*wondering who gets the credit for bringing up the Polamalu hair reference a couple Boodles ago*

:-)

No women would say 'Troy Polamalu is nice. What we would say is he looks good in tight pants.

A hugely sexist remark for which I am heartily sorry. I am blushing and ashamed, but why do you think most women watch football? Which is also a hugely sexist remark.

Slinking back to corner.

dmd, check the comment on the snacks' kit. I have never watched Project Runway? And I like those shows that make things, but that just does not appeal to me. Just cannot get crazy about that.

It seems like someone has run out of ideas for television shows. They've reached the bottom of the barrel. But then I guess sewing is better than shooting. And of course, that stuff we do with our bodies. Is it okay to say the word, sex, on the boodle?

And did anyone see Troy almost lose that hair in Sunday's game? I was wondering when something like that would happen to him or some other players in the midst of a game. A penalty was called on that play for "taunting". I wasn't clear, but it appeared that the KC player gave Troy an extra jerk after taking him down out of bounds.

My girls were hooked on "So you think you can dance". They were smitten by Dmitry, the leaping Russin in tights.
I am generally proud of them, this is only a phase, I hope.

Not all ideas are exhausted.

When are we going to have "So You Think You Can Rhyme?"

I wouldn't want to see "Rhyming With The Stars" because you know Jesse Jackson would blow the competition away 'cause he knows how to have his say.

Those quilting shows promote this Space-age sewing machine that is also a pc and can be programmed to sew everything by itself, as long as you feed the stuff in. They cost lots of money, a few thousand, so they really need to showcase all its razzle-dazzle to people who figure they could buy a wardrobe for their whole family for a few years with what ONE costs.

Not only do we have home printing presses, now we have home sweatshops. What are we, going back to the cottage industry age?

Joel, "Iron Sommelier" made me snort coffee onto my keyboard. Nicely done.

Cassandra, I like shows that "make things," too, but it's invariably either food or stuff that Nawm and the guys make with wood and incredibly expensive power tools. If you can't saute it or rout it I'm pretty much not interested.

Reposting from the tippy-tippy bottom of the last kit:

Well, Joel doesn't get off entirely scot-free, but there's a weasel exit, if he wants it--which is to blame it all on his book's copy editor and/or the style book that copy editor was (or wasn't) using.

Adding to Bertooch and Loomis's posts above, it also depends on whose style book you're using. I just checked AP, NYT and Garner (don't have the WaPo manual) and while there are hair-splitting differences, they are in general agreement that "Scotch" is considered derogatory when applied to people (never mind that it may indeed be a common Americanism; there are a lot of common Americanisms that are pretty much indefensible, heaven knows).

Rule of thumb: Scots refers to people, Scottish refers to things, Scotch refers only to whisky and certain tradenames and things such as Scotch Bonnet (habenero) peppers (according to Garner but NOT AP). And whether Scotch is upper case or lowercase depends also on which item is under discussion. AP says scotch barley, scoth salmon, scotch broth and scotch sour [n.b. one of my favorites],

And it gets weirder: AP says capitalize it and call it Scotch whisky (without the "e") when the two words are used together, but spell it "whiskey" when whiskey is used generically. But lowercase scotch as a drink when it stands alone, such as "He was drinking scotch and water."

Go figure.

Garner concurs: if it was distilled in Scotland, it is whisky; if anywhere else, it is whiskey--and to write "Scotch whiskey" (with an "e") is "a serious gaffe in the eyes of a Scot."

Garner also notes that Scotch terrier is gradually being replaced with the more politically correct Scottish terrier or Scots terrier.

Jeez, people just have too damn much time on their hands.

In short, pretty much ANY time anybody needs to use any word containing Scot/Scotch/Scottish, you just need to pick which style book you want and look it up. 'Cause you'll never get it right trusting from memory.

*bows to applause* OK, now that I've demonstrated (not that it needed it) that we writerly and copy editorly types can be every bit as tedious as you pointy-headed science-nerd types, you may all go back to work.

Next Week on "Mr. Politically Incorrect Word Maven": France, French, french fries (lowercase), French tickler, Frog, frog, Froggie, "plunk your magic twanger," and horse's patoot will all be discussed and quite possibly deconstructed using approved Derridian ephemera.

I have a sewing machine (3K)that cost me twice what my computer (1.5K) cost me. Women need their expensive tools too!.

We just need more men's shows for balance. How about "So You Think You Can Trap Shoot," or "Project Gangway" (dunno, could be about pirates or something), or "Extreme Sport-Themed Basement Makeover."

Or "So You Think You Can Woo The Ladies"--real-life dating skills show.

"As a culture we recognize more than ever that everyone is, in his or her own way, an athlete, and every chore, hobby and proclivity a sport."

My tall, blonde, athletic husband has physical intelligence when concentration is required--can consistently bowl almost perfect games; at bat, he usually connects with the ball, sending it to the far outfield. (When walking, he's your traditional bull in a china cabinet. His dancing style is just plain weird--a jiggle lacking grace, but then he's had no training.)

I'd like him to get interested in Bowl-a-thon, the sport of cleaning the toilet bowl. In more than 20 years of marriage, he has picked up and used the swisherator only once. Any ideas of how I can turn this chore into a sport for him? Anyone?

How about a show called "So You Think You Can Think" where contestants are given a real-life national problem (ie Social Security, Terrorist Threat, the Deficit), time to do research, present a solution on live tv, have call in voting, and winners given a seat in the Congress? And the winner of the winners (final contest) become President. And make them live together, too! Wouldn't you love to see them fight over who's turn it was to clean the bathroom!
You would have more people voting, politicians who wouldn't be able to hide from their constituents or their own thoughts.

"As a culture we recognize more than ever that everyone is, in his or her own way, an athlete, and every chore, hobby and proclivity a sport."

My tall, blonde, athletic husband has physical intelligence when concentration is required--can consistently bowl almost perfect games; at bat, he usually connects with the ball, sending it to the far outfield. (When walking, he's your traditional bull in a china cabinet. His dancing style is just plain weird--a jiggle lacking grace, but then he's had no training.)

I'd like him to get interested in Bowl-a-thon, the sport of cleaning the toilet bowl. In more than 20 years of marriage, he has picked up and used the swisherator only once. Any ideas of how I can turn this chore into a sport for him? Anyone?

CowTown is on a role. I'd like to watch

Dueling neighbors on playground design and execution

Adult treehouses

Van conversions

Lawn rescue

Drilling to China or Who has the longest extention cord?

Converting the car to run on mink oil or other exotic fluid

Wilbrod you have me laughing with "So you think you can woo the ladies", so many possibilities.

I am a home repair/remodel nut but I have watched a few dancing shows, the costumes both me though, not a frilly girl.

Thanks Cassandra, although I am a she, but married to a nice white male who is equally talentless in dancing, he unfortunately is not aware of it. We are like the he and she version of Elaine in Seinfeld its not pretty.

swisherator? Ooh. Do I need one? Can I buy this at Home Depot or BBandBEYOND?

How many horsepower is that Singer, anyway, Phillyfilly? What's under the hood? Dual bobbins? Got hemy heads? (hemi, like on cars, hems like on dreses--get it? Oh well. Very obscure pun only bc will get)? Can ya buttonhole zero to 60 in, say, 6.4 seconds? Can it do sailcloth and bimini tops made from Sunbrella? (If so, I may have some work for you)?

And of course I have to ask you about your handle: what part of Philly? (Last night Rachel Ray's $40-a-Day show was in Philly, and she had an authentic Philly cheesesteak from Jim's on South Street for lunch. That woman sure knows how to tantalize a guy.)

"I'd like him to get interested in Bowl-a-thon, the sport of cleaning the toilet bowl. In more than 20 years of marriage, he has picked up and used the swisherator only once. Any ideas of how I can turn this chore into a sport for him? Anyone?"

How about this timeless manuever: clean bowl, moe sex. The more he polishes the bowl, the more....er, you get the point.

Home page alert, BTW...

:-)

Phillyfilly, what's the machine? I need to purchase one and have looked but need to be reasonable. We let my mom's 1965 Singer go when we cleaned out her condo. That may have been a large mistake.

Yeah, I've never seen women actually throw drinks' in guys' faces, yet it's a staple visual gag on TV, so probably all the ladies would have been instructed to do so if they feel like it.

