Hello? No comments yet? Weird.

This strikes me as exactly the sort of thing that happens on the Mommy Blog most days - somebody makes what seems like a fairly innocuous commentary on some aspect of life and the world takes it personally.

One of funniest things I've seen on this topic is the Urban Dictionary's entry for "Northern Virginia." One of my faves:

Northern Virginia: the part of virginia that ignores the rest of virginia because the rest of virginia isnt as rich, and is therefore labled a home for "hicks." Also known as the blue part of a traditionally red state, mostly because of its diverse cultural background. This part of the state of virginia is comprised of many identical developments with cliched names such as "oak hill", "maple ridge", or "pine meadow." Of course , the irony behind the situation is that the oaks, maples, and pines have all been cut down.

guy1: hey im a douchebag
guy2: move to northern virginia.
guy1: im way ahead of you.

Read them all at
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=northern+virginia

I wondered how that little piece would go over when I read it. Yes, it is funny, but given that many people outside of NoVa already feel we are nothing but a bunch of Yankee elitists, it clearly needed to hit us a lot harder. Which, quite frankly, wouldn't be that hard to do.

So they're all P.O.'ed at us. Let them give us back our money.

JA quotes the comment "If Jeff Foxworthy or Larry the Cable Guy wrote this, no one would think a thing about it."

Now that's just untrue and unfair. We would applaud their accomplishment and ability to master the intricacies of irony and English grammar and orthography.

Fair credit where credit is due, donchaknow.

Nearly on topic, what exactly is the origin of the word carpetbagger, anyway?

What happened to the old Virginia vs. Maryland argument? Have we gotten that specialized that we now have to argue over which PART of a state is better than another?

You know, I think the people who live on *my* side of the storm sewer on my street are much better than the folks who live on the other side of it.

Jeesh.

Carpetbagger comes from the practice of Northern profiteers during the Reconstruction Era of keeping all their belongings in a carpetbag so that they could skip town quickly.

It now refers to anyone from outside an area that rushes in to exploit an economic or political situation. Hilary Clinton is a reverse carptetbagger in that she fled north to represent a state she had no previous affiliation with.

As a rehashed "country hick/city slicker" series of jokes, they were mildly amusing, particularly the ones that had some tenuous truly regional tie-in.

As we well know around here, some people are constantly chomping at the bit when umbrage-taking opportunities surface.

Regional divisions within states is hardly unique to the Old Dominion. Western Washington and Eastern Washington are culturally separate, as are Northern and Southern California. Some even contend that the state maps should be redrawn to be more "natural." (For example: http://www.jeffersonstate.com/ )

I'll probably be 2 steps behind in my reply, but carpetbagger refers to those individuals who went to the south after the Civil War to "run things" under the dicates of Reconstruction. Cheap luggage inlcuded bags that looked like, or may literally have been, made out of old carpet material. The idea being that these interlopers just threw a few things in the bag and caught the first train or steamboat headed south. In current parlance, a carpetbagger is someone from the "outside" who comes in a tries to tell the local folk what's best for them.

RE: Differences within states. Remember Maryland Gov. Shaeffer's crack about "that s**thouse of an Eastern Shore" that got him in hot water? Maryland is essentially divided into 3 regions--the aforementioned Eatern Shore; the metropolis corridor from north of Baltimore down I-95 to the DC suburbs and out I-270 to Frederick; and the more hardscrabble areas west of South Mountain.

Not sure if it helps, but this blog is an equal opportunity blog.

I lived in a mobile home for a while and recently renovated and sold one my sons lived in for 5 years, and in the R family we only "ever eats wild games". Well ok, we do eath chicken and seafood, but unless the brother-in-law is selling beef cheap we don't get beef.

Oh, oh, and we do have that legume thing happening. The stockpile is dwindling slowly.

Sonofcarl, love the comment. Dmd, your correction was right on target. I just couldn't remember.

Slyness, you are a sweetheart, and it warms my heart so that you would come and get me. I suppose they would place the management folks in another job? I know someone has to be accountable, but that is a job like no other. My sister was an assistant principal at a school there in your area. It was a nightmare for her at times. I believe in the public school system, and always will, but I know it is hard work for those that do it.

Here in the South, the northern versus southern issue has been going on for some time now. Some northerners consider anyone below the Mason-Dixon line to be a hick and an uneducated hick at that (or does the word "hick" encompass all of that); however, I feel one gets on dangerous ground when lumping people together, like putting them in boxes. And southerners are not without their biases,(sp) thinking northerners are snobbish and too much into themselves. When all is said and done, we're just people trying to make it from one day to the next, needing the same things that the other fellow does, and all going to the same place one day, the grave.

Ivansmom, I certainly intend to stay out of jail, yet everyday that I go out of the door I put myself in jeopardy because I can't hear very well. For me, and those like me, if those in authority perceive that I am ignoring them, because I cannot hear them, my life is gone.

TBG - Oh, if only there really were no trees in Northern Virginia. There are lots of trees. Deciduous trees. And all located upwind of my property.

On second read, these jokes are pretty lame. The best one is the "pick/click Blackberries". The Starbuks/does and bucks has promise, but the set-up is all convoluted. The venison/Tennyson one just dosn't make any sense at all.

For the good stuff here is a page full of true Jeff Foxworthy material.

http://users.aol.com/luke214/redneck.html

Foxworthy doesn't place it too prominently on his resume, but he has an electrical engineering degree from Georgia Tech and quit a job at IBM to become a stand-up comic. One of his best lines is that as soon as someone hears a Southern accent, they immediately spot you ten IQ points.

-yellojkt, humor critic at large

I think that same article could be written about just about any area in North America. I know it would apply to where I live both locally and nationally. I am sure dr, Yoki, and SoC could write reams of jokes about the GTA and its superiority complex.

//the more hardscrabble areas west of South Mountain.//

This Washington County native feels a fake umbrage attack coming on.

Hmmm. I smell a challenge. Maybe come up with a few ideas that make fun of urbanites to balance things out a bit?

So Sparks, what did you mean by "Rochambeau" doesn't sound good? I had no idea.

FWIW, 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

ebtnut, I'd argue there are four regions in Merlin, not three. The Balt./Washington corridor often divides itself into the Balmer people and Warshington people, viz., Orioles, Skins versus Ravens, and various and sundry political fights that pit Balmer again MoCo and PG (Wash. suburbs vs. Balmer, 'nuther words).

You think Joisey ain't split? Nyawk? Conn.? Mass? Florida? "Low Country" versus the rest of South Carolina? Louisiana? Penna.? Illinois? (I could go on, 40 more times.) Most (if not all) states are. Cities versus suburbs everywhere?

Back in my day, it was Vikings versus Celts (instead of "rednecks" we called them "bluefaces," but you get the idea. In fact, I think we stole that rivalry from Rome versus the Barbarians. But don't get me started.)

Actually, it was Mel Brooks' 2,000-year-old man who described the world's first national anthem, "Let 'em All Go to Hell, Except Cave 76."

You think Virginia gets all the glory? Northern California and southern California used to have these "I'm superior to you" battles frequently. I could retire quite comfortably if I had $5 for every time in college I heard that Bakersfield was the armpit or crotch of California.

Umbrage is a funny and odd thing. Mudge was taking some umbrage over the Cary Clack article and link about international adoptions that I posted from our local paper earlier this morning. I think Clack's point, made through *satire*, if you read the whole piece, is that conditions for children are pretty darn bad here in Texas--almost as bad as Malawi (?). There should be shame attached to the current situation in Texas--citizens and politicians alike, and it raises a whole host of issues--locally, nationally, and yes, internationally.

Let's take duct tape. It's funny how some yesterday were spoofing it as fabric. Aren't ties, and prom dresses, and the multiple colors it's now ofered in so very funny?

To me, it brings a cascade of difficult memories. When I was a kid, one piece of furniture in particular wore out--a Naugahide recliner. My father used several yards of silver duct tape to mend the arms and back of this chocolate-brown chair. In our tiny living room, there was an old, reupholstered, very plain couch and matching chair, a bone-colored swivel chair, and this recliner, on top of a threadbare rug. Except for my mother's paintings on the wall, it was all so very ugly. It was hard to bring friends home--from elementary school through college. Duct tape...the horrors! Perhaps this is why my sister became an interior decorator?

Humor and satire are hard.

