Good Morning! Sorry to those whose team lost. Congrats to those whose team won.

When one combines the Superbowl and the Senate there is but a single logical outcome:

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset the committee"
-Nikki Cappelli

Good morning, friends. I hope the team won that you wanted to win, did not look at the Super Bowl. Can't get into it since my son is not here to share it with me.

Kbert, you said exactly what I feel, but you said it so much better than I ever could. I wish people would fight the ills of this world, hunger, violence, sickness, the way they fight Christianity, and people that really believe.

Off to the washroom this morning, and boy, is it cold here. Have a good day, everyone.

And Joel, I love this kit. I probably will never see those hallowed halls, but your description I suspect, tells it all.

God loves us so much more than we can imagine through Him that died for all, Jesus Christ.

I had my doubts about Prince, but he certainly raised the bar for halftime shows.

Except for that last-minute DIY rain covering for his hair...

I liked the homage to Jimi and Tina especially. Prince was definitely live. Wish the Bears had been too.

:-)

Today, Feb. 5, is the fourth anniversary of the date that my cousin (see previous Boodle discussion about Powell genealogy), former Secretary of State Colin Powell marched onto the floor of the United Nations and attempted to convincingly make the case for Iraq having weapons of mass destruction and, by extension, the invasion of Iraq by coalition forces. Former director of the CIA, Gerge Tenet, seated directly behind Powell, at the time of this charade.

I was reminded of the date and anniversary thaks to the follwong paragraph from Frank Rich's op-ed column in the NYT yesterday:

Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of Colin Powell's notorious W.M.D. pantomime before the United Nations Security Council, a fair amount of it a Cheney-Libby production. To mark this milestone, the White House is reviving the same script to rev up the war's escalation, this time hyping Iran-Iraq connections instead of Al Qaeda-Iraq connections. In his Jan. 10 prime-time speech on Iraq, Mr. Bush said that Iran was supplying "advanced weaponry and training to our enemies," even though the evidence suggests that Iran is actually in bed with our "friends" in Iraq, the Maliki government. The administration promised a dossier to back up its claims, but that too has been delayed twice amid reports of what The Times calls "a continuing debate about how well the information proved the Bush administration's case."

Super Bowl = Super Yawn. My wife, who does enjoy football (an avid Steelers fan) fell asleep somewhere around the end of the third quarter. The Bears, though, seemed to have preceded her. I did note that the announcers made the point that it had been almost an hour since the Bears offense was on the field from the end of the first half through half-time and into the 3rd quarter. That could put you to sleep too.

Speaking of being put to sleep--The Senate--right on, Joel. Having occasionally watched Bob Byrd trying to say something sensical is a unique experience. No wonder the Senate dragged their heels on letting C-Span in.

Since, Joel, you mention former U.S. senators Webster, Clay, Calhoun and Sumner in your Kit, I feel compelled to bring over the entire Judith Warner column, titled "An Irrational Voter," that ran yesterday as part of NYT Select. How many Boodlers have any idea who these men--Webster, Clay, Calhoun and Sumner--were and what they stood for in the U.S. Senate, as well as when they were members? I doubt more than one or two of us Boodlers.

I bring over to the Boodle the op-ed in its entirety also because it's a rebuttal of sorts to an op-ed that ran recently in the Washington Post. If I have made a mistake in doing so, then let Frank Rich rap my knuckles in person tonight.

Judith Warner, who writes the "Domestic Disturbances" column:

The ever-controversial Linda Hirshman, had an article in the Washington Post this past week, in which she depicted American women voters - and suburban stay-at-home moms in particular - as politically ignorant, disinterested and ultimately self-defeating.

Citing studies and anecdotes culled from a few conversations with Washington-area suburban moms who appear to spend a fair amount of their time sitting around on their living room sofas and reading People magazine, she painted a rather damning portrait of women who don't read newspapers, don't read up on policy, and very often get their information on the outside world from their more tuned-in working husbands. Ignorant of the issues, they cast their votes based on such slippery stuff as "character," and then, in election after election, blow their chances of being "the decisive force that will elect someone who embraces their views."

Women are not "rational political actors," Hirshman writes. "Instead, they vote on impulse, and on elusive factors such as personality."

Some of what Hirshman has to say is, unfortunately, true. Survey after survey shows the consumers of news today to be disproportionately male. In my own anecdotal forays through the living rooms of America's suburbs, I've often been struck by the degree to which women - particularly mothers of young children - don't keep up with world events.

The reasons are quite obvious - for stay-at-home moms in particular, who don't have the excuse of in-office dead time to read the paper or browse the Internet, there are just no free moments in the day. But, however understandable the phenomenon, the results can be worrisome. Hirshman cites a recent Pew Research Center study showing that nearly half the women surveyed said they "sometimes do not follow international news because of excessive coverage of wars and violence"; a New York Times/CBS poll last year found that nearly 10 percent more women than men still believed that Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. In an age when Americans are showing a troublesome tendency toward irrational belief (There were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; there were dinosaurs on Noah's Ark), keeping up, at least minimally, with the news probably ought to be a prerequisite for the job of childrearing.

That said, while Hirshman's statistics on female ignorance of the news are worth note, her conclusions about women's particular irrationality as voters truly miss the mark. These days, all voters vote "irrationally" - if such factors as personal appeal and character can be said to be irrational.

Just look at the presidential election results of 2004: a solid majority of voters said they disapproved of George Bush's handling of the war and the economy. Most voters, furthermore, said they believed the country was headed in the wrong direction. But 70 percent of voters also rated the president as "likeable." They overwhelmingly said they'd rather have a beer with him than with John Kerry and would be much more likely to trust him to walk their dog. No matter where he was on the issues, Kerry's "personality gap" just couldn't be breached.

Look at how John Edwards feels the need to fuss with his hair; how pundits worry that it's his temper and general bonkers factor - not his anti-choice or pro-war votes - that will prove John McCain's undoing. Character, personality, "likeability" as the pollsters put it - they're huge issues for voters now, in particular for the swing voters who don't have strong ideological leanings. Regardless of gender.

"It's sort of the same thing that makes us believe celebrities are one of us," Sherry Bebich-Jeffe, a senior scholar of policy planning at the University of Southern California, in Los Angeles, told me. "When we see these people in our living rooms all the time, it's as though they are among us, and then it becomes important for us to feel we can relate to them. We all tend to vote on personality. Women are no different than any other voters."
In fact, last October, in the run-up to the Congressional midterm elections, another New York Times/CBS poll found no significant difference between the percentages of men and women who cited "personal qualities" as the main reason they were supporting their chosen candidate for the House of Representatives.

Singling out women voters for alleged soft thinking is misguided, and a little bit bizarre. It reminds me of the arguments used historically by the French left to deny their countrywomen the vote. The ladies, the leftists said, were much too close to their village priests; hence, a vote for a woman was a vote for irrationality - and, of course, a conservative candidate. (This worked; French women didn't get the vote until 1945.)

Hirshman's disdain for the way many women live their lives today shouldn't lead her to underestimate their cognitive skills - or overestimate those of their spouses. Our country may well be sliding towards idiocracy (to borrow from the title of Mike Judge's recent dystopic), but it's not just a girl thing.

Forgot:
There is no proof that God exists, so don't expect Her to save you. Live this day intelligently and wisely.

//..Americans are showing a troublesome tendency toward irrational belief (There were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq; there were dinosaurs on Noah's Ark),..//
This is funny and troubling.
While it was rational to beleive Saddam had WMD, only somebody crazy enough to beleive the Ark fable would use them. I wish I was convinced of the sanity of several powerful figures in the US government. From my reading of some religious right websites I find an unsettling eagerness for a war with Iran. They beleive this will help bring about the apocalype and they can scoot off to heaven, leaving the evil and unbeleivers behind waiting for hell.
Let me be clear, this is a small but signifagant subset of the Christocrats. The true reconstructionist think they have to take over the country before attacking Iran.. yadda..yadda.

Pursuant to last weeks GW news, thought you might like this.

http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Cartoon/2007/02/05/3530868.html

That was funny, dr. Thanks.

Hey Cassandra!! *waving* I trust that all is well with you.

Considering that weather was a factor in the Bowl game last night, They should have added the extra challenge of playing in one of the northern venues where they would be frozen, wet, and be in a spot where they would really earn their money. Better yet, Buffalo. Most of NYS is in a deep, windy freeze. Long live the Ice Bowl.

