Trying to be helpful here with some definitions from my Webster's:

patriotism: "love and loyal or zealous support of one's country."

nationalism: "1 a) devotion to one's nation; patriotism b) exessive, narrow, or jingoistic patriotism; chauvinism 2 the doctrine that national interest, security, etc. are more important than international considerations ... "

jingo: "a person who boasts of his patriotism and favors and an aggressive, threatening, warlike foreign policy..."

Go to it you great literature type guy! I have already cleared out a spot on my bookshelf.

Good Daily News column on Trudeau:

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/460711p-387354c.html

Gene wrote a wonderful article. I think he's got a real knack for this writing thing. Yes, I believe he has a future in it.

I am sure you, like me, do not have much memory of a world without Doonesbury. Learning that the man responsible for the strip is, you know, human, makes me appreciate the strip even more.

RD, right on. Gene is so good he really should try writing full-time.

The amazing thing about Trudeau is that he's been good for 35 years. He was good from the first moment Mike Doonesbury walked into B.D.'s dorm room.

Joel, I eagerly await your next gift to literature. Shall we have a Boodle of "topic" suggestions? Let's see, what are some past topics -- aliens, George Washington, history, science -- I'll start. how about Mr. Stripey, with the pay from his dangerous exploits as a space-tourism pilot (ah those space hazards) develops a foolproof stock-picking system, which he tries out first on the Riviera (shaken not stirred) then takes to Iraq, singlehandedly restoring the infrastructure and bringing together the warring religious sects in a burst of prosperity.

That was the first Weingarten article I've ever read. Thank you for the link. Not only was it quite well written but I enjoyed the subject, having been a Doonesbury fan from the start. I still have the one putting the Constitution on the cereal box, and the one about the lawyer who quit the IBM case to do honest work as a janitor. Sort of defined my whole career arc.

How am I supposed to get any work done on Saturday morning with such a meaty Kit to read?

I'll be scarce the next few days. I'm attending a very pointy policy wonk conference on discussing potential strategic futures for Oklahoma and maybe even planning some. This is held by the Oklahoma Academy, which is a great group and I'd recommend that your state form one like it (I think only New Mexico has) -- a nonpartisan public policy group which includes state leaders and regular folks who like this stuff. Sadly, I still have to read a great many preparatory essays on social, technological, environmental, economic and political issues before we begin. Also, have to bring in the plants and take the Boy to a costume store looking for bunny ears. He wants to be the Ninja Bunny of Death (black suit, ears & tail, sword, you get the idea). Sounds good to me, and there certainly will only be one of them. Then we have to see Sweeney Todd - his first musical!

So I'll drop in from time to time but probably only to lurk until mid-week.

Sky report, The sun is still behind the mountain across the way lighting up bright white mare's tails in a washed levi blue sky. Airplane con trails spread and take on whispy mare's tail fringes.

Gene's article was wonderful.

Being an irascible codger, old and curmudgeonly before my time, I have to find something to criticise about it, but it is supremely good. Therefore, I have to thump out that contrary to what he says on the last page, B.D. did cheat on Boopsie (with a superior officer in GW One).

Weingarten hit a chord...a sad one to be sure. We're off to Upper State Band competition and aren't due back until 3 a.m.. A sky report might be in order. For now, Carolina blue skies are showing. Good thing; my aunt is in the hospital with something that could be serious, possibly a complication associated with her cancer. The sky brings optimism for the reciept of good news. Everyone take care...I'll see you all much later.

I am going to wait until tomorrow to open the package that's on the driveway now and pull out the real, paper Washington Post Magazine.

I've got to feel the slick paper, see the pictures, admire the layout and, oh yeah... read the article. But first I'll read the Date Lab (I love that new section), Question Celebrity, some column called Rough Draft and all the other good stuff just so I can savor the cover story.

Ivansmom, you've got to read more of Weingarten's stuff. He's pretty good. Well, he's actually better than pretty good.

Ivansmom - check out this. It links to many of his past major columns and tells you far more about Gene than is probably healthy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/05/AR2005120501314.html

Haven't read Weingarten yet as hubby wants to work from home on our now one computer. (martooni, Hal, the monitor murderer?)

But I'm giving the first graf an "Ummm." Why? We experience what Weingarten writes about here in San Antonio more than most--daily, in fact. The ex-Gulf War soldier heading into my local bookstore without arms. The pictures in the local paper of the war disfigured and maimed whom local groups throw parties for. These images of bandages and missing limbs and facial features are horrifying and gruesome. Brook Army Medical Center, which treats these worst cases of the war damaged, torn, and distressed, is smack dab in the middle of the city.

Trudeau--got to admire him for sharing the fact that George W. Bush used coathangers to brand his fellow frat buddies at Yale.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/10/233039/84

Cartoonist Garry Trudeau '70 said he thinks a little-known fact about President George W. Bush '68's past -- that his first mention in The New York Times occurred in 1967 when, as former president of the Delta Kappa Epsilon chapter at Yale, Bush defended the fraternity's practice of branding its pledges with a red-hot coat hanger -- deserves more national attention. ...

In a news story the next day, Bush is quoted calling the branding "insignificant." He said he did not understand how the news "can assume Yale has to be so haughty not to allow this type of pledging to go on."

Another book by Joel, and I'm still reading "Captured by Aliens". I need to hurry up.

Couldn't go to the links, will try again. Just got white space.

As to Mr. Bush and the clothes hangers, I thought the deaths of all those folks in Texas was quite a bit to take, even though they were on death row. Just too much blood on the hands. That would bother me, and does bother me. I know, I know, it's a job, but it still bothers.

Mudge, what is the new Scott Turnow? Pretty please.

Joel, take a page from Trudeau and go out sniffing for a subject. Writing is lonely work, but there's no rule that brainstorming has to be lonely.

You can always freewrite a lot of ideas and then cram them in somehow-- like frogstorms of umbrage, so on.

Nice parallelism and articulus, yes. However I want to see some paranomosia, antithetons, paralipsis, and most particularly asphalia, before I dare to say this first paragraph stands as a shrine to greatness.

That said, he does wonderful in-depth pieces with a gentle touch.
You wonder if Gene was assigned to write an in-depth interview about the October Snipers whether he would come off with the same tone. I would sincerely hope not.

GeneW is a wonderful writer, and Joel owes him bigtime, as Gene will tell you. I had never heard of him either, till I started reading the boodle last year. Our own jw mentioned Gene's chat, which I started to read, and then jw got to go to a Nats game with him! That led to the very first BPH, because jw wanted some, er, bucking up, before his "date" with Gene. And Gene wrote a column about jw!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091301539.html

Joel, congrats on the book thing. Just remember, you have to write Kits now and then too.

Wilbrod,

Did you see that Fernandes is having a chat Monday on washingtonpost.com?

Joel good luck with the new book.

Gene's article was great, I quite literally grew up on Doonesbury, my brother was a fan from the start and Doonesbury books were a staple for his birthday and christmas. I remember pretty much going straight from Peanuts to Doonesbury and from there developing a love of political humour and cartoons.

JA, new book, great idea! Will the narrator be Achendog? (My 2 are wagging, "Pick me! Pick me! I'm unreliable!)

Mudge, I think I had cousins at Hatboro when you were there. My ggps' farm was closer to Ryan than Lee's. For a few minutes there, I wondered if we were going to spend weeks trying to figure out if we'd met, like DWB and ScienceTim. Unless you did Lehigh U-area parties, probably not. I was a few years behind you.

Cassandra, books & tapes will be in the mail next weekend. I am honored to assist in any enterprise which helps children learn to read.

For my part, the flylady has altered my brain. Having reached a state where I *could* (did) invite people over last night on the spur of the moment, I want to rearrange the gallery today more than I want to melt silver.

Have a good weekend, all.

Ivansmom;

First it was Titus, then the Ninja Bunny of Death...

But a Broadway musical? My Word, woman, have SOME pity on the Boy!!!! At least it's Sondheim; please don't subject him to any Andrew Lloyd Webber, I beseech thee!!!

:-)

DGB, from College Parkian (my comment box has no place to sign the entry today?)

DGB wrote:
For my part, the flylady has altered my brain.

I am trying this system. For now, perhaps this helps. I would like to turn some of the reminders off, though. Still, she tells me to drink water through the day and this has been very helpful.

But the MommyBloggers would find her "controling"
"termminally cheerful"
"midwest Martha -- not a 'good thing'"

Monty python's Killer Rabbit gets Oriental Training and an outfit for the job. Very good.