Thus creating even more psychic scarring...

Loomis, get a swisher with a very long handle.

Part of the problem is probably that he doesnt like bending over so much (and it sounds like there's a lot of him to bend) while scrubbing, especially if the bathroom is a bit cramped. Doesn't feel manly enough.

Maybe you can find something with a mop-length handle? Heck, if I had one I'd probably enjoy cleaning the bowl more. Who wants to have their head inches from the bowl while scrubbing?

How about this timeless manuever: clean bowl, moe sex.

---
So, this means Moe but not Curley or Larry?

Won't work.

Moe Sex? Hands up ANYBODY who wants this.

*Sees the room has been cleared*

//Next Week on "Mr. Politically Incorrect Word Maven": ..... will all be discussed and quite possibly deconstructed using approved Derridian ephemera.

Posted by: Curmudgeon | October 18, 2006 12:15 PM //

I can't wait!

Mudge, hopefully you didn't strain too hard getting that pun out.

Wouldn't want you to have any discomfort or prolonged trouble with your hemis.

bc

PS Sorry for the detour into...

They're all scrubbing, Wilbrod... *nods*

Loomis, to get him to use the swisherator, try attaching some sort of small internal combustion engine to it (doesn't matter if it actually does anything, as long as it makes noise, burns gas, and needs a pull-rope starter).

And, ah, consider changing the name. "Swish" isn't a word fragment that easily enters the manly vocabulary. Try something with "turbo" in it. And a number, anything ending in three zeroes: 2000, 6000, whatever.

Loomis, speaking of manly lingo, tell him he needs to be blasting out the toilet scum, tough guy.

FTR, jameson's is way better than bushmills, and is, indeed, the only way to make an irish car bomb (although whether or not the car bomb is a crime against god and country is a matter of great debate.)

yeah, wilbrod, it's hip hop/rap. the grammar is terrible. the do that for the rhythm. the line i really like from daylight is the one that starts "life's not a b*itch"

Isn't there a manly baseball pitcher named "Swisher"?

"Moe..."? I was thinking Manny, Moe & Jack - the Pep Boys!

bh, that would be Oakland's (IIRC) Nick Swisher.

We guys don't talk about him, but you ladies feel free.

an article about the kkk rally on sat at harper's ferry
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101701557.html

(caution: it will make your blood boil!)

cowtown, we have "extreme sports themed basement makeover". it's called monster house. it's pretty girly.

monster garage, on the other hand, is one of the coolest shows on television.

and rhyming with the stars would be sweet. it's just too bad johnny cochran isn't around...he could have given jesse jackson a run for his money. or doctor seuss, although he tended to invent words, which is probably disallowed in a competition of such integrity.

an excellent pearls before swine...
http://www.comics.com/comics/pearls/

Never watched Project Runway, but I loved the idea for "Iron Sommelier." It reminded me how much my son and I used to love watching the original Japanese "Iron Chef." But that was mostly because of the dubbing.

Although the host of the American version, Alton Brown, tries hard, I don't think the show will ever really come into its own until they get more creative with the secret ingredients. I mean, can you imagine The Chairman saying,

"The Secret Ingredient is: Hostess Ding Dongs!"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101701579.html?nav=hcmodule

//Among viewers advertisers love the most -- younger ones -- Flav's Sunday finale clocked the best rating for a non-sports program on any basic cable network this calendar year to date.//

heh. clocked. that HAS to have been intentional. i mean, c'mon. it's flava flav.

mo, I had to laugh at this line from Milloy's story about the Klan rally: "Only skinheads, Nazi sympathizers and media were allowed inside the cordoned-off area."

Like Joel, I've seen most of the 3 seasons of PR in the company of my daughters.

I was highly entertained by the Rasputin-like Valentino last season (and his killer imitation of Tim Gunn), though he didn't win.

They don't always make clothes out of fabric; I enjoy the challenges to make clothes out things you can find at a flower shop/nursery.

This season, I find myself a little creeped out by each of the finalists, and I'm not rooting for anyone the way I rooted for last season's winner, Chloe.

Re. Mr. Polamalu, I did mention his XL-hair in my 10thcircle Ãœber Bowl predictions as a key to Pittsburgh's victory.

http://www.10thcircle.com/10/?p=29
Troy Polamalu

"Strong Safety and Pigskin Seeking Missile Polamalu's commitment to shower-clogging XL hair is second to none in the league; right up there with the Lions' RW McQuarters and others. He consciously obscures his name on the back of his jersey with his own hair, and we applaud his dedication in this matter, though we wonder if Drew Rosenhaus is his agent.

Note: Modesty prevents us from discussing rumors regarding his Personal Topiary, other than to mention we were told he's upgraded his garden tools from electric to two-stroke gas power. But you didn't hear that from us.

XL Advantage = Pittsburgh"

bc

mo, thanks for the link, disturbing. Like the woman in the article I feel I want to apologize just makes your embarrassed to be white.

Personal Topiary

I think I will buy that web domain.

BC -- I think that some men (people) find in their hair, what Samson did.

What is Hewbrew for MoJo?

The only way I will ever be able to succesfully parallel park is if I purchase one of these.

http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2006/09/ls_460_parking.html

Question revision: what is Aramaic for MoJo?

Thank you, Mel.

hewbrew? HAHAHAHAHAHA

sparks, I forgot to mention that on typical Tuesday evenings, I'm *living* Monster Garage.

Last night, the satisfaction of having 25 year old car had lay dormant for 14 years, and scattered in 1000 pieces across a garage floor fire up as planned (after 3 months of work!) was dampened by the fact that it does not run very well, and after 5 hours of tuning was running only slightly better. And we're taking it to a race in just over a week.

Oh, boy.

bc

yeah, bc, but if you had been on monster garage, it would have had to turn into a space shuttle or something similarly ridiculous. my favorite episode is the one where they turn the limosine into a fire truck.

Sensory Report From Back Deck:

the hushed, distant crash of waves on the imaginary shoreline of I66 echoes the road noise of any human activity. I caught the normal rush of Fairfax City in the rare state of suspended animation. Only the birds displayed any hint of animal life. They sang softly amongst themselves as they casually went about completing the mundane tasks of daily living. The air was soft, moist, charming. the lazy breeze tickled the hair on my arms as it brought me the delightfully sweet, yet pungent smell of rotting grass to my nose. The sun fell on my cheeks and invited me to look strait up into the sky. I stared at that magnificent sphere of radiation for a minute as it slowly warmed my eyes.

Shhhhhh! Fairfax City is taking a nap.

bc, everything is relative in car racing , your car that doesn't run very well may still take away the prize in the Slant 6 Dodge Aspen/ Plymouth Volare class.

The host isn't a dead ringer for Heidi Klum ... she IS Heidi Klum. I mean, c'mon, one Google search and you'd have that info. Very sloppy, unless the "dead ringer" comment was ironic.

And I don't get the "Project Runway"/sports comparision. It's entertaining because it's dramatic and involves artistic talents that not everyone has, but it's not sports. And nobody said it was.

Sorry, College Parkian; the story of Samson was originally written in Hebrew, not Aramaic. And Mel Gibson can bite me.

Authorship of the Book of Judges has traditionally been ascribed to Samual, though modern scholarship generally puts Judges into a class of books thought to be written during the Deuteronomic period (i.e., perhaps by Josiah or more likely one of his group of scribes), in the mid-6th century BCE.

Some scholars use the shorthand term "the Deuteronomist" to describe the author, but understand that this is shorthand for what is porbably a collection of scribes. One scholar postulates that Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, both Samuals and both Kings were all essentially one single document, though they also acknowledge these books were stitched together from lots of separate and earlier stories and tales. Another scholar postulates that the author was Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe, or else Jeremiah himself.

(Trivia footnote: King Josiah was killed fighting the Egyptians at the Battle of Megiddo, 609 BCE, a battle so fierce that the term "megiddo" came to stand for the apocalyptic battle at the end of the world, from which we get the word "Armageddon." Which starred Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Steve Bushemi, etc., and not Mel Gibson.)

Michael Pollan is in the Times today using the recent spinach/e-coli outbreak to illustrate ONCE AGAIN his very valid point about our unnatural food chain--"The Vegetable-Industrial Complex," he calls it.