As for the Senate, maybe caning could make a comeback.

Jack I like your comment, as I went outside yesterday morning I thought to myself this is perfect for a classic Bears/Packers match (the concept if not the exact teams), and thought to myself wouldn't it be amusing to see the Superbowl played on the "frozen tundra". Couldn't have been any worse.

Fear not, science fans, the Webb telescope may yet supercede the Hubble...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/04/AR2007020400990.html

C'mon, Loomis, you're insulting our intelligence. Webster wrote dictionaries; Clay won 2nd place in American Idol a few years ago; Calhoun was a character on Amos 'n' Andy, and Sumner was the woman who sang those hot disco songs.

Sheesh. Give us a break here.

dr, here is a fun article about taking grade 5 students in Toronto curling. Cute perspective of a traditional game being introduced to the new face of young Canadians.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/178214

Yes, dmd, it would certainly be interesting to see how modern technology would deal with deeply frozen turf, gusty winds and below zero wind chills. Why not an internatinoal championship between the winners of the CFL and NFL at alternating outdoor venues?

I thought Sumner was coming back for the Police reunion at the Grammys...

Oh, BTW, I was to express some (real) umbrage over all this nonsense about that *&%$#@ Doritos add only cost "$12." What a load of crap. The Today Show this morning interviewed the gang that made it. Yes, they are five unknown amateurs, but so what? They spent four days making the ad (one part of which required 20 takes). Five people times four days times (an assumption) 8 hours per day = 160 labor hours. They claim that the $12 "cost" was for four bags of Doritos. That they charged approximately...uh...carry the 7....multiply by the square root...um...aproximately ZERO for their labor and equipment is bogus. Try getting anybody on Madison Avenue to give you 160 labor hours of work for ZERO cast.

And somehow, now that this gang is famous (which I don't begrudge them), I have a suspicion that they are going to charge a little more for their next piece of work.

What disturbs me is how everyone is buying in to the hype.

'Mudge;

The Doritos crew obviously had high-def cameras and a city street and stuff laying around unused. Nice ad, though.

:-)

Football, like the Olympics, should be performed outside to more closely reflect the martial conflicts they approximate.
Football under a dome is only Really Big Arena football.
I wonder what happened to arena baseball.

Chili-mac. Ummmmmmmmmmm.

"They told her that the administration has mired us in the most incompetently managed war since the Trojan."

"Gen. David H. Petraeus, the new U.S. commander in Iraq, is assembling a small band of warrior-intellectuals"

Over the wine-red sea comes the mighty and shrewd warrior Petraeus accompanied by his circle of wise men. As the beaming golden orb that shines over Babylon creats a crowned halo over these warriors' craggy visages, the doomed the fallen, the helpless and the hapless, cry out in joy at a releasing salvation--succor from a harsh winter of misery.

"Oh wise Petraeus, a garland for thy brow," one miserable legless man of battle shouts, tears streaming from his hope-brightened eyes.

The simple, yet calculating Shrub, seated afar, rubs his nose, and struts a circle, pondering always pondering his luckless fate.

I agree, Prince was the game MVP by a mile. Great song choices (gotta admit, as cool as it was to have him play Dylan by way of Jimi and Tina, playing some Foo Fighters was a pleasant surprise, nice ack that those guys are still making good American music) good arrangements, tasty guitar playing, good production (musically, anyway).

The game went along the lines I suggested, if the Bears play solid football, get some breaks and good special teams play, and disrupt the Colts, they have a shot (see first half). If da Bearz couldn't stop the Colts running game, and have to depend on R. Grossman, well, goodnight and good luck to them (see secong half).

I'd love to see the Super Bowl played in every stadium in the league on a rotating basis, including Buffalo, Green Bay and Chicago. It's football, fer goodness' sake.

Good morning, Cassandra.
Hiya everybody.

bc

WOOO HOOO, go Peyton! (That's what the "P" in PLS stands for, by the way). That's my boy! Way to win the Superbowl!

We have a few Colts connections in my family, not the least of which is that my husband's grandfather taught Tony Dungy high school history - Grandpa has always had great things to say about the Dungy family.

I made hot dog chili (it's chili with ground sirloin, hot dogs, and onions) from scratch, my famous chicken-and-riso pasta dish with melty parmesean cheese, and assorted dips with veggies and chips. I don't need to eat at all today.

SCC: "way to go". I swear I actually typed those words and the computer ate them.

Even the Boy enjoyed Prince - as well he should, formidable musician that Prince is. That's the only part of the show I sat down and watched; well, that and the Robert Goulet ad. I'm still laughing.

I loved the Kit's description of the Senate. Joel, your powers of observation have been well used. I particularly enjoyed the realization that all this Senate theater so often results in nothing - no vote, no action, just the certainty of air time and a review. And don't forget, the Senate "actors" are paid pretty well. Would that all theater companies had their advantages.

The Robert Goulet ad was funny.
Of course, my children had never even heard of the guy. And I, naturally, had just assumed he was dead.

Same thing goes for Prince.

I almost went to Sumner High School. But Puyallup High had a better bus schedule.

The White House has come out with the FY 08 budget. Your dollars wisely spent, no doubt.

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/fy08/browse.html

My kids know Robert Goulet from The Simpsons:

Goulet: "You from the casino?"
Nelson: "I'm from *a* casino."
Goulet: "Good enough. Let's go."

The song Goulet sings at the kids' casino?
"Jingle bells, Batman smells...."

First class guy all the way.

I do my best.

Words that best describe my budget: Rounding Error

Super Bowl ads:

Question at the starting gate: Couldn't CBS sell more of its multimillion dollar ad space for 30- and 60-second spots during the Super Bowl?

We had CBS ads ad nauseum: CSI ads for Miami, Las Vegas and New York, Katie Couric ads up the ying-yang, Survivor Fiji ads, How I Met Your Mother ads, Two and a Half Men ads, Shark ads, a Letterman and Dr.Phil Grudge Match ad, and ads for the premiere of the tonight's debut of Rules of Engagement--the latter shown so often it was like beating a dead horse. There was even a game promo admonishing viewers to enjoy the game--the Slippery Bowl or is it the Fumble Bowl or was it just football wet T-shirt mud wrestling?

Slapping ads:
Well, we've had b1tch-slapping here on the Boodle, now Joel is resurrecting dead U.S. senators from their oil portraits to come down and smack us. There was the slapping portrayed in Disney's upcoming cartoon-for-children movie, "Meet the Robinson's." In the second quarter, there was Bud Light's slapping ad, in which everyone gets whacked, since fist-pumping is now passe. I'll pass on those products, thank you very much.

There was the homophobic Snicker's ad. The Budweiser showed no ads this year celebrating America's fallen heroes, did you notice? Folks in San Antonio are still sore that Rosie O'Donnell was invited to the opening ceremonies of the privately funded Center for the Intrepid here in town last week. I'll also give up all Mars candy bars, thank you very much.

As risky, Nationwide's ad featuring Fresno, Calif's Keven Federline and Prudential's rock ad showing a diamond? By the way, was that a conflict diamond?

Did anyone think Sheryl Crow's tour bus took a wrong tour, so that she ended up at Dolphin Stadium promoting Revlon's Colorist hair product? This one ad seemed out of place, but you have to give Revlon credit for being the only sponsor who had an ad aimed almost exclusively to the distaff demographic.

The dot.com ads were really a bust or a yawn this year. Biggest failure: the careerbuilder.com ads promoting office life as a jungle or combat at the Roman Coliseum. Dollars down the TV drain for them. The godaddy.com ad was scary: their marketing department reminded me of the romp-room atmosphere inside the Texas TCEQ trailers stationed in Helotes.

The running commentary by announcers Jim Nantz and Phil Simms was lame when it veered away from sports. They announced that February is Black History Month (shouldn't history be taught all the months of the year--ethnic history included?), then said there were scholarly works about it (naming none), but added that the Super Bowl yesterday was "living it by example." Ditto for the dumb remarks by the same talking sportcaster duo about David Spade and Patrick Warburton not having a show that was a big enough of a hit so tht the two actors sitting in the pouring rain could be bumped up to better box seats at the event.