BillMon has a strong item today on Iraq:

http://billmon.org/archives/002843.html

on rochambeau:
# A game first featured in the South Park episode Mecha-Streisand in which male contestants take turns kicking each other in the testicles until only one remained standing. That person would be declared the winner.
# A college version of Rochambeau is to throw a dodgeball at each other's testicles until one is down for the count of ten. Each time a player hits their opponent, they are allowed another free shot. It is suggested that you do not look at the ball as it is coming at you, and hold your hands at your side rather than behind your back.

cassandra, all of us living in maryland know that the south doesn't really start until you get past the potomac river and out of nova. maryland was, and still is, a border state, not so much that it straddles the line as it IS the line, with a unique je ne sais quoi all its own.

TBG, maryland won the maryland v. virginia argument. it turns out that virginia was trying to hide parts of itself from the world, like the fact that it had a jewish mother, and rednecks in the parts you can't see from maryland. oddly enough, those are the only parts of virginia that i like. driving west from maryland is great. hop on 66 west, get in the left lane, and remain there until you get to knoxville. (knoxville is actually the first place you have to change lanes. i-66 ends at i-81 and the left lane becomes i-81 south, which eventually turns into i-40 west.)

I scored one or two of those Foxworthy redneck questions.
But then y'all, I've always lived south of the Mason-Dixon line until I moved up north to Maryland. The North sure is a different place and probably could use a little more red-neck influence, loosen up, you know?
Pass me some of that cajun food.

I've never been prouder as a Virginian than the day we did not elect Oliver North to the Senate.

I've never been so humilated as a Virginian as the day I heard Oliver North was running. As far as I'm concerned the fact that there was at all a chance is... BRR.

Invisibility cloak invented:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006480533,00.html

(But what is a "boffin"?)

Boy, those folks need to get over it. We've heard way worse Okie jokes than the stuff in that piece for years. Oklahoma is very geographically and culturally divided, but we band together for "furriners" -- folks not from here and Texans.

Policy wonk alert: The executive director of the Southern Growth Policy Board, Jim Clinton, has some Foxworthy-worthy jokes about the "new" South.

You might be a redneck if . . .
you've just hotwired your Blackberfy to receive podcasts of Nascar races.

you invented a sugar-free gum that tastes like Skoal.

You hold six or more patents that each had the term "hunting dog" in its disclosure documents.

In RoVa they know the value of the dollar
In NoVa they also know the value of a dollar, and they've already taxed and spent yours

In RoVa, you learn to prepare meat the safe way
In NoVa, meat comes from Safeway

In RoVa, honesty is its own reward
In NoVa, they reward their own, honestly

wilbrod, the mason-dixon line runs betwixt pennsylvania and maryland, so you're still south of it.

"Boffin" is British for pointy-headed science type.

Boffin is brit slang for "scientist, thinker, egghead, brain guy."

No known relation to "boff." Darn!

Mnenomic: Medical Boffins can help keep you out of coffins.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=boffin&f=1

Old Master

Old master, old master
Strictly speaking I need my laughter
You are insane,
As you died in great pain
During the years I`ve been serving you with great respect
Now you reject
Old master, old master

Old master, old master
I will remember when you made me crack into laughter
You will be remembered in your cermony
As you lie in peace and harmony
I remember you as a boffin
Now I see you in a coffin
Old master, old master

Jawwad R, Berkshire

"Boffin" is British for pointy-headed science type. -- this is my candiate for the best phrase contest of yore (yesterday - two?)

I posit that more boffins live in Maryland that Virginia.

I also posit that our spirited debate will not tear apart the boffin-like boodle.

I also vote that we make the lovely but charming puffin our totem, despite that slant rhyming is less pointy-perfect than perfect rhymming.

Others will prefer dophin, but then we might need to revise the spelling of boffin to

bophin.

---
Stop me. I am so pointy I begin to hurt myself.

Isn't it DOLphin? Or do you mean Dauphin?

Boffins as advisors often soften coffin fervor in warmonging politicans.

boffin:
scientist, especially one engaged is research, particularly military research.

You don't think they're inventing the invisibility cloak for Harry Potter fans or Hollywood, do you? Naive, naive.

Sparks, I am right thrilled to know that. My record as a southerner is still intact, although any state that has jousting as its state sport is definitely daffy.

NoVa has 29% of the states' population and contributes 45% of the tax revenue. Richmond doth not giveth, Richmond only taketh away.

From the Sun article:

It has been part-funded by the US defence department.

Need I say more?

"soften the coffin fervor?" Gimme a break.

RoVa storm! Ha!

sparks, fear not that no one in here understood the "Rocheambeau" reference before your explanation.

As far as the NoVa/RoVa bit in the WaPo, I definitely suspect Hank "King of the Blue Tarps" Stuever hizzowndangself had something to do with it.

But that's just a guess.

We talked about duct tape yesterday, today we can discuss the many and varied uses of cinder blocks and blue tarps when applied to mobile residences.

In NoVA a hookup refers to a sexual encounter.
In RoVA a hookup refers to electric or septic service. Or a job driving a tow truck.

bc

We could only wish.

bc, tarps come in many colors. I personally like dark green, although I wouldn't say no to a daring bright red tarp for those special occassions.

Somebody please put College Parkian on a sharps watch before she hurts herself.

Yes, Joel, good billmon column you linked to--but notice that even he doesn't even begin to suggest a solution, which is the dilemma we're all in. It isn't the lack of a plan, or a national consensus on a plan (though there is that little problem); it is that even if there was a Magic XYZ Plan, it won't get administered by the incumbents for the next two years. (And even if there was a Magic XYZ Plan, do you want these clowns implementing it?)

For you younger types, this is new to you--but to us geezers, this is what it felt like from, say, 1965 or 66 through 1972, and half a dozen election cycles. So it's deja vu all over again for me and a few other boodlers.

Maltese priest admits to "light touching" of Foley when he was an altar boy.

Hello? That's still sexual abuse of a child, no matter which way you parse it. And so sadly, what comes around with child sex abuse, often goes around. Oh, world!

Marge Simpson to Lisa:

"Sweetie, it's nice that you want to take charge around the house, but don't be a hero. Just make sure your father eats all his meals over a tarp -- but not the good tarp. I want you to get married on that some day."

//In NoVA a hookup refers to a s***** encounter.
In RoVA a hookup refers to electric or septic service. Or a job driving a tow truck.//

In some areas, perhaps it means an encounter whilst driving a tow truck?

I vote for puffins.

I am merely a pointy-headed humanities type, but I did gather that the invisibility cloak only renders the wearer invisible to microwaves. So if I'm in an active microwave, I care about this because...?

to "for son of carl", yes, yes, please leave any complaints at the complaints department. I was engaged in some stereotypical humour (hold the umbrage and the pickles, please). It is rural conventional wisdom the world over, regardless of any "facts" to the contrary, that the capital/big city/large hut is where your tax dollars/denari/prize lambs disappear without observable benefit. In return, I doubt the joke about meth labs is representative of a large part of the RoVa community.

So now Malta is in the news. Last time when it was Cyprus, I argued that while it was in the EU, it was also geographically Asian. I will now argue that Malta, even though it's also in the EU, is in Africa!

Everybody enjoying the virtual champagne? (Cassandra, it makes me walk like you... (smile) )

oh man. i have some stories about meth labs. one time a friend of mine (name withheld to protect the innocent) was going to pick up his glaucoma medication from his...um, pharmacist, but couldn't, because the police were there, raiding another apartment in the building, where some guy had apparently been running a meth lab.

also, a few months ago, i read a story in a newspaper about a guy who had been pulled over by the police when the meth lab IN HIS TRUNK exploded, killing him, and injuring his kids in the back seat, and the police officer.

i'll try to find a link.

Here's a link I saw this morning about a Toronto Professor who is encoutering problems with find a place to smoke his prescribed pot at work.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2006/10/19/york-marijuana.html?ref=rss

check out what he teaches :-)

Anytime I start to get too depressed about the Balkanization of America, I go here:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/

Things are more complicated than they seem.