Sample quote:

"Wendell Berry once wrote that when we took animals off farms and put them onto feedlots, we had, in effect, taken an old solution -- the one where crops feed animals and animals' waste feeds crops -- and neatly divided it into two new problems: a fertility problem on the farm, and a pollution problem on the feedlot."

And here, he's definitely talking sense:

"...there's nothing sentimental about local food -- indeed, the reasons to support local food economies could not be any more hardheaded or pragmatic."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/magazine/15wwln_lede.html?em&ex=1161316800&en=59c7751ffa65d98a&ei=5087%0A

sparks, I edited my comment and took out the part about making cars fly, but keeping them on the ground.

We're working the other way on this project, where we like to incorporate/recycle junk and everyday items into cars, like the old Junkyard Wars. The car we're working on now includes pieces of a road sign, a coffee can, PVC plumbing pipe, Tupperware, a baby bottle, a piece of scrap plywood flooring, screen from a screen door, a couple of wire clothes hangers, at least one bungee cord, household wiring, and part of an old TV antenna. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things, too. I'm laughing as I type this, because I'm not making it up.

Granted, it's a race car who's sole purpose is to run for a short a time as possible. In this case, it will end up seeing less than an hour's worth of active duty over the course of a weekend if everything goes right.

bc

The KKK not only makes me embarrassed to be white, but it also infuriates me that they call themselves "Christian." The woman in the article was completely right: we do not serve the same God; not even close.
On a similar strain, I guess both the KKK and Mel forgot that Jesus was a Jew. Peter, James, John, Paul, all of them, were Jews. oops, forgot that history lesson.

Ha, SD, there's a mint Aspen sedan for sale near me that I've had my eye on. Looks like it has a 318, not a S-6.

If I could get over the weird transverse torsion bar spring arrangment in the front suspension, I'd be all over it.

Don't knock the 225 Slant 6, a friend of mine has a pretty perky one in his '64 Dart. He used to have dual Holleys and a Direct Connection header, changed over to fuel injection and a turbo out of an '87 Lancer, IIRC.

Sorry, didn't mean to get all Alain de Cadenet on ya.

bc

My mother actually sewed a lot of our clothing. When I was little she made me a pair of tiger-jammies (complete with tail!) that kept me safe on many a scary night (for what could hurt a tiger?)

During my adolescent years her specialty was soccer shirts with lots of horizontal stripes to make me look marginally less skinny. (Hey, she tried.) And because it was made of love as well as industrial-strength polyester, she has been forgiven for the baby blue leisure suit I wore to the seventh grade dance.

Most of this sewing was done on a black Singer commercial sewing machine. Sometime in the Carter Administration she bought a new machine with many fancy features, but she soon returned to her reliable Singer.

Not sure how she would fare on Project Runway, but I suspect pretty well. For tiger-jammies have a timeless appeal.

No duct tape bc ? You must use duct tape otherwise your fine project will fly apart.
Duct tape, not the Strong or Weak forces, keep the world together.

ah bc. sounds like a perfect candidate to be turned into an art car for burning man. i may do that with my van next year. (that is to say, turn it into an art car for burning man.)

shrieking - bc know ALL ABOUT duct tape... i believe he may be the master of duct tape - el senor de duct tape or Don Duct Tape, even...

(Mel is no hero, despite playing one on film....I liked Rob Roy much better, but the Braveheart mojo seems to have overwhelmed the better of the SCOTCH- SCOTTISH-SCOT-SCOTTY-like movies....)

Thanks for the whirlwind lesson, Mudge.

Catholics are Bible-challenged. I made it a point to read the Apocraphal books year ago since not every card carryin' Xtian accepts them....but have not read not much else. Did the Baruch you mention write the book called Baruch in the A-books? More than one Baruch?

PS. Love the stories in Tobit and Judith, partly because they read like fairy tales.

Tangent: //The KKK not only makes me embarrassed to be white, but it also infuriates me that they call themselves "Christian."//

Maybe you should take another look at the Bible...

"Slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh." (1 Peter 2:18)

"Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free." (Ephesians 6:5-8)

"Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive." (Titus 2:9-10)

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism." (Colossians 3:22-25)

"Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed." (1 Timothy 6:1)

That's just the New Testament. There's obviously many more in the Old one.

As you friend found out changing the carburation system was a must Mine was choking off when turning left as the floating ball in the carb was bottoming out and shutting off the fuel admission. When I finally changed car (upon college graduation) I had a period of rehabilitation to go through to stop putting the car on neutral and firing off the ignition every time I turned left...

SD, The Tape is a basic requirement, sort of like saying the car has nuts, bolts, and screws.

On a related note, I believe mo has a picture of my duct tape wallet somewhere in one of the volumes of BPH pics.

It generates shock and awe anytime I whip it out.

And you can quote me on that.

bc

That was me, the Bible and Blogal challenged of a moment ago.

DUCT TAPE ANECDOTE!
May I announce that my teen who has yet to sport a lip caterpillar of any topiary quality is NOW A MAN?

My data: Unbidden by anyone, he duct taped the door knob last week, and labeled it with "more tork, less pull."

My work is nearly done.

ask and ye shall receive:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mortiifera/detail?.dir=5323&.dnm=b529re2.jpg&.src=ph

I too have never seen the Extreme Sewing sport contest described by Joel. I'm assuming any FHA (Future Homemakers of America) or 4-H kid could rock, though -- at least when I grew up those kids had awesome sewing skills, and some had fashion sense too. I also think my mother and her sisters could have done well. They all learned to sew as kids and she sewed most of my clothes well into my teen years. All those siblings were famous, as was their mother, for buying a "store-bought" blouse then taking it apart at the seams and reconstructing it the right way. Needless to say, I never learned to sew, though I embroider pretty well.

Too many Boodles, too little time. I'll see if I can keep up the next couple of days.

Same Baruch, CP. And congrats on your son's initiation into manhood. (Properly using duct tape seems to have been omitted amongst the rituals of the bar mitzvah, though I have no idea what they were thinking when they forgot that. Perhaps it came from a too-literal reading of the Gospel of Black and Decker.)

mo, you're magic. Thanks.

And I'm wearing my lime green Achenblog t-shirt in the pic.

bc

College Parkian - your son is a fan of the Monkees?

This has been your obscure cultural reference for the day.

'Mudge;

Yer modesty is admirable, but no need to keep hiding the fact that you wrote Judges on a per-word contract.

:-)

sparks,

Have you actually been to Burning Man? [There was a Boodle discussion about that a looooonnnggg time ago (in internet terms, it was a long time, some months ago)]

I would just take your comment as a passing thought or a rhetorical statement, if it weren't for your name.

i tried to enter the duct tape prom attire scholarship contest, but my girlfriend at the time chickened out. i still have not forgiven her for this.

Well, now, I just hauled my old Singer sewing machine out of its case so I can hem a pair of jeans, and now I see that sewing (and old Singer machines) is part of the conversation today. And I don't even watch Project Runway! What a coincidence.

Iron Sommelier! ha haha!

Duct tape is properly referred to in the garage as "100 mile per hour tape"

I should add here that my oldest daughter started using duct tape on her own at 12.

She pulled one of the air vent grilles out of the ceiling when trying to hang a decoration from it (don't ask), stripping the screws out of the tin ductwork. Then she went to the white duct tape (I keep silver, white, black, red, yellow and sometimes orange around) to try to mask the problem and relocate the grille.

It didn't stay up long, but when I'd realized what she'd done, tears of love came to my eyes.

I did show her how to drill holes for self-tapping sheet metal screws, but I did it with joy in my heart.

My kid was just like me.

bc

Peter TORK...I get it. I guess the tork of power is TORQUE.

Hey! I get a pass. I am pink of a certain vintage. We were not allowed into shop class, etc, back in the day.

But I was for one shining season, a NCAA Div I track teamer. Does that count for gurl power? We found out later that we, the track team who did not have a coach and were to "practice ourselves; run and stuff, you know," were the first year of Title 9.

'Mudge -- he will be confirmed this year, so perhaps at the post-Ritual party we can make duct tape wallets?

As for extreme "sewing" I hear tell of prom dresses constructed thusly.

BC -- duct tape comes in colors? WOW. Special order? Home Depot in stock? I think my day is happier, just at the idea.