David Letterman had his arm around Oprah. We all know Oprah broadcasts her show from Chicago. What state does Letterman hail from? I really was expecting a followup ad later in the game where Letterman had his other arm around Uma Thurman, so that he could repeat his line from the his less than stellar Oscar-hosting gig, "Oprah, meet Uma. Uma, meet Oprah."

Please know that Jon Allan, mayor of Helotes and a doctor of veterinary medicine at the Southwest Center for Biomedical Research, was a consultant on the BudLight gorillas-at-the-zoo-having-their-picture-taken ad. Did you catch the ad in which African lions speak Spanish for the Taco Bell? Give that animal trainer a raise!

My personal favoraite ad at this year's Super Bowl? The battered heart ad mentioning high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease, sponsored by beatyourrisk.com. It's just too bad the third-quarter Jack in the Box ad didn't air just before the heart-health spot.

Federal budgets are fun to translate into real numbers. Since I have a family of three and there are 300 million people, more or less, in the US, my family is personally responsible directly or indirectly for one millionth of one percent of each item.

Defense spending is half a trillion dollars, which makes my family share five grand. The National Park Service cost us $21. I gotta say the parks were the better value. Even if you throw in the extra fifty bucks I had to spend for the annual pass to visit Yosemite, Grand Canyon, and Rocky Mountain parks.

I dearly hope this budget is DOA. Tax cuts permanent? Ooooh didn't see that one coming. You know, if I continually ran up a massive credit card debt, my standard of living would be pretty sweet too. Which, of course, is why the economy keeps humming along. Of course, with personal debt, we owe to the banks. With federal debt, we owe to the Chinese.
Real smart.

I have made the argument that in my learned opinion the best way to keep America safer is to return 10% of my budget to help pay off the national debt.

But Congress won't let me.

Loomis: Choosing a national leader by personality and/or character, instead of party affiliation or one-issue stands, may actually turn out to be the wiser criteria. (goodness knows we can't choose one based upon campaign promises!) In today's world, being able to change one's mind, admit mistakes, and make a quick decision based upon the best available information, may be exactly what is needed.

On the other hand, deciding someone's character and personality for national leadership based upon hairstyle and smiling publicity photos - instead of their past & present deeds, and/or grace under (reporter) fire and public debate - is a scary thought. Not to mention taking filtered facts from a spouse (or Fox News) as "information". The article disturbed me for that reason.

Regarding Joel's comment about Bill Clinton's yum-yum scandal, it reminded me of my opinion that the slippery slope leading to the loss of innocence for middle-school children began right there. When oral sex was emblazoned on the evening news and all over the newspapers, the nation's children seem to have found out about something that is "not really" sex, that they now view as second base. Just past a tongue kiss, not enough to get you pregnant, ergo it must be okay. My eyes were opened as a first-year teacher a while back when I sponsored a field trip during which an impropriety of this sort happened between two 8th-grade students. The act was perpetrated in front of a group of kids, to add to the audaciousness of it all. Girls of this age give'em away like lollipops, and boys are happy to take advantage. When I was in 8th grade, I was elated to get to touch my first b00b, and now that is sooooo passe. I lay much of the blame for this loss of innocence at the feet of Bill Clinton and the MSM that publicized his sex life for all the kids to learn about.

Fast forward to today, and Rep. Foley gets in zero legal trouble for his lewd and suggestive emails to kids on capitol hill. Sure, he resigned his job, sullied his reputation, and lost his credibility, but so what? If I or one of my educator colleagues had perpetrated these same acts, we'd be in prison, and rightfully so. So what makes congressmen above the law?

Gotta be the suits. They look so professional and statesmanlike.

"My senator would never________________!"

You fill in the blank.

The woman who cuts my hair will never vote for a pro-choice candidate because "abortion is killing babies."

She doesn't mind killing the children and grownups in Iraq.

She doesn't think the government has any business telling pregnant women not to smoke or drink or take drugs because that will harm the babies.

She won't look at any other issue; if the candidate is pro choice, he or she will not get my hairdresser's vote no matter what the other issues are.

How can you work with a citizenship like that? They may not approve of the way the president is doing his job, but he's out to save those poor unborn babies, isn't he? Based on that one issue, they would vote for him again against any pro-choice candidate.

That's what's scary.

Super Bowl Ads: only watched a few, was chatting with friends and scrounging for food and drink during the commercials.

It's a *football game*, fer cryin' out loud.

And all we football fans have left is the lame Hula Bowl / All Star Game, and then the Long Dark Halftime of the Soul.

bc

Rats! I missed the Robert Goulet ad. He was on my list of "entertainers to see before they die" list. Saw him at Wolftrap in Man of LaMancha. The daughter was 7 at the time and is probably his one and only 17yo fan. I've since seen Wayne Newton and Tom Jones. Rich Little is next.

Prince is the talk of Minnesota this morning, and justifiably so. At last a half time show that didn't make you cringe.

I didn't watch much of the game preferring to spend my time with Alex. After sleeping comfortably through the night in front of the fireplace on her favorite blanket, she died peacefully at 8:15AM CST. Many thanks to all who wished us well. Whether moved by faith, empathy, or National Geographic, your kind words were most appreciated by this newbie to the boodle.

frostbitten, so sorry about Alex. Glad the boodlehugs helped.

TBG

Yup, gotta blame Clinton for 8th graders' behavior. It's up to -8 here in Northern Illinois, I'm sure Bill is somehow responsible for that too. Damn you Clinton!!!

'I particularly enjoyed the realization that all this Senate theater so often results in nothing - no vote, no action, just the certainty of air time and a review.' Ivansmom
Isn't the whole idea of power balance is to use the slow Senate motion to counter that of rushing House representatives?

'Morning all!

Super Bowl eats were Buffalo Chicken Tenders (wing sauce on gently fried bits of white meat), Taquitos (thank you Costco!), and a (largely uneaten) veggie tray.

I loved the last Careerbuilder ad with the guy walking on coals droning "must improve pie charts." I think I used to work there...

TBG, do we have the same hair cutter?

Hi, Cassandra! Thanks for staying in touch!

Saw Robert Goulet years ago in a touring show of South Pacific. Can't get excited about him one way or another.

We joined our "group or tribe" at the synagogue, where the Men's Club had set up a Super Bowl party as a fundraiser for the costs of repairing the building of the Chosen People (Laurel local). Funny thing, professional contractors require money, and we've had enough jokes about the dangers of Jews with power tools. The rumors may hold an element of truth (although actually, there are several engineers and general contractors in the congregation, so it's not MUCH truth). A 1-chance-in-100 raffle was used to dispose of the plasma-screen HDTV that was purchased to show the game; the raffle was based on the final digit in the score of each team. A conscious choice of high-probability scoring values could definitely skew the odds, but one is assigned one's numbers by a random process. I had a couple corned-beef sandwiches and a hot dog (Hebrew National, all-beef kosher, natch), then I retired to the rabbi's study/library and worked on my laptop. Even within the confines of a synagoge community, I am beyond ordinary levels of geekdom. I have verified that somebody won the game, but we did not win the HDTV.

No senators were observed to be bloviating in the vicinity (that's passive voice for ya), so the building fund took a minor hit by the need to heat the air in the room at an uncharacteristic time. A gentlemen who was not aware that the synagogue was not currently hosting the Men's Winterhaven program came by (point being, we're pretty out of the way, so he had to make a special trip) and got a healthy meal and a warm place for the night. Turns out, you don't need to be a synagogue member to be a member of the community.

It's all about the Tikkun Olam, y'all. You can look it up.

Decent article in the New Yorker featuring some of the brain trust we are going to use to hearts and minds Iraq.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/061218fa_fact2

frostbitten, so sorry for you and Alex. Glad you could be there through the end.

frostbitten, I'm so sorry to hear about your Alex. She was the best of dogs. I know how hard it is and will be thinking of you.

frostbitten, I am sorry for your loss, we had a family dog when I was young, their loss is always felt but so too is the joy brought to our lives. Our dog was special enough to get a mention in my mom's eulogy.

My thoughts are with you.

Likability is an awful way to elect leaders. It cheapens the whole affair to little more than a high school popularity contest with one major difference. You actually have the ability to get to know your candidates for high school elections. No such luck on the state or national scene. We have only to trust the ads the politicians put out about themselves and their opponents, both of which focus on amplifying bull$h1t. Some of the cow patties are positive and some are negative, and we are left to decide which is which.