This link, which the one I posted previously links to, is worth a few moments of anyone's time.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/cartograms/

Sparks, happens all the time. Meth labs in apartments, car trunks, motel rooms, houses, trailers, out in the woods -- you name it. A couple of years ago Oklahoma enacted the first law putting limits on the number of doses of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine you can buy, creating a register, and moving the drugs behind the pharmacy counter. It worked astonishingly well; in less than a year our rate of meth labs dropped dramatically, with corresponding drops in toxic and hazardous materials issues, child injuries and deaths, explosions, bystander deaths, etc. It wasn't long before the other states in the region did the same thing, and everyone's meth lab rate went down. There are several ways to make crank (this is professional knowledge only, mind you) but you need ephedrine etc or you just get a lot of toxic over-the-counter chemicals with no high. Now that gap is being filled with imported Mexican crank, but without all the concomittant social, environmental and hazardous issues. Not long ago I ran across some WaPo blog where folks were whining about the similar federal law and the inconvenience of having to actually wait to be handed cold medicine. I was astonished. I couldn't decide whether it was selfishness, short-sightedness, or really living in a dream world. Musta been NoVas.

I really don't get why anybody would try meth in the first place. I understand it's highly addictive and easy to make, yes.

http://www.co.multnomah.or.us/sheriff/faces_of_meth.htm

whyrlegyge, perhaps you remember the old Faraday effect, where Faraday demonstrated that electromagnetism could polarize light waves, which makes sense when you think about the electromagnetic spectrum and that light (as we think of it) is the part of that spectrum that's visible to our eyes.

If you can bend microwaves, you should be able to bend other parts of the spectrum as well. That's a neat trick with sufficently well controlled magnets and enough energy.

I used to spend a lot of time thinking about the relationship between light, magnetism, mass and gravity, and particle/wave duality.

Here's something I used to think about - one of the big dangers of human space travel is the high level of radiation between planets (and in Jupiter and Saturn's cases, they emit enough radiation to be dangerous on their own, IIRC). Here on earth, we're protected by our planet's rather robust magnetic fields and our atomosphere, which shield us from the most dangerous radiation (and life has evolved to utilize and/or tolerate the radiation that does make it to the surface).

NASA and other space programs have spent a lot of time and money developing shielding to protect astronauts/cosmonauts/taikonauts/
FarOutSpaceNuts from radiation, and what they have is still not that great for long term interplanetary use, IIRC. If magnetic fields shield us from the most harmful radiations, wouldn't it make sense to try to develop spacecraft that utilize magnetic fields to protect their occupants?

Granted, developing such systems that don't also cause harm to their occupants sounds like a significant challenge as well.

But if the Romulans could develop cloaking devices with 1960s technology, why can't we?

As far as encounters whilst operating tow trucks, I am not a direct-to-video movie producer, so I'd never given it a moment of thought.

bc

RD, great link puts many things in perspective.

wilbrod, i have that same problem. from what i understand, it's much more prevalent in the middle of america, where pot penalties are harsher and it's harder to get good pot.

i have a friend who's a recovering meth addict (he's been clean for several years now) whose habit i sort of understand...his problem is that he can never get anything done, because there aren't enough hours in the day. well, meth puts more hours in the day! but seriously, i love sleep way too much for that.

Thanks, RD for the cool maps! I'd seen the regular three-color county map, but those distorted ones are great. Same for the whole world.

Wilbrod, apparently at least at first methamphetamine feels great -- makes you feel powerful, happy, you don't sleep or need to eat, and folks say that sex feels great. However, it isn't too long before the paranoia, aggression and violent tendencies become overwhelming. If you encounter someone who you think might be on crank, walk away. Don't say anything. Don't even look at them funny (I know, that's a stretch for some of us).

RD Padouk, pretty interesting stuff on several levels. I think you're right about things being much more complicated than they seem. The cartograms regarding population, healthcare spending, et al, were not exactly news, but at the same time the graphic representation is almost shocking. We all know what a map of the world looks like, so to see it distorted like that is a powerful tool for understanding.

Yes, I always was very impressed by the Romulan cloaking technology. Sure, they could have gone the cheap route and just used special effects for the Romulan cloaking. However, Gene Roddenberry was a stickler for verisimilitude. I applaud his decision to work with actual Romulans and to fund their prototyping of a real cloaking device. Bravo, Mr. Roddenberry! Hooray for Hollywood!

Sounds like the poor man's cocaine, Sparks, for your friend. Yes, it is very similar to adrenalin and all of that is cool at first.

I assume he started as a teenager because of extreme pressure? (That always sucks). Of course with all those drug ads on TV we certainly do keep sending the message that drugs, pills etc. can fix all your problems. Then we get all hoity-toity when people turn to illegal drugs for the same reasons.

I favor a blanket ban on drug ads on TV, period. Time to go back to the old days when you didn't have to watch Depends and gross toenail ads.

Ah, the lives of the proud Glaucoma Test Pilots (motto: "Let's light this candle!") in North America, proving day in and day out who's really got the Right Stuff!

I *think* I remember how Mudge picked up the nickname of "The Panama Red Baron" as a member of the Puffedwaffe (I think...), but sparks, care to share how you mighta picked up that handle?

bc

bc, I'm LOL at "Puffedwaffe." That's great.

the difference between meth and cocaine is really pretty huge. you can binge on coke for a couple days, but there are people on meth who literally don't sleep for MONTHS.

as to my handle, it's a nickname that my brother gave me. i don't know where it came from, exactly, but i do know that my friend's dad calls me "chimney".

RD, thanks for the deep background. I was trying to be funny about the microwave thing, but obviously it fell flat. I grew up a science geek, Star Trek, following all the NASA stuff, etc., etc., but advanced mathematics proved to be beyond my ken. Not beyond yours though, I'll wager. Your thought about the applications of controlling magnetic fields for space travel sounds right on target.

I did wonder about the Romulans as well. :) One thing about Star Trek that I think about occasionally (not to change the subject) is that in the original series, the crew interacted with the computer verbally, but in the real world, computers never really went in that direction. I know there is some voice-recog software & hardware out there, but not on the level that Captain Kirk used. And that was 40 years ago! [Or is it 200 years from now?]

just a note on my ex-methhead friend, he is a distinguished member of the puffedwaffe as well. when he was arrested for meth distribution back in the day, one of the officers was going through his car while the other filled out paperwork, pulled out his 3-foot "direct nutrient injection vase" and held it up, saying "this is nice." naturally, my friend expected it to hit the curb, but the cop put it back in his car and covered it with some blankets, as my friend was told, "so he couldn't say they didn't do him any favors." he took that as a sign from god that he should get off the synthetic stuff and get high as god intended.

Mudge, buddy, you KNOW I wrote that for ye.

Ah, good to know, sparks.

"there are people on meth who literally don't sleep for MONTHS."

Um, this is typical of new parents, as well. I usually ask new parents how their Sleep Deprivation Experiment is going.

bc

and while we're on the subject of star trek, did anyone see the shatner piece where he basically claimed responsibility for every piece of technology of the last 40 years?

Oh, I know, bc. Wanted you to know how much I enjoyed it.

bc, you should tell them that they shouldn't be smoking meth with babies around.

Current contents of driveway:

Broken-down 1995 Chevy Van (1 ton) that hasn't run or otherwise moved in 2 years.

Running 1970 VW Bus (daily driver, multi-colored, no muffler)

Running 2001 Ford Windstar (EEK!) (only thing in the driveway with a payment book attached)

Middle passenger seat from aforementioned VW Bus.

A (sometimes) running lawnmower.

Several boxes of junk that didn't make it to the trash Sunday night.

Construction debris.

Plastic ghost and pumpkin.

Contents of neighbor's driveway:

Running 2007 Hummer H2 (pig!)

Running 2006/7 PT Cruiser

Leaves (which will soon find their way to my yard).

So does that make me NoVa or RoVa (or does this even apply to Ohioan/Ex-Western-Pennsylvanians?)

btw...

Loomis said: "Humor and satire are hard."

How long have you been hanging out on this porch, LL? Humor and satire are easy. It's CLOUDS that are hard.

Mudge for you, the cheesesteak wars

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061019/ap_on_bi_ge/cheesesteak_feud

re. my crazy mad math skillz: whyrlegyge, you should watch me stuggle to figure a tip at the end of a BPH. Usually it requireds mo, TBG and I for enough fingers and toes to get an answer.

Also, Pat has some useful experience regarding voice/computer interfaces, and it seems to me that it's progressing reasonably well here in 0610.19 and should be good to go by 5440.1 or so.