Note to self: buy the boy duct tape in colors for Xmas.

When I was in high school a friend of mine had to sew herself into her prom dress to get it to fit right. Seriously.

And when she got home her mother inspected it for torn seams.

Sparks -- I did not see your authoritative and tragic comment on prom dress possibilities. (Therapy is a wonderful balm: apply liberally and often, just like sun screen.)

I have no idea if you are a singleton or doubleton. But does your shadow personal ad include this:

bonus points for the duct tape wedding dress dream

Fredneckian, I have 200 mph tape as well as the crazy 3M stuff that they use to coat the leading edges of helicopter rotor blades. Since the leading tips can get up to the speed of sound (and I guess over), that makes it 600 mph tape?

Hmph. I also have some tape on an 18 in wide roll that has 1mm aluminum skin, used for quick repairs of aircraft fusilages. We use this for quickly repairing racecar bodywork in the pits (thankfully, we haven't used it much).

bc

I also knew a girl who used duct tape to properly position her anatomy before she put on her prom dress.

At least that's what I heard.

My Mom made all my shirts up until I went to high school on a treadle Singer using printed chicken feed sack material. So she also was the one to go to the feed store to pick out the appropriate pattern.
I still have the old treadle. My folks tried to sell at a garage sale about 25 years ago for $100 but no takers. It still works. I wonder what its worth now.

Not sure what the MPH rating was, but I'm told she was pretty fast.

(Look, it's been a long day.)

bc, ha, ha! You lucky dog. My kids are of the Daaaad! variety when then find that something's broken.
CP, you must color coordinate the Tape. You wouldn't want to repair a brown sofa with silver/grey tape, I have more house pride than that. It may be acceptable in the car or the garage but in the living room you must color coordinate.

Loomis, to get him to use the swisherator, try attaching some sort of small internal combustion engine to it (doesn't matter if it actually does anything, ***as long as it makes noise, burns gas, and needs a pull-rope starter***).

Mudge's 12:55 post--this graf and the second one, too. Yes, exactly, why didn't I think of that?

Can't possibly consider associating sex-as-reward with performance of a menial household chore-as anonymous suggested at 12:33. Gives me shivers--too, too Pavlovian. Now, sex after being given an exquisite piece of jewelry or being taken to a fabulous meal. Or if he remembers to buy a year's supply of Beano for himself. The law of commensurability.

Jumping back into the Boodle after running some errands and I see there is talk of slavery. This harkens back to other Boodlers' mention of Bill Cosby and his request for donations for a slavery museum in Fredericksburg, Md. I hope the slavery museum, if it is built, will not be limited in scope to simply African-American slavery, but will incorporate the slavery of the Jews in Egypt, as well as the enslavement of Native Americans to places such as Cadiz, Spain and the West Indies and Caribbean. Nat Philbrick drives it home, but I wasn't unaware, before reading "Mayflower," of the Native slavery stories. In short, I hope the documented history of slavery is all-encompassing.

Duct tape is and has always been my repair tool of choice, but I only use the silver. I think it disturbs Ivansdad to see me fix, say, a wooden shutter with silver tape. The Boy already knows the drill and, when something breaks, asks where the duct tape is.

I find it completely typical of the Boodle that a Kit discussing a television show about sewing should re-focus around duct tape and its myriad uses, including as fashion aid and ornament.

no, college parkian, i must shamefully admit that i was in it for the money and the rebel points. these days, however, i have an abundance of rebel points, although, according to a close friend of mine, "it doesn't matter because [i'm] playing on god mode anyways."

and no, Kber, i have not. i was supposed to go this year, but we were really looking for one more person to go with us, to make the gas affordable, and then one of the people we HAD found broke her collarbone, and couldn't go. but i'm going next year, and NOTHING is going to stop me. (yeah, i kinda like burning things.)

I have an old work jacket that I've kept going for years by patching it with silver duct tape, so it *looks* patched. My wife and kids hate it, but it fits like an old pair of jeans. I don't care what happens to it, so it's perfect for auto work, gardening, etc.

College Parkian, Home Despot may have white, black, and red duct tape, but I do most of my shopping at Pegasus:

http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/group.asp?GroupID=HARDTAPE

I will say that the leading edge tape I have is in a 12 in. wide roll, and it came from a guy who works on aircraft for a living, as did the 1mm aluminum patch tape.

On the duct tape wallet front, the stuff my wallet is made out of is a special tape that comes from the UK, and resists rolling up and leaving annoying sticky patches of adhesive around the seams. 'twas pretty pricey IIRC.

Until this very afternoon, I had not considered myself an adhesive tape enthusiast (bordering on a snob), but I think I sound like one.

I just like having the right tool for the job, you know?

bc

bc, you are quite clearly in denial. You are a tape junkie. Just check yourself at the Red Green clinic.

From today's Silicon Valley.com
Yes, Peter, I'll take Paul Lynde's DNA to block: If your imagination is stirred by the baby steps being made in quantum computing, you'll also want to keep an eye on another exotic form of calculation: biological computing. Today's mindbender comes from researchers at Columbia University and the University of New Mexico, who have just finished an upgrade to a DNA-based computer called MAYA that can whup your sorry, highly evolved butt at tic-tac-toe every time. OK, you do have to give it the first turn so it can claim the center square, and it does take 2 to 30 minutes to figure out each move, but still! As noble a pastime as it is, tic-tac-toe dominance is just a stepping stone to technologies that could refine DNA analysis and help identify the genetic markers associated with certain diseases. "MAYA-II moves bio-computation up to the next level of power," said Joanne Macdonald, one of the Columbia researchers. "It's similar to the invention of the first microchips with hundreds of logic gates."

My mother used to sew clothes both for herself and for us young'uns. I have a whole economic theory about the decline of the domestic arts. Essentially it states that it is a Adam Smithian invisible hand that has made it more effective for a domestic household member to get a job mixing frappaccinos, have a third world boot strapper sew the clothes, and then buy them from underpaid, non-unionized clerks at Walmart.

It's not a pretty theory, not even fully coherent, but it explains why things like cooking, sewing, automotive repairs, gardening, cabinet-making, beer brewing, and canning all started as activities that added indirectly to the family domestic product, but are now expensive hobbies that only the most comfortable of the middle class have the disposable income to indulge in.

Well, my daughter ALSO dreamed of making her prom dress and her date's tuxedo out of duct tape but couldn't find a cooperative victim, and she REALLY wants to go to Burning Man.

What do you say, Boodlers? Should I tell her about the Sparkster or should I be taking steps to ensure that they never meet?

("Likes to set things on fire" hmm...)

No offense, Sparks, but kb, maybe this is a case of "better the imaginary devil you know. . ."

I used clear duct tape recently. But the hot pink duct tape my daughter took to camp was pretty cool, too.

OMG. A wedding dress of clear duct tape, with pink frosting of duct tape trim.

Sparks, would this plus a wedding cake with sparklers on top work for you?

yellojkt, I think that's a pretty interesting theory. Somehow you could tie that into the slavery discussion, but someone might take umbrage.
I had been thinking about the value of labor in different types of societies. Traditionally it's been the materials that were the costly part of a manufactured item. Nowadays to buy something made *well*, the labor is quite expensive. It's possible to buy mass-produced items for relatively little cost, but of course the quality suffers. When I think about, say, the Arts & Crafts movement, and the vision the Arts & Crafts folks had of revitalizing the practise of making things *well*, it seems like a nice idea, but rather naive.
Anyway, got to run. I'm enjoying checking in with you all for a little sanity throughout the day.

Just to add to the general debate ---

There are quite a few types of sewing machines out there. I did a lot of research before settling on the classic - an all-metal traditional Singer (for less than $100!!!). It doesn't have a computer, but it will be going strong long after I am pushing up roses.

OK, folks, here's the latest conflagration:

""Steele, an African American running for the U.S. Senate, was reacting to remarks by House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, who characterized Steele this week as having had "a career of slavishly supporting the Republican Party."
After speaking to members of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce gathered in Ocean City, Steele called the description "the height of arrogance."

"It goes to just the sheer craziness of some in the Democratic Party who think they can use racist terms and infer things about me just because I'm an African American Republican," he said.""

Does this just sound like someone trying to make a tempest in a teapot into a mountain-like molehill by a candidate trailing in the polls, or is it just me?