Also, in my earlier rant, I blamed Clinton and the MSM, but Ken Starr deserves some of the blame for telling us exactly what the former president does with his cigars. I didn't need that, and neither did my students.

Welcome to the boodle frosty, sorry to hear about Alex.

My favorite commercial was the rock paper scissors Bud Lite, but I just like slapstick a little to much. The dumbest was GoDaddy. I still don't know what the commercial was for and it showed twice. I guess the commercial was put together by that partying marketing depeartment. And the Real Umbrage Award goes to all the drug commercials. They shell out 2.5 mil for a thirty second spot so middle aged can learn about a drug that lets them pee and then they charge how much for that drug.

And I watched the whole game and agree it was a very sloppy game played in very sloppy conditions, but still I liked it. Yay Indy.

Also the halftime show was pretty good (not the biggest Prince fan here).

Only barely paid attention to Billy Joel singing the anthem, but I thought I heard him go off kkey a couple times, and his voice sounded a little scratchy to me.

Thats all. next post will be off topic I assure you...

Sorry to hear about Alex; glad she went peacefully.

Yeah, Prince beats any of the Jacksons at this moment.
He's outgrown his cringe-worthy "Purple Rain" days.
(At least _I_ cringed when watching that ego-bloat movie as a preteen. YMMV)

Mudge -- I gotta commend you on that stew recipe -- I salivated just reading it. I don't normally eat red meat, but I may go buy some and make that Breton Stew!

Didn't watch the game so I can't comment on the ads, Prince or even the actual game. I did order a pizza last nite -- and ate 5 or so slices! Delish! Thanks to all who sent me calories -- I'm up a pound by virtue of cyber-calories alone!

frostbitten, so sorry about Alex -- belated boodle-hug.

On Senatorial pontification:

Trying to remember where I read (this morning) a fictional piece by Roger Simon about Joe Biden's exit from the '08 race -- Simon wrote that Biden said, and I paraphrase " A Jew, A Mormon, a black and a woman, all running for president! It's beginning to resemble the bar scene from Star Wars!" I think it was in the NYT. Gotta go check it out again and get the link. The Jew being Bloomberg, and the Mormon of course, being Romney.

dr -- thanks for the link to the "I'm with stupid" cartoon. Normally I prefer the word "humankind" to "mankind" -- but hey, use what works!! :-) (apologies already offered to all men. A lame joke at your expense).

TBG -- sigh . . . your hairdresser's opinions are distressing, and very common down here. I do believe however, that these folks represent a minority of the electorate. Polls show a good solid majority of Americans are pro-choice. I do believe that the 28% or so that still support Dubya is pretty much that part of the electorate made up of people like your hairdresser.

A minority, thankfully.

yello -- glad the replacement of your ACL went well. Thankfully, I don't need the services of a physical therapist -- it's just a matter of gaining the weight and muscle back. Gotta do it myself.

I swam 10 laps yesterday! Slowly, making sure I wasn't stressing the abdominal area too badly. It went quite well and expect I'll be in the water a lot now. My goal is to get back to 40 laps (1 kilometer) in just under 40 minutes -- a nice aerobic workout I can do that's friendly to my fibromyalgia.

Gotta hit the weights again too.

College Parkian and Yoki -- thanks so much for your gardening posts. I loved the poem Yoki -- and I suspect my old garden, the parts of which weren't dug up and stolen, will be blooming with abandon this coming spring and summer. If I were to go visit today, I'd probably be treated to the vision of hundreds of crocus in bloom in the lawn, and early narcissus too. There is still a garden there -- may it thrive unattended.

At least your bloviating senators are elected. Ours are still appointed by our PM in what is usually thought of as a retirement gift for party faithful.

Maybe we can borrow some of your paintings to sit in our senate, as that would be less offensive in a supposedly mature democracy.

(sorry for mini-rant. BTW I see that one of my Google ads is for Ottawa Senators tickets)

Congrats to the Colts. Isn't bill everything from Indiana?

Magical thinking and the Superbowl:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/04/AR2007020401032.html

TBG, you'd need the wisdom of Socrates to get your hairdresser to see her own inconsistency in her thinking. Oh well.

omni - Both my son and I thought Billy Joel had a bit of trouble with the Anthem -especially at the very beginning.

Prince's halftime show rocked. That dude can play the guitar. I'm a bit surprised no comments have been made about his sillouette scene, however. It was a bookend to Janet's nipple reveal. Prince had a wonderful, s$%&-eating grin after the curtain dropped, too ;)

Rd, my comment when Billy Joel was singing was, that it made your anthem sound like Piano Man, particularly in the bigging the rest just sounded off key.

SoC - does it help that at least our Senators have very little actual impact (OK probably not - perhaps dwell on the constitutional nightmare chaning their roles would involve). Reading Hansard from the Senate is good comic relief.

nelson, be careful. I'm chomping at the bit to get back to physical activity but my surgeon recommended 6 weeks off from swimming, running and weight lifting.

dmd, I heard the US system was originally appointment by the senator's state, but evolved to elections without a constitutional amendment. True, anyone?

The Next American Idle; Your Senator - It's taken me quite a few years since graduation to finally figure out the best use of my degree in English: I wanna write speeches for these guys. No really! I mean, I've watched a coupla senate hearings when they fumble about for the most obtuse words just to hear themselves speak so they can watch it later on C-Span, and it just KILLS me. So I wanna be the one to put their somnorific, pedantic, and often unnecessarily incensed ramblings into perfectly composed and witty King's English, and then Joel, Gene and Jean can vote them off the floor.

(Prince always rocks, regardless of hair fashion, or lack thereof.)

frostbitten, I'm sorry I overlooked your post concerning Alex. My condolences.

TBG, I'm sure you didn't discuss any of the retroactive abortion programs that the Bush Administration is currently supporting with your hairdresser, did you?

For those of us enduring the cold, the Washington DC government reminds us to eat high calorie foods, as our bodies give off slightly more heat processing them. And in my case, the additional layer of blubber helps too.

bc

SonofCarl -- thanks for the caution. My surgeon actually told me, when I saw him on Friday, that swimming was okay. I'm not about to hit the weights yet. My gut hurts just thinking about it!

But I did handle the ten laps yesterday very well. My normal bull-in-a-china-shop approach would have me going for broke today. But I'm getting older -- thankfully. Will slowly build up the laps, while swimming as slowly as I can.

It's true that originally Senators in the USof A were appointed by the electoral college of each state. This was changed in the early 20th century (in the 20s, I think). Senators now have to stand for election every 6 years. Only 1/3 of the Senate is up for election every 2 years, as opposed to the entire House of Representatives.

SoC I figure if we got to the point where we bother to elect the Senators, then we should give them some responsibility and that is where the constitutional issues would come into play, I also remember something about there being certain numbers of Senators required from the various regions that would take a constitutional change to alter.

Of course my memory is not reliable.

bc, thanks for the tip I no longer feel bad about the piece of fudge I just consumed - it is keeping me warm in this frigid weather :-)

frostbitten, I am sorry about Alex.

I had to take my cats to the shelter which was about ten miles from where I lived, and I cried all the way back home. My neighbor hated cats, and my cats were digging up his yard. Plus I wasn't able to feed them, so I figured the shelter was best. The lady at the shelter called a week later to say the kittens were adopted. That eased my heart some.

When one fixates on a single issue to the exclusion of all others, the results can be absurd. This is the point Trey Parker and Matt Stone are trying to make in "Team America" when they show puppet commandoes blowing up all of Paris in the pursuit of a single puppet terrorist.

Although some might not get the connection.

Sportsthink: My husband was telling me about the thread on his Tarheel Boodle on how to win the rest of this season's games (this, after their loss to NC State over the weekend).

I asked what kind of advice his boodlers were handing out. He said, "You know... wear purple socks, don't eat Doritos during the game, only sit on the brown couch when you watch the game and never on the beige one. Stuff like that."

So now you know the reason UNC has won so many national championships.

Mudge, forgot to mention, I'm sending to the city to get a dictionary for the program. Thanks a bunch.

You're welcome, Cassandra.

