Good morning, Cassandra, where is everybody?

Thanks,JA, now I know what to give up for Lent:

I promise to count to ten and try NOT to disavow.

In addition to giving up sweets I try perform a character adjustment.

Hiya Pat. "Uncle Mark" forged new territory: tears in the digital tribe. Whataguy! I know you will be strong shoulders for his brave and bereft daughter.

Your wife is right. Give up the badMommy blog for Lent. The "On Parenting" one looks friendlier, but I don't want to jinx this.

Day-late; Dollar-short comment re Einstein's manners: John C. Mather, 2006 Nobel Physics Winner is the nicest guy ever. Really.

JA -- worthwhile study to look at high achieving nice guys/gals.

For BC and Boodlers who like calamari:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6385071.stm

"....rings the size of tractor tyres {sic}"

I was going link to spave story when the new kit was annouced
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/science/space/22planets.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

The Canadian Prime Minister has managed to unite a fractious Liberal caucus by trying to smear one of it's members.
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/184339
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/184516

Sorry the 8:28 was me.
WARNING: Do not use the expression 'one swell foop' in converstion. People look at you like there's something wrong in your head.
Coolege Parkian | I was trying to remember Joyces take on the Lords Prayer. It starts
Jem is jokey.
Do you know it?

I think you nailed the problem that some people have with Hillary. She is viewed as unforgivably regal. One can almost imagine her saying "We are not amused."

The irony here is that everything I have ever read about Hillary suggests that in small uncontrolled settings she is personable and very funny.

Unfortunately, most political handlers fear few things as much as small uncontrolled settings.

Boko -- funny name for me, thanks. Better thtn Cooledge as in the Puritian Calvin, right?

Tell me the Joyce Pater Noster. I expect is is slangy and irreverent.

It's Harold Wolfson who interests me.

Is Harold Wolfson related in any way, shape or form to Roger Wolfson, Roger formerly affiliated with Channel One, and Roger on the staffs of the late Paul Wellstone, John Kerry, and Joe Lieberman?

http://www.commondreams.org/views/050100-106.htm

Harold:

http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/chrnprec08/clintonorgp.html

Partner in The Glover Park Group's New York office. Executive director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) for two years. Communications director for then First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2000 U.S. Senate campaign. Communications director for then Rep. Charles Schumer's 1998 U.S. Senate campaign. Chief of Staff and Press Secretary to Representative Nita Lowey. Masters in U.S. History from Duke University; undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago.

Sandy particles of silicates? Good Golly. Clouds really *are* hard.

I have to go with Error Flynn here. I can't hear the phrase "disavow" without expecting something to self-destruct. Let's just hope it isn't Hillary.

I think Hillary seriously overreacted and misplaced her "annoyance" onto Obama. Yeah, it's impossibly early in the season, but, geez, did she ever miss on this one. In an effort to get out of the way of Geffen's comments, she appears to have made herself into a target for ridicule over it.

*geez*

Now I'm going away again.

So... let's review. The two cardinal sins in Democratic politics are:

1) responding to attacks (oversensitive queen!)

2) NOT responding to attacks (you wimp!)

Thank you for clearing that up.

So... let's review. The two cardinal sins in Democratic politics are:

1) responding to attacks (oversensitive queen!)

2) NOT responding to attacks (you wimp!)

Thank you for clearing that up.

So... let's review. The two cardinal sins in Democratic politics are:

1) responding to attacks (oversensitive queen!)

2) NOT responding to attacks (you wimp!)

Thank you for clearing that up.

I think all the politicians (D's and R's alike) need to be reminded that at one point in their lives (and probably once again in the future), every single one of them has filled (and will again fill) their pants with guano and someone will have to clean them up.

They are all in desperate need of an attitude adjustment (some more so than others). Lately I'm beginning to think I'm stuck in Charlie Brown's classroom, where all you hear is "bwa-bwa-bwah, bwa-bwa-bwahhh" and we're supposed to make sense of it.

I've said before that I'd vote for Hillary if given no other "D" alternatives, but now I'm hoping even more that Obama can pull this off -- at least he doesn't speak down his nose at you.

Dang CP that is a big squid.I love calamari,but I also love squid as bait,as do many fish in the ocean.

Oh the days of surf fishing at Assateuge Island....not a care in the world....soaking up the sun,having a few fermented beverages,watching the waves roll in.A horse here and there,horse flies as big as a small bird.

Oh we were talking politics

My bad

CP | It was rather good wasn't it? I wish I could claim I did it on purpose. I was hoping you knew passage from the Wake because I don't remember it and don't have my copy. I just remember it was very funny.
I now have a quest.

Morning, everybody, looks like the Boodle is up and running hard this morning.

Pat, wonderful tribute. We won't mind if you give up the Mommyblog, but please stick with us!

Food in Boston? Clam chowder, especially in bread bowls! I knew that, and I'm a Southerner! Lobster rolls are good too, even if they are supposed to be a Maine delicacy. I had one in Plymouth that was to die for...

Cassandra, I'm sorry if someone from the Queen City has thrown a wrench into your good works. Is there anything I can do to help?

Sky report: sunny in the Carolinas, today is a sneak preview of spring. It will make cold weather almost unbearable when it (inevitably) returns. My task for the day is to weed the periwinkle bed...