PAT -- your sensory report hits the spot. Thank you. I can't top it, save to say that a bird splotted on me this am. Some sensations are better than others. I hope your trip is pleasant. How lovely for your children that they descend from a toy train lover. Good taste that married into such a clan.

Did you know that duct tape comes in so many colors? In a few years, you can let us know if your darling daughter accepts the prom dress challenge.

There is support for the theory that sharecropping was more economically advantageous for rich (read 'white') Southern landowners than plantation slavery. Cut out a lot of overhead.

And all the Biblical New Testament references to slavery were from the epistles. I also have a theory that the religion commonly referred to as Christianity is more accurately described as Paulinity, since he is the one that wrote all the rules certain people seem to more obsessed with rather than the Beatitudes.

Yeah, read about that nonsense, ebtnut, and I agree: molehill. But it raises the necessary question: is the word "slavish" inherently racist, or only when used in an otherwise race-free reference to a black person? In other words, would it be OK to say that, say, Dennis Hastert slavishly does everything Bush wants him to, but NOT OK to say Steele slavishly does everything Bush wants...blah blah blah. Because I don't see the difference. The inference is, do we now have to remove a perfectly serviceable metaphor from the language for political correctness?

And did you see that Mike Tyson (who is distantly related by marriage to Steele) just came out and endorsed him? With friends and relatives like Tyson, who needs more enemies?

The Harper's Ferry article does make me want to cry. Equality and democracy are not easy task masters.

I have mom mom's old Coronado sewing machine. I've wrested it from my sisters' greedy hands only because it sews forwards and backwards, no zig zag. It has a separate attachment for buttonholes. It still is and always will be the very nicest machine I have ever sewn with.

I would love to sew more, would love one of those swanky computer machines, but I work too many hours to do any of that and still find time to make doilies, read books, and boodle. And then in case I haven't mentioned it (I did), it is curling season again. So many things, so little time.

Thanks, Mudge. Glad I'm not the only one. Gotta run. We have a sick kitty at home. UTI. Not a good thing.

LindaLoo, Joel, it's Scotch-Irish here:

http://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Irish-History-James-G-Leyburn/dp/0807842591/sr=8-4/qid=1161204433/ref=sr_1_4/102-9107357-0732942?ie=UTF8&s=books

Man, it's good to see that some books endure. Published by UNC Press, 1962.

ebtnut, slavish is not a word I would generally consider thinking in a racist manner, just think of it in the sense of working very hard.

To expand on Mudge's thoughts would it be racist if it were used to someone of another ethnic group that was enslaved at one point?

Read the short story concerning the NFL Games this weekend, and the denial that it is a credible threat. While anything happening at the games would be a horrible disaster, the back of my mind just remembers similar announcements and the co-relation to low polls, elections etc.

Have I become too similar, sure seems like a pattern to me.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15320622/

I would like to see anyone beat me at tic-tac-toe. tie me every time, maybe, but not win. it's impossible to win at tic-tac-toe.

kber, i forgot to mention the fire safety. i also know a lot about fire safety.

Parkian, stop giving me bad ideas.

pat, is that the toy train museum somewhere out by antietam? i've been to a train museum out there that was simply AWESOME. i have some lionel trains, most of which are pretty old, that used to belong to my dad. my favorite one? the exploding box car.

Superfrenchie:
Funny, I don't see anything about racism in any of those verses. I don't want to try and get into a theological debate with you, for I can't change your mind, and you won't change mine. I was merely pointing out that I am against the KKK and everything that it stands for.

where did everyone go...go....go......go?

I'm still here.

I am trying really hard not to open the link to the duct tape site bc posted. Last time I opened a link like that, I ended up at Daedelus Books, and I am very sure that I will never recover.

haha dr. the key is to look at things you cannot afford. me? i'm looking at boats on ebay.

Running for the bus, Hope to get to your e-mail tonight, sparks.

sparks, you know to get a marine survey don't you?

scr, my dad just picked up an all metal Singer for me at a garage sale of $15, I'm taking on my first sewing project (skunk costume for my two year old) and am very excited. My mom sewed my wedding dress (not out of duct tape) and did an amazing job, but it's taken me this long to start to learn.

And, bc, you'll think I'm lying but I have a duct tape wallet too! But I can't take full credit, a good friend made it for me.

ah, then sparks, I look at house plans. When I was 10ish, my dad was building a new family home, and I watched him design it. I have a collection of home plan books, McMansions only, of course, and love to pick them apart. I should have been a home designer, but everybody always seems to want you to know math...

Or those sewing machine units, with all the attachements and dohickys...sigh.

sparks, I think you mentioned you were looking at a boat you wanted to live on?

Have you seen this publication?

http://www.livingaboard.com/

dr - are you in the DC area? If you are, and you liked Daedelus Books' web site, you will love their warehouse store (off of 32 in Columbia, MD). If you are not in the DC area......na na na na naaaahhhh na :-)

dr, do you ever find a house plan that you wouldn't alter? My dad did not build our house but designed a major renovation we all lived through, I was in kindergarten and it was the best. For months I refused to take the stairs and would only use a ladder (cathedral ceiling with a balcony connecting two areas of the house).

I have several books on designs as well, and love pouring through them.

As for sewing I only do craft sewing, it is all I enjoy for some reason, (perhaps because it usually involves seasonal stuff, I have made tree skirt, stockings, advent calender), I do not have to continually see that I am quite lacking in technique.

haha. living through a pretty intense house overhaul (complete kitchen overhaul, refinish floors, strip wallpaper and paint all rooms. walls were knocked down.) made me never want to live in a house again. i think the vast majority of people don't need that kind of space and would be much better served by an apartment closer to where they work. this would also reduce their energy consumption. hooray for conservation!

and thanks for the link, dmd, i am checking it out now, and thanks for the heads up on the marine survey. i think i'm probably 5 years out from implementing this plan, at least, depending on how things go. i'm talking to mudge about it, and plan to learn to sail a large boat and do a lot more research first. (as things stand now, i can sail a small boat, or so claim the boy scouts of america.)

Great plan sparks, Mudge sounds like he is an excellent resource, if you are going to a bigger sailboat you may want to upgrade the education, I believe in the US the Coast Guard auxiliary do boating courses.

Good luck it sounds like a great goal to strive for and you are in a beautiful area to do it.

i'm actually moving to portland, or. i have a friend whose ex-girlfriend's dad lived on a boat. this did not actually seem to me to be a good idea until friday afternoon. i've always wanted boats, but never really thought about living on one full time until i realized that you have to pay to dock the boat somewhere anyways, and if you're in a city with an accessible waterway, you may as well live on your boat.

Steve-2, my bank is glad that I am nowhere near DC, and that evil book store. I however would consider it as a stand alone and much desired vacation spot.

dmd, I saw one once years ago, the perfect farmhouse with wrap-around porches. I tossed that book in one of our moves, figuring that since we bought a house, there was nothing more I could wish for. Silly me. If I ever find that plan again, I am going to frame it as my ideal.
Had I ever built that plan, I'm sure I'd be thinking differently and would be renovating it.

The most fun thing about house plans is picking apart kitchens. There are bad kitchen plans in some very fancy homes.

Well if its Portland, here is a little closer resource for you, Pacific Yachting (a BC magazine at least the climate is similar to Portland).

http://www.pacificyachting.com/home

sparks, that sounds amazing. I spent a summer on Mt Hood about 10 years ago and loved Portland, living on a boat there sounds very exciting.

I knew someone who lived on his boat on the east coast and I remember him talking about some kind of tax benefit as well - maybe just that he bought a more expensive boat since it would be his primary residence for tax purposes so he could not be taxed on the gain from selling his previous home? I can't remember exactly.

When I was a teenager I used to enjoy designing houses. They were like jigsaw puzzles in reverse. I came up with some that were pretty good, and many that were clearly stupid. I mean, a diamond shaped master bedroom sounds cool, but, like, where do you put the hot tub?

Once I came up with one that I was rather proud of until my older brother pointed out that I had essentially designed the set of the Brady Bunch. Except with bathrooms.

And sparks, if the more extreme global warming scenarios come to pass, you may be way ahead of the curve.