Nelson, I've been mulling your remark that you tend to avoid red meat, and started thinking about the possibility of substituting chicken for beef in the stew recipe. The red wine and beef broth (you can substitute chicken broth, BTW, and chicken base, too) are going to stain the chicken a dark color, but if you don't mind that, it might work. I'm sure substituting white wine for red won't work, first because the other stuff is doing to darken the chicken anyway, and second because I think the red wine is important for the flavor. But who knows? Maybe a white would work, too. Give it a try and let me know how it turns out.

Rant away SoC. I'm right there with you, and I don't know a soul who isn't.

Mudge, how about turkey drumsticks? Already dark and full of flavor. You could try duck, but you'd want to steam it first in order to remove the fat. That sounds like work.

yellojkt--That New Yorker Geo Packer article is indeed good. I think I recommended it some time back.

SciTim--Laurel? When I was in middle school (Waterloo Middle, now Deep Run Elementary damn you Columbia!)), a Laurel kid was after me. In fact, his whole posse wanted to thrash me a bit. I think there was some improper touching of his girlfriend... Anyway, it's nice to hear Laurel mentioned. I hail from Elkridge. And it's good to hear you're Jewish. Now I know you're not my brother-in-law, who would probably call himself SciRon, anyway.

SciTim is the Nexus of the Universe.

Well, what else do TV commercials, government budgets, presidential sex, and dying pets have in common? Oh yeah--and Texas compost fires.

Gomer, the evidence is that Bill Clinton did everything he could to prevent your 8th grade students from finding out about his sexual escapades. There can be no doubt that the amount of effort that went into publishing every disgusting detail of his sexual practices was excessive, but Clinton was merely an eager participant of the event not the subsequent publicity. I can also personally testify that at least one schoolteacher found teens publically performing overt sexual acts in 1986 (my first year as a teacher) at a time when few people outside of Arkansas were aware of Bill Clinton. I can only suspect that other schoolteachers before me made similar discoveries.

Even if there weren't, imagine what would have happened if President Kennedy's White House escapade with Marlene Dietrich, in which, because of his bad back, she assumed the superior position, had been used by Everett Dirksen or Barry Goldwater for political purposes. Or if Adlai Stevenson had used Dwight Eisenhower's illicit relationship with Kay Sommersby, his WWII companion, during the presidential campaigns of 1952 and 1956. Then we could blame Kennedy, or Eisenhower, for all the illegitimate births since, all those abortions, that 51% of women are unmarried, and Congressmen chasing after pages. We haven't had those scapegoats, but only because there was a sense of honor, and yes, comity that existed in those times; and an understanding that all persons have their frailties, and it is only those frailties that truly affect the public weal that should be used for political advantage. While these modern times have undoubtedly lost inhibitions about sexual matters there has also been a loss of other cultural mores that have had deleterious effects on our society.

Or at least of the Maryland suburbs around DC.

Dave- That improper touching of the girlfriend? That is now considered conversation by middle-schoolers. The point I tried to make in my 11:35 post was that when I was an 8th-grader in 1990, inappropriate touching (and bj's) were a big, no, HUGE deal, but by 2000 the kids are giving them out like stickers.

Now what could have happened in the intervening decade that changed things so much? Hmmmmm, I can't imagine... Can anyone help me out?

It is so cold here in the DC area (18 at the moment, and 14 early this morning) that the traffic reports are saying the White's Ferry (a small-rope-operated automobile ferry) across the Potomac is closed due to icing. And they are saying it's going to go down to 9 degrees tonight. From previous posts, I know some of you guys are chuckling about what wusses we are here in Warshington, and it's true.

Oddly enough, when I went out to the car this morning to grab my bus, there were two kids at our corner schoolbus-stop, age about 14. Both were wearing coats suitable for autumn, but not deep winter. Neither had hat, gloves, scarves or earmuffs, etc. At least they had their coats zipped. I would tut-tut over all this, except my own kids are just as dumb. But I just don't get it. (I occassionaly see some adult in his 30s or 40s running around in the winter, on a 30- or 35-degree day, wearing knee socks and those ridiculous coaching shorts, and thinking, Buddy, you're out of your mind. Who wears shorts in winter, and why?)

Mudge, when I went through some hollows on the way to work this AM, my in car thermometer (which is reasonably accurate) dropped to 8 deg F.

Not the lowest it's ever shown, but pretty close (I saw a 3 last winter).

I've stopped grousing at my teenagers about not wearing heavy jackets, hats, etc. at the bus stop. They'll learn just like we did, Mudge.

bc

Mudge, we are even a little colder than you currently and are normally slighter cooler, I live near the High School I went to many years ago. The students wear a uniform, girls a small piece of cloth that substitutes as a kilt and white shirt, boys pants and white shirt. It is rare that I see any of them even remotely dressed appropriate for the weather. Coats only appear about this type of cold, hats, mitts, etc - not happening.

I don't remember being able to ward off the cold like that when I was there age.

Mudge, don't feel bad about complaining of the cold. I complain about the weather here in Texas when it goes below 40.

Or above 90.

But, then I AM a wuss.

After 20 years in the Pacific NW, my tolerable temperature range is 65 to 80 degrees, inclusive.

{to be read with an extreme southern accent]

...last time I saw Mary,
there she was, sittin'
'neath the syckeemore tree...
buckshots was flyin' all 'round my head
form the shotgun her old man
was aimin'at me...

Dave,

I probably skimmed past the New Yorker article the first time you linked to. My bad. The news peg to re-link it is that David Kilcullen featured in the article is now one of Petraeus's Whiz Kidz.

Also, Waterloo Middle School on 108/Waterloo Road went back to being Waterloo Elementary School. Deep Run Elementary School was built in 1990 on Old Waterloo Road and is a completely different facility. Waterloo Elementary was built in 1964 as an elementary school and converted to a middle school to survive budget cuts before growth in Columbia spurred new school construction. It has been an elementary school for at least the past decade.

I have close personal ties to Waterloo Elementary, but wasn't around during your era. One website mentioned that it was the first integrated middle school in Howard County.

Oh, frostbitten, I'm sorry. Pets are a gift to Humanity. They evoke empathy and compassion from all who share their homes with them. If you witness Kevin Drum's "catblogs" at The Washington Monthly, you'll see agreeable comments from liberals and conservatives who normally are hurling insults at one another. Alex was lucky to have you.
.
It's eleven &$^$*##@ degrees below zero here. Gah!

Gomer, some of the other things that happened since the early '90's:
MTV, cable TV, primetime TV all showing much more sexual content - not to mention the ads

Internet - chatrooms, websites, ads (the ad at the top of this page, for me anyway, is a rear view of a bethonged young woman - or maybe it's a bikini - I avert my eyes).

Lots of influences - I wouldn't rank Bill Clinton high on the list. (I bet he was surprised his own self!)

Best Super Bowl story yet:

One of my good friends hosted the kids from church at her home last night. At one point she looked out to see four kids at the basketball court, two of them playing horse. Keep in mind that it's cold here, maybe not quite so cold as DC, but verrry cold.

As she watched, the guy took off his shoes, then his belt. The girl took off her jacket. The guy kept taking clothes off, till all he had on was his boxers. He lost that shot too, but his opponent, bless her, was merciful.

He will never live it down.

Dave, I am indeed the Nexus of the Universe and not merely the Nexus of the DC-MD suburbs (let's not forget the Washington University in St. Louis/Sam and Betty link to Wheezy).

I used to live on Waterloo Rd. (aka MD Rt. 103) and drove regularly past your old elementary school under its current name. However, I did not improperly touch your girlfriend. When I was an 8th grader (1975-1976), I lived in Burtonsville and was not at all certain how one would go about navigating the process of properly improperly touching a girl -- but I knew I sure wanted to find out.

I'm past all that, now.

The Nexus thing may be a little overblown (as it were); I just tend to latch onto mildly unexpected details and follow them to see where they lead. It's a science-guy thing.

I remember reading, years ago, of an experiment to estimate the degree of connectivity between Americans. Post cards were handed out to people, having only a name and city, with the instruction to get the card to the addressee by handing it to persons believed to be more closely connected to the intended recipient. The average number of exchanges was something small, like 3 or 4. The longest chain took 7 exchanges to get to the recipient. The shortest took 0 -- the subject already was slated to fly to the recipient's city and already knew the recipient personally.