RD Padouk,
your comments about Hillary being personable and funny in private while sounding regal and aloof in public brought back memories. A local politician, Robert Bourassa who has been prime minister of the province in two occasions, had this cold fish, calculating, controlling public persona. I got acquainted with him during his out-of-politics years through his daughter and a friend of mine. I was surprised to found him funny, warm, perceptive, sincere-sounding and friendly. When he returned to politics a few years later he tried to be more relaxed and natural but soon had to return to the more controlled version of himself. It's unfortunate but I think successful politicians must develop this hard exterior. But Hillary is pushing it, Obama can't obviously control what his contributors are saying.

Scotty those soldiers that will accompany Harry have my sympathy.

Here is a strange story about one of the windows pictures, the fall scene that I often place on my computer apparently a journalist spent a year trying to find the "spot" turns out it is in the very north end of where I live.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/184493

Joel, you sum up my attitudes on this one pretty well too.

My read is that this may just be the Clinton team itching for a fight to show how "tough" they can be (basically cynical politics). Perhaps she was trying to change the subject from the 2002 Iraq War AUMF. I don't know. I do know that David Geffen's political opinions rank pretty low on my list of concerns. It ranks just a notch above the category "What does Hilary Clinton think about what David Geffen thinks about her and her husband."

I think I probably could still vote for Hilary Clinton, but I have some serious reservations after this one. The level of pettiness evidenced by this non-issue, issue concerns me. It suggests, perhaps unfairly to Clinton, a real lack of concern for the very real issues that are effecting ordinary people and ordinary families (ordinary schmucks like myself who don't worry about what David Geffen thinks about them). It's a major misstep in my view.

My calendar shows today as Washington's Birthday. So I want to pass on my best wishes to the man living in Joel's basement. As was the tradition in my youth I am going to celebrate by having a slice of cherry pie for lunch. And because I am such a staunch patriot, I may have two.

The Disavowal Game is form of Gotcha that is played by dragging in third parties and attempting guilt by association. By attacking Geffen, Hillary is distancing herself from the (Gay) Liberal Media Elite, much as she does during previous Clinton(s) attacks on movie and game violence.

By dragging Obama into it, she is trying to either cause a rift between him and the LME or paint him as their Uncle Tom lackey without any Biden-esque crypto-racism. Masterfully played on her part.

The thin-skin appearance is the risk. She is going to be dogged by questions about whether voting for the Iraq Attack was a "mistake". I'm sure she has that speech written, but it is too early to play that card.

She knows the game and plays it well. She also knows that Bill is her biggest asset and biggest liability. Her Tammy Wynette impersonation got her a Senate seat. She will not brook any attacks on her spouse.

howlless, I think the difference here is that Clinton did not respond to her attacker--she attacked the person the attacker supports.

Does that make sense?

pat... great tribute to Uncle Mark. Made me cry. Thanks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A55070-2002Feb22?language=printer

MoDo, in her book, "Are Men Necessary: When Sexes Collide," points out (on page 103) an article by Laura Sessions Stepp in the Washington Post (link above), who delineated three groups of girls--or women: the alphas, stars who define teen life and who determine who will be excluded; betas, who worry that they're not in the in-crowd; and gammas, student council president types who care more about what they do than how they appear.

Obviously, yesterday Hillary was acting more like a beta, a rather uncharacteristic role for her, I think. "David Geffen doesn't like me, he really doesn't like me. He used to like Us, but whaaaa, he gave a big party which raised a lot of money for the senator from Illinois!"

But I've never really cracked Hillary's code. As MoDo points out, Hillary had to survive some serious humiliation before she could start rapelling back up the cliff. I've always thought of Hillary as a gamma, with some alpha tendencies. But is she really an alpha with a heavy dose of gamma?

Either way, at this point of the game, Hillary, consider a riff on Carville's famous words, "It's the issues, stupid--particularly the Iraq war."

Fer chrissakes, you're fighting with Obama over money? Katie last night told us that Spielberg is throwing a party for you, Hil, in a matter of days. Petty is not good so early into the race, or during the race, or at the end of the race, for that matter.

I'm reminded of a Gore Vidal essay. I could look for it in a jif, but it's easier to paraphrase. We can be divided on all sorts of issues--gender and race--and now money--of all things (his war chest is growing faster than mine...his star is shining brighter near Hollywood and Vine than mine), but why aren't we talking about what's really important--the size of the Pentagon budget, for instance.

The day Obama and Hillary talk about that topic is the day I....

JP2, thanks for your comment. It is hard to know to what extent this is a pettiness reaction by HRC and to what extent a very calculated strategy. I'll ask Cillizza or someone who actually knows this stuff. But you know that saying, "Don't Tell Mama, I'm For Obama"? I'm told it reflects a real tippy-toe attitude when it comes to avoiding the royal wrath of HRC.

RD, thanks for reminding us of the Old Man's birthday. I always celebrate it on Feb. 11, since that was the actual day before the calendrical adjustment (the Gregorian Adjustment, no?). Also I do not recognize Daylight Saving Time.

Geffen's comments are very disappointing. As a Democrat he could have found much more appropriate language to make his point that Obama would be a stronger candidate. The Democrats are 1 bad election result away from the radical right having control of the Supreme Court for a generation. Not a bad time for them to stay as united as possible.