Take it from me, that stadium "threat" is about as low as you can go on the credibility scale. *L*

RD, your comment about houses like jigsaw puzzles reminded me of the people who are designing and building houses out of old shipping containers - it's like using Leggos!

In the centre of the room of course RD. It's the feature.

Did you see the movie "Pleasantville"? Your bathroom comment made me laugh and think of the scene where she's heading for the cubicle and opens the door to find nothing.

Sparks, you do know how addicitve the boat thing is going to be, right? But its a good thing.

Steve-2! *what* are you still doing here? I thought I made it very clear that your "Vikings" support makes you unfit for human society. We can tolerate all manner of eccentricity and tedious obsessions, but rooting *against* the Redskins? Especially now, in this darkest of hours?

Since you apparently *are* in the DC area, you simply *must* come to the next BPH.

*slinking off to kitchen to stir soup and plot dark revenge*

Yes Scotty I figured it was low, but will everyone, just little snippets out to frighten the public, the timing of these things is just repetitive and curious.

Call me suspicious.

dmd;

This one is so pretentious and overblown, though, it's almost a spoof of a threat... :-)

I've built two houses, the first was designed by an architect with my input. The second was a variation of a plan I found in one of those "blueprint" magazines. The first house was very large and very complex, the second less so. Now, at the end of my kitchen redo in our present older ranch type house, I will be happy to just look at plans from now on. To get the ideal kitchen, I think you need to draw it and then plan the rest of the house to fit with it. This kitchen is turning out well considering what we had to work with and it seems that it will be fairly easy to work in, but I'll know better in a few more weeks.

My mom taught me how to sew when I was about 12. I remember throwing my mistakes across the room in a fit of rage and my mom just telling me to go pick it up and rip it out and start over. Thank heavens she made me persevere. I used to make some of my clothes and some for the kids when they were small. I have made a few things for the granddaughters. My best achievement was making my daughter's wedding veil. Now I just hem and mend mostly. But it's a terrific skill to have.

RD, hello corner tub!

Hmph, I step out for a few hours and everybody's talking about sewing duct-taped boats with straight faces now.

I and Wilbrodog took the nice long walk of the unemployed at the zoo then blogged on the subject. Worth a look-see at the zoo if you have the time on a beautiful day.

S'nuke-- Radiological dirty bombs? Are they smuggling in critical masses of radiologists with toxic flatulence?

Is Wilbrodog the new Blue Dog?

sparks,
I have known folks who lived on their boats, although it's not something I would want to do. Marina space is pricey, but so is rent or buying a "regular" place. And how cool is it that you and kb's daughter have a duct tape and Burning Man connection!

Lots of boodle connections in Dirda's chat today. Let's see, he said Neil Gaiman is a friend of his and a literary rock star, he mentioned Vonnegut, someone quoted a famous author that I am forgetting - something about not "giving anything for the kit-and-boodle" of them...

There was a chat about the Gallaudet protest - haven't had a chance to read it yet.

I think I'm still a black dog. Wait, blue dog as in art? Maybe. Wilbrod wants me to help with a children's book.

Yes.

http://www.amazon.com/Dear-Mrs-Larue-Obedience-Academia/dp/0439661285/sr=8-3/qid=1161223184/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/102-3322896-8576133?ie=UTF8

One of my favorite children's books. The citation is for the Spanish version because it contains the reviews and a picture of the cover.

Ike writes letters of his alleged mistreatment (shown in black and white pictures on one side of the book) but you see the reality in color pictures opposite them. It's very funny. Last year, the first grader I coached in reading turned to me in shock and said, "Miss dbGers, Ike is LYING!"

I read that one too. He was sent to obedience school because he kept grabbing his owner's brown coat and tore it once. He feels it soooo cruel and unfair. The pictures make the story ;).

And yes, he's lying like a dog to make his owner feel guilty and get him home ASAP ;).

that kit was pretty linky.

good duct tape discussion.

hey, i'd love to hear a post-show report on project runway, if anyone's inclined.

ok, back to lurker-dom...

Nice zoo pictures, Wilbrod!

I'm going to confess that I'm going to watch Barack Obama on Oprah (it's rebroadcast here at 9 pm). He'll be on Larry King tomorrow (Thursday). He has a new book out - apparently a talk he's giving here sold out already (in the symphony hall which seats 2100).

Obama's going to be on Charlie Rose Thurs night too - of the three, that's the one that will be the best, I think. Charlie can make anyone intriguing - John Grisham was the guest Fri night, and I swear I'm going to have to check out some more of his books. I haven't read anything by him for years. He has a new non-fiction book out, about a guy who was framed and got the death penalty, then got exonerated after 25 years.

So, Jeffrey the human canvas wins PR, despite (nearly unproveable) accusations of cheating, and going $200 over budget.

Eh, I found the finale a bit of a letdown. And it cut into my "South Park" viewing time.

bc

Sounds good, What, no Tavis Smiley?

Mostly, I like Grisham, but the early Grisham is better than the later Grisham. (Also try Michael Connelly's recent "The Lincoln Lawyer" and any Scott Turow novel.)

Pretty good "Lost" tonight, actually: the polar bear is back, and there's a whole new story line about Locke's background. And Mr. Eko is alive. Locke has a pretty interesting hallucination in an airport that was good. Coming attractions seem to indicate I'm gonna hate next week's episode: more sadistic and gratuitous torture of the captives.

Also a pretty good episode of "The Nine." Much as I like it, I want to yell at the cast, "Hey, you all have post-traumatic stress disorder! Go see a counselor, NOW!" But of course, if they did, there'd be no show.

Mets beat the Cards to tie the series at 3-3.

And that concludes the 11 o'clock news. 'Night, all.

yet another reason for me not to keep a cat (sorry, all ye cat-lovers, but if you'll think about it, cats tend NOT to want to be rescued when they're terrified-- or suicidal as this kitty may have been).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101701689.html

Now to bed, but I caught a gander of Marc Fisher's article quoting Fernandes' on herself and her "vision" of Gallaudet.

"...her "vision" of Gallaudet as a place where people sign freely is simply what Gallaudet always has been. In 2007, Gallaudet will celebrate its 150th anniversary. It has withstood the near-sweep of oralism throughout deaf education, numerous incidents of oppression.

Its graduates have become teachers, lawyers, priests, enterpenteurs, vice-presidents and presidents of companies; scientists, engineers, white collar professionals, artists, actresses, writers, playwrights, and yes, even university presidents (namely, I. King Jordan.).

Nowhere in the deaf world can you be in contact with so many role models or network with so many deaf professionals, or learn so directly in the verbal and nonverbal ways what it takes to succeed or fail.

Fernandes is failing. She has courage and determination, but she's not the only person around with that. She should have learned that long ago."

SCC: should be "Nowhere else"

OK, Mudge - I have a lot of Grisham to go through - at least he's a quick read. I've read most of Scott Turow's books, although I get confused about which ones I've read. Michael Connelly's on my ever-growing list. I liked the new Le Carre very much - not a masterpiece, but really, really good - fast moving. I'm still slogging through Updike's Terrorist - it's good, but not much action. I'm not sure where it's going, so that's good.

There's a polar bear on Lost? I've never watched the show - airplane crashes aren't my idea of entertainment. But a polar bear? Wouldn't he be too warm and terribly cranky?

Sad story, Wilbrod. I was remarking tonight on our stray kitty's lack of critical thinking skills. We've been feeding her for 2 years - give her blankets to sleep on - but she still runs off the deck when we go out - and has never tried to come in the house. She lets me pet her, but not on the deck, only when we're in certain places in the yard. I should put her in a box and take her to the vet, but I don't know if that would traumatize her (or me). And she seems healthy and I figure she must be spayed because she's never had kittens. Nice black, fluffy kitty - but not too smart.

She is probably terrified of the noise your footsteps make on the wooden slats of the deck.

Clicker training might be a good idea-- like how cats react to the sound of the can opener as meaning food, it's not hard for a cat to learn that a certain cue always means food. It's used with wild animals.
Once communication is established you might see a change in the relationship. One thing I like and use with Wilbrodog is "informational cues" (mentioned at karenpryor.com), cues that tell the animal what you will do... like "door" before you open the door. or "you need pills." or "walk time".