I went as Harriet Myers last year. Only took a certain hairdo, bad makeup and a blue suit with buttons declaring Bush to be the smartest men I had ever met, and so on.

So I'm afraid I'm guilty of lawyerbashing. As for Doonesbury, it was hard for me to get into it as a kid because ALL the characters look alike except for hairdos, and the names aren't always mentioned in every comic. So it took me a while to catch on who was supposed to be what.

I always liked the invisible politican cartoons the best, he started this with Bush Senior-- so nondescript he was the invisible president. I also suspect he simply couldn't draw Bush recognizably so gave up. Of course, he's always used and continues to use narration with the white house as a frontdrop.

Then the waffle for Clinton, and the floating bomb for Gingrich, and the 10 gallon cowboy hat, then spartan helmet for Arbusto.

I really miss Bloom Country, though. I always wondered how Bill the Cat would have fared against Bill the Human, Perot, and Bush. I think Bill the Cat could have been a swing candidate in 2000. Darn that Breathed.

RD, thank you for the links -- but what part of I am much too busy today to even read the Boodle and post, much less look at other articles, was not clear!?! Okay, maybe just a peek. Got the plants moved in, the floor cleaned and lunch made. Next is the Ninja Bunny of Death trip, then the grocery store, then I've promised to let the Boy teach me to play a board game called HeroScape. This is a big deal since I am easily thrown off balance by games including character cards with attack and defend points, etc. And remember, Scotty-nuke, the Sweeney Todd theme (demon barber, yum) fits well with Titus et al. When I'll get to all that fine reading for the conference, I don't know.

Okay, I'm REALLY not Boodling any more today. Really. Maybe I'll just check in.

JA, please buy Weingarten a drink for me and send me the bill.

I'd offer to have someone buy Trudeau a drink, but I don't have those kinda connections.

:-)

Whoops. I forgot the sky report! This morning as we got the plants ready to move in, the sky was a high clear blue for miles and miles, with a light wind from the south, and the sun pretty hot. It was probably about 60 degrees. I could feel the wind change as the Boy & I worked, and saw the first little white clouds skidding rapidly across the sky. Now there is a STRONG wind from the north, the sky is gray, and the temperature is dropping fast. I love autumn.

Ivansmom;

I WAS going to suggest that with the training the Boy is getting, we should bell him before he goes out into the world...

:-)

Ivansmom,
The conference sounds very important - good luck!

The morning fog is fast disappearing - white clouds moving off rapidly to reveal another beautiful, clear blue, Seattle blue sky. I wonder if Carolina blue and Seattle blue are the same thing? No doubt very close.

The fall leaves here are not spectacular - not enough native deciduous trees or larch (a fir, also known as tamarack, that turns golden and drops its needles in fall). But where I work, they did a wonderful landscaping job, mostly with native plants, but they also planted maples and dogwoods. So the colors there are gorgeous - yellow, burgundy, scarlet red, orange. I have a small witch hazel tree that has beautiful yellow leaves now, and the Asian pear will turn soon. Its leaves turn yellow and light red.

Cassandra, the newest Scott Turow is Limitations - the library doesn't have it yet. The one before that is Ordinary Heroes - a WWII theme (which I haven't read yet).

Who or what is the flylady?

Bewildered,

New movie! Indiana Jones and the Raiders of Social Security.

http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/ap/20061020/116137722000.html

Or is it Indiana Jones and the Altar of Old Age?

I know! I know! Indiana Jones and the Last Crutches.

Like Harrison Ford, but don't want to be on my seat worrying whether he is going to have a heart attack during the movie. After all, look at what happened to Clark Gable after the Misfits.

The Flylady helps people get their lives organized with regular hints. You can check her site out at http://www.flylady.org/.

Since I have an amazing ability to ignore nagging by e-mail, she hasn't helped me that much yet.

Wilbrod I think I have a special fly swatter that would handle Flylady.:)

Don't know about Carolina, but sometimes in the early spring or late fall, when the air is dry and cool, the Virginia sky reminds me of Seattle. All I need to do is imagine Mt. Rainer on the horizon, looking like a sand etching on cobalt crystal, and it almost feels like home. Almost.

Joel:

Wordnet offers this definition of nationalism:

//2: the doctrine that your national culture and interests are superior to any other//

http://www.bookrags.com/Nationalism

That's the definition I was using.

For the record, I am not accusing you of being a nationalist. I would have no idea, and if I were asked my hunch, I would guess that you are far from one.

But what I was saying is that stating that "my country is the greatest" amounts to stating that your country is superior (without defining what would make it so, offering any proof or even attempting a fact-based comparison), which makes it a nationalistic statement. Not you, the statement.

In my experience, it is also the single-most common criticism of Americans from Europeans: "Americans always think they are superior!" It's also what I understand to be the very definition of "American exceptionalism", which is also much resented abroad for its implications.

Of course, nobody has to care what foreigners think (as RD would say, go away, SF, you and your contrary opinions!). But I would think that in the context of what you were saying, it might in fact be important. In other words, how can you seriously claim to want to listen to others half a sentence after you've declared yourself superior?

All of that said very respectfully, of course. *smile*

PS: the leaves at Patapsco Valley State Park are simply spectacular!

I would give anything to see some amount of blue in the sky lately, after our beautiful thanksgiving weekend, it has been grey or raining most of the time. Had to rake a huge pile of wet, heavy leaves this morning and only made it through half the lawn, sun shone briefly with a beautiful blue sky but now it is grey and spitting. Leaves are spectacular though so I have developed the habit of only looking as far up as the tree tops.

Superfrenchie, do you have a laptop on your bike?

I'm not here. Really.

That's not what I said superfrenchie. And that's my point.

Ivansmom: //Superfrenchie, do you have a laptop on your bike?//

Doesn't everybody?

Re: flylady.

I don't read much of her, and actually think her posters raving about products are deranged, but when I began clearing things out, it was helpful to focus on her:

(1) Living in CHAOS (Can't have people over syndrome). All too true when I began, and I hated it. And I always felt I shouldn't go out and have fun because the house needed work, but then I never worked on it either. Bad cycle.

(2) "You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are. O.K.?" Wow. I don't have to be perfect immediately? I can just pick a little place and start? With my job, there's always long-range planning. Didn't work on the house, I was stuck in analysis paralysis.

(3) Starting with a clean sink really worked for me. Small step from that to maybe 15-20 minutes a day and a clean kitchen. Which radiated outwards and upwards on 15-20 minutes a day.

I disagree totally with many of her ideas, but have been happy with what I've adopted from her (clean as you go, 15 minutes at a time, water, sleep). I don't think a number of the Mommy/DaddyBloggers are able to just take what they can use and leave the rest because they're also controlling! :-)

Having a clean house de-stresses my life in a way an extra 15 minutes of collapsing on the couch after work doesn't. Clean is a relief.

Yesterday afternoon I called a few friends who have not been in my house for a year or more, people brought wine, I grilled flank steaks, and it was wonderful. And I can do Thanksgiving this year, which I'm looking forward to.

What annoys me, superfrenchie, is not that you are expressing a contrary opinion; it is that you are expressing a contrary opinion to a view that has never been stated. Sure, somebody might have said something close to what you are objecting to, but as Frank Robinson once said, close only counts in horseshoes and grenades. You are being intellectually lazy by cramming subtle arguments and nuanced positions into a set of ready-made cognitive boxes against which you have ready-made responses. That you insist on doing so repeatedly suggests to me that you get a perverse pleasure from twisting complex words and ideas into simple positions.

What's worse, when somebody attempts to clarify what he or she can only assume is a misinterpretation on your part, you ignore it and revert back to your canned polemics. This kind of behavior stops being intellectually lazy, and instead becomes actively intransigent. It is rather mean, and, might I suggest, beneath your dignity as a Frenchman. Perhaps you may think you are being some sort of brave agent provocateur, or that you are speaking noble truth to smug power. Yet what you are actually doing is the equivalent of giving somebody a wedgie and then laughing about it.

I'm sure JA could also claim, "My wife and I have the greatest family in town!" and no one would object to him thinking that.

He wouldn't really be saying that he really thingks your family is inferior or that he can tell you how to live; he'd just be claiming that he thinks his family is the greatest.

Am I alone in disliking the "Goldilocks" story? Originally, it wasn't even about a brat of a girl, and the ending was MUCH more bloody and just.

I also think that someone claiming they live in the "the greatest country in the world" is also kind of saying "this is where I choose to live and raise my family."

But I guess that's not always true, is it?

dbG, thanks a bunch for the books and tapes.

Mostly, thanks for the information on Scott Turow.

And where is Mudge?