I should have added that while your friend may have risen from Space Cadet to the rank of High Marshal as a Glaucoma Test Pilot in the Puffedwaffe, there is a time where one has to hang up one's goggles, give up control of the stick, file one's papers, put the tools of the trade away, and retire. And grow up.

bc
GTP, PW. Ret.

I should add, yer welcome, Mudge.
I giggle when I write this stuff too.

sparks, good point about meth and babies: don't mix 'em.

martooni, I think you know the answer.

bc

i have commented to him before that he needs to grow up. you don't necessarily have to quit. i know some rather succesful GTPs who are in their fifties or beyond. the key is moderation, i guess.

I wasn't really amused. The "Alfred, Lord Tennyson..." thing put me over the edge. In NoVa? Really. Where?

(Because if I lived in that neighborhood then I could rationalize the cost of living!)

sparks, Shatner's claimed responsibility for every piece of technology *except* the fake tribble on his head.

bc

whyrlegyge - that explanation was from Science Tim whose parameters I am not worthy to calculate.

Speaking of meth. had a meeting with a guy who claims that the new reformulated Sudofed is so bad that it is just a matter of time before clandestine labs are used to turn crystal meth into decent OTC meds.

sparks, I know it's not funny when people are addicted to drugs, but I could not help but laugh at your 2:45 comment. My second husband is still addicted to drugs. The last time I saw him, I asked him, aren't you getting a little long in the tooth for that stuff. He laughed and pretended he doesn't do it anymore, and I said, yeah, right.

Mudge, you forgot to tell me the new Scott Turow novel?

the new sudafed which you can buy off the shelf is made with phenylephrine, which the FDA claims is as effective as pseudoephedrine. i have yet to talk to a single regular sinus sufferer who agrees with that statement. a lot of people think that phenylephrine doesn't work at all. my advice? go to the counter and buy real sudafed. it's worth your time.

Thanks for that cheesesteak link, dmd. O the humanity! O the horror! It's almost as tragic as the Civil War, brother fighting brother! As Arbusto would say, "There's a lot at steak here...the steaks are very high."

As you have explained to me Mudge, a good cheesesteak is worth fighting for.

my brother claims there is a place in bethesda with pretty good cheesesteaks called philly mike's. i have yet to examine the evidence. i usually avoid cheesesteaks outside of philadelphia (just as i avoided seafood while living in the desert). i hope they're no good. if they are, this could be bad news for my arteries.

No, no, sorry guys, it was neither RDP nor I who discussed the use of magnetic fields for radiation protection, it was bc. Sadly, it is unlikely to work. You need to bring the gyroradius of cosmic-ray particles into a regime of, say, about a meter. Without getting into the critical technical details, we can estimate that we are concerned with particles having a charge of about 30 times the charge on an electron (but of opposite sign), on a particle of mass approximately 4 orders of magnitude greater than an electron, with particle velocities very close to the speed of light, and approaching from arbitrary direction. You would require enormous freakin' magnets in order to bend these arbitrarily-impinging particles onto paths that miss the interior of the shield. Because it is not possible to create a point-source magnetic field, you cannot just lurk inside your magnetic shield, repulsing all assault -- you need to have regions where the field goes one way, and regions in which the field goes 'tother way, so that the net flux is zero. That means you have regions with "holes" in your shielding, in between, through which those nasty particles can penetrate. Not only can they get in, the little devils are more than likely funneled to those regions by the patchy magnetic shield. It may be possible to make such a system work, but it won't be easy, at all. Also, a magnetic shield provides no protection from neutrons or high-energy photons (gammas, X-rays), and is likely to provoke health and safety penalties on whatever is inside the shield.

dr, just saw a sad story from I think from your area (Tofield).

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2006/10/19/drowning-tofield.html?ref=rss

Its not just kids using this meth and stuff. We've seen it here in people who should be old enough to know better. One fellow I know, who thought he was impervious to addictions, was well respected in his field, was in his 40's - addicted to crack, now living on the street, and did some really heinous things to his friends and family. The other 36, a lonely fellow but a great worker, on meth. Started leaving volves open on propane and o2 bottles and then would light a smoke. We were sending him for drug testing as required, but he choose to quit. He's come by occasionally and seems to be past the addiction, but admits that it was the herdest thing he ever had to do. I hope he stays clean.

My uncle is a veteran GTP even though he is now in his mid-60's. He had a completely undistinguished career as a mid-level DoD civilian because higher (so to speak) positions would have triggered more draconian testing policies.

He made the decision that his after-hours duties in the Puffedwaffe precluded further career advancement. He is now retired and seeking employment suitable to filling enough minimum quarters of employment to qualify for Social Security. Based on the warning sign on the front door of Home Depot, he won't be applying there.

Ouch...have been very busy with h*ll week for my current show which opens tomorrow night.

I made the mistake of stopping by the Mommyblog today and my head is still ringing. They managed to meander from the topic of taking back time for yourself into religious holidays and bickering about Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza and whether any should be discussed or celebrated in schools. I knew I should have come here first.

RD--I believe that one of the issues of using magnetic shielding against various forms of radiation is that you have to have a strong enough magnetic field that will actually divert high energy EM waves and still be able to shield the passengers from the effects of the magnetic field. Due in part to the iron in our hemoglobin, humans are particularly sensitive to strong magnetic waves and the strength of field needed to divert HE EM waves would have detrimental effects on the passengers. And the shielding to protect from the high strength magnetic field isn't fully effective and is also *HEAVY* which would be very expensive and difficult to get into orbit. Many moons ago, I used to work at the Johns Hopkins Hospital supporting radiology and I remember the MRI chamber. All of our computer CRT terminals looked like they were set to an italic font because during the day when the MRI machines were on, all the electrons pulled toward the magnetic field. When the MRI machines were off, the letters looked normal. It was a strange effect. I know that shielding has gotten better over the last two decades, but the effect is still there and the shielding is still heavy and not feasible to put up in space for shielding of spacecraft...yet.

Re: using magnetic shielding against various forms of radiation. You mean, the aluminum hats we wear at boodle porching hours won't work?

I feel so...deceived.

*sobbing quietly in my corner*

Well, Tim, I *did* say "Granted, developing such systems that don't also cause harm to their occupants sounds like a significant challenge as well."

And yeah, I know big scary freakin' magnets would be needed. My fillings are huring just thinking about it.

But to your very good points (and not just those on your flyaway head), the way I always thought of the magnetic field issues was that the worst of the radiation streams in from good 'ol Sol, so the majority is not coming from an arbitrary direction, is it? The bad stuff's coming from over yonder.

Yes, I'm downplaying the effects of hard particle collisions and extra-solar radiation, but if the big problem of solar radiation can be licked, there might be something useful in it.

To your point about field directions and holes, obviously, the earth has such holes at the poles, and radiation leaks in there, giving us Aurora Borealis and such.

But if we do concentrate our magnetic shielding towards the sun (or at least in the plane of the ecliptic), perhaps we can manage our hole/holes to face away from it, or at least at 90 deg from the ecliptic, which should make it more difficult for hard radiation to leak in, perhaps something that could be manageable with shielding.

Naturally, by the time someone devises a workable system along these lines, the ships we build to use it will be comprised of Cavorite, so we don't need drive engines either, just Venutian blinds.

That last might be one of the dorkiest things I've ever written. And that's saying something.

bc

DadWannaBe et al -- I have to ask this question. WHY do you stop by the Mommyblog, ever? Based on my own brief skimming of it, but mostly based on what people write here, the Mommyblog seems like one nonstop hatefest. Is there the occasional good stuff that makes all that angst worth wading through? Or what?

Seriously, I really am curious why people subject themselves to experiences they know going in are likely to be unpleasant.

The NoVa versus RoVa column should've mentioned that although RoVa residents may not like NPR they help pay for it.

Hopefully, some smart RoVa editor will come up with a retaliatory column for his own paper.

The pesky thing about Cavorite, from a fictional point of view, is that I can't imagine how you might expect to mine the stuff from within a parent body. Wouldn't it fly away from all other materials until it formed an even Cavorite plasma pervading interstellar space? That Jules Verne was a darned clever guy, but he had his weaknesses.

"Venutian blinds," bc?

*shakes head while grinning*

DadWannaBe, I'm the guilty party who started that magnetic radiation shielding bit of out-loud recollection of a train of thought I had in high (ahem) school.

But it's all Joel's fault for posting that microwave cloaking device link at 12:35 PM.

Thanks to you and *Tim for providing some real-world input to ideas I pondered 30 or so years ago.