Another way to play: how many degrees am I from somebody famous (not counting my obscurely famous mother-in-law)? Well, I know a guy whose second cousin is Paul Reiser. Paul Reiser was in Aliens with Sigourney Weaver. Therefore, I am three degrees of separation from Sigourney Weaver, and four degrees of separation from Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Annie Potts, who worked with Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters. Also, Wheezy and I attended the same college as Harold Ramis and the chairman of Men's Wearhouse (which is my connnection to martooni/danghippie). In principle, if I were a charming social climber, I could pull these strings and try to get something out of it. The fact is, we all have funny little connections like this, although we may not always be aware of them. I am two degrees of separation from Weingarten -- I met Eric Shansby's parents at a party and recognized the name.

It's not a big deal. This stuff happens all the time, to everybody. The only difference is in whether we choose to make ourselves aware of it.

Strip horse, that's a new one.

I would hardly say that the particular sexual favor now known as a Monica is ubiquitous in the younger grades. I am pretty certain my son made it through middle school without being offered that service. He does now have independent means of transportation and can transport passengers within a month, so all bets were off. All you can do is raise them right and set them off.

I did have a coworker verify the casualness of the behavior. His wife intercepted their fifteen-year-old son's IM messages one evening. He had brushed off a girl three times saying he was too busy to go meet her. She offered "oral" as an enticement if he came over. The request never got relayed and the incident led to a serious father-son talk about casual sex.

I was just north of where 108 turned off towards Clarksville and the continuation of Waterloo Rd. became 103. When I have been up there recently, the whole traffic pattern has been moved around. The school was still Deer Run when I went past it back in '87-'89 (I remember the sign).

Mudge -- actually I don't much eat red meat because I don't know what to do with it (and there was the pre-surgical problem of not being able to digest it).

Fact is, it was the meaty part of your stew recipe that had my mouth watering. If I ever get my kitchen clean again I'd like to try the recipe with the red meat.

Someone else can do the chicken test.

Gomer -- although Monaute has a point about presidential sexual escapades and popular culture -- I just don't think it's possible to pinpoint one cultural episode (Clinton) as the source of all the no-holds-barred sexual attitudes of pre-teens and teenagers today.

One has to look at the enire cultural milieu that the kids are stewing in -- musical lyrics that are very explicit, easily accessed pornography on the Web, etc.

I seriously doubt that Bill Clinton was the only president to have explicit sexual dalliances in the Oval Office. He is certainly the only one impeached because of his behavior.

But the whole Clinton-Starr mess alone was not enough to radically alter kids' behavior. IMHO.

Yello-
I think a big cause of the continued casualization of sex is the LACK of serious father-son/mother-daughter/parent-child talks about the subject. At the same time as the media has made the subject one that younger children feel perfectly comfortable with, their parents have lost (or given up) the ability or desire or recognition of the need to talk about it.

I used to work with a guy that was a close high school friend of John Goodman. I met and briefly talked to John at the guy's second wedding. Since Elizabeth Taylor was in The Flintstones, that probably connects to everybody.

John Goodman has a Bacon Number of 2 via Marisa Tomei, so I feel pretty well connected.

Plus I have met ScienceTim.

No SciTim - you are the Nexus of the Universe. You must embrace your destiny.

Here's a Boodle Connection for you:

One of our regular boodlers here has grandparents buried in the same tiny small-town cemetery I visited last week--where we buried my husband's aunt.

Said cemetery is 1,200 miles from my home and 1,400 miles away from hers. We live about 1,000 miles from each other.

And we met here.

One of these days, when I'm REALLY bored, I'll have to work out my Bacon number. The closest I can get by casual pondering is a value of 5.

I walked right past Richard Simmons in a hotel lobby in Denver. I don't think that connects me to anyone, but it's one of the few times I could have reached out and touched a famous person.

Alas, I let the opportunity pass without handling the merchandise. -Sigh-

Just remember -- when I am elected or appointed to high office, I will remember these connections. And I'll be calling you. All of you.

Totally off topic, but I feel like a proud father:

http://www.vmnh.net/news.cfm?ID=90

My boss's boss knows - no never mind.
I work with a guy who once met - no let's not go there.
Once, during a party I shook hands with - nah I really shouldn't.

Hey! I've met SciTim Too!

And well you should be proud Dooley. That looks spectacular. But tell me, jusy how does one pronounce "Eobalaenoptera"?

Besides, of course, carefully.

This is an interestingly silly bit of self-aggrandizement: I just realized that I have one degree of separation from each of Robert Redford, Goldie Hawn, Michael Jackson, and the Rev. Jim Jones (deceased), each through a different person.

I'm telling you -- you can go crazy if you let yourself think that this stuff matters.

I once met Torquemada. Didn't like him.

I live in the same town as Bruce Hornsby. My pain management doctor and Bruce both have sets of twins who play sports together. She keeps telling me she'll call me on her cell phone from a track meet when Bruce is there (which is often) so I can come listen to his very funny stories about behind-the-scenes escapades at concerts.

But everyone in town knows Bruce. I know people who went to high school with him. Chances are I'll run into him sooner or later on my own.

My mother graduated in the same class from Woodrow Wilson High in DC as Miss Manners. Not sure that this counts as a really big hit. Bud McFarland (Reagan's NSC chair and player in the Iran-Contra mess) also was in the same class. Boring!

We have boxes of family papers -- some of which feature the dance career of my mother's mother in the 20s and 30s, before she got married.

One item is some magazine doing celebrity handwriting analysis. My grandmother is featured on one page, the next page has Clark Gable's handwriting analysis. I guess my grandmother was well-known in her day . . .

This is as close as I can get to any celebs (I don't count who my neighbors were when I lived on Capitol Hill -- too easy).

You know Joel went to college with David Duchovny. And he once met Meg Ryan. Plus, rumor has it, that he once actually talked to Gene Weingarten.

In Person.

Mudge -- you must have been a good Catholic back in the day if you managed to meet Torquemada and walked away from your encounter with him. :-)

Might you have been Senor Curmudgeone?

I have one degree of separation from Eobalaenoptera ("dawn baleen whale with a finger in its nose"), by way of one of the guys in two of those photos. By extension, all the BPH'ers have an Eobalaenoptera number of 2.

Now THAT's a connection that matters.

I used to routinely have brunch with space aliens who secretly control the weather.

But I'm all better now.

That's great, Dooley.

I have a Kevin Bacon separation number of 3.

Tim.. you know someone in those pictures? Not Dooley? Explain, please.

As a new father Dooley how nerve wracking was the set up?

Looks good by the way.

Hmmm. In counting things like the Bacon number, do we count the number of people between you and Kevin Bacon, or the number of linkages between the people? It's a calibration issue. After all, Kevin Bacon, himself, should have a Bacon number of zero. A friend or professional colleague of Kevin Bacon should have a number of 1 (his brother would get 1/2, I'd guess).

I have my Bacon number down to 3. Me --> my storytelling buddy --> Paul Reiser --> Kevin Bacon (who appeared on "Mad About You" in an episode in which 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon was a plotting point). 3 links, but only two people between us.

SciTim,

Technically, that is two Bacon numbers. You to the friend and the friend to the celebrity. Anyone that has been in a movie with Kevin Bacon has a Bacon number of one. Only Kevin himself has a number of zero.

The current Waterloo Elementary (and the former Waterloo Middle) is just south of the 108/104 split closer to the newly built Snowden River Parkway. 108 turns west and passes Howard High School; 104 continues north and dead ends into 103. On 103 is the recently rebuilt Ellicott Mills Middle School.

I will have to make inquiries to see if Waterloo had ever been called Deep (not Deer) Run before the current one was built. To further muddy the waters, in 2003 Bellows Spring Elementary School was built over Deep Run Creek. Rather than continue to bore the boodle with details of the Howard County Public Schools, the following website has info sheets and maps of every current school.

http://www.hcpss.org/schools/schools_elementary.shtml

If you are driving around any of these schools and see a bicyclist wearing an ugly Georgia Tech jersey, please show courtesy and don't run me over.

I have never been Catholic, Nelson (not that there's anything wrong with that), but the idea that I'd have been a "good" Catholic is hysterically funny. I'd have made Father Guido Sarducci look like a choirboy. (Does that metaphor work? I'm not sure...)

Though I have lusted after a Catholic girl or two in my time, as, indeed, who hasn't?

Yes, TBG, I meant Dooley -- I thought I was the only one of us who had met him in the flesh. I guess I was forgetful.