Slyness, thanks for the nice words on the last kit. You, too, are a gem.

Good luck on the conference, Ivansmom.

It's Saturday, he's probably having fun outside on this ncie fall day, as I would also if I could unthaw myself from the keyboard. Wilbrodog is ready to help so he can get another walk.

Joel---travel adventure is where it's at... maybe you could travel around the world in a bathyscape? ... how quickly forgotten are the boodlers great ideas. Good book and TV series: "Long Way Round".

Wilbrod...

I wouldn't read the Grimm fairy tales to my kids when they were little. They are all terribly violent, but worse than that they are so misogynist!

Every smart woman is evil; every quiet, obeying female is the heroine. And the punishments are gruesome--bordering on sadistic.

That's the spirit, Joel! Just dive right in to whatever your book is going to be about. Full steam ahead!

L.A. lurker, I will see you Monday at 9:30 at Kerckhoff coffee house. I used to work on campus, so I should be able to find my way there. And so you'll recognize me: I'm a short, middle-aged woman with very short hair and glasses. I'll be wearing earrings that look like cherry tomato slices.

RD, nice metaphor! (or is it a simile?), "Yet what you are actually doing is the equivalent of giving somebody a wedgie and then laughing about it."

I read Andrew Lang's fairy tale collection (not all of 'em). I agree with you on the misgyny of Grimm in particular. The Cinderella tale has zillions of versions all over the world, and most of them are better.

What kind of fairy or folk tales did you read? Irish? Greek? ;).

I also think the tales are ageist-- the older women are always the villians, and the meek, sweet little girls are the heroines. You might enjoy the background on Goldilocks at

http://wilbrodthegnome.blogspot.com/2006/10/gnomics-of-fairy-tales-with-wilbrod.html

TBG - You know, I don't think I have ever actually read the Grimm brothers' fairy tales. Both my kids and I only know them through their Disney and Warner Brothers' incarnations. And as violent and bigoted as the Grimm versions may be, I have read that they are a lot more palatable than the original folk stories on which they were based. It is my understanding that there was no convenient window for Goldilocks, or any nearby woodsman for Little Red Riding Hood.

Which raises the question - what are the best stories to read to little kids?

Personally, I think you can't go wrong with Winnie the Pooh.

Hey, there's a book idea for Joel! Modern Tales for Modern Times. Perhaps a story of the scary repair man who accidentally cut the cable. Or Mandy, the evil ISP support woman. Or the day all the hair care products vanished.

Of course, we don't want to traumatize anyone.

Wilbrod - I really like your blog. The design is charming, and, of course, your writing is exquisite.

RD, love Modern Tales for Modern Times. Oh, the horror!

Martha and the 3 Bears (A Wall Street cautionary tale)

RD, you mean urban legends like the tale of the choking doberman? Yeah, that would go nicely with the "Kidnapped by Aliens" theme in terms of sheer weirdness. Where do ALL those urban legends come from?

Dark as those fairy tales are, I believe they serve a vivid warning against those whose motives are not the best.

There is an age-appropriate level for those and under 4-5 is not it. Very young kids can be scared by Disney movies.

That said, Hans Christian Anderson is probably a better choice to start off with, and also every parent should feel free to retell the stories how they prefer it.

I imagine I deserve this for being a few days behind, but what's the Boodle's opinion of the CNN "sniper video" crap? Having just now seen a snippet during a media criticism show, I'm appalled. What possible news value is there in showing an insurgent trophy video? What could it possibly add to the average TV viewer to see everything up to the trigger being pulled, when we know the bodies are coming home daily? I'm told NBC did the same basic story without having to resort to the images themselves. I really don't care "what this does for U.S. resolve," it's repugnant from a journalistic point of view.

*stepping off soapbox and trying to forget about this for awhile*

*stepping back on*

Oh, and I'm never going to watch Larry King again, even if he interviews JA, following the journalistic carnage of giving John Mark Karr any sort of forum.

*stepping off soapbox, really*

*not able to smile at this point*

Thank you, RD. it's fun to have the features that the Achenblog doesn't have such as eye-talics, photos, hypertext and so on.
Too bad I can't embed photograph descriptions (or can I?) for Pat.

Scottynuke, I don't get cable. That's how little I think of having CNN and all that kind of stuff. I now get most of my news directly from the internet and try not to watch the late night news at all whatsoever. Of course I sometimes catch the Gally protest segments as I type since the TV is right next to my computer, and signing totally grabs my attention in the peripheral vision.

One might debate why we glorify faux violence so much in movies, yet shy from the real thing on TV.

But we do know there is a difference; our society is not structured around the military and conquest, unlike the Romans who would have LIVE gladiator deaths and carnage for the populace. Bread and circuses, keep the people happy and vent their aggression passively and they won't revolt.

The ancient greeks did brutal training exercises and they were violent, always at war, but they never used it as entertainment. They were too close to the real thing daily.

And I gotta agree with you S'nuke, I don't really want to know about Karr's life story other than it's probably massively sad and sick.

ok, ac, see you monday!

A page or two from Melvilles "Redburn" for, posterity, I guess.

However this narrative of the circumstances attending the fever among the emigrants on the Highland may appear; and though these things happened so long ago; yet just such events, nevertheless, are perhaps taking place to-day. But the only account you obtain of such event, is generally contained in a newspaper paragraph, under the shipping-head. There is the obituary of the destitute dead, who die on the sea. They die, like the billows that break on the shore, and no more are heard or seen. But in the events, thus merely initialized in the catalogue of passing occurrences, and but glanced at by the readers of news, who are more taken up with paragraphs of fuller flavor; what a world of life and death, what a world of humanity and its woes, lies shrunk into a three-worded sentence!
You see no plague-ship driving through a stormy sea; you hear no groans of despair; you see no corpses thrown over the bulwarks; you mark not the wringing hands and torn hair of widows and orphans:-all is a blank. And one of these blanks I have but filled up, in recounting the details of the Highlanders's calamity.
Besides that natural tendency, which hurries into oblivion the last woes of the poor; other causes combine to suppress the detailed circumstances of disasters like these. Such things, if widely known, operate unfavorably to the ship, and make her a bad name; and to avoid detention at quarantine, a captain will state the case in the most palliating light, and strive to hush it up, as much as he can.
In no better place than this, perhaps, can a few words be said, concerning emigrant ships in general.
Let us waive that agitated national topic, as to whether such multitudes of foreign poor should be landed on our American shores, let us waive it, with the one only thought, that if they can get here, they have God's right to come; though they bring all Ireland and her miseries with them. For the whole world is the patrimony of the whole world; there is no telling who does not own a stone in the Great Wall of China.
But we waive all this; and will only consider, how best the emigrants can come hither, since come they do, and come they must and will.
Of late, a law has been passed in Congress, restricting ships to a certain number of emigrants, according to a certain rate.
If this law were enforced, much good might be done; and so also might much good be done, were the English law likewise enforced, concerning the fixed supply of food for every emigrant embarking from Liverpool. But it is hardly to be believed, that either of these laws is observed.
But in all respects, no legislation, even nominally, reaches the hard lot of the emigrant. What ordinance makes it obligatory upon the captain of a ship, to supply the steeage-passengers with decent lodgings, and give them light and air in that foul den, where they are immured, during a long vorage across the Atlantic?
What ordinacne necessitates him to place the galley, or steerage-passengers' stove, in a dry place of shelter, where the emigrants can do their cooking during a storm, or wet weather? What ordinance obliges him to give them more room on deck, and let them have an occssional run fore and aft?-There is no law concerning these things. And if there was, who but some Howard in office would see it enforced? and how seldom is there a Howard in office!
We talk of the Turks, and abhor the cannibals; but may not some of them, go to heaven, before some of us? We may have civilized bodies and yet barbarous souls. We are blind to the real sights of this world; deaf to its voice; and dead to its death. And not till we know, that one grief outweighs ten thousand joys, wiil we become what Chrisianity is striving to make us.
From the chapter, "Though The Highlander Puts Into No Harbor As Yet; She Here and There Leaves Many Of Her Passengers Behind"

I am fond of Melville with all his long-windedness, but I haven't read Redburn yet.

I like this sentence:

"For the whole world is the patrimony of the whole world; there is no telling who does not own a stone in the Great Wall of China."

Just checking in. I was reprieved -- Ivansdad was home in time to learn the Heroscape game, which he understands much better than I. If there is a gene for complicated games like Risk and such, I don't have it. Oh, the horror. Because we are all wimps, the family resolutely refused to venture out into the now 40 degree (fahrenheit) temperature and 15-20 mile an hour north wind, so no Sweeney for us tonight. They probably won't let me open any windows either. I was just out feeding the dogs and picking herbs and told them it wasn't so bad, but they scoffed.

