblivion. So then I put an asterisk in the V word, and it posted.

Hah!

It's creepy that there's now a sort of retirement community aimed at retired Gators near UF, and even a Del Webb (as in Sun City) near Chapel Hill. We Vero Beach types have been intrigued by the remarkable low price of the new home that two of our fresh retirees have built somewhere near Duke, to be closer to one of the kids, who I think is a well-behaved divinity student.

I've discovered that if you use a number one instead of a letter L or an I you can often fool the Wordy Dird Filter™ into passing your comment through.

Let's see... V1AGRA...SH1T (yikes! did I just say that out loud? I'm so sorry! Please excuse me!) Well... at least we know now.

But who woulda thunk V1agra was a Wordy Dird? I was talking about painting woodwork, fer crying out loud.

(Which isn't a bad euphemism, now that I think of it. "He was...you know...'painting the ol' woodwork,' if ya know what I mean. Wink, wink.")

I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Mudge... anything can sound like a bad euphemism:

He was 'blogging in draft mode' or 'driving down elm street' or 'watching the Women's Final Four' -- you get the picture.

And to stray a little on topic... one time my kids decided that 'moving to Florida' was a euphemism for dying.

Mudge, I know you said you have dropped most of the artic stuff, but have you read much about Franklin? That is another interesting (1) story.

(1) interesting = long, grim and usually involving eating your boots/friends in the end.

v1agra is blocked because of spamming entries - my blog continually get blasted with spam entries regarding v1agra, phenterm1ne, texa$ pok3r, etc... so i block those words on my blog...

She was "straying a little on topic", wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more.

Nah, "moving to Florida" should be a euphemism for mental deterioration, à la senility or Alzheimer's.

I think that the Wirty Dord Filter™ also is an Impermissible Commercial Speech and Scam Filter.

Actually, come to think of it, "skimming the boodle" does sound kind of dirty.

I L L !

Surely the Style Invitational has done this before now, right? If not, maybe that's a good contest: the most original euphemisms. Empress? You out there? Or are you (wink wink) "blogging in draft mode"?

Wanna see how far we can drive this bad boy down Salacious Boulevard before The Interceptor gets wise?

"Think I'll go home and see if the missus wants to hammer the oakum into the garboard seam."

(Sigh)

I N I !

Editing in public by yourself?

Sorry, Bayou: 'splain "I L L"

Mudge, your Salacious Boulevard reminds me of my family's favorite fake euphenism. On Route 50 on Maryland's Eastern Shore, there's a light outside of Easton (I think) at a cross street called Dutchman's Lane.

Anyway... every time we pass through there we say things like "when he got that new job, he was really sittin' on Dutchman's Lane!

"She was taking the long route down Dutchman's Lane when she went out with that guy."

Mudge - Picture one side of a stadium or arena. The people there shout out "I-L-L." The people on the other side shout back "I-N-I." You are probably in Champaign, Illinois.

>Wanna see how far we can drive this bad boy down Salacious Boulevard before The Interceptor gets wise?

I got a nice mouse extender this afternoon.

OK, got it.

Time to go "run for the bus," if ya know what I mean (wink wink).

Thanks, Nani. We had some bad weather, but it went around my neighborhood. Are you still moving to Florida? Moving is okay, just hate packing up that stuff. Hope you have some help.

And here I was telling my kids I was reading serious stuff from the WaPo. They'll report me to the school network guy.

I'd joked about submarines filled with seamen, but sailboats, that's a new one. Thanks for making me laugh, y'all.

On the road next to my house there are several signs posted "Speed Hump."

For some reason my son giggles at these.

Gonna hafta have a talk with that boy.

LindaLoo - Steg is a big area and well worth paying attention to, but be warned. That way lies madness. When you start to look for hidden messages hard enough you find them. You end up with Electronic Voice Phenomenon. Or worse, childish innuendo...

"Speed Hump," snort....

RDP,

Maybe he heard of "Speed Dating" and just extrapolated.