I started this (and yes click and treat for my dog paying attention to when I point and name something), even before I knew it was used, because studies show that it is much less stressful for humans or animals if they have a sense they know what is going to happen-- gives them a sense of control, and the less stress the better.
"Adding value" (as some clicker trainers call it when an animal is clicked for any action such as looking or going nearer an object) to a door or other things with food also improves the overall attitude the animal has toward that object.

Not that I'm a cat trainer by ANY means. However I did have the thought that it'd have been nice if the cat had been trained/encouraged to sleep in a travel crate with bedding as a safe place and to keep that crate near an fire exit to be sure the cat can be caught and taken out without dragging the cat out of a bed or closet.

It's actually one of the emergency tips out there, I think.

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/be_a_lifesaver_disaster_planning_can_save_your_pet_in_an_emergency.html

Another tip would be for your dog to know how to jump through a window if it's too large to pick up. Precious seconds often cannot be wasted.

Good morning, friends. Dmd, you can tell the gray cells are dying real bad. I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that you are female, and yet I just forgot. Please forgive me, the horror, the horror. I am so sorry. To me, it's like you meet someone and call them the wrong name. *ugh*

Good morning, Slyness. You forgot to answer my question about CMS or perhaps you didn't get it. It was about the four principals at those failing schools. Are they really going to fire them?

And the conversations has turned to "duct tape", my friend. When I lived in the mobile home, every repair job was done with duct tape. And just think, it comes in colors now. Will wonders ever cease?

As to the word "slavish", my old dictionary definition is "pertaining to slaves", drudgery, so yeah, I guess it does smack of slavery. Yet when people use the word, they don't consider where it came from, like so many of the words we use. And I suspect that when the word is used, the user does not have an evil intent, but if we think about the word, somehow we will be able to detect its origin. I'm not saying that when people use the word "slavish", they should be hung up and dried, it's a word. In my book, action speaks louder than words, yet so many times, it all starts in the heart. And words sometimes are used to express the desires of the heart. Of course, here at the boodle we know that.

Have a good day, everyone. Just think tomorrow is Friday, and the weekend begins. My prayer for you and me this morning is that we all come to know that God loves us so much more than we can imagine through Him that died for all, Christ Jesus.

Pat, I walked yesterday morning, and it was still dark out. Folks that have problems with their ears should not walk in the dark. It's a balance issue. I was walking like a drunk woman, and it came to me, people will actually think I am drunk. I was not drunk. I will wait for the light this morning, but the weather person says it is foggy, so not much difference.

good morning, mudge. i love the grisham novels, and scott turow too. what is the latest scott turow? as to grisham, i like his earlier books, not too keen on the latest ones. it's a little like he got lazy in the writing of the latest ones. it seems he put a little more effort in the earlier ones?

i am still reading, "captured by aliens", our fearless leader's book. in between doing what i do, i am almost finished. it does take time to read such a heavy work. so far, so good.

Last one. If taken to jail, I would be in Rockingham, NC, the Richmond County jail. Contact could be made through the sheriff's office.

I am giving these details because it is very much a possibility for me. I am deaf, and walk badly. Plus I write to editor of the local newspaper sometimes, and needless to say, some of those letters touch on race. Not many, but some. If this happens to me (God forbid), and if I get near a computer I will hit the Achenblog and the message will be:

I AM IN JAIL, GET ME OUT!

Good morning, Cassandra. Sorry, I didn't see your question. The school system may move principals but I doubt they would out-and-out fire them. Nothing in the paper this morning about that.

If the scenario you outline above actually occurs, I'll come and get you out. I'm the closest boodler, so it will be my responsibility! Be careful on your walk.

Sound report, for Wilbrod, in the tradition of Pat:

ACORNS
"...percussive nuances of the seeds. There's the metallic sound of a nut ricocheting off the gutters, the drumming on her low bedroom roof and the crack when one nut falls onto another and sends both shooting off, like pool balls. The family gathers them on weekends, including those loading up the gutters."

From Adrian Higgins, writing in today's WaPa "Home Section."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101800367.html

Beatle Paul in messy divorce:

http://news.aol.com/entertainment/music/articles/_a/paul-mccartney-accused-of-spousal-abuse/20061018105509990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

Madonna in messy adoption:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101801961.html

"The British are jealous of people; there's a lot of green eyes out there," said Max Clifford, perhaps Britain's most influential public relations agent, who specializes in celebrity and scandal. "In the States you tend to enjoy other people's success and fame, but over here we hate it. The British public like to see the rich and famous attacked."

My son wore his duct tape necktie to school today as part of his Hoemcoming Spirit Week ensemble. Fortunately, silver is one of the school colors.

I am also a big fan of Grisham. "The Pelican Brief" is my favorite, and the movie is pretty good too, w/ Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington (I think). It was scary/thrilling without the extremely violent/torture stuff in some of his later stuff.

Yello....

Send directions for duct tape tie? Then Son of CP's life will be complete?

CP,

I wish I knew. It was his own creation.

Attacking the famous probably comes from a history of royalty. You know, attack the class structure when one gets the chance. American enjoy watching peoples success and fame? Then can you explain Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan? All people like watching 'celebrity' deconstruct.

Buy that boy a domain name, so he can launch his directions for $5:95 + S&H a pop.

Then, you can all retire, to say, a boat slip in Alberta, CA.

The local minor league team has an annual duct tape night. Fans are given a roll of tape and the most creative costume/decoration wins sonething like a slushee.

I made an attempt at tie dying a mandala last night for our daughters marching band. It will serve as a decoratin in the stands during the Upper State band competiton thi sweekend. The show is music from the Who's Tommy. It proved very difficult to fold and band. If it turns out, I'll be taking holiday orders. I may even make one in honour of the BPH and send it along as a token of appreciation for all of you.

This mornings sky is earthbound, cloaking the floor with a soft, cool cloak

I should add that its probably the same human impulse that creates accident scene rubber necking, and the tv coverage we always seem to see after horrific events.

So is any of you 12 Achenbloggers planning any big celebration for the 225th anniversary?

I'll start with having a virtual glass of champagne. I know it's a bit early for alcohol, but champagne always goes smoothly.

To our friendship! Cheers!

If tearing down celebrities or the powerful is a British tradition, Canadians have certainly embraced that tradition.

CP Alberta, CA? Boating? Is there an Alberta in California or did you mean Canada.

Cassandra nothing to forgive, don't worry about it, I tried to make the correction as off hand as possible to prevent you from feeling bad.

Canada! As in a silly joke. I grew up water-challenged in MT. So, Sparks would have a hard time boating to see you.

bc has obviously never heard of Tivo.

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

This astrophysicist is also peeved at Pluto's demotion. The man is also an expert on Yiddish humor and apparently practices it...

Jeffrey Mallow's note is titled "Letter from a Crank(y) Physicist to the Annals of Improbable Research," subtitled "Reclassification of Plutonium as a Dwarf Element."

"The recent reclassification of Pluto as a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union has raised the issue that other namesakes of the god of the underworld may have been similarly misclassified," he writes.

Then he goes on in formal scientific form, with a lot of footnotes, to show that plutonium doesn't really rate as a first-rank element. It decays, for instance. It's toxic, but not all THAT toxic, he says. Just sort of dwarfly-toxic.

"An objective assessment of plutonium's characteristics therefore leads inexorably to the conclusion that it fails to meet virtually all of the requirements for full inclusion in the periodic table of the chemical elements, or the table of nuclides, or the list of poisons. It is therefore proposed that plutonium be removed from those compendia and reclassified as a 'dwarf element.' While this may lead to the demotion of a number of its transuranic neighbors, that is the price that must be paid for scientific integrity," Mallow concludes.

SD, that's priceless.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/columnists/cclack/stories/MYSA101906.01P.clack.ce1790.html

Putting the adoption shoe on the other foot
by Cary Clack
Web Posted: 10/18/2006 06:55 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News

Confirming rumors that have been circulating for days, the Malawi pop superstar, DaMonna, has announced her plans to travel to the United States and adopt a white American child from Texas.

The pending adoption by the singer known as "The Malarial Girl" will be the latest in a surge of adoptions of American babies by Third World celebrities. In the last two weeks alone, female entertainers from Africa and Asia have swooped into the United States to take custody of 15 children, nine of them from Texas.

DaMonna has shown an affinity for America since her first hit record, "Like a Virginian," catapulted her to stardom in the 1980s. In a hastily arranged news conference at the airport in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, she said she simply wants to make the world better for needy children.