I always read the Boy Grimm, also Robert Graves, because I think the stories are more interesting and, frankly, speak more truth to the little beasts than the sugar-coated versions do. Of course, that's why the Boy is perhaps a trifle odd for his age. Ninja Bunny of Death went by the wayside in the costume store; now we have Black-Robed Horned Bringer of Death. At least the main theme is consistent. Don't worry; it has to do with the weapon, not the action. Really he's a good kid. And besides, this way he gets to wear horns. Ivansdad will make the Boy's costume a feature of the universtity makeup class he teaches, since class day falls on Halloween. The Boy loves hanging around college students.

Okay, fleeing again.

The Goldilocks of our times:
Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8000409016826512649

RD Padouk: //What annoys me, superfrenchie, is not that you are expressing a contrary opinion; it is that you are expressing a contrary opinion to a view that has never been stated. //

That's your opinion. I have a contrary one!

//Sure, somebody might have said something close to what you are objecting to, but as Frank Robinson once said, close only counts in horseshoes and grenades.//

Someone said "My own patriotic biases tell me that we remain the greatest country in the world despite our mistakes and errors". I took that to mean "My own patriotic biases tell me that we remain the greatest country in the world despite our mistakes and errors."

I know, silly me for my approximations.

//You are being intellectually lazy by cramming subtle arguments and nuanced positions into a set of ready-made cognitive boxes against which you have ready-made responses. That you insist on doing so repeatedly suggests to me that you get a perverse pleasure from twisting complex words and ideas into simple positions. //

And I would contend that you accuse me to do so because my perceptions do not fit into your own "ready-made cognitive boxes", or the monolithic thinking that this blog exhibits most of the time.

I have no idea whether you take perverse pleasure in doing so (I don't pretend to analyze somebody's personality from blog comments), but I would also contend that you are twisting my words. And the truth. Example follows.

//What's worse, when somebody attempts to clarify what he or she can only assume is a misinterpretation on your part, you ignore it and revert back to your canned polemics.//

You're making that up. The original statement was that of Joel Achenbach. Contrary to what you assert, he did not clarify what he meant. He did offer a dictionary definition on something I said way further into the discussion, after you had already called me "snarky 12 year old" and asked me to "stop" because "this place is important to [you]"

Others may have attempted to clarify for him. But just because a bunch of thought cheerleaders jumps on the one contrary opinion expressed in something like 300+ comments does not mean I am automatically going to start cheerleading with the 12 of you. You may sometimes convince me. Other times you may not. Just because I don't rally to your side does not mean I should be called a "snarky 12 year old". Or called immature. That's name-calling at its worst.

//This kind of behavior stops being intellectually lazy, and instead becomes actively intransigent.//

Again, just because I don't automatically change my opinion after you've expressed yours does not mean I should be called "intransigent." You only call me that because you feel you are in the majority. Which, of course, you are.

//It is rather mean, and, might I suggest, beneath your dignity as a Frenchman.//

What exactly is my nationality doing into this discussion? And what exactly does "beneath your dignity as a Frenchman" mean? When you disagree with her, would you say to Mo that arguing with you is "beneath her dignity as a Panamean"? Do you say that to Canadians on this blog? And what exactly do you call being "mean"? you're calling me every name in the book ("snarky," "immature," "12-year old," "mean," "intellectually lazy," ...) and I am the one who's being "mean?" While I would easily admit to sometimes using tough-worded arguments, I always try to be careful not to get into personal attacks. I much prefer when I'm treated the same way.

//Perhaps you may think you are being some sort of brave agent provocateur, or that you are speaking noble truth to smug power. Yet what you are actually doing is the equivalent of giving somebody a wedgie and then laughing about it.//

I don't know what "giving somebody a wedgie" means, so I'll refrain from commenting. As far as what my motivations are or what I get out of it, who cares what they are? Do I ask what your motivations are for always defending the majority opinion? Why don't you attack my arguments instead of my motivations?

Actually, I'll tell you what my motivations are: I was told that blogging would be a good way to meet chicks. I'm giving it a shot. *big smile*

Monolithic thinking... that takes me back to 2001: A Space Odyessy.

Hal, open the door, Hal...Hal...

Wilbrod: I was gonna use "pensée unique." then I discovered it was untranslatable. (wide grin)

Monolithic thought is not a bad attempt. I believe the closest translation of what you want is "groupthink."

Only because I would dearly love to know how this translates in French, "giving a person a wedgie" describes this:

A boy (usually), grabs at the top of another person's underpants from the rear, and pulls it up so the underwear effectively gets wedged between the buttocks. This is called a "wedgie". You can talk of a "wedgie" that occurs by natural undergarment migration.

Sparks has taught us about rombeachau (was it). Any volunters to explain dingleberries next?

"Groupthink"! That's the word I wanted. Thanks Wilbrod.

I have no idea how to translate a "wedgie". I'll think about it. Or ask Mrs. SuperFrenchie, who's a kindergarten teacher.

OK, I'm doing some research here.

So I went to a site called wedgiegirls.com (please don't click there, especialy if you're at work!). Of course, we're now changing register, and as we go from boys to adult girls, I myself went from my usual intellectually lazy mode to my quite intellectually curious mode...

And discovered that one translation is "le tranchemoule."

Of course, if you know French slang you know that it won't work for males, so I'll keep on searching.

Just as soon as I'm finished researching wedgiegirls.com...

I think le tranchemoule is what Weingarten calls a "camel toe". You might enjoy his chats, although I have to hit the slang dictionary once in a while.

In Montana parlance, dingle berries would be mountain oysters, when one would rather not state the bleeding obvious.

Now that I live back-East, is there another dingle berry definition I am missing?

Where I come from, a dingleberry is kind of like a dag, except on a person rather than a sheep.

Here are some rather amusing definitions -- but, as superfrenchie noted re. the wedgiegirls site, do not click if you're at work. (Or if you're easily offended. Or if you're eating.)

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dingleberry

Scottynuke,
Did you see the CNN insurgent video discussion on FOX Newswatch (with Eric Burns)? That's the only show on FOX I watch - it's become a Saturday afternoon routine for me, as I fold laundry. It's kind of funny, sometimes, in a news junkie kind of way. Anyway, I haven't seen the video on CNN and certainly don't want to. As for John Mark Karr on Larry King - I saw a little bit of that and could only wonder why they were wasting their time - let him fade away (and hopefully someone is keeping an eye on him). The psychologist is even worse.

*carefully staying out of the "greatest" dustup and the wedgie discussion* (at least I didn't start any of it this time)

Metronaturally yours,
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003315360_metronatural21.html

OK, at the risk of appearing like a hopeless old guy instead of the snarky 12-year old I was carefully trying to appear as up to now, my further research into this suggests that the game in question is simply most popular in North America, and that the custom has simply not crossed the Atlantic. Not that it is never done, but it does not appear to be done as a game with its own set of rules.

We do have mooning, though...

I could be wrong, so I'll be sure to check back to wedgiegirls.com often.

[I think my favorite definition so far is "a Klingon near Uranus." Tee hee.]

A good one for you, Wilbrod:

"tire-cul", which is the slang word for "tire-fesses" (I'm not kidding).

Not as fun in English! Your guess?

[I can't believe I'm talking about dingleberries. I guess this is what happens when a Weingarten article gets posted as a Kit.]

And Wilbrod, check out the story of Catherine Ségurane:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_S%C3%A9gurane

That may also be an effective new tactic in Iraq... I'm told Bush is open to suggestions.

The boodle timestamp servers seem to have "fallen back" a week early.

7 PM PDT (10 PM EDT)

Tire-fesse= ski lift, ski tow.

So tire-cul could be mis-translated as an "a**-haul".

Or a butt-lift, although as you say in English that means surgery, not as fun.

(I like to call those surgeries "rear end re-alignments" instead.)

I did learn a new phrase just now that RD probably should memorize and use.

"vous ^etes cul, ce mec."

Superfrenchie, The legend of Catherine Ségurane sounds like a rather firm foundation for a "strong woman" fairy tale that TBG could share with her kids.

You should read Chaucer's "The Miller's Tale" in modernized english translation (or even the French) sometime, and you will see that she did not invent mooning.

After taking another crack at it...

[start Mudge mode]

(crack at it, get it? I can't believe how humorous I can be sometimes)

[/end Mudge mode]

..."tirage de culotte" might be the closest translation.