Mudge, I think the Grays (and the Reds) use microwaves as the carrier for their mind control devices. Aluminum foil should work just fine for repelling them.

I will still don the headgear, my friend, even if it is simply a show of solidarity with you as the world flies into 6.6 billion pieces.

bc

Regarding payment for NPR -- some folks seem to have the mistaken notion that because they have chosen to call themselves "national" and "public" that the federal government and/or state governments pay for it. As NPR-affiliated stations endlessly remind us, a minority fraction of their funding comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Most of their funding comes from voluntary donations by the listening public. Not from the state, not from the federal government, not from some magic hand reaching into the pocket of non-listeners to steal their dough. It comes from willing volunteers. NPR gets its money from subscription fees paid by those volunteer-funded stations. I don't quite understand why some stations have not overtly refused to accept CPB money, given the amount of cr@p that comes along with it these days. I think the main benefit of CPB money is that it has historically been fairly reliable, so that it provided a cushion to help weather periods of poor fund-raising or unexpected emergency costs.

annie--as my nickname implies, my wife and I are interested in procreating. Although the noise-to-signal ratio is high, there is a lot of good information that is passed on there from others who have been there before (including our own sage, Pat who clearly sees with an inner vision to replace his outer vision). There are a handful of particularly cantankerous types that can manage to turn anything into a spiteful discussion, but if you read around them, you can find a lot of useful information and BTDT stories that are very helpful. Unfortunately, you have to take the chaff with the wheat. But, I still find a lot of very useful empirical data from some regular posters.

I wonder if hemoglobin could be replaced with a synthetic replacment without iron.

Mudge, aluminum foil headgear should continue to be as effective as ever it was. You have to figure that the wavelength of radiation emitted by a neuron or absorbed by a neuron must be appropriate to interact with an object of about that size. The thickness of aluminum foil is comparable to, or greater than, the dimensions of a neuron. Thus, the radiation required in the operation of any mind-control or mind-reading devices should have a high probability of interaction with aluminum foil, and thus will be "foiled" on its journey between the neuron and the device, or vice-versa.

Glad to be of service, Mudgy.

Tim - Wells, not Verne, dude.
But you're right about the problems with naturally forming Cavorite.

I think you'd need a pretty good size cyclotron/linear accelerator to make Cavorite; maybe like a Columbiad-sized cannon.

bc

I sometimes honestly think that Style writers are the scum and vermin of the newsroom. Let me provide you an example from the front page of our own Style (San Antonio Life) section today.

About two-thirds of the front page of this section is taken up with a fashion feature titled "Lay It On," in which local women are taught how to dress for the *fall* (not winter) season. For the sake of brevity, I'm not going to include long-winded descriptions of the clothing, manufacturers, or prices.

Step One:
Stretchy V-neck top
Leggings
both from Macy's

Step Two, to layer over Step One:
Lacy camisole
Full, short skirt
both from Macy's

Step Three, to layer over previous Steps:
Wool and spandex tunic empire dress
Macy's

Step Four, to layer over the previous Steps:
Belted wool and alpaca cardigan
Macy's

Step Five, to layer over the previous Steps:
Earrings, necklaces, belt swung around the hips.
all from Macy's

Wha does the model end up looking like? Our streets' youngest bag lady who can't afford a suitcase. A woman who's been tossed out of Goodwill.

The fashion copy that accompanies the photo spread is particularly nauseating. It begins: "This fall, forget being a fashionista. It's more important to be a mathematician. No algebra, just simple addition is all you need--(plus Ross Perot's bank account)--to build a great, layered look for the season. Start simple and add and add and add because this time around, more is more."

The writer, Michael Quintanilla, comes to us by way of Los Angeles. Michael, you should know better, since you've been on staff at least a year. A woman could get by wearing this outfit perhaps just one day of the year here in San Antonio. Otherwise, any fool who heads out on the street in this climate in this get-up will end up in the hospital with heat prostration faster than she can say "Texas pressure cooker."

Is it a surprise to any of you that Macy's had a 16-page magazine insert in today's paper? Style writers, the W-word of the news biz, with an emphasis on bidness.

Tarl Cabot (Tarnsman of Gor) never had all these problems with interstellar travel...

//Also, Pat has some useful experience regarding voice/computer interfaces, and it seems to me that it's progressing reasonably well here in 0610.19 and should be good to go by 5440.1 or so.//
Then I'll try to hold on until then.

i always tell people i'm from the Washington DC area lest they think i live in richmond! *shudder*

i live 6 miles outside dc in va - it takes me 45 min to get to work... (of course on NON work days it takes me < 15 min to get to the same location)

I wonder if hemoglobin could be replaced with a synthetic replacment without iron.

Posted by: SonofCarl | October 19, 2006 04:53 PM

=====

You'd have to replace it with something that binds with oxygen the same way or the "test patient" would suffocate fairly quickly. The iron is the primary vehicle for the transport of oxygen throughout the human circulatory system.

Great, SonofCarl, just in time for Halloween - bloodless vampires.

The Usenet parenting newsgroups were the place to go for a wide range of parenting advice when the ScienceKids were wee little sprats. Similar to the MommyBlog, there were a fair number of thoughtful persons with useful information, and a substantial number of hotheads who would initiate flamewars over what-should-have-been-innocuous comments or turns of phrase. The only reason that it's not even worse at the MommyBlog, I suspect, is that they have filters to capture the worst vitriol.

bc - I apologize for not crediting you for the mag rad shielding bit. I was posting quickly during a meeting break and just assumed it was sci tim. I'm not worthy to calculate your parameters either.

Good point about Cabot, whyrlegyge.

I don't remember Virgil Samms having that kind of problem, either.

bc

RD, no need for apology.

I take being mistaken for *Tim or yourself as a compliment.

bc

Bring on the Space Opera!

Of course, this creates its own set of problems, to wit:

The inertialess drive, which made an interstellar trip a matter of minutes instead of lifetimes, brought with it such an increase in crime, and made detection of criminals so difficult, that law enforcement broke down almost completely. As Samms himself expressed it:

"How can legal processes work efficiently - work at all, for that matter - when a man can commit a murder or a pirate can loot a space-ship and be a hundred parsecs away before the crime is even discovered? How can a Tellurian John Law find a criminal on a strange world that knows nothing whatever of our Patrol, with a completely alien language-maybe no language at all - when it takes months even to find out who and where - if any - the native police officers are?"

http://www.wheels.org/lens/first.html

Yes--my apologies for also incorrectly referencing RD instead of bc...I can only plead confusion from having just come over from the MommyBlog... :-(

Out here in the West (Colorado) we are mostly too independent (I don't give a *amn mentality)to make a big deal about such comparisons. People would rather go take a hike or climb a mountain or ride a bike a hundred miles...or a horse. Laugh and take it in stride. Life is too short!

Tarnsman of Gor, whyrlegyge? Report for political correctness re-education immediately!

Further reading on blood substitutes. Maybe somebody can read this and translate it into dummy for me:

http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/content/full/43/9/1724

(Just to get a little vitriolic spirit going here):

SonofCarl, you ignorant solicitor! There is plenty of non-hemoglobinic blood on Earth right now, but it's not in humans. Lobsters and other crustaceans, what I like to call "bugs", use hemocyanin.

Years ago, there were efforts to develop a completely synthetic blood replacement fluid using fluorocarbons. The idea was to have a suitable temporary transfusion fluid that could be given to anyone, regardless of blood type or religious persuasion (no transfusions from other humans are allowable for Christian Scientists or Jehovah's Witnesses, as I recall) which could be manufactured and used in whatever quantitites were required and could be stored indefinitely. Judging from the fact that such fluids are not presently in use, I deduce that this effort has not yet been successful. But it led to a comic book series based upon a set of manufactured cloned super-semi-humans, called "DNAgents", whose bodies were oxygenated by similar material. It wasn't clear whether they produced more fluid internally, or had to have it replenished from outside.

Iron in the form of the hemoglobin molecule is not ferromagnetic and is not particularly more nor less paramagnetic than many other fluids. Ferromagnetism appears to be an emergent property of certain solids. Thus, it is possible to craft

SoC, Plants use chlorophyll which is similar to hemoglobin, but uses magnesium instead of iron. Unfortunately I think that'd need a significant retooling of human metabolism. Green-blooded vulcans, here we come.