Good morning, folks. Cassandra, I'm sorry to hear that things didn't go so well yesterday. Pat, that tribute was very moving.

So, Geffen's unhappy with the Clintons over not pardoning his pal Leonard Peltier during the Great Pardon Surge in January 2001. Seems to me Hillary's folks want to see how tough Obama's team is early in the cgame. Well, they're finding out that Obama's folks can play media hardball too.

Wow, CP, I think I'm going to need to convert an oil drum into a deep fryer for those squid. Mmmmm.

Joel, if I were you, I would not mention HD 209458b at all anymore. You don't want Cheney and Rove coming down on you for blowing the lid on their Homeworld or the other planets in the Confederation. That "atmosphere is behaving differently than expected," Seager notes is a very subtle cloak against human instrumentation, so we don't notice the silicon-based life forms that are living there. And that we don't deduce that some of them might be living here... (and wouldn't the National Observatory be a natural place for one to live?)

bc

Pat: Au revoir. This is meant in the literal translation. Not a day passes when I look at the sky and think of how to describe it.

The prospect of a massive release of CO2 from the Northern Boreal forest's carbon sink might be the proverbial straw that breaks Earth's climate. Even the woodsmen realise this. Ironically, the warnings from the Inuit and other native people regarding the ways in which their way of life has changed in an ever warming climate have gone unheeded. This kind of reminds me of the dreams the Chief had in Little Big Man and Custer's exaggerated bluster in that movie when he dismissed Little Big Man's warning about Custer's fate in the gorge.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022102095.html

The gloves have come off among the D candidates faster than I expected. Perhaps they will do the noble thing and put their differences aside in favour of proposing a way to right the country.

Sheesh. The ONE MORNING I try to do a half-hour's work at my desk is the same one that Joel uses to post an early Kit. Curses!

for Boko - Scott Feschuk's take on Mr. Harper's shot at the Liberals: "These are the kinds of hostile, vindictive outbursts you're going to get when you choose as Prime Minister a guy compensating for the fact that as a child he was always picked last for sports."
(http://forums.macleans.ca/advansis/?mod=for&act=dis&eid=13)

On Disavowals: Were I still Catholic, I might also disavow disavowals. As it is, I'd like to buy a disavowal and then solve the puzzle.

On HD 209458b: 904 trillion miles is a long way to go for the nearest water cooler. But it's kind of a neat surprise that there isn't any "H-tee-O" (name the tune that's from and win a prize) there, if only because it makes you think about life on other planets being based on something other than C, H and O.

And how about that Britney Spears?

Cassandra-your post in the last boodle made my heart ache. My own small community is on an Indian Reservation but is about an even mix of Native Americans and non-natives. Foundation grants and government grants never make it past the county or tribal government because we supposedly don't have the "capacity" to administer anything ourselves. Strangely, we are eligible for assistance for "capacity building" and "planning" but not able to get any $ to actually provide services like diabetes education/prevention programming. Right now we are trying to raise just $1,000 to start a farmers' market. The local convenience store/gas station is the only place to buy food within 20 miles and you can imagine the diet that promotes. Thanks for sharing your frustration, it's little comfort, but comfort still, to know that others face the same burdens.

My daughter has finally discovered that she doesn't have to respond to every alleged slur delivered via IM as coming from someone who knows someone who knows someone who knows you. Hillary would do well to learn the same lesson, even if the jabs come from a former supporter. In teendom and politics there is no such thing as BFF (best friends 4evah.)

yellojkt writes:
Her Tammy Wynette impersonation got her a Senate seat.

yello, you disappointed me when you wrote this sentence. A cheating spouse has to be one of the hardest things to bear--ask any woman who's been in that situation. And for it to have been played on out on a national stage must have been horrible. I can only imagine...

MoDo, same book, page 163, from Natalie Angier's book "Woman" on role reversal:

Would a man find the prospect of a string of partners so appealing if the following rules were applied: that no matter how much he may like a particular woman and be pleased by her performance and want to sleep with her again, he will have no say in the matter and will be dependent on her mood and good graces for all future contact; that each act of casual sex will cheapen his status and make him increasingly less attractive to other women; and that society will not wink at his randiness but rather sneer at him and think him pathetic, sullied, smaller than life. Until men are subjected to the same severe standards and threat of censure as women are, and until they are given the lower hand in a so-called casual encounter (what were Mrs. Einstein's pickup lines, for example?) from the start, it is hard to insist with such self-satisfaction that, hey, it's natural men like a lot of sex with a lot of people and women don't.

SCC: "game".

That was an honest to goodness typo.

bc

Jack thanks for posting that link the issues with our boreal forest are very serious and distressing.

Also enjoyed the Little Big Man reminders, watched that recently it was one of the first movies I remember seeing as a child (youngest in the family dragged everywhere), I was seven and it had and continues to have a big impact. Chief Dan George was a Canadian icon.

TBG is the map political, or physical? Made me laugh when I read that. If I say something stupid, you just go right out there and bop the map about shoulder height and centre and that would come pretty much close to target for a wall size map.

If I was changing my name it should more correctly be whiner because anything with Saskatchewan in it is just too much typing.

I was thinking of Tim last night, out there looking at Titan and realized how utterly cool it was to 'know' someone whose work was discovering stuff of that maginitude. Beats my day to day work all the heck.