And of course in any language that necessiates immediate triage as well.

Wilbrod, I like a**-haul... LOL!

mostlylurking, "the only show I watch on FOX" - you don't watch The Simpsons? It's still the best show on television.

Time to feed the fleas.

How about a more metaphorical expression such as "hand-tailor the culotte into a speedo" in French?

Add the hand gestures and expressions of bemusement may change into enlightenment, non?

You are right superfrenchie - I was getting too personal, and for that I apologize.

And I have better things to do with my time.

just had friends over and very hammered watching king kong again... will regret this in the morning... seeing double at teh momoment!!!!!!! good night qall!!!!!

'Morning, Cassandra. I', undoubtedly posting this after you've gone to be, but you'll be up early. Yes, I was busy all day. A former colleague of mine recently moved into the area from California with her husband and 13-year-old daughter, and the husband and daughter have never seen Washington, and my friend had been here just once or twice for a day or two business conference. So my wife and I acted as tour guides, giving them a tour around Washington. (Sidebar for Pat: sky report: an absolutely beautiful day today, but a completely cloudless sky, just what that old TV ad called "cerullian blue," I guess.) Temp was ideal Indian Summer, a bit nippy in the morning, and light jacket weather in the afternoon. Today was just a general "overview" of the town, so when they come back on their own they know where things are, how to get around, and what they want to see in detail. We took one of those around-the-town trolley tours, saw superficially all the usual Washington things (the only things we actually went into were Ford's Theater and the house across the street where Lincoln died). We somewhat unintentially skipped lunch, so we were famished when the tour ended about 3:30 or 4. We decided to eat at Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria but when we got there we found they didn't start serving dinner until 5:30 (and the first open reservation they had was foor 8:30). So instead we ate around the corner at a very good Irish pub. My friends had the shepherd's pie, which looked really good and which they said was great. So we had a really nice day all around, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

Tomorrow my wife and I are going down to Virginia to the little vacation cottage we're building, and she'll spend the day painting the bedrooms while I work on a complex problem of installing and boxing an ancient antique claw-foot tub into the bathroom. The significance is that (besides being absent from the boodle again tomorrow) I'm going to miss my beloved Redskins game, during which I expect they will get annihilated by the Colts. So missing it may actually be a good thing for my health and mental well-being.

(As I write this, John C. Reilly is doing the opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, and who should pop up from the audience but Will Ferrell in the guise of his James Lipton impersonation from the Actor's Studio, which is hilarious (one of my alltime favorite Will Ferrell schticks), and the end the skit singing a duet from "Chicago" (Lipton claiming to admire O'Reilly's stunning performance in "Chicago" in the role of Roxie Hart). (Next week the host will be Hugh Laurie--that might be good.)

I see mostlylurking has identified the two most recent Scott Turow novels. Sorry if I misled you, Cassandra; I haven't read them yet, but the reviews looked good. But Turow is usually a pretty safe recommendation.

Ivansmom,
I watch the Simpsons - well, not so much these days, but I agree, one of the best shows on TV. Favorite episode - the one one where Marge plays Stella in Streetcar. Close second - the monorail. I meant Fox news - not sure why I capitalized it all before.

joel, loved the new literary form proposed in the cartoon.
and i dare you to do the pin-up..i mean fold-out...

Well, let me start with some good news. I have to say that besides appreciating all the well wishes and sympathy from the boodlers, I really have appreciated the sky reports for Pat. They have added a little bit of sunshine into my, of late, overcast life. So thank you from someone who *CAN* see the sky, but hasn't really been able to appreciate the sky. The sky reports have reminded me a few times to stop and look at the sky and have definitely brightened up my days.

The reason that this is important is that today, I went to visit my friend in hospice and this evening I found out that my other friend whom I went to see in Inova Fairfax yesterday morning died this morning. The news has hit me a bit hard and I appreciate the Achenblog and its very homey family feel. May you all know that you and your words have helped someone who needed some respite from the barrage of depressing news.

Thanks to all of you and good night.

Got up a little early this morning, (midnight), and planned to catch up on the boodle for a few minutes then practise guitar. That was 3 hours ago, and I still want to read. I followed RD's link to the GW FAQ, and ran into a few Dave Berry quotes:

"A sense of humor is a measurement of the extent to which you realize that you are trapped in a world almost entirely devoid of reason. Laughter is how
you release the anxiety you feel at this knowledge."

"Writing humor is the greatest possible escape from emotional pain."

These quotes are a little disturbing to me since I laugh more than anyone I know. and often wunder where the happiness comes from. I also see a little of me in my son and oldest daughter, both of who have a natural gift of describing me the humor embedded in the comics. The WaPost always has the best humor of any publication i've ever read by a long shot.

My guitar is getting lonely, maybe I'll do some Vivaldi.

Good morning, friends. Mudge, it's fine, mostly gave me the answer. Somehow your post sounded to me as if you are tired. Take care of yourself, Mudge. Dadwannabe, I am so sorry about your friend, and please know that you are in my prayers as well as your friends.

Yes, I am up early, couldn't sleep. That happens a lot to me. But I go to bed early, so I guess I've had enough sleep. It does not take a lot of sleep for old people.

I hope to go to Sunday school this morning, and stay for service. I have not heard from my daughter and grandchildren in two weeks now. I don't know what is going on with them. I probably should call, but I was hoping they would call me.

I do hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. RD, I was surprised that you apologized, that was nice of you.

Please know that God loves you so much more than you can imagine through Him that died for all, Jesus Christ. Peace and love.

Pat, coincidentally, I was just thinking about the concept of laughter this morning.
Like you, I found myself wondering, where does it come from? How does that feeling of joy we get whilst laughing come about?

I think Dave Barry's definition of laughter is a good one, although perhaps it doesn't go far enough in explaining how we are able to muster up that blissful feeling in the face of such absurdity and anxiety. My current thinking is that maybe laughter is a brief encounter with the infintite, or the ultimate reality -- with God, if you like -- during those moments when we realize that this life here on Earth is indeed a joke. Perhaps laughter is a reminder that there's something more.

DadWannaBe, sorry to hear about your loss, I don't know what else to say except God bless you and your friends.

It seems to me the funerals and weddings come and go in waves. Right now, I'm stuck in the funeral mode that I can't get out of. as this night began with a telephone call at 10:15 which always means bad news has arrived. My wife's stepbrother has Luekemia. I'll be making my trip to Innova soon.

Do you have a specific Vivaldi request? I'll do my best to learn it on guitar and when I play it for others, I'll dedicate it to the departed souls of my imaginary friends.

[Forgive me if I sound a little hippie trippy. I've just returned from a walk on the mountain, where I was approached by a very old Chinese man who encouraged me to light some incense with him and pray to various deities at a makeshift hillside shrine. (We had a bit of a laugh, too.)]

Dreamer, somehow i think we must be all connected. I was just discussing laughter with my wife yesterday. I told her that the hardest I've ever laughed was the time early in our marriage when we were wrestling around. I have a lot of tickle targets, the most vulnerable being my feet. As she went for them, I gave her a wedgie. I laughed so hard, I went in and out of conscienceness.

I suspect that the exercise of laughter cuts off blood flow to the brain, though I have no idea why a tickle to the foot would cause this. maybe the advocates of Darwin and Intelligent Design can battle this one out. The debate could be interesting.

Now I must get to my poor, neglected guitar.

Morning, all... *sleepy wave*

Darn 14-year-old cat who has trouble detecting the difference between carpet and perfectly good litter... *scrub scrub*

DWB, I'll be thinking about you and your friends today.

mostly, now you've gone and outed me!! *L* Yes, it was "News Watch," and for what it's worth: a) that's the only time I watch FNC, and b) it's a sorry state of affairs when that's the only news criticism show I know of. When the folks there can avoid the predictable Dem/Rep or lib/cons sniping, they have some good things to say. I particularly like Jane Hall, as she's usually the least political of the crew. And correct me if I'm wrong, but all of them except Burns said CNN made the wrong choice with the video. I turned the show off before they got to LK, however, since that would have violated my no-LK stance. :-)

The only Fox shows I watch are "Cops," football and baseball, BTW.

Pat: //The WaPost always has the best humor of any publication i've ever read by a long shot.//

Ouch! Sad state of affairs, then...

(I would have voted for the Onion, or perhaps the National Inquirer (Headline: Aliens Avenge the World, Kidnap Bush))

So who's the funniest? Krauthammer? David Broder?

DadWannaBe, condoleances. My thoughts are with you.