And now, I really must get back to work. Jupiter awaits.

Gomer, in 1991 I was directly informed by a 8th grader of kids having sex in the bathroom and sexual harrassment of her by another 8th grader. I didn't remember such going-ons when I was in 8th grade, either. The junior high school was shortly afterwards dubbed a "den of inquity" by my senior English teacher.

It may have had something to do with the promotion of the junior high principal to our high school. He drastically changed the culture of our high school.

He was an extreme stickler for the rules and a lot of teens didn't like his rules (although quite a few teachers cheered).

Some rules he implemented were: no smoking in the bathrooms, eating in cafeteria only, not in the halls, etc. And kids got dermits for kissing in the halls, let alone what you are mentioning.

I can only surmise his replacement was not as good. I can't venture to give you an opinion on the working conditions in your junior high.

I will say one thing--I've always been flabbergasted by all the TV shows that shows kids actually having time to converse in between classes and propagate their drama/relationships. That was so opposite to my experience as I was always rushing to classes miles away so I wouldn't be late.

Quite nerve-wracking, but mostly I was there to say "lower the nose a little...OK! Stop there!"

When I was in high school I met Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov, and I met Stephen Jay Gould when I was looking at specimens at Harvard for my dissertation.

I used to know many Catholic School Girls. They never matched their scandalous reputation. But, of course, that was back in the seventies before teenagers had been manipulated into discovering sex.

My uncle runs Stephen King's sports-radio station in Maine, and my fiancee's cousin's husband is the guy who takes care of the precogs in Minority Report. That's it for me.

There was a reputation I was supposed to live up too? No one tells me anything.

Mudge as for the term good Catholic - that is funny, it only exists in the minds of a few people. As I grew up I decided it was better just to be a good person.

I'm still trying to figure out how Dooley's number-one girl birthed that monster. Little Gomer came out at 9 lbs. 3 oz. and that was plenty big for Mrs. Gomer. That whale has to weigh tons! What a canal...

Oh and mostlylurking - about the temperature range in the Pacific Northwest. I used to claim that anything below 45 degrees was freakishly cold. Of course, that was years ago. Things are probably warmer now. Perhaps due to Global Warming. Or Teenaged Sex.

Major BOO on my part. You are correct. Your Bacon number is 3. Mine is 4: Me:Coworker:Goodman:Tomei:Bacon.

Unless you count my picture of Julia Roberts, in which case it is 2.
Me:Julia:Kevin (via Flatliners)

I offer the picture as proof that I have been within flashbulb range of her.

http://livebythefoma.blogspot.com/2006/04/stalking-julia.html

Alas, I have no such evidence for John Goodman.

I have also been shoved my Laura Bush's Secret Service detail, if that counts for anything.

And 5' 0" Mrs. D didn't even need an epidural...

yellojkt - that was you?

Gomer, it's easier when you don't need to have hips wide enough for birth, yet narrow and stable enough for bipedalism.

His mom probably had very little to wail about.

Catholic girls start much too late.

nelson;

I interviewed Bruce many, many moons ago. Probably the best celebrity interview I've ever done. Great guy. :-)

And if we count "professional" interactions, you're all one step away from the Scorpions, Van Halen (twice if you count DLR), and Paula Poundstone, among others.

'Mudge, I ALWAYS wear sweatpants and a sweatjacket when I jog in this weather. :-))

Did I read the weather report in the WAPO right? DC's high is 24F and low tonight will be 11F? I can't even imagine that kind of cold... Of course, it's cold here too, we got way down to 58 last night. We had to use two blankets! Stay warm everyone!

yello... anyone who gets that close to Paul Rudd deserves a Bacon rating of whatever number he wants.

I have a Bacon number of 2 for Erma Bombeck, the creator of Marmaduke and many others through the same person.

Bacon number of 2 for Isaac Asimov through a teacher of mine.

I'd find those numbers more meaningful, if I didn't live in the deaf world where you have multiple links to the same 'famous' people through most of the people you know.

But it's always interesting for me to think about the disparate links you have-- not to famous people-- but to people in other countries through your friends and acquaintances.

I am full of opinions, based only on what I have experienced, what I know, and what I think I know. I take no umbrage at those who would critique my talking (shouting?) points, as you are all very polite about doing it.

On another note, I'd like to extend condolences to frostbitten on the loss of your dog. Only a human family member's passing hurts more than the loss of a treasured pet. I feel for you. I don't know what I'll do when my 9-year-old Matilda goes... I just try not to think about that too much.

Oh, the old canard about Catholic girls.

When I went to school in Switzerland, in a canton pretty much evenly split between Catholic and Protestant adherents, the Catholic girls always said the Protestant girls would do anything, because for them it wasn't a sin. And the Protestant girls said the Catholic girls would do anything, because they could go to confession and be cleansed of their sin.

It seemed to me that none of us were doing *anything* much less anything, and I was OK with that.

If someone already told Dooley that the text about Eobalaenoptera should read "sight" rather than "site," I apologize.

I met Michael Jackson back when he was a nice young man on his "Thriller" tour. Think it was "Thriller," it was 1984. His unretouched days, just a polite young man who shook hands with every one -- without gloves!

One of my high school classmates used to write for Howard Stern.

I think I need to find something better.

My dad shared a cab and had lunch with Isaac Azimov. That's better. One can go lots of places from Azimov. Don't know how long it would take to get to Kevin Bacon, though.

Dooley,
That is one fine specimen of a fossilized whale (to paraphrase E.B. White). You should be a proud papa.

Er, Michael was the one without gloves.

Just add three to your connection to Asimov.

Asimov wrote I, Robot which starred Will Smith.
Will Smith was in Enemy of the State (1998) with Paul Majors
Paul Majors was in The Woodsman with Kevin Bacon

I never met a Catholic girl who lived up to their reputation. All the ones I knew seemed to feel that they themselves were a hallowed hall to which a heathen like myself did not deserve entry. I think the rep. came from the hopes and prayers of Catholic school boys (who were themselves the hopes and prayers of the Catholic priests). Who ever thought celibacy was a good idea for people who have so much contact with our youngsters? Gotta put a big huge "Duh" on that one.

Let me guess, Mudge... somehow I envision you and Torquey being at the same cocktail party.

bc

Wilbrod writes this, "And kids got dermits..."

Dermits = demerits, unless, Wilbrod, your school sported a very special language indeed.

My genetic Bacon points:
Exhibit Number 1:
F. Scott Fitzgerald's mother Molly McQuillan of St. Paul, MN had a uncle named Philip. Philip was the second cousin of my gr. gr. grandmother, yet another McQuillan. McQuillan Plumbing trucks still keep pipes clean in the Twin Cities. Wilbrod, I think you are too far north for a client call.

Exhibit Number 2:
I am related through this same family to the current famous Irish writer Colm Toibin, he of near Booker Prize-fame with his tome on Henry James, _The Master_.

Exhibit Number 3:
I am related to a lowly private who was killed fairly quickly in the Battle of the Little Big Horn. We used to call that the Last Stand of Custer.

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Other than being sung Happy Birthday at age 13 in Great Falls, Montana by the entire Harlem Globetrotter's team, I have no celebrity sighting Bacon moment what-so-ever.

Oops. Charley Pride lived not far from us in GF; however, he spent winters in Nashville, sensibly.

Thanks, Nellie, I informed the PR office of their typo.

How close am I if I worked on the estate of a dead TV actor? I was actually in the home and touched some of the actor's clothes and personal belongings (in a professional capacity), although the person was already deceased. Does that count?

If not, then my only claim to fame is that my uncle is Don Ho's high school buddy. Oh, and I got to meet and chat with Ann Curry about her kids a few years ago.

Wow, Dooley... already fixed! An editor's dream.

I've been on a few files adverse to some moderately well known sports stars. Also, a friend had a 30 minute private audience with the Queen (he was CO of a reserve unit). That's all I got.

Welcome back jw.

I just noticed that my celeb. moments occured out in the wilds of Montana, where the diversity is not what you would get in the Urbs or on the Coasts.

1) Harlem Globetrotters WITHOUT CURLEY; and
2)Charley Price, the great African American Country and Western singer.

And no, for those wondering, I never did see Evel Knieval I or II. They actually hail from Butte, Montana. BUTE is the correct pronounciation, although I will say that it is BUTT cold today in the suburbs of Maryland in plant growing zone 9 (perhaps becoming 8).