The German sign "Abfahrt!" ("Exit") always brings out my inner 14 year-old.

By the way, the Achenblog nearly got me in big trouble today. I was sitting in a Very Important Place today having a meeting with a Very Important Person on a topic of Huge National Importance.

Then he said umbrage...

Welcome back, mostlylurking!
And no need to feel Achenembarrassed about being quoted in the 40,000 comments Kit -- on the contrary, I should think. (In fact I, a lowly non-quotee, find myself asking the question, Is it possible I'm not as witty and insightful as I thought I was? Quite conceivable.)

I am curious about Joel's assertion that "a fan is a fan forever." Is there no hope for reform? Must I endure my wife's fondess for the Nittany Lions forever? And just what is a "Nittany" anyway?

>on a topic of Huge National Importance.

And the highlight of my day was getting a mouse extension.

Sheesh.

Yeah, but at least you could fix your problem, EF.

Thank, boodlers, for giving me lots of laughs. I'd insert LOL here, but the interpretation varies. Dirty words indeed ,TBG hahahahahahahahahaha

Well, now I'm gonna do a little "hand wood working in the basement," followed by "reading with the bunnies."

I count myself among the innumerable souls who, arriving in then-West Germany for a tour of duty, would ride the Army/Air Force buses to our new bases. Along the autobahn, we all privately marveled at how freakin' big that Abfahrt place must be...

:-)

>Well, now I'm gonna do a little "hand wood working in the basement,

There he goes, wood in hand...

RD, my Dad was a Penn State fan (of course, Joe Paterno was the football coach then too!). Here is the answer and a picture of how the Nittany Lion came about:
http://id.essortment.com/nittanylionpen_rlkh.htm
We had a small replica of the Nittany Lion statue in our house. I thought my Dad was kidding when he said it was the Nittany Lion! I learn so many things on the boodle! My sister has it now...

I still want to know what Hoya Saxa really means...probably one of those Jesuit codes...You wouldn't get away with it these days...

Bayou Self, thanks for explaining - I had no idea, and my nephew graduated from the U of Ill at Champaign (my brother got his graduate degrees there - I've even been to Champaign-Urbana)...

Achenfan, I was honored and astounded to see my boodle name and lame comment in the Kit - right there in the WaPo (online)! And truly, truly Achenembarrassed...

Now, I must "do the laundry" and "cook dinner" (really)...

I didn't spend significant time in WG. I'm told it was routine for the newest junior officers to be told, when going to their first exercise, "whatever you do, don't miss the turn-off to Ausgang" (English: "off-ramp"). Cue Benny Hill music.

Oh, and this is funny - from the Nittany Lion website -
The original Penn State mascot was a typical lion, with a large bushy mane, and was invented as a reaction to Princeton's tiger mascot. In 1943, the senior class gift commissioned a statue of the lion mascot, and the sculptor, Heinz Warneke, based his masterpiece not on the African lion, but instead, on the lion that roamed the mountains of Centre County, Pennsylvania.

And sorry, no pic at that website - you'll have to google one up on your own (it's a mountain lion) - I must get dinner going now...

EF: I wonder who will take the bait? If you have PPV, Bushido is on right now. Cage match with POTUS?

Gads, I tried to post the lyrics to the Tom Lehrer song "Smut" and was told that the post is being held by the blog owner. ("Being held," heh, heh.) Well, if it doesn't post, Google the lyrics and have a good laugh. Or try the link below.

http://www.casualhacker.net/tom.lehrer/the_year.html

>Cage match with POTUS?

jack, I wouldn't misunderestimate POTUS in a cage.

Hey, Cheney...watch me pull a rabbit out of this hat...Nothin' up my sleeve...Presto....

LOL'ed your umbrage story, padouk.

mostlylurking wrote: "of course, Joe Paterno was the football coach then too."

I got news for you, ml. Paterno was coaching at Penn State back when I was lugging that sonic disruptor through Indiana to the banks of the Tippecanoe.