DWBee
Perhaps the desire you feel for a child with Mrs. DWBee will comfort you. What is there, really, besides choices against death, loss, hardship, like kindness, singing, dogwalking, gardening, sky reports....opening your heart to a child.

I always pay attention to the babies around, when aware of death.

--
Today, briefly, about a dozen gold finches scavanged what is left of the seeds. Then they rose up, together, as if one creature. Three or four parted from the group, flying back toward me. They landed on a fading Buddhist prayer flag, and picked at the threads.

More than five years ago, Bhutanese neighbors placed the flags in my yard, before they returned to their Shang gri La. I like the idea that wind acting on the flags sends up prayers. "Realy good for you when you can't prayer due to tears or joy." -- said Rimpoche Topke, the monk who cared for the three families down the street.

I'll be wearing earrings that look like cherry tomato slices. -- writes a Californian to the blog.
----
By your earings, they shall know you.

I believe that this year, I will buy some outlandish Halloweenie earings, say glow-in-the-dark skulls. And, actually wear them.

Hey DWBee, does the excellent NASA gift shop have shuttle earings?

RD: no prob. We move on. (smile) (hug)

Morning all, DWB I am so sorry for your loss.

Pat I will think good thoughts for your wife's stepbrother.

RD you are one classy man.

I think I'm gonna puke.

'Morning, Cassandra. Yes, I was pretty tired last night, but wanted to get back to you. DWB, very sorry to hear about your friend. You're going through a pretty rough patch right now. Wish there was something we could do for you, beyond our good wishes.

I had also wanted to talk about that great Weingarten story on Trudeau last night, but was too pooped to pontificate. And I don't have much time this morning, either--got stuff to do. But I do have a few thoughts.

As someone who has thought about the craft of writing for many years, over time I've come up with what I call Curmudgeon's Paradoxes. I'm not much of a fan of either zen or mysticism, but ironically the paradoxes seem to be fairly zen-like (sample: "The best writing isn't about writing; it's about the thinking that precedes it."). The Weingarten/Trudeau piece has made me create a new one, approximately like this: A thousand writers and journalists could have written about Trudeau, but only Weingarten could have written that piece that well. One might respond, "Well, but Trudeau would ONLY have responded to Weingarten, not anyone else." I believe this is a true statement, but also misleadingly off the point. It isn't about access, or years of friendship, or the "source" trusting the writer. If you deconstruct the story, you'll see that it wasn't about Trudeau telling Weingarten stuff he'd tell no one else. It was about Weingarten's ability to see what no one --in this case, most especially Trudeau himself-- could not see. Trudeau didn't "confess" to Weingarten; Weingarten saw stuff that even Trudeau didn't know was there. That's what made the piece genius. One of the ironies or paradoxes is, the man who "knows" the most about Trudeau isn't Trudeau, but Weingarten. Which explains why none of the thousand other writers and journalists couldn't have written that piece.

Off to build a bathroom.

*flushing toilet...still waiting in line to hold rd's coat*

'morning all.
mudge, good luck with the "remont."
dadwannabe, condolences to you.

I'm so sorry, DadWannaBe. The loss of a friend is a very hard thing. Also for you, Pat, with your family illness. My thoughts and good wishes are with you.

Sky report: Blue with a few wispy clouds and hard sunshine, because it is cold! It got almost down to 30 degrees (fahrenheit) last night. Thick beams of sunshine are still slanting through the trees (green leaves, but maybe not for long). Of course it will warm up here, but a little chill is nice. I know, northerners & Canuckistans, you are laughing at me, but temperature is relative.

Speaking as one who continually has to look for what is unsaid...

A few hundred might have SEEN that stuff, but never been able to show it so elegantly for others, interpersed with telling of details.

He starts off by showing us--how Trudeau interacts with the vets, almost before he explains who Trudeau is. He also shows that Trudeau just taught him something about interviewing vets.

That hook, set up so vividly like an opening shot to a documentary, sets up the column's entire tone.

Pat, you keep telling us you work out hard. You might have had a low heartrate to start off with that day. I believe a lot of laughter tends to stimulate the vagus nerve to drop your heart rate, which sometimes can cause fainting.

This discusses the physiology of laughter, but not the vagus nerve connection.

http://www.heylady.com/rbc/laughter.htm

"Laughter brings us back into harmony." That's not a bad thought-- pain, confusion, cognitive dissonance, whatever. Laugh.

And DWB, I'm sorry to hear about your friend dying.
The measure of a loss always comes directly from how much that person meant to you. It won't be easy, but keep that in mind.

Re Trudeau, I always think of two companion names: Margaret (of the North) and Jane Pauley (of Indianapolis).

More Male Shopping ephemera: In the drug store today, 13-on-cusp-of-14 Son of CPian, opened the Axe deodorant applicator, gasping "That doesn't smell anything like the commercial makes you think." He opted for Right Guard Extreme, with a neon green swooshie-like logo.

(No factory seal was broken; they doen't follow the Tylenol model, yet...)

He did hovever, pick up a yellow roll of electrical tape for 99 cents. "This is kinda useful: stretchy, I think."

And even SF can't pick apart Trudeau. After all, he was the one who wrote an sunday cartoon in French/English?
http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/030504_french.html

I am reading the Sandbox-- the soldier blog at Slate started by Trudeau. Those soldiers are very articulate and thoughtful writers.

I liked the story of the ex-construction guy (Sgt. Elka) who got sick of the shoddy construction and organized construction of better stuff-- better bookshelves, picnic tables, phone booths with AC, etc.

I'd say 5 minutes there is worth more than 30 minutes of CNN etc.

Link is: http://gocomics.typepad.com/the_sandbox/

Now I'm going out to remind myself my life could be a LOT crappier.

DadWannaBe,
So sorry to hear of your loss.

Scottynuke, I had to out myself too (about watching anything on Fox News) - ha! Howie Kurtz has a program on CNN called Reliable Sources, but I never quite know when it's on, except that it's too early on Sunday morning for me. And I don't think it's as funny - News Watch has the same people every week, so they kid and josh, and make some good points about the stories they look at.

Mudge, I like what you said about the GeneW piece. He does have a way of getting inside his subject, in an interesting and revealing way. The article about The Great Zucchini was a masterpiece - I couldn't find it to provide a link.

Beautiful day here today - sunny but "cold" - it's about 40 degrees, but humid, so it's chilly. I'm truly a weather wimp - any temperature outside of 60 to 80 degrees is too extreme for me.

I've been a Doonesbury fan since the strip first hit the MSM back when. Weighing my stack of Doonesbury compilation books I find they amass a respectable 3.3 kilos(8.25 lbs. for the unenlightened). The only other authors/writers/cartoonists in my stash that come close are Grahame Greene and Gunter Grass. (Greene runs elegantly while Grass has a lot of heart and is strong at the finnish).
Even though Garry's last name begins with a T and cartoons require more paper than text I believe he fits comfortly in this company.

Wilbrod: Thanks for that link. I never read doonesbury. Not by principle or anything, just because I never really started.

That strip got it exactly right, though, save for a couple of spelling mistakes. It's the French who love America who got hurt by French-bashing. Worse, it's the French-Americans.

Very rare to see an American with the guts to speak against French-bashing. Apologists for them, there's legion of them of course, as we've seen on this board. But people who will stand against bigotry and in favor of real dissent, who will actually listen instead of just stating that they're the greatest in the first place, it almost doesn't exist.

And after what has happened in Iraq, which is exactly what the French said would happen, you'd think that someone would think of saying that it's about time to stop this non-sense. But no, it continues, unabated, using animal names that originated in the dark days of British racism in the 1800's. And nobody even raises an eyebrow!

Thanks for sending me that strip. I don't think I had seen it before. It's conforting to know it exists.

I've been reading Doonesbury since the local paper starting carrying it and have loved it. The storyline the week BD lost his leg is pure genius. The Watergate ones were on that level. Does anyone remember the one that was printed the day after Nixon resigned? Three panels of a block wall being dismantled around the White House, the fourth panel with a view of the house and a butterfly flying away.

When the masterpieces of the current age shake out, Trudeau will be among them.

And yes, it takes someone with Weingarten's gift to write a piece that goes right to the heart of the man and his work. The first story of Weingarten's that blew me away was the one on the Alaskan islanders. He too is a genius.

Obama running?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/22/AR2006102200220.html

DWB -- I'm so sorry for all that is happening with you right now. Losing good friends at the same time -- my thoughts are with you and Mrs. DWB (or is she Ms. MomWanneBe?)

Last nite sky report: low humidity and no cloud cover made for an inky black night lit by glittering stars and a very rare glimpse of the Milky Way (rare for around here).