It is my impression based on the biochemistry that the globins serve to support the key inorganic ion's chemical reaction-- magnesium is responsive to carbon dioxide, iron rusts, and so on.

Horseshoe crabs use copper and thus are the true bluebloods of the world. Copper is also very electrically conductive so there would be problems there as well.

So what reacts with oxygen and isn't magnetic? dihydrogen would react to make water, but would need 2 molecules per oxygen. Maybe this is where dilithium could come in.

However I suspect heavier elements are preferred because their chemical bonds are a bit weaker and more easily reversed, and they are so large that reacting to oxygen may well not deform the protein completely out of shape.

All metals, by definition, can conduct heat and electricity.

Manganase (Mn) has a rather high electric resistivity out of most elements (beating mercury), but frankly Boron is the most electrically resistant element out there, with carbon a second from what I can see.

So it'll have to be a boroglobin. The question is, would boron be reactive enough?

And do you become a boron-utilizing mutant if you get bitten by a spider that has inhaled borax?

Oops, I forgot to finish my thought...

... Thus, it is possible to craft alloys of iron that are not ferromagnetic. Iron oxide is not ferromagnetic. But certain forms of iron oxide, correctly formed into certain minerals (hematite) ARE ferromagnetic, and can be magnetized to form lodestone.

SoC, for some reason the Tarnsman has been floating around in my brain lately, and I needed to exorcise him. Consider yourselves the vehicle for that. What's the literary version of a tune cootie?

And boron trioxide is colorless, so perhaps that would lead to translucent blood similar to the color of plasma. Champagne blood!

SciTim, good point about the conductivity of hemoglobin, but remember we have seen magnets leviate frogs, and it's very probably the iron in the frog that allows that to occur.

I can see I need to study the advanced physics of floating frogdom. What is the big X in the formula? (I recognize Uo of course, and Rho).

http://www.hfml.ru.nl/froglev.html

Check out the kiddie explanation. SciTim can dicker with it.

SciTim--I was just hopping around the GSFC internal site and wondered...are you in Code 691? With an e-mail address on ssedmail? If so and if you are who I think you are, I doubt that we've ever met. Just curious...

Code 693.

And the saga of the crazy kids at NASA who have yet to meet continues...

The Court: The co-accuseds are Tarl Cabot and whyrlegyge.

With respect to Tarl Cabot, the charge is adolescent mysogyny in the first degree. You stand accused of having attempted to indoctrinate adolescent males with the idea that the natural state of women is subservience to men through the guise of a series of adventure and fantasy novels. Plea is reserved pending psychiatric evaluation.

Mr. Cabot: [undecipherable]

The Court: The co-accused whyrlegyge has elected to enter a plea of guilty to the lesser charge of referencing Tarnsman of Gor in polite company. Whyrlegyge, you are sentenced to read the complete works of Andrea Dworkin.

Code 693.

I want a separate trial.

Yeah I just had to look it up. Oh lord. In Whirly's particular case, the correct word for her condition is "Tarnation".

Hmmm, a double-post. I blame Moveable Type.

Wells, not Verne -- of course! That explains it. Verne was much more of an engineer, whereas Wells just wanted a plot device. Of course, Verne's moon-cannon had its problems, too...

Or maybe literary brain-tarnishing.

I am already tarnished by learning about tarnsmen.

ScienceTim--are you a biker? Checking out the Code690 personnel list, I think I purchased a bike from you some 12-13 years ago. If so, I actually still have that bike, although it is in a little bit of disrepair and have to do some work on it to get back to riding it.

I decided on my Halloween costume this afternoon, thanks to all your nerdy discussions. I'm going to get an all-red suit with gnomic hat and slippers, glue a bunch of ping-pong balls all over the costume, and smear ketchup all over my face, like it was blood.

Yes, I'm going to be a hemogoblin.

(I think its all the radiation from those sub-atomic morons leaking through my aluminum chapeau that's causing this.)

And if you fired sub-atomic particles of manganese in the CERN accelerator at the legumes known scientifically as Carya illinoinensis, would the resulting byproducts be pecanese and mangoes??

I think it's time for me to go home.

Spock had blood that was based on copper and was, like, green.

That was cool.

That is the actual etymology of the word "tarnation", in case you did not know.

I think Wilbrod had dibs on the gnomic thing, 'Mudge.

Good night, all.

i think i'm gonna be warm for halloween...just wear shorts, a t shirt and flip flops.

or i could be drunk, that would be even easier, although i don't know if that really counts as a costume.

my dad claims that one year when he was in college, he won a costume contest as a corpse. his fraternity owned (for some reason which he has not satisfactorily explained) a coffin, and he and several fraternity brothers went as a funeral.

Aha! DadWannaBe, now I knows precisely who you be! Yes, that was actually the ScienceSpouse's bike, but she decided that a hybrid bike was more her riding style than the diamond-frame road bike.

Good luck with that parenting thing.

Check your e-mail.

they have found each other at last! wilbrod will be so proud.

Wiping tears away

Okay, in case any of you have been doubting my nerd credentials I'm about to remove all such doubt.

I've been on two best costume teams at my firm's minigolf tournament. Once for a Wizard of Oz theme (I was scarecrow) and once for LOTR (Legolas). I have also gone with a Devo team and a Star Trek team (told you so).

Best costume I ever saw was back in the 80s and a guy went as a walkman and his girlfriend was a cassette (for you under 20s, that's like a videotape for music).

Throw back to the previous boodle. (wife and I went to town this morning to get haircuts and enjoy a pub lunch)
I went to Coast Guard OCS in Yorktown. Us OC's marched in the Battle of Yorktown celebration that October 19th in '61. Those old cannons firing back and forth above us made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
At OCS in those days we wore used enlisted uniforms and the best thing about going to march in the celebration was they issued us new leggings and parade belts. That ment less demerits for dirty leggings and belts for a few weeks.
Also SF, A couple of Frence Frigates in the river would get off a couple of rounds that I sure were especially formulated to produce big rolls of smoke across the water.

PS: I live in Jefferson State and we're proud of it.

All this high science has me wanting to cry and then the Nasa peeps find each other, and the blog has its first official trial.

And I had to work. Its just not fair I tell you.

Thought I remembered a meth/identity theft connection. There are a bazillion articles out there!http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4460349/

The Mudge is correct, a good cheesteak is worth fighting for. However, none of the Pat's-style ones qualify. They're there for the tourists. . . Do a BPH in Philadelphia and we'll go to Lee's on Street Road. . . upcoming thing is cheesesteak salad--kind of like taking a cheesesteak hoagie out of the roll, no mayo, and shaking balsamic vinegar and olive oil over it. Yes, I had a pretzel for breakfast too!

Oops! Pizza's here.

Check this out: the Dukies have an operable cloaking device...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101900577.html

Given the roaring success and ratings bonanza of last Tuesday's ABC "Dancing with the Stars" program--23 million viewers for the sit-down interview with departing dancer Sarah Evans,

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101801851.html

I understand that ABC is in negotiations for an interview during next Tuesday's program.

The producers are working on another concluding-the-show chat by program host Tom Bergeron with Craig Schelske about his favorite adult websites.

Regardless, jack, it won't help the Dookies in football. Basketball, we'll see.

;)

I'm going to answer the door for Halloween trick-or-treaters dressed as Alse Young--rope and all.

Hey slyness, no slagging Duke football my cousin played there!

(I am in grading-papers hell. When I start to calcuate my hourly rate, I should stab myself.)

DadWannaBe: I so appreciate what you have to say, here and in MeanMommyland.

At the moment I can't bear to be there. My shield protectors are on thin-skin, at the moment.

I know we don't always know the sex of the poster, but my gut says that save for the unsigned posts and occasional troll-on-steroids, the regular mommy/girl/pink posters meow and scratch. I think many of them are women. Sheesh.

I haven't run into such stereotypical "meangirls" behavoir since junior high or prom theme committee time.

Staiway to Heaven or Knights in White Satin -- I think we merged the two into crepe paper bliss. I wore blue Nikes with yellow swooshes, just to be perverse.

Megan and Scarry who lurk and post here are fine and would be great neighbors. Hell, even if we disagreed, they would feet my dog or pick up my paper or drive me to the hospital, in a pinch.

ScienceTim/DadWannaBe -- I live in the semi-offical NASA neighborhood. At least five astronomers walk my blocks, and two remote sensing foresters, an accountant, and data-person....so I be you know some of my neighbors.