Now back to filling out more government tax forms.

Ironically for Team Clinton, they gave all those nasty things Geffen had to say 1000x more airtime than they EVER would have had without their freakout. Excerpts of that interview are in every single newspaper in the country this morning, via the AP. Is that really what they wanted? Plus, she looks ridiculous trying to drag Obama into her feud with Geffen. Did they really think Geffen was the Finance Chair, or was that just one of those purposeful mispoken phrases they hoped would slip into articles to bolster their contention that Obama should "disavow" his remarks. After all, if Clinton were to ask Obama to disavow the comments of someone NOT affiliated with the Obama campaign, she'd look pretty silly, right?

Gang, if you haven't figured it out yet, we're on the front page.

Howlless, I think you miss the point that not all attacks are the same or should be dealt with the same way. Major attacks you repulse. Little minor, irritating attacks you overlook. Attacks from third parties you don't blame on second parties. The issue isn't attacks; it's "pettiness." This was petty. The proper response would have been to ignore it.

And you can't complain about your opponent not taking the high road when you yourself are taking the low road. And the notion that Hillary, in particular, has to respond (and over-respond) to any and all attacks is absurd. She'd never get any actual work done. Nope, this was a clear case of oversensitivity and over-reaction. The only "good" thing about any of it is it'll be vastly forgotten in a month and not even a footnote a year from now; we'll have many, many new outrages to talk about.

On to other pressing questions: I've known about giant squid for many, many years (ever since my whaling days, in fact), but until today and the calamari link above, I was unaware that there is a species of squid known as a "colossal squid," as opposed to a giant squid. How cool! But of course it raises the question of how many other little-known species of squid are out there in the briny deep, and who gets to decide their names? Will somebody some day catch a humungus squid? A gigunda squid? Perhaps there are dozens of hefty squid swimming around out there we've never before seen. And heaven knows, there may even be a somewhat smaller but less ominous and creepy squid out there with a pleasant disposition, no ugly beak but instead an occasionally witty barb, called a perky squid. Or worse yet, an ill-tempered species one might be forced to dub a curmudgeonly squid. One shudders to think upon it.

And while we're on the subject of taxonomy (well, I am, anyway), what's with naming foreign planets names like HD 209458b and HD 189733b? What kinda bureaucratic bean-countery name is THAT for a planet, for god's sakes. Granted, our domestic planets are named after Roman gods and goddesses, and sure, after a while you run out of them and have to start naming planets things like Hysterium and Erronius
and Tintinabula and Glaucoma, and stuff.

But c'mon: HD 209458b? What kinda name is that? Ya never hear names like that on Star Trek; it's always Rigel 9 and Crepuscular 4 and like that. What's the shorthand nickname for HD 209458b? 209? Just "2"? 58b? And how come there's six digits in these name? We expecting to come across 999,999 planets in the next couple a years? And what's with the "b" suffix? What's the "HD" all about? We have high-definition planets now? I have to buy a new television to look at the darn things?

OK, I'm slinky back to my cave now. I think I'll have some of that perky calamari for lunch.

Maybe the Dems ought to take a page from the Republican playbook op-ed writer David Brooks is offering at the NYT Select today:

Excerpts:

I want you to know I've shelved the idea of writing a book called "The Idiot's Guide to Winning the [Democratic] Republican Presidential Nomination." But that doesn't mean I don't have ideas. Here are a few rules the G.O.P. contenders should follow if they want to sweep this thing.

Second: Remember the Rule of Three. When three big candidates go up against one another, two of them often get into a mutually destructive grudge match and the third skates through to victory. (Right now, the McCain and Romney camps seem set to brawl, leaving Giuliani alone.) Whatever you do, don't let yourself become one of the duelists.

Third: Don't Be a University. Most campaigns organize their policy experts like academic departments -- economists on one committee, social policy types on another, religious leaders on a third. They come up with utterly conventional recommendations.

You want to organize your committees according to priorities. For example, create a Flourishing Families Committee. Get economists, religious activists and psychologists in one room to figure out how government can reduce stress on struggling families. You'll be surprised by how much interdisciplinary creativity you can unleash and how much closer you get to the problems of real people.

Fourth: Be the Change. You are running to lead a traumatized party. Many Republicans think their party can recover from recent setbacks by returning to the old verities: cutting spending, cutting taxes, attacking government bureaucrats [insert old Democratic verities].

That's wrong. The world has changed since the glory days of the 1980s [1990s], and no amount of Reagan [Clinton] nostalgia will bring those conditions back.

Sixth: Get Ready for Phase II. Over the next several months, the surge in Iraq will dominate debate. But by late summer, the surge will either have succeeded or failed. A new, broader debate will start. One candidate will define the landscape by coming up with a new Grand Strategy for the war against extremism [Want to talk Waziristan, anyone?. Be that guy [gal].

Hillary seems to have watched televangelist Joyce Meyer prance around on the stage as they have the same technique. I do not enjoy either!

Mudge, the naming convention goes like this: the star is listed in the Henry Draper catalog (hence the HD - there are other catalogs, typically listed by alpha prefix also) the star number in that catalog is 209458, the lower case "b" designates that it is the second planet detected orbiting that star (the first obviously being "a", subsequent planets would be given lowercase letters in alphabetical order.