Give me smut
And nothing but

Actually, "moving to Florida" is a great euphemism for dying. They don't call St Petersburg God's Waiting Room for nothing.

Actually, the stereotypes of Florida are all wrong. St. Petersburg isn't where all the old people live. The old people really live in Sarasota. Their parents live in St. Petersburg.

>

Into the quiet of the night, we have once again come to a pivotl moment in boodledom. Yes its time once again for your curling minute.

This week Lowell Massachusetts, at the Tsongas arena, named for Paul Tsongas (I had to look up what he did but I knew the name) is hosting the World Curling Championship. You are leading. You should be cheering. Loudly. We are in second place. I am cheering loudly.

I am also overcome with grief. Worlds Curling events are not broadcast when they are not held in Canada. I think this will change because more and more seniors are computer literate and these people are filling the CCA website with vitriol and mass protests. Who knows maybe nest year this premier world event will be boradcast here if in no other nation in the world.

Just in case you are wondering, the Gushue team is not representing us at the worlds. they were busy winning gold when our brier was held. We are being ably represented by a team from Quebec.

This weekend, go to Lowell, watch some curling. Drink beer. Life is good when you curl.

Ok, thats it for now. I will post occasional drivel about curling over the rest of the week, because well, someone must.

Back to your regular boodling.

dr: I'm honored to share this curling moment with you. My eldest daughter was watching some folks learn the finer points of curling this evening on TLC or one of those networks. I don't understand all of the rules of the sport, but appreciate the athleticism needed to coordinate a good curl. All is not lost; curling has made it to the maistream right here in Dixie.

dr, I appreciate the curling updates too. Having ignored and ridiculed it for years, I have become a curling "appreciator" - not yet a fan, or aficianado, or nut - I'm still too clueless about the rules. But I don't immediately switch the channel now...er, not *now* in the literal sense, since it's not being broadcast (bas*ards!), but when I run across it on the Canadian channel...I have you to thank for that, and the WaPo guy who blogged about it during the Olympics.

hmmm ... wonder what other interesting posts are being "held" by the interceptor. after reviewing the boodle 40k milestone, the best of the worst (the baddest of the bad?) might be funny, too.

ja: congrats on your gator win. i'm a bruin, but hey, no umbrage.

Joel, does Hal even take your phone calls? I'm surprised you haven't called him up and asked what the Comment Rules are. The filter obviously lets through all kinds of questionable stuff: colons, semi-colons, curling updates, lies, pseudo-science, drivel of all sorts (witness this comment, for example) but it stifles random innocent comments; I've been a victim of discrimination myself, and *I* don't talk no smut. (See, it let through that double negative--what's up with that?)

In other news, I've been too busy to watch more than one of my Monty Python dvd's (yes, omni, mine arrived the same day yours did)--but they are already making my life more amusing. My household has been an ever-changing landscape this past week with houseguests coming and going and residents taking trips and my cat has been struggling to keep up with the changes. I wouldn't have seen how funny it was if it weren't for being recently reminded about "Confuse-a-Cat"--cats really are amusing when they are confused. I just needed the Python guys to point it out to me.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
dr, I'm kidding about the curling updates. Really, they are just one more example of the fabulousness that is Achenblog. (Hal? that was a fake word and a very questionable grammatical construction--why don't you filter that?)

TBG and ScienceTim, here I am trying to accentuate the positive, elimInate the negative, latch onto the affirmative and don't mess with Mr. Inbetween and you guys are bumming me out about the move back to Fla. Cassandra, I loathe packing up, but actually enjoy unpacking and arranging my stuff in a new place.

Reminiscing last night about the geese in my old Fla. neighborhood, I now have a Frankie Laine tune cootie in my head:

My heart knows what the wild goose knows, I must go where the wild goose goes. Wild goose, brother goose, which is best? A wanderin' foot or a heart at rest ...

Nani! I'm so sorry! I must say that I LOVE Florida and really enjoyed our stays in north Florida. I'm glad you'll be moving with your kids and g-kids back there. As someone who has lived most of my life within 10 miles of where I grew up, I don't really know what it's like to pack up and go so far.