Pat aka Fo4 is quite nice; he calls one of his children "annoying son." This means that said boy is energetic and doesn't sit well for hours. He sounds normal to me.

Annoying Son can skate board down my hill or play basketcase-ball in the backyard with my son any day.

Pat, let's have a coming-of-age party: duct tape and WD-40 all around.

In this election year, we just want to say:

Labs for Lee's Hoagies & Steaks!
Nature's Most Perfect Food!

Saw a billboard today:
SANTORUM IS GOOD!
for senate

*What* does that mean???

Just stating the obvious, dmd. Football isn't Duke's strong point these days. No offense meant!

;)

dbG, where on Street Road? Do you live near there? That's part of my old stompin' grounds! (Actually, Street Road was the northern "turn-around" point when driving the Friday night loop; the Hot Shoppe in Jenkintown was the southern terminus.

I'm so glad SciTim and DadWannaBe hooked up (so to speak). I was gonna suggest they post their phone numbers instead of codes. Small world, eh?

Random Commentor, that's "back East" in Colorado to me! Ha - that still seems weird to me, but I swear, I have heard people out here refer to Minnesota as "back East".

And yeah, as RD said, we have "east of the mountains" (rural) versus "west of the mountains" (Seattle/Tacoma) here.And Montanans tell North Dakotan jokes and vice versa. Pretty silly.

Mudge, http://www.leeshoagiehouse.com/index.shtml

The Bensalem one is about a mile east of 95 (or Rt. 13, Bristol Pike). So if you were coming up Philmont from Jenkintown, turn right and go about 2 miles. Past Knights, on Hulmeville Road.

Remember Greenwood Dairy? The amusement park at Willow Grove?

I live a few miles away. Grew up in Somerton, Jenkintown was our western party boundary, Langhorne the north, . . . moved back about 5 years ago, live in a development on the outskirts of what was my great-grandparents' farm, an easy walk to Ryan (where I went to HS). I'd be embarrassed, but it's SO Philadelphia to live where you grew up!

I KNEW that I should have back skimmed. JA scooped me, in his inimitably journalistic way, shortly after noon. Random thoughts on what some of the boodlers would do with this: bc would steathily pass in the boot at the Glen and reemerge to get the win in his class; Mudge would cloak his blue bottom and make pirate sounds at unwitting passersby; Wilbrodog would be cloaked in random metro stations, licking unsuspecting tourists with a welcome-to-the-Nation's Capitol greeting...

The Cards just lost a chance to score two at the hands of the Mets' left fielder Chavez. His snowcone catch will go down as one for the ages if the Mets come out on top tonight. I'm kind of hoping for a Cardinals v. Tigers rematch. The last time they were matched up in the Series was '68. I was 11, and we watched it at school. There wasn't so much pressure to meet endless academic standards back then.

Scott Rolen just made a play worthy of quoting the late Harry Caray: "What a boneheaded play!!! He must have thrown that one six rows back into the stands!
Holy Cow! Let's see that one again, Arnie..." re.: Steve Sax, casting the ball away on a sure out, sometime around '82...

Sky Report: (Seen through the eyes of 11 year old daughter on the walk back from Border's book store)

It's raining a little bit and the sky is purplely and some strange clouds are floating around and look like they want to rest on somebody's rooftop.

As for posting on the Mommyblog, I like to think of it as a small contribution for those whom might be concerned.

As for the Achenblog, I'm most definately a consumer of wit, humor and knowledge.

bh, here are photos of the Yorktown celebration. Senator Macaca was there (beurk!) as well as Warner and Michele Alliot-Marie, the French Defense Minister.

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?ei=UTF-8&p=yorktown&c=&fr=&c=news_photos

From what I'm told, the loudspeakers broke down during the playing of the Marseillaise (Why did they put Mudge in charge of those speakers anyway...? (wink) )

Slyness no offense taken, I am a big sports fan and am well aware that Duke is not a football school, just having fun.

Pat in an effort to understand the Mommyblog I skimmed a little and saw you note about recess, so true. I noticed the other day the tag was banned at some Mass. school, the regulations at my kids schools are bordering on them virtually being in a bubble lest anyone get a scratch.

I am a big believer in preventing serious injuries/deaths in children but come on let them have some fun, when I was in school one of the things I liked to do most was go on the swings and swing as high as you could then jump off, I cannot even imagine then allowing that now. How do you teach kids to strive when they are so confined.

You don't, dmd. You let them be teens and then rebel and become really, really wild kids and self-destruct. Then say "I told you so."

Just checked out the Lee's link you gave me, dbG, and realized that about a year ago we bought cheesesteaks at the Lee's in Abington (while visiting my best friends, who live in Elkins Park about three blocks from the old Yorktown cinema site).

So you went to Archbishop Ryan? Cool. I went to Hatboro. And boy do I remember Willow Grove Park. First went there when I was about 5, which would have made it around 1951 or 1952. It still had the big lake with the boats that looked like giant swans, and the old band shell where John Phillips Sousa playued. (Did you ever read James Michener's novel "The Fires of Spring"? The amusement park in the novel was basically Willow Grove, and the Michener character lived in an orphanage in Doylestown and went to Willow Grove Park.) And all us kids were really sad when the park was torn down and they built that humongous bowling alley there--118 lanes, remember? The world's largest bowling alley at that time.

Where was your great-grandparent's farm? I still remember when that whole area was farmland; in fact, we called where I grew up "the country" because what came to be known as "the suburbs" barely existed back then.

Oh, and bought my first-ever brand new right-off-the-showroom floor, a 1970 orange MGB, from Reedman on Route 1.

Sorry, I had to scoot from work pretty quickly, but sure enough, ScienceTim has outed me and sent an e-mail to me to confirm that he has figured it out.

CP--thanks. Sometimes I think that I'm just paranoid...then I realize that the MommyBloggers really are out to get me! :-)

As for the mean ones, although I do agree that most of them are probably female, I think there are one or two that have that male locker room macho attitude or the good ol' boy attitude. Well, since I found the Achenblog, I've cut back on posting there since I'd rather have a nice discussion here than have a petty bickering argument there. But I still lurk and occasionally chime in when I think some point is completely missed.

*sigh* I'm having a hard time. I've got 3 friends who are having major health crises (one who is in hospice currently waiting to die of liver failure, one who had a major heart problem when they found his heart was acting at only 12% of normal, and one who is undergoing very strong chemo for cancer). Then tonight while I was out at a regular event I go to on Thursday nights, I found out another friend of nearly 20 years just went into the hospital with lung failure and is not expected to make it to the end of the next week. I'm rushing off to see her in the hospital tomorrow morning. And this doesn't count the 3-4 friends who are having just serious (but not life-threatening) health problems. MomWannaBe and I are just trying to get through the next few weeks without lapsing into severe depression or having a breakdown from the loss of valuable friends.

Pat sky report from last night, went out with a friend and on my return looked to the sky, it was very dark but the sky was full of very white, thin, soft clouds that looked as though they were illuminated against the black sky.

Morning, everybody! DadWannaBe, sorry to hear about your friends. That's enough to depress anybody. Cassandra, I hope you're sleeping in this morning. dmd, it's a long way from where you are to Duke. How did your cousin get there?

We have to be careful about sports in this family, because we are scattered all over the ACC. My husband graduated from Carolina, my brother from NC State, my brother-in-law from Duke, his wife from the University of Virginia. Me? I have 2 degrees from UNC-Charlotte. It makes for an interesting family dynamic.

Slyness, my extended family is VERY large and is divided about 60/40 between Canada and the US, like Canadian comedians my relatives are everywhere. In that particular case I believe he ended up at Duke because of a scholarship.

Sorry to hear of your friends, DWB. My thoughts are withi you.

Slyness: Are you still on for 11/17? I think it was the 17th...In any casel I look forward to the visit.

A new genus of bacteria has been found that performs chemosynthesis via radioactive decay of elements found in the rocks in its habitat. Verrrry interrresting...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101901671.html

Scrambling today. And trying to read the tea leaves in a rush.