If there were an uppercase letter after the number, it would indicate one star in a multiple star system sharing a single # in the catalog.

Given that there are more stars in the universe than words or even characters (or combinations thereof, I'd be willing to bet) in every human language put together, some sort of numbering system makes as much sense as anything else, I suppose.

bc

Speaking of queens . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IrE6FMpai8&eurl

I've been going through the Weiss and McFarling story on dying oceans that Joel linked to. Stunning, and depressing.

And these Henry Draper folks are the same ones I send my check to when I want to name a star after my sweetie for Valentines? Do they have quantity discounts if I want to name the planets too?

This star naming business could be quite the racket.

SCC: forgot close paren in first para at 10:59.

If it weren't for my mistakes, I'd have nothing.

bc

The Henry Draper catalog, huh? Well, I'm not impressed with their work so far. I think astronomers should use the Victoria's Secret catalog instead. *rimshot*

OK, then, how about the Sharper Image catalog? Or maybe Skymall?

I kind of like the planet names like HD 12393242u. Kind of mysterious in an an anodyne way (much like the govt forms dr is working on). Like the planet on Alien (UB 818?)

I wonder if people who name these things consider themselves bound by all the "name a star" registers at science centers. If so, you just know that when we make Contact it will be from some place named Tiffanie Culpepper IV.

byoolin on disavowals: ha!

If we are going to talk favorite planets, Risa has to be near the top.

yellojkt, a couple of comments, buddy.

Henry Draper's long dead, I don't think that the HD catalog is affiliated with the International Star Registry (where you're sending those dollars for a pretty certificate and some coordinates you're never going to use).

I don't think you get to name an unnamed planet unless you plant a flag there. Good luck claiming planet "New Ellicott City", there, dude.

Dooley, the ocean's becoming a big heat sink and even more of a toilet than it already was, isn't it? Here's another climate change feel-good:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/AR2007022102095.html

We might need to think about planting flags somewhere else sooner than we anticipated...

bc

Laughing, SoC.

Good morning everyone. What is the link deep in the Achenmind between Her Highness, presidential politics, and the High Definition planet? Is it the silicon-based life forms? We could refer to the planet as Silica, or Salicious.

Obviously Hillary overreacted here. Reacting at all is an overreaction: you can't control what other people say, you can only control your response to it. However, I think it is the personal betrayal factor. This guy was her friend, raised money, introduced her to cool folks, and now he's talking trash about her and Bill and giving money to The Competitor. However, she can't win with this clash. Geffen thrives on this stuff and appears to be escalating it today. Far better for Hilary to ignore it, perhaps acknowledging Geffen's past support in a friendly, distant, queenly fashion.

Pat, thank you for the tribute to Uncle Mark. Give up the MommyBlog and stick with us - or at least drop in on Sundays and feast days. I told the Boy I'm going to try and be a more patient person for Lent. Also no cookies.

NonFencingTim, the Boy is miles and miles from Chevy Chase, but I'll keep it in mind should we visit DC. College Parkian, we're not to Nationals level yet. We're shooting for a SW-area Regional or two later this spring. If we get to Nationals and Duncan is still fencing, we'll look for him.

You might be onto something with the VS catalog Mudge. Silicates and silicone have similiar structures, no?

I think I will disavow the next presidential election.

As for the long,long distance water thingy -- reflect upon that next time you look at your paycheck and see how much the government is getting of it and what they are doing with it.

Maybe the pre-occupation with disavowals has to do with the attacks on John Kerry during the 2004 presidential election. Here I would make a distinction that it appears Geffen is merely disgusted with the Clintons and tried to find an alternative candidate to support, thus the fundraising for Obama (which unfortunately coincides with Geffen's anti-Clinton comments).

Water, there must be Water! It's got to be on Mars and it must, must be on planet X. We just can't see it through the particulates.

Why not just relax and stop stressing about the water and it's obvious next step: LIFE!

Because the real issue is: Life, there must be life!

What if there isn't?

Of all the days to be crushed by last-minute work before going on vacation...

*SIGH*

Regarding Endangered Oceans. Because the primitive system enforced upon us doesn't support that new-fangled "Flash 7" thingie, I can't see the site Joel linked to. But the topic of oceans does have a nice synergy with one of my duties here as a mentor for new hires.

For over my delightful lunch of cherry pie and nice hot coffee, I had a chat with a new hire who happens to have a doctorate in oceanography. My contribution to this chat was to ask, "So, are the oceans dying?" Then I just listened.

Bottom line, her position is that the oceans are not dying - they are shifting. On a geologic scale the oceans can take care of themselves. But, to follow a familiar theme, we may be in trouble. Here's why.

As carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere, the amount of free oxygen available for the oceans will drop. Even a tiny drop in dissolved atmosphere, especially combined with increased nitrogen and iron caused by human activity, favors deep-water anerobic life. This process leads to deep-water oxygen-free "dead zones" rich in hydrogen sulfide.

Okay, here comes the scary bit. If these dead zones get too large, and if ocean currents continue to change as they have been, these anerobic "bubbles" could come floating upwards and contact our atmosphere. Hydrogen sulfide would be released, and even more oxygen would be sucked out of the atmosphere. This would be a complicated and poorly understood process, but one that would doubtless be very bad for the ozone layer and all oxygen loving creatures everywhere.