Yesterday the sky was achingly, crystalline blue, light dancing sharply on dying leaves. Light piercing my heart, keeping me welded to the present moment. Joyous blue.

Oddly, whenever the sky is so clear and blue, I only have memories of Western skies like this. Never of the now 19 Octobers I've passed on the East Coast.
I'll be back West soon enough.

I loved the Trudeau piece. Very interesting, Jane Pauley's illness and B.D.s -- that she sees the link and he doesn't.

Ivansmom -- I note you keep finding your way back to the boodle between bouts of parenting. ;-)

Out the door -- see y'all later.

Wilbrodog -- my cat (her name is Hannah) says hey -- wants to know how you're weekend was. She's very feline in asking me to pass on a hello -- nonchalant, almost as if she doesn't care at all, an over-the-shoulder glance and quick meeoow as she walks past me and the computer -- very careful to not show too much interest in me or you.

But she is intrigued with the idea of actually accompanying one's human on all outings. It's beneath a cat, really, but still . . .

Scottynuke, she also would like to give your 14 year old cat a litter box lesson. She only uses one when I'm away. Her litterbox is the great outdoors.

She learned to use the bathtub also. She actually got so used to using the tub -- associating drains with good hygiene that she started using the sewer drains outside for her toilet. Really -- I watched her time and again go to a specific sewer drain and pee into it.

She'd be horribly embarrassed if she knew I was sharing her litter behavior with the boodle. All she wanted me to do was say hi to Wilbrodog. Tee hee hee!! I have some control over her after all!!

I think "Piges" was a delibrate misspelling myself, Superfrenchie.
I had to hunt to find it, but it's perfect for your blog. (It was done in March 2004, je pense').

Hi! Hannah kitty needs to know that unfortunately the rules are that she'd have to wear a harness and leash, which can be rough at first, but remember you always have an owner to jump back on. As I blogged, I've seen cats out there taking walks.

SCC for Wilbrod-- it's PigeZ. And Wilbrod also says that I could jolly well learn how to use a toilet if I really wanted. No thanks, my leg doesn't go THAT high. Even if it makes layovers less stressful... just no. Cats have their pride, and tree-loving dogs have their pride, too.

Wilbrod: I read "Pigez?" ("understand?"), which could be considered correct even though the average Frenchie would probably say "Pigé?" ("understood?") or "Vous pigez?" ("you understand?")

So no, there's a couple of others. Or maybe it's completely deliberate to make it sound even more as the average French-American, rather than the average French-Frenchie.

Wilbrod, SF, in some of the earliest Doonesbury cartoons he also used French, there is a funny bit about being a French major from the Bronx (IIRC) and playing hockey and a reference to resolving the gender gap in Canada with a marriage between the Prime Minister and a co-ed (Pierre and Margaret Trudeau).

When I was reading Gene's article yesterday those were the strips that first popped into my mind.

Joel just got back in and for the first time today have time at home, Obama running? Wouldn' that be good, on a rainy Sunday that provides some cheer.

To the Achenblog,

Thanks very much. There's nothing quite so warm and comforting as the support of ones imaginary friends. It really does help in this time of grief.

I'm a part of several very dear and supporting communities and this is one of them. This week, as the bad news has been piling on (I also found out that one of my fellow cast members is having problems with her mother being seriously ill right now), I found that I can't really stomach posting on the MommyBlog. So, I've done a little lurking there, but I'm not really up for the contrariness, so I've been hanging out here instead. Much better for the psyche here.

Pat--I don't listen to a lot of Vivaldi and hence don't have a favorite, but I'm sure that you'll choose wisely and a serenade for my friend on her journey to heaven would be appreciated.

CP--I don't know if the gift shop has any shuttle earrings. It's been a while since I've been there (surprising since I work within walking distance of the building). I'll have to swing by there sometime this week to take a look.

nelson--although technically she could be Mrs. DWB since she honored me by taking my very ethnic name, I usually refer to her as MomWannaBe. However, since she doesn't read the Achenblog, I don't think it matters too much. Feel free to use whatever feels comfortable.

DWB, I love the way you expressed about your wife taking your name. I kept my own name, mainly because it felt very much apart of who I was, that you acknowledge that your wife gave you something by changing her to yours is touching and a refreshing change.

-it continues, unabated, using animal names that originated in the dark days of British racism in the 1800's-

Is calling a french person a frog "racism" or

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

Mercy

wilbrod, nelson: how about that?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_QYcQ464ZMQ

or that:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SuPNqnq0QI8

SF - who's got 2 cats + 1 on loan

boko: I can live with "frogs." I have more trouble with "weasels," "monkeys," "rats," or "worms."

In the 1860s, there was a debate among British scientists about the relationship of humans to animals. That prompted British racists to make frequent comparisons between Irish people and animals. French-bashers did not invent anything. They just recycled it.

I agree with you. Name-calling by animal names is pretty old, it's in the bible and way back past that.

Frogs are less offensive because it's a case of metalepsis--
http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm
It's rather a large jump from calling French frog-eaters, taking up the proverb "you are what you eat" literally and then calling them simply frogs. At least it is related to a French characteristic.

The other few terms SF mentioned are general terms of debasement without particular thought.

Although what SF refers to is racism-- Africans and the Irish were frequently compared as the species of human closest to the animals.
Stephen Jay Gould's "The Mismeasure of Man" is a very good account of how prejudice biased scientific testing of IQ, brain capacity, etc. to "prove" their prejudices were right.

SF, what disturbs me is that flushing the toilet and USINg the toilet does not seem to be trained together inside one cat, and there is um, no way to turn off the toilet-flushing skill in a cat once it is started.

Cats seem to be rather buggy to program.

Wilbrod: //At least it is related to a French characteristic.//

A stereotypical one for sure, but not an actual one...

//This dish is in the English-speaking world traditionally associated with French cuisine, and a favourite English derogatory nickname for the French is the Frogs. Despite this cliché, frog legs are actually a rare dish in France and are much more common in French speaking parts of Louisiana, particularly the Cajun areas of New Orleans. //

For the record, I have eaten frog legs only once in France, and a good dozen times in the US. You would have a very hard time finding them in a French supermarket or hypermarket. Here, you find them at Safeway...

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

I had fried frog legs in Michigan myself out of curiosity, and found them merely okay. They're eaten in Canada as well. My grandmother likes them but I don't think she's ever cooked them herself. I will ask.

They're comparable in chicken wings to texture but I find the flavor very mild and slightly salty and fishy, not exactly chicken-like. I found alligator to be comparable in taste, although somewhat stronger than frog.

If frog legs are on its way out in france as a heritage dish, it is probably due to both a shortage of frogs not on crutches anymore, and the endless jokes about frog-eating, I bet ;).

Even with the "low consumption", it's still 4000-6000 tons of frogs a year consumed in France.

http://www.ffcook.com/pages/frenchfrogs.htm

My mom told me not to try escargot, she described them as having a mildewed taste.

While discussing Canadian author Mordicea Richlers assertion that there is a strong strain of anti-semitism in Quebec society I almost got punched in the nose for saying something like, it was obvious that all Quebecois were bigots. It was such an oblviously ridiculous and bigoted statement I thought it would be seen for the joke I meant it to be. Never underestimate the eagerness of some people to be offended.(I've just finished watching Fox News Sunday, if I wasn't more evolved it wouldn't be guacomole encrusting the TV.)
The next time someone trashes France point out that without the French all the Yanks (synonyms anyone ?) would still be sucking limes and getting beat up by the Aussies.
Don't get get me started on those upside down wombat abusers.

Frog legs are one of the few things that actually do taste like chicken. They are sauteed (to jump!), not fried.

For news analysis, I always like to go to Diane Rehm's Friday News Roundup on WAMU, even though neither Joel nor Gene have ever been on it (to my knowledge). As of this coming Friday (the 27th) it becomes a two-hour Friday-morning event. Podcasts are a wonderful thing.

Boko999, there is a difference to my palate, maybe not yours.

They are DEFINITELY slightly fishy to me (not bad fishy, just fishy like freshwater fish). The taste is very mild overall.

If you didn't know and weren't paying attention to the bone size etc., you'd think it was chicken, yes.

Let's shake hands and say "chac,un a son gout." with the appropriate accent marks.

Wilbrod, from your site:

//Consumption of frogs' legs in France totals 3000 to 4000 tons per year
(60 to 80 million frogs). With a population of 60 million, that makes only 60 gr
[2 oz] per Frenchman, which means that, contrary to what many foreigners
believe, frogs' legs are not so popular in France ! Frog is now a protected
species in France so much frogs' legs are imported, in particular from Indonesia.
Frogs' legs are also light with 70 calorie per 100 gr [3.5 oz].//

I know very few Frenchies who have ever eaten frog legs. Although I must admit that this is not a typical topic of conversation, so it's possible that I just wouldn't know.