The Post story says partitioning Iraq is on the table:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101901907.html

But the Washington Times reported much of the same thing a day earlier, quoting anonymous Administration officials, and prompting Tony Snow to say that partitioning is a "non-starter." But he left wiggle room. Go figure:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20061019-115632-5191r.htm

From the WashTimes article:

Mr. Snow yesterday dismissed an article in The Washington Times about a coming "course correction" on war strategy in Iraq.
"That's a bunch of hooey. I mean, it seems to be a collection of actually old hooey brought into a piece of new hooey. So, I mean, you get -- I don't know where that came from, but it didn't come from the White House," he said.
The article in fact quoted several administration members and supporters describing the present situation in Iraq as unsatisfactory and then identified some alternative approaches, listing their pros and cons.
Among them was the idea of partitioning Iraq, which the spokesman described as a "non-starter."
Another proposal that has been floated in advance of the ISG's report is a phased withdrawal, pulling 5 percent of U.S. troops out every two months. Mr. Snow also rejected that notion.

whyrlegyge,
I have been out-geeked again. I briefly dated a girl that actually liked the Gor books because they were so over the top. Normally, I will read nearly anything to impress the ladies (I read 'Love Story' on a bet that I wouldn't cry. I lost.), but I could barely get through one {Obscure Medevial Occupation} of Gor before dropping that gambit.

I think Bush understands that sudden flexibility on Iraq isn't enough to win the GOP many new votes, and is likely to alienate what remains of the base. It would not surprise me to see a strategic re-evaluation announced after the elections.

I see a wormhole to last Sunday's Rough Draft has opened on the WaPo homepage.

This morning I discovered the following way-cool link. I would love to see it get more traffic.

http://usinfo.state.gov/media/misinformation.html

Good morning,

I loved jack's ideas about what certain key boodlers would do with cloaking devices. Very amusing.

Joel, I'm reading the WaPO & WaTimes articles you link to, and one thing that strikes me is that outsiders dividing up regions in the Middle East is something that has already been done. [Carpetbaggers!] Perhaps the thought is to somehow undo the damage that was done when current boundaries were created in the Middle East?

I did like this quote from T.Snow in the WaTimes article:
"a collection of actually old hooey brought into a piece of new hooey"

And dr, that wasn't a fair trial, that was a kangaroo court.

That was me at 8:25 am. I did get that girl to join my Dungeons and Drgon group. That made me the cock of the walk among the other gamers.

The misinformation page had a link to the non-denial about secret US torture bases in Paraguay. Jenna Bush just wrapped up a ten day trip to Paraguay.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/20/AR2006102000077.html

Pappy Bush got his start in politics as a deep cover CIA agent. It's nice to see kids go into the family business. I'm surprised it's Jenna, because Barbra is the one with the good Yale connections.

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hitchison is one of those members of Congress behind the idea of partitioning Iraq:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003284753

Q Tony, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison told the Dallas Morning News that the situation in Iraq is now chaos and that it's time to consider dividing the country into semi-autonomous regions. Having it come from her, does the President think it's time to consider such a notion, an ally like that?

Mikhail Gorbachev was in Midland, Texas, this past week and likened the idea of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to building the Berlin Wall:

http://www.mywesttexas.com/site/printerFriendly.cfm?brd=2288&dept_id=475626&newsid=17342695

Former Soviet President visits Midland

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev compared the United States' proposed 700-mile wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to the Berlin Wall during a Tuesday visit to Midland. ...

"You remember President Reagan standing in Berlin and saying, 'This wall should be torn down,'" said the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner. "Now the United States seems to be building almost the Wall of China between itself and this other nation with which it has been associated for many decades and has had cooperation and interaction with.

yellojkt, re: the Gor books, I couldn't tell you which ones I read either (only 2 or 3) b/c it was 20 years ago & they are seemed quite interchangeable. They are over-the-top, and reading them made me feel very post-feminist at the time. And I did play D&D in college. So I am wondering now if we used to date. Another reunion in the making!?!

By the way...as noted last night on the boodle, how about that catch? The Endy Chavez catch. Was that the Best Catch Ever? Does it count if the Mets still lost? Does anyone know how to track down a YouTube of that catch?

Domestic Engineering question that does not involve duct tape or WD-40, I think:

During the past two years, I notice that spray bottles, including Windex and knock-offs, don't last long.

I like to re-use them, for a number of fluids, including

*dilute bleach
*vinegar and water
*soap and water to spray on aphids, etc.
(labeling with sharpie-on-duct!)

Long ago, I could get 3 or 4 years out these bottles. Now, they jam -- including Windex sprayers, after about 4 months.

This does not seem to be solution dependant.

I have tried soaking the spraying mechanism in hot water or lemon water or vinegar water.

What gives?

I just bought one of the "commercial grade" spray bottles from Home Depot for $4.95.

This is fine, today.

Any ideas?

One would think I might ask this on the Mommy Blog, but I would rather ask the assembly of:

Mr. Science
Mrs. Science
Miss Science
Ms. Science
Dr. Science
Master Science
Mistress Science
Lord Science
Lady Science
assorted Science-wannabees (wannabe? Wannabee looks prettier)

....etc.

Loomis, that's pretty devastating. Not that anyone will pay attention. The 21st century is all about gated communities of various sizes. Concentric gated communities might be a better way of putting it. Reminds me of that SF novel "Snowcrash". No time to look up the author right now, sorry.

The sky was a sorry shade of drab this morning, again. Rain expected later today, as if we need it. Ottawa could look better that that in October Dooley. It seems that Dooley is for real, unlike that fraud Pat aka Fo4 ;). I noticed unusual scientist type in the food court below our building in the past couple of days. You know, middle-aged men wearing sandals and grey socks made with clothes dryer lint, guys with worn-out corduroy pants pulled up to their arm-pits, a young Asian guy with a tailor's label still sewn on his sport coat sleeve... I also noted a tanned man in an Hawaiian shirt wearing one of those congress badges who was rolling a Drum tobacco cigarette with Zigzag blue paper outside the lobby of our building this morning. Not your usual business type. Upon investigation I found that the hotel next door to which we are connected by a tunnel is hosting the 66th Vertebrate Paleontology Society meeting. So Dooley is in the building. I'll look around for a well tanned bearded giant.

Shriek, I got a great visual from your description. Is it possible to actually make socks out of clothes dryer lint? That would be great! Otherwise it's just wasted.

Hey jack, I have our visit on the calendar for November 7...let me know if that works.

That was indeed a spectacular catch, Joel, but I missed it in real time because I was watching Grey's Anatomy (really excellent episode, being repeated tonight, BTW) and channel flipping to "Shark" with James Woods (also pretty good, but nothing I can't tear myself away from).

As many boodlers know, we locals here hold our boodle porching hours (BPHs) at the local McCormick and Schmick's restuarant bar downtown. According to an item in the Las Vegas Sun noted in Howie Kurtz's column this morning, the M&S bar in Vegas is the scene of a curious event:

"Police said they would release new information, including 911 tapes and witness interviews, about a mysterious event Friday in which a woman accused [Nevada] Republican governor candidate Jim Gibbons of assault, only to withdraw the allegation.

"The story is still stirring questions, fed by Democratic whispering, by information and contradictory accounts gleaned from Metro Police and a potential witness, and by the refusal of police or the Gibbons campaign to identify the people involved.

"As questions grew this week, police said they would provide more information Tuesday. But late in the afternoon, they postponed the release until today, saying they needed more time to transcribe and assemble statements.

"The incident occurred about 10 p.m. Friday night, after Gibbons and campaign adviser Sig Rogich dined with supporters at McCormick & Schmick's restaurant near the corner of Flamingo and Paradise roads. Rogich is a longtime Republican consultant and lobbyist with strong ties to Nevada's casino industry. He has an office near the restaurant.

"After dinner, Rogich and Gibbons retreated to the bar to wait out a rainstorm. In the bar, Rogich said Tuesday, he and Gibbons met two female attorneys who worked in Rogich's building and two other women, one of whom knew the two attorneys. The incident with Gibbons occurred after the candidate left the bar."

All I know is, none of us boodlers had anything to do with it. {And as shop steward, I am holding the boodle bail fund in reserve in case Cassandra needs it, so don't any of the rest of you get arrested for a while, OK?)

Clothes dryer lint might work. You'd have to spin it into a yarn to test it. It probably would not be strong though. Its all short fibres, and strong fabrics are usually associated with long strands.

SD, write up a big BPH sign and walk around with a Theron bow on your shoulder. He'll find you easier that way.

whyrlegyge, kangaroo would have been if the punishment was to read Harelquin books.