Now she stressed that this is a "worst case" scenario, but one that adds even more urgency for limiting CO2 levels.

It made for a sobering lunch - even if the cherry pie was excellent.

This lifelong Democratic party member will NEVER,EVER,NEVER-IN-A-MILLION-YEARS vote for the lawyer's lawyer named "hillary".

Perhaps her rediculous sense of what is important (politics)and what is not (policy) will now be examined by the MSM instead of just hadicapping horse races.

Be the press.. not track-tout pimps please...

This lifelong Democratic party member will NEVER,EVER,NEVER-IN-A-MILLION-YEARS vote for the lawyer's lawyer named "hillary".

Perhaps her rediculous sense of what is important (politics)and what is not (policy) will now be examined by the MSM instead of just hadicapping horse races.

Be the press.. not track-tout pimps please...

Pat, what a sweet tribute from you.
'Mudge, thanks for the Philly restaurant guide..I'm going there for a wedding in May and have never been there and want to sample a cheesesteak from a bona fide culinary landmark.
HRC definitely went off the rails with the Geffen episode. I'm not a Hillary hater, but I just have this uneasy feeling that it's all about power with her and it's NOT because she's a she. Her whole candidacy just depresses me to no end. Our country needs something besides the inevitable rehashing of all things Clinton...she's a good Senator, why can't she be happy with that?

*catching my breath momentarily*

RDP, I believe that killer scenario is covered here:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=00037A5D-A938-150E-A93883414B7F0000

Thanks ScottyNuke! Yep, that's the scenario.

Totally out of topic but Mudge and Don from I70 may enjoy it. The Kriegmarine's minesweeper Groenitz (660 ton) REALLY ran aground in some place in Norway. It's in Norwegian but the pictures speak for themselves. Beautiful grey skies and dark water, it's got to be in the Baltic sea.

http://www.nettavisen.no/innenriks/article907628.ece

Kim... haven't had a chance to welcome you to the Boodle. Yours are often posts that I read while nodding my head (up and down, not side to side).

You'll love Philly. We try to get there every couple of years. It's a nice-sized city with lots of interesting things and people. I spent a couple of days there with my husband once while he attended a conference. I was on my own during the days and I had a blast just meeting people and exploring some of the cool neighborhoods. Of course, South Street is still my favorite walking tour.

The kids are fascinated by the Italian Market in the winter when they have barrels with huge fires burning to keep the folks warm.

We watched Rachel Ray's $40 a Day that features Philadelphia and discovered that we'd been to every place she visited! We even had the same waitress at the Italian restaurant she featured.

There's a great Burmese restaurant in China Town (I think it's called Rangoon).

My favorite breakfast place is the Morning Glory Diner.

http://www.morningglorydiner.com

Here we go again. The Obama/Clinton mud fight makes me wish thje ballot had a no column as well as yes and the highest net yes wins. That way when I'm convinced one is a scoundrel and unworthy of office I could vote against the one being trashed without having to vote for the doing the trashing.

RD and Scotty, are you telling us that our future will smell like a giant rotten-egg fart?

David Geffen is no mere contributor stating his opinion. He raised over $1.5 million for Obama.
When he raised the $18 million for Bill Clinton they were not liars. Now they are.
Geffen has no idea whether Bill Clinton has strayed or not and neither do you. One thing I can guarantee you though is that if he had the Clinton haters would know all about it.

Hillary Clinton is acting like a little child who got her feelings hurt. Aw, too bad, Hil. Get over it and grow up.

RD, was there a fish in the coffee?

Thank you very much, TBG. I'm glad it's an up and down thing, not a side to side. So, I only have one day that won't be taken up with wedding festivities, the South Street walking tour is the way to go?
Kenneth, I for one basically agree with Geffen. I'm not hopelessly naive, but I was really a believer in Bill Clinton, sign in the yard, a modest sum invested, the whole shebang, and felt that surely we needn't hold the mistakes of his past against him. Then he dallies with a 22 yr old! He's the leader of the free world! If I had raised that much money for him, I'd pop off to MoDo as well.

RDP, it's possible to get the text of the articles from the URL JA posted even without Flash.

The nice thing about this dustup is that the media has already decided that the 2008 election is Barack v Hillary. Are any Republicans running? It's hard to tell.

RDP, it's possible to get the text of the articles from the URL JA posted even without Flash.

Off-topic alert! But very important nonetheless (I love that word)...

So... what do you all think of Tony Kornheiser's morning show on WaPo Radio?

My quickie opinion? I think his analysis this morning of American Idol won me over. It was tough for me at first, since I started listening to WaPo radio as a companion to NPR, which I started listening to when I was feeling too old for the typical Morning Jock Show. But I think Tony's got a winner here.

At least I hope so.

How about not having any kits or boodling about 2008 presidential candidates until 2008? There's something about the comments this topic attracts that I don't appreciate.

LTL-CA : Thanks - I gave up too soon.

Ivansmom - you show once again that there is no pop cultural reference ["Twin Peaks"] too obscure for the mighty Achenblog.

Whatever Hillary is doing, it's working. She's pulling away from the pack in the Intrade betting on the Democratic nomination.

It seems that the only people who have trouble with that are the ones with serious unresolved emotional issues.