"I want to be a mother and give my son all of the love, caring and comforts in life every child deserves," said DaMonna. "I also want to teach him how to speak with a really cool fake British accent."

When asked why she didn't adopt any of the many children on her continent, she answered, "We don't have any more babies left in Africa. Famous white American women have adopted them all. It's as if Africa is Black Babies 'R' Us." ...

"Also, after studying the statistics, I believe Texas children are most in need of my help."

Asked to elaborate, she said, "Texas leads the U.S. in uninsured children, and also ranks high in infant mortality, 2-year-olds who aren't immunized, children born to teenage mothers and seems to have a problem funding its public schools. It kind of reminds me of Malawi. Plus, I was moved by the commercials of Sally Struthers pleading for the world to help the children of Texas."

The clouds have formed a white blanket which seems to have smothered all noise. There appears to be a slight fog hovering about (either that or my windows are covered in plaster dust). I did see some hazy blue patches earlier and it is supposed to clear, but for now it is pretty dull out there.

I'm off to baby sit again today so have no hope of keeping up with the boodle. Drat!

Sky report: the sun was just peeking out, a bright orange haze between the horizon and a broad cloud bank. The trees in the west were still dark, but where the emerging rays hit each leaf was etched with a rosy gold. Very striking.

Cassandra, you can always ask your court-appointed attorney or a friendly booking officer (hah) to contact the Boodle for you. Best plan -- don't get in jail.

I may be old-fashioned, or just cranky, but I just don't understand why Paul McCartney's divorce or Madonna's adoption plans need to be so public. As I asked the Boy the other day, if a rich American woman decides to adopt a baby from another country, and that country apparently bends its rules to let her do so, how is that my business? I'm not fond of the public confessional either, as news or entertainment. Perhaps this explains why I don't watch much television.

mostly, if you live on a boat, you just have to pay marina fees instead of marina fees /and/ rent for an apartment. i would rather have a big boat to live on than a modestly sized boat and a place to live.

Thank you, ivansmom; I've just been debating with myself whether to raise a little umbrage myself over those issues, and especially Clack's misguided column, which confuses making fun of Madonna's pretensions on the one hand (fair game) and international (or even just national) adoption on the other. (Fair disclosure: as the father of three children adopted from a third-world country myself, I'm a wee bit biased in favor of the procedure, and a tad opposed to the "let 'em stay where they are and starve to death or die of disease" school of thought, which to me is the clear alternative. Yes, Madonna is flithy rich and [to me] somewhat obnoxious, and can easily afford to throw her weight and money around to "buy" a kid from a starving country. And the "down side" to that is...? If I was running the cash register in Malawi, when Madonna came through my express lane checkout I'd give her a store coupon and invite her back real soon for our buy-one-get-one-free sale.)

Cassandra, I thought that was very cute that your first step if you get thrown in jail will be to contact the Achenblog.

You should be aware that approximately one month will pass while we discuss prison references in literature and what a metaphor being thrown in prison is for life in general.

Then a committee will be struck. Once that committee has reported back with its recommendations (which may encounter some delay should subcommittees be necessary), and those recommendations are adopted by a general meeting of the Achenblog, we're right on top of the situation.

This is not to say we haven't already given this some thought. If you look in your Achenblog Guide to Boodlers in Chapter 12 (please note that the Song Book is also incorrectly titled Chapter 12), there is a standing recommendation that all boodlers carry their favourite toothbrush on their person at all times.

Cassandra, I thought that was very cute that your first step if you get thrown in jail will be to contact the Achenblog.

You should be aware that approximately one month will pass while we discuss prison references in literature and what a metaphor being thrown in prison is for life in general.

Then a committee will be struck. Once that committee has reported back with its recommendations (which may encounter some delay should subcommittees be necessary), and those recommendations are adopted by a general meeting of the Achenblog, we're right on top of the situation.

This is not to say we haven't already given this some thought. If you look in your Achenblog Guide to Boodlers in Chapter 12 (please note that the Song Book is also incorrectly titled Chapter 12), there is a standing recommendation that all boodlers carry their favourite toothbrush on their person at all times.

SF, I've never seen the statue of comte de Rochambeau in Lafayette Square in DC. I should do sometime. A nobleman that JUST managed to survive the French Revolution & get pensioned off by Bonaparte-- good for him.

From Wiki:

"As Cornwallis waited for resupply from the Royal Navy, the American commander, George Washington, learned that a French naval force was moving to enter the War for the first time, and he realised that Cornwallis's exposed position was an opportunity to win a victory that would resonate in the public imagination. In the Siege of Yorktown, a combined French-American force attacked Cornwallis while the French navy prevented the expected British reinforcements from arriving by sea. On 19 October 1781, an emissary of Cornwallis surrendered the army to Washington. Cornwallis himself declined to attend the ceremony, claiming illness.

Cornwallis' surrender did not immediately end the War, as Cornwallis commanded only about a quarter of Britain's forces. The embarrassment, however, swiftly caused a shift in British public opinion in favour of making peace. A final peace treaty with full withdrawal of British troops came in 1783."

Wilbrod:

Cheers! Glass of champagne?

The big guy at Yorktown was De Grasse, although Rochambeau and Lafayette played large roles too.

About the surrender:

//A formal surrender ceremony took place on the morning following the battle. Cornwallis refused to attend out of pure embarrassment, claiming illness. Although absent at the surrender ceremony, he observed to George Washington, "This is a great victory for you, but your brightest laurels will be writ upon the banks of the Delaware." According to legend, the British forces marched to the fife tune of "The World Turned Upside Down," though no real evidence of this exists. Cornwallis' deputy at first attempted to surrender to the French General Rochambeau, who is reputed to have said, "Vous vous trompez le général en chef de notre armée est à la droite" [3] ("you have misled yourself, the general of our army is to the right"), then took him to Washington. The lieutenant then attempted to surrender to Washington, who refused because it was not Cornwallis himself, and indicated that the subordinate should surrender to General Benjamin Lincoln, Washington's least favorite general because he had botched the southern campaign. Cornwallis' lieutenant ceremonially offered his sword to Lincoln, which was refused. All other British troops were required to surrender and trample their firearms in the custom of the time.//

About Rochambeau: I used to cross a Rochambeau bridge when I was working in VA. I believe it's near Occoquan.

And my kids attend the Lycee Rochambeau in Bethesda. Mrs. SuperFrenchie also works there:

http://rochambeau.org/

wilbrod, it's a shame that dead historical figures cannot change their names. all of the guillotines changed their names, and presumably all the remaining hitlers and stalins have done the same thing. but what do you do when you die and your name is later used as a less-than-fantastic word? rochambeau is not something i would want sitting around in my name.

of course, neither is santorum, but i think if he acknowledged that fact, it would only open him to more ridicule.

"Rochambeau" doesn't sound good? I had no idea.

Anyway, American soldiers of the time thought his name sounded very similar to their battle cry, "Rush on boys!" (pun on Republicans not intended...)

http://tinyurl.com/ykqqk3

And now for something completely different:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/business/18enron.html?em&ex=1161403200&en=3be2c51fd9962d12&ei=5087%0A

new kit

About that new Grisham book -- it is based on a case out of Ada here in Oklahoma. A young woman was murdered in an unusually gruesome manner. Eventually, after a tip from a witness, two men were picked up and accused of the killing. At least one "confessed", though this consisted in large part of him agreeing with things the interrogating officers suggested happened. Some of the details he contributed did not match the crime scene. Later DNA evidence confirmed that the men had not committed at least some aspects of the crime and they were exonerated. The DNA matched that initial witness who fingered the two guys and testified against them; he was in prison for something else when the match was made. When he heard about the match he walked off a prison work detail but eventually turned himself in, was tried and convicted, and received a death sentence himself. I haven't read the book but coverage suggests the initial DAs were not quite the bad guys they are apparently made out to be.

Superfrenchie, a votre sante!

i'm glad jeffrey won PR - i liked his designs (ok, ok - i admit, i'd never watched PR before and only caught the "runway" part last nite so i saw everyone's designs but didn't watch to find out who won) but OF COURSE i liked jeffrey - he was the "punk" one! *grin*

this morning it looked like i walked onto a postcard picture of a fall da