My father once met Andre the Giant, who was in The Princess Bride with Christopher Guest, who was in A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon.

My other famous-person sighting was the redhead from "Head of the Class." I think her character's name was Simone? Saw her as I came out of the Port-o-John at DC's Earth Day celebration downtown in 1990. I don't think she was impressed by the kid pointing at her saying, "Hey, you're that chick from that show!"

Also, I marched by a reviewing stand in Austin, TX which contained both Bushes, one a former president, the other while he was governor. A dubious claim to fame, I know, but who knew the horror he was to bring upon us?

Dooley- That is incontheivable!

Gomer,
I had such a crush on Khrystyne Haje. I never missed an episode, even after Johnny Fever left.

Gomer, this might in part explain why younger children are more involved sexually.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1585877,00.html

SofCarl: queen connection is very cool and so unUSA-ian.

Do all Canadians know a Mountie? Are they around like police officers in all the provinces?

DO they wear red unies?

I know this sounds dumb, but I am really curious. Living below Alberta and traveling to Lethbridge quite often, I never saw one. Wanted to. Closest would be the park rangers in Waterton Int'l Peace Park.

That was quick yellojkt. Thanks.

My cousin used to be married to someone who played with Springsteen. He got replaced by Steve Van Zandt.

My office-mate and I came up with a geek's one-upmanship of 6 Degrees of ... : count how many Nobel Prize winners you have met (it is fair to include the ones that you met BEFORE the Prize). For fun, compare to the number that you think would recognize you. I'm up to 6 total, 2 who might recognize that they had previously met me. One now deceased, who I met when I was 4 -- I think it should still count. No fair counting yourself, if you already have one or anticipate getting one.

Famous People (or Has-Beens) I have Met and actually Talked with (and some of whom I actually know):

Movies:

Donald Sutherland (twice)
Genevieve Bujold
Wilford Brimley
Rob Lowe
Nastassja Kinski

Music, Classical:

Luciano Pavarotti
Kathleen Battle
Marc-Andre Hamelin
Angela Hewitt

Military:

John deChastelain
Romeo Dallaire

The Plastic Arts:

Jeff Koons
Christo & Jeanne Claude
Moshe Safdie

Writers, Canadian:
Too many to list

Writers, Foreign:

Lots, but the biggest thrill was Ian McEwan

Sports:

Dick Pound (or should that be infamous).

The movie people I met because our firm in Montreal did a lot of tax work for the movie business.

The other artists were encountered during the normal course for a culture-vulture (gala receptions, arts fests, etc.)

The Military types I met either on public-service-type ocassions.

I know Dick Pound because he was a partner in the tax group of the firm that did the movie work.

I don't know what having contact with the famous or celebrated means, in the overall scheme of things. There isn't any reflected glory, for sure. Maybe just that it is kind of neat to see someone up close who has only been seen or heard through an intervening medium. And some of the people were interesting to talk to, which is always appreciated.

Cp, they got demerits too. the Dermits were ex-hermits that would tail teenagers all day, scratching for fleas, doing occasional religious rants, and being generally smelly and embarrassing. Oh, nobody wanted a dermit.

CP, the wiki link for the RCMP is quite good.

Quick answers - red unies for ceremonies only.

Personally do not know a Mountie but through in laws I am connected somehow.

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

ScTIM; TaDAH! We are connected through John C. Mather!!!!! But you likely really know him, and I just met him in his daze of fame this fall.

I took a class from Tom Schelling who is about my height. I particpated in several trials he used to rethink game theory. However, he through them out for a couple of reasons. Let's say he was not pleased with the reponse of my group.

College Parkian, you actually do have reflected glory if you are related to Toibin. I thought The Master was, well, masterful, and my heart was broken by The Blackwater Lightship.

CP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Gendarme Royal du Canada - GRC) is the national police force, so does FBI equivalent stuff across jurisdictions. Also, other than Ontario and Quebec, the RCMP is also the 'provincial' police force. Most major cities have municipal police forces, however, so the internal joke with Mounties is that GRC stands for "Gravel Road Cops". They also do all the police work in the territories.

All Mounties go through training at their Depot in Regina, Saskatchewan. All of them have the red serge jacket and flat brimmed stetson as their dress uniform.

As it turns out, a Mountie is one of my closest friends.

ScienceTim,

I think my dad can match you on Nobel Prize winners.

By the way, do you know Ned Wright? He's out at UCLA and is affiliated with one of the winners of this year's Physics prize.

SciTim asks:
>Hmmm. In counting things like the Bacon number, do we count the number of people between you and Kevin Bacon, or the number of linkages between the people?
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No, SciTim, linkages is the sausage number, not the bacon number.

I tipped a couple of pints with Michael Jackson* two weeks ago at his London 'local'. He was not wearing gloves, and he did give me a copy of his new book. Unfortunately, it's in Italian.

*aka "The Beer Hunter"

~piXel

I know a couple of Mounties. They are pretty much in charge of law enforcement whereever there is no local police force (lots of small towns and vast wilderness areas, as well as rural regions, for instance) except that Quebec (Surete du Quebec) and Ontario (Ontario Provincial Police) handle the same duties in those provinces.

I met my friend Constable Kevin (now Captain Kevin) way up in the NWT Territories; he begged me to write to him when when I returned to what he called "Canada."

Yoki, I believe you are winning.
Aloha, dead celeb. touching of effects counts, I believe.

Aloha, you remind me that I knit faux chain mail for a Shakespeare production of Henry V staring Harry Hamlin. I can imagine that he wore a wristlet made by me....

And, I worked on a corset worn by Kelly McGillis in the blood soaked revenger's (Spanishy-Italianate) Dutchess of Malfi.) None of we lower level stitchers were allowed near her. But, I sewed right-sided panels, including the lining. So, this means I am connected to her in a silk-whalebone unmentionable way...

A bunch of you are cheating with the Bacon numbers since the linkage refers to acting in movies.

Unless. You're all movie actors! How cool is that!??

dmd- I asked earlier what happened during the 90s that could lead to this situation in a pretty smarta$$ manner, not even realizing that the internet happened during that time period, too. I used to actually have to go into a library (shudder) to do research. My students now look at me blankly when I suggest a visit to the local library. "You mean we can't just Google it?" I think you've hit the pecker on the head with that insight.

SciTim, you said no counting oneself, right? Okay, zero.

Our regular threesome would sometimes be assigned a fourth by the starter. We played with Don Newcombe twice, and Elgin Baylor once. Twice, years apart, I was put-putting down Anzac Parade on my scooter when Queen Elizabeth's small motorcade went past in the other direction. And when little, I was baby-sat by two families where the father later won a Nobel Prize -- Willard Libby and Donald Cram.

Gomer that is an interesting choice of words :-)

Thanks, you lovely, polite Canadians about the Mountie trivia. You can imagine that when we crossed the border in our fake wood paneled Ford Country Squire station wagon, that we would see a MOUNTIE. My dad had a five dollar prize on that one.

Yoki, Blackwater Lightship is much more to my taste that the Jamesian tome. You may like _The Heather Blazing_. That book details the dis-ease in post Civil War Ireland. Part of the tail takes place in the townland where CT and I have common ancestors. You will also see that he is of the Townie cousins while my people were considered the hillbilly cousins near Mt. Leinster.

One of most haunting books is _The Story of the Night_ set in Buenes Aires detailing both the time of the Disappeared AND the closetedness of a half-Argentine/half Brit gay man. Shadows of the Malabvinas War or Falklands, if you prefer.

I met a Mountie once, in full dress regalia outside the Canadian embassy on Pennsylvania Ave. I asked what I figured were pretty stupid questions, but he was really friendly and didn't seem to mind educating a dumb American. My only connection to the RCMP prior to meeting Mark the Mountie was Dudley Do-Right, so you can understand my surprise at finding out that Mounties are policemen, similar to our FBI, as so many before me have already stated.

I love the Canadian embassy, with the cool echoing rotunda. It is on my walking tour of DC that I force upon anyone I know who visits there.

Actually, all of my dealings with our Canuck neighbors to the north have been favorable. On my first of four nights in Tofino, I found a stranger willing to sell me some herb for US dollars. He thought he was ripping me off with the price he asked, obviously not realizing that, from my end, I w