Of all the candidates running (D and R), Hillary appears to be the most likely winner, as reflected by the betting of people who put their money on the line.

Not one legislator is now contending they would have knowingly voted to disarm Saddam of weapons he ain't got.

Hillary's no different.

It's Dick Cheney who absurdly insists that what we know now - no weapons, no links - would have made no difference.

--Robert ("Bob") Smith

Not one legislator is now contending they would have knowingly voted to disarm Saddam of weapons he ain't got.

Hillary's no different.

It's Dick Cheney who absurdly insists that what we know now - no weapons, no links - would have made no difference.

--Robert ("Bob") Smith

LTL, I'm pretty much inclined to agree with your 12:52; I'd love to see a moritorium on this subject, too, not so much here in the boodle or in Joel's kits, but just in the media and society in general. This current dust-up is even more trivial than which wannabe got dissed by Simon on American Idol, and I don't think we can handle two solid years of it until the election. It was bad enough when the "silly season" was 11 months long; now it is two years. We all -- boodlers, MSM, the candidates, the public -- are all going to be waaay burned out before we even get to the actual primaries. Having 10 announced candidates two years ahead of time is ridiculous -- and almost nothing that happens for the next eight or ten months means doodly; it's all just noise.

But on a related topic, there's a devastatingly good column in Salon about Arbusto as CEO, at http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/02/22/ceo/print.html . Probably the most succinct summary of Bush's incompetence I've yet seen.

Shriek, thanks for that link to the minesweeper. That's one kapitan who just lost a couple of stripes off his sleeve moments before his retirement "to seek new opportunities in the private sector." That guy didn't just run aground; he REALLY ran aground. Almost certainly a court-martial and guilty verdict.

By the way, zenwick, although I agree the Obama v. Hillary conclusion is both way premature and ultimately wrong, on the other side of the aisle all your people are toast in 2008. We're talking major pop-tart time for the GOP, no matter who's running. Not that it matters, but you appear to have missed all the coverage about McCain, Romney, Rudy, Newt, Duncan, etc.

frostbitten, thanks for the words of encouragement. Sometimes one just feels really alone in these trials and tribulations, a kindred spirit is always nice and needful.

Slyness, thank you also for the words of encouragement. We want to teach our children about good eating habits to hold back that diabetes gene that most have inherited from their parents. The parents already suffer with the disease. I'm open to any help you can provide.

As to Hillary Clinton and Obama, not familiar with the spat. I did at one time visit her web page, and left a message indicating that her party did not have a person that represented us in the senate, and that we are basically in the hands of Repubs, who convienently ignore us. The response was less than pleasing. I have to try Obama web page and see how that goes.

I've finally figured out why I am so not me, and I mean I've been feeling really low and depressed. It finally hit me. This is the month that my son died three years ago.

I've missed most of the day, and maybe someone has already answered this; but, what the heck:

HD209458b means that the star is number 209,458 within the Henry Draper catalog, compiled in the early 20th century, I think. the b refers to it being in orbit around the primary object; the lowercase indicates it's a sub-stellar object. Thus, there is no 'a'.

How's that for humorlessness?

p

I am pleased to see that the boodle is working again. If only I had something interesting to say.

Geez, I almost thought I'd have to work all day. that would be such a waste on a Friday.

Come out, come out, wherever you are and meet the young lady,
who fell from a star.
She fell from the sky, she fell very far and Kansas, she says,
is the name of the star.
Kansas, she says, is the name of the star.
She brings you good news. Or haven't you heard?
When she fell out of Kansas

Cassandra, I am so sorry. The loss of a child has to be one of the hardest things.

The lead (first rock thrower) on the R curling team has been diagnosed with leukemia. We would be pretty devastated, but all things considered, it could be worse. He has Hairy Cell Leukemia, a chronic slow moving cancer. There is no cure but it has an exceptionally high remission rate, and very high survival rate. As such things will be, he has choosen to delay the start of his chemo for 2 weeks...till curling season is over. So this weekend up here we shall pray for remmission, and we will laugh him through this thing.

Hooray! I do so hate that "DO NOT CROSS POLICE LINE" yellow tape that always gets set up around dead boodles. What's a hardworking dog to do?

Mostlylurking, I was trying my darnedest to bribe the cable guy with nuzzles and licks to get the computer hooked up days ago. Now I'm so behind that I missed marking on 4 boodles! Maybe I should have offered more dog biscuits for faster work.

Now as for that post on mountain climbing, I can definitely say I do it MUCH better than the gnome does. It's all in the four-paw drive, baby.

Now, if you're talking fancy-schmancy cliff climbing equipment such as roping ice picks and such while rappelling, then yeah, keep in mind whether you REALLY want a team member that lacks opposable thumbs and will be whining to get off the ropes to smell every bush on the way.

So, you do need to pass a certain common-sense checkpoint before hiking or mountain climbing with a dog (Or with yourself).

Being a very curious dog with lots of connections, I am reliably informed that Mount Hood in fact has many hiking trails that don't require death-defying ape grips, cliff climbing equipment, and the general velcrodom of geckos. Just lots of leg power.

So I think that vet needs to relax and just let dogs be kings of the hills if they want to be, especially if the dog knows enough not to chase birds' shadows off cliffs or anything like that.