But the only time I had to move away from the area as an adult with my own husband and kids the hard part was missing my family. You're going with your family and you are so blessed for that.

Good luck with the move! Oh.. and sorry for the tune cootie.

Nani, we'll raise a glass to you tonight for a safe and positive move! :-)

Ah, it's a great day to be a Terp.

ahem- "Ladies and gentlemen, your 2006 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament National Champions, the University of Maryland Terrapins!"

And as I suspected, a much better game than the Men's final. A real see-saw game with good defense and clutch shooting that went to overtime - what's not to like?

I've turned my desk over and set it on fire to celebrate.

bc

Nani--

When I graduated from college, I could have moved anywhere in the world, and I had seen enough parts of the U.S. and Europe to make a pretty informed decision. I chose Florida then, and have lived in the Sunshine State almost continually for about a quarter of a century. I have never regretted my decision. Florida is a lot better than Texas. (sorry, Texas boodlers--no offense. I grew up in Oklahoma, and I know what I'm talking about here.) Nani, you are going to be happy in Florida. On principle, I don't advertise the advantages of living here because we are over-populated already and I don't want to encourage anybody else to come. But you are an exception, Nani, you will improve the state by your presence.

St Petersburg is getting a bunch of downtown condos. They probably see themselves as the forthcoming Vancouver (BC, not Wa.)of the Sunbelt. They even held another Grand Prix in the streets. Noisy.

Avoid cooties. Get some coonties for the yard (Zamia pumila--little Florida cycads that have been around as long as dinosaurs, crocs, and gators)

>They even held another Grand Prix in the streets. Noisy.

I thought it was pretty cool, but then I was watching TV. If I had realized it was coming up I might've made the trip, but I don't really follow the IRL series that closely.

bc - While the desk is still a'burnin' would be a good time to crank up Terrapin Station by the Grateful Dead.

And tonight the band bus leaves for Orlando. Nearly 100 band, orchestra, and chorus kids and 18 chaperones going on Hajj to The Mouse® for 4 days and 3 nights. 16 hour bus ride each way.

Anyone know any good podcasts I should be listening to in order to drown out the sound of raging hormones in the back rows?

You guys are so sweet; thanks ever so much. We'll be in Tallahassee (where we lived before in the 70s-mid 80s). Hope it hasn't changed too much. Back then there was an old black couple who drove their mule-drawn wagon on the main streets, fresh vegetable and fruit stands on every corner, and this really neat road, Bainbridge Road, canopied by oaks for at least a mile. Really gorgeous. Our neighbors had chickens (they'd wander into our yard and have staring matches with our cats) and their rooster woke us up every morn. Lots of activities on campus at FSU, plays, recitals, dance performances, artist openings. Mr. Nani and I saw the Broadway touring company's presentation of Equus at Ruby Diamond auditorium. The dancers who portrayed the horses were amazing.

Nani,

You'll like northern Florida which is also sometimes called LA (Lower Alabama). It's much more relaxed than the rest of the state. And Tallie is a great college town with as much culture as the state tolerates. Just stay out of Jeb's way.

Enjoy.

Nani, moving is stressful, for sure. On the good side, its a great time to clean out all the corners of life, and living. We moved 3 times in 5 years before burning the moving boxes. I still tend not to accumulate too much stuff. Except books. I accumulate books.

Someone elbow Mudge.

Or shout "I-L-L" at him.

nudge mudge
nudge mudge
nudge mudge

What must be the World's Oldest Taco Bell still stands on north Monroe Street, but the site of the plain but very Southern Tallahassee Motor Hotel has been taken by a Golden Corral buffet, beloved of retirees. I haven't checked for students. The town is now infested with four-lane roads, all of which have brand-new steel supports for the traffic signals, which are mounted horizontally to better survive hurricanes. I suspect the DOT also intended to accustom state legislators to the new horizontality.

Coonties like Tallahassee, as do Red Barber's beloved Sasanquas.