//If frog legs are on its way out in france as a heritage dish, [...] and the endless jokes about frog-eating, I bet ;).//

I doubt it. Most Frenchies are completely unaware that this is what they are called by Americans, and by the Brits to a lesser extent. That's the point of Trudeau's strip, French-bashing does not reach French-Frenchies, who are by and large unaware of it. And my contention is that French-bashers only do it because they know we don't exist as a community in the US, and thus can't react. Talk about cowards!

boko: I know, I know, thin-skinned and all that. But try having to take your kids out of a public school because of apparently completely acceptable bullying that repeats the French-bashing heard constantly in the adult world, and your skin might get thinner as well...

Yes, bullying is not taken seriously enough in the elementary and middle grades. It can have harmful consequences for life.

Every kid could theoretically be picked on for something, to ignore any case of bullying, particularly for unalterable characteristics, is not appropriate.

It is my belief that the teacher can help set a positive example or allow bullying to occur by being inattentive or playing favorites.

I'm sorry that SF found no other alternative but to pull his child.

Wilbrod, "Chacun à son goût" doesn't sound very well. I'd go with "les goûts et les couleurs, ça se discute pas"

So did you take a crack at the mistakes in the Trudeau strip?

Wilbrod: //Yes, bullying is not taken seriously enough in the elementary and middle grades. It can have harmful consequences for life.//

Actually, in Montomgery County Public Schools, it's taken very seriously. And severely punished.

But French-bashing is not seen as bullying. Because after all, "it's just a joke," and "why would you be so thin-skinned?"

Wilbrod
I hadn't read your post on amphiphian extremities until I posted.
Very generous, but I will bow to your assessment. No one has accused me of having good taste. Too many cigs?
I've always thought of escargot as the mushrooms of the sea so your mom's description seems like a recommendation to me.

Well, addressing the problem of one cat knowing only how to flush the toilet (endlessly) and many other cats knowing what it is actually used for -- of course cats a buggy to program!

We derive endless amusement from humans who think cats a even programmable.

I decided to use the tub because nelson kept forgetting to put my litterbox out. I did her a great favor by not using her rugs!

Heard the old joke about herding cats? Can't be done.

Wilbrodog, sounds like you suffer a bit
with the harness and such. But you do get to see the world.

I like frog legs. Much to nelson's dismay, I've eaten several pairs over the last summer. nelson gets very upset, tells me that amphibians have a hard time in the world these days. But I like the flavor.

whoops, here she comes -- can't let her know I can use the computer. I can also flush the toilet too ! :-)

I'd say the principal was severely remiss. Just because something is on paper doesn't always mean the specific person in charge will abide by it.

um, "libre de domination etrangere should be libre de domination forain" or "libre de domination d'etrangere."

des journaux francais = should be journaux francaises?

Should it be "des terroristes"? I'd have used "les terroristes"?

and "auriez-vous crie'" literally means you should have (a) shout. This seems a little funny, I'd probably have written Auriez-vous crier?

I also see another des before "jingoistic..."... I'd have used les.

And frankly, I'll be surprised if I caught the mistakes correctly.

SF
Would it be insensitive to counsel keeping a stiff upper lip?
In the face of such ignorant loutishness I think adding a slight curl would be appropriate.

wilbrod: //I'd say the principal was severely remiss. Just because something is on paper doesn't always mean the specific person in charge will abide by it.//

Maybe. But not in the current climate. Look at this very liberal blog we're currently posting on, where when one admittedly spiteful guy actually advocates french-bashing for fun, half the blog (OK, that's only 6 people, but still) applauds him for it!

You got the translation of "auriez-vous crié" right. It should be "would you have shouted?"

Other than that:

Zut is an interjection. No plural ("Zuts")

"La loyauté ne va dans qu'un sens" should be "La loyauté ne va que dans un sens."

"Si des terroristes avaient détruits" should be "Si des terroristes avaient détruit."

"Laissez-moi vous demander" is also a straight translation of "let me ask you," and, while grammatically correct, is unlikely to be used as such in French.

I also doubt that "provincial" would be used in such a context.

The rest is correct, if a bit formal (those 2 guys, who look like friends, would be more likely to use less formal expressions as "Ou etes-vous donc", and probably would use "tu" instead of "vous" in the first place.)

Like I said, it may very well be intentional, and in no way takes away from the message of the strip.

not all of us applaud unpleasant bashing

Ah, refreshing my memory on des now... can mean "some" as well as "of the".
I haven't taken a French class in 10 years.

boko: so what do I do? tell my daughter to just smile when she's called a coward and a chicken?

'cause after all, it's just a joke, and why would she get offended, right? I mean, sure, some people in her family died defending their country, but they probably died with their hands up like the chickens they are, so that doesn't really count, huh? plus, she may look clean and all that, but it's not like her mom has ever taken a shower, or shaved her armpits...

anon (5:38pm): I know. And I do appreciate.

SF
When I figure out how to explain intolerance and bigotry to anyone, let alone a child, I'll let you know.
Perhaps we should consult Cassandra.

We had our share of American-bashing some days before you started posting on this blog, if I recall correctly.

Joel made the mistake of parodying Ugly American stereotypes of the French and it was translated in French, rather poorly minus the humor, and an editorial about it posted on the French Yahoo!

That was the first time I've ever seen so much French used to express umbrage all in one place. It was actually much funnier than the original column was, especially since some of the posters started insulting each other too.

Most of the points they made were that the French are hardworking people and certainly not given to boozing all day in cafes. We got it, even with our poor French, by around the 10th such response.

JA was kind of worried he would be barred from France for the rest of his life and that he had somehow triggered an international incident with a humor column.

It's not even as though he joked about baking twenty and four frenchmen in quiche or anything.

Several months ago a couple of boodlers pointed out faults in some limericks I posted. Whether or not the critisism was deserved, my response was over the top. I accused the boodle of being inhabited by effete, over-educated, nit-picking party-pooper's. This is undeserved as it is untrue. It was unfair of me to accuse any boodlers of being party-poopers. My apologies.
While in no way minimizing my execrable behaviour, by way of explanation I would like to point out that I have been struggling with a deblitating disorder.
After having quaffed a couple of congressional pages I become very jolly and think everything I write or say is hilarious. A few more however and I become morose, combative and lash out at even mild criticism or disagreement. Months of intense therapy has shown me the destructiveness of my page addiction and a rigorous course of Jack Daniels, weed and 'ludes have weaned me away from this crippling sickness.
Thank you for your attention and again: I apologise.

Boko999

To: Hannah the Cat

Sorry, Hannah, but I have actually seen cats herded. Barn cats, true, but 5-6 of them were moving en masse exactly where a very determined Welsh Corgi wanted them to go. Took her about 3 minutes to get them all back in the barn, no scratches, no hissing, little defiance. Maybe they'd learned resistance was futile.

My last feline, Bruce Catton, would sit, lie down, roll over, play dead, beg, speak and shake paws for a freshly opened box of a certain type of cat treats. Humiliating, I know. My then-husband made me a bet that I'd never teach Bruce how to sit on command. Two tries, he had it. Shake paws took the longest, he didn't like having his paws touched--but was fine with putting his paw in your hand.

DWB, I'm so sorry to hear about your friend.

Food RULES! I bet I could herd cats, if I can herd Great Danes, cats gotta be easy... if they're nice cats. I can't work with hissing bundles of fur, that ruins the mood.

Labs rule (which is just like saying Food Rules)! Wilbrodog, if that corgi could herd cats, we're sure you could too!

Wilbrod: i would have liked to read that translation. Is there still a link to that yahoo column?

What I read of the cafe column did not look like French-bashing to me. Same thing for the "road treep" column. Using stereoptypes is not necessarily French-bashing. There are strereotypes that are true. Besides, making fun of our foibles, and we have plenty, is not necessarily French-bashing either. Even making fun of us using incorrect stereotypes is not necessarily bashing. It all depends on the context. Unfortunately, that context is way too often one of quiet hate, expressed or implied. That's when it makes me react.

To find out whether something crosses the line or not, I offer this very simple test to anybody willing to publish some "French" jokes: replace the word "French" by the word "black" or "Jew" or "Mexican." Because I can guarantee you, you all know exactly where the line is when it comes to people whose reaction can actually get you to lose your job!