Follow up on Endangered Oceans and Global Warming. I used to believe that the well-buffered biosphere might compensate for an increase in atmospheric C02 by a global blooming of oceanic algae. (Was I ever that young?) Anyway, my chatty coworker, the oceanographer, told me this morning that this isn't true. Algae, it turns out, is not C02 limited, it is nitrogen and iron limited. This is why some people have experimented with dumping iron and nitrogen into the ocean to induce a phytoplankton bloom. This sort of thinking terrifies my coworker because of the scenario I described before "the break" and in that great link Scottynuke found. In other words, that the algae are *not* C02 limited is what helps keep the biosphere stable.

Anyway, what this means is that if we really want to limit the impact of Global Warming, we need to focus on limiting the amount of fertilizer runoff that goes into the ocean. (You know, just like they told us locals in those Maryland Crab commercials.) Chemical pollution and C02 pollution both work together in a nasty feedback loop.

I work with so many interesting people.

It's back, the boodle is back! Yay! I will survive Friday!

On the topic of conflict, here's a link to a story that's been hot around here. (Caution, it's blue on SEVERAL levels!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qy-VnBEtb0&mode=related&search=

*peeking out* are we back??

Just follow the path of breadcrumbs people.

Well, I guess Hillary has gotten back at Joel by killing Moveable Type!

Cassandra: I find myself heading for the guttter around the times when each of them passed. Your faith will get you through.

Joel made the point near the end of the kit that an award was to two LAT journalists given for a five part series on the state of the oceans. Hit the link, look at the series and then read the article linked to in S'nuke's 12.15 from yesterday. I use the oceans thing as a teaching supplement, as a film clip is worth a thousand words.

Looks like the newly seataed legislators in congress have found the nerve, in a manner of speaking.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022201743.html

OTOH, it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Why do our leaders insist in casting the opposition as ones who provide aid and comfort?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/23/AR2007022300785.html

Slyness, I watched that Youtube vid this morning, from your link on EF's blog. I can't believe how big a jerk that guy was, and by and large thought the poor girl handled it pretty well. (And I don't really care what the merits of the break-up were; no one deserves public humiliation like that.) And I'm even disappointed in the rest of the students for standing around and watching; somebody should have had the sense to at least walk away. I understand the girls' chorus was "just" trying to advertise their concert, but their role in humiliating the girl was also pretty pathetic.

Yay!

I guess they fixed the "bad switch." For some reason I have a feeling it wasn't the kind of switch you can flick with a finger. But what do I know. I have no idea how any of this works. My keyboard is full of keys I not only never touch but which I refuse to even look at. If you know what I mean. (OK, I just looked, and there's a key that says Wake Up. Can I press that instead of drinking so much coffee???)

Mudge, the discussion around here is whether or not it was staged. Seems the guy put the word out about it, and that's what drew the crowd. I thought the young woman handled herself well, under the circumstances. My thought is that the guy will never, ever get a date on campus again.

If only the keyboard keys worked that way. "Home," "Escape," and "Break" would be so much more useful.

We're back?

That was just terrible.

My old pc at work used to have a "smite" key. CTRL-ALT-DEL had nothin' on that baby...

>If only the keyboard keys worked that way. "Home," "Escape," and "Break" would be so much more useful.

I always thought automatic transmissions should have an "H" and "W" for Home and Work.

"How about not having any kits or boodling about 2008 presidential candidates until 2008? There's something about the comments this topic attracts that I don't appreciate.

Posted by: LTL-CA | February 22, 2007 12:52 PM"

Agree, but how about 2009? Allusions might be acceptable, but no direct statements.
Toil not, neither spin. There are adequate outlets for venom & spite elsewhere on the web.

That was merely a demonstration of our awesome power.

While you're talking about defective keys (or keys that should work better than they do), how about "Num Lock" (I'm numb-locked pretty often) and "Insert" and "Enter" have potential. "Tab" might be useful for bartenders as well as their clientele. But above all, the key I wish worked differently is "Escape."

If only you could hit the Escape key, type in your destination of choice (Grand Cayman, anyone?) and it would take you there. Like the old Calgon commercials, only much, much better.

Wow, Slyness, that Youtube video is so depressing. Makes me want to home-school my kids through college if that's what it will take to keep them away from environments like that. Not so much the two principals - hurt people will lash out, after all, but the huge crowd of nasty people who were egging them on. Disgusting.

Joel majored in political science. Sometimes the former is dominant, and sometimes it is the latter.

I would mention the Caps Lock, but I'm not that into hockey.

RD, the Caps are last in their division and 24th in a 30-team league, so I daresay they're not all that into hockey either.

If I hit Num Lock, will it silence people who are "numb-er than a hake?"

Goes without saying that key is not needed for anyone on the boodle.

Cassandra, I hope your spirits are rising higher today. I made several attempts to post yesterday to let you know you are supported and cared for, but couldn't. It was frustrating. You have a good attitude toward the anniversay, it seems - you only realized it was an anniversary when you noticed it was affecting you. Some people acknowledge such anniversaries like birthdays, and plan for being depressed. And that's not healthy.

We use Num Lock as a mock insult in our family. You Num Lock! I'm such a Num Lock!

what we need is some to develop a troll lock, which can replace the scroll lock, cause it doesn't anything anyway.

First comment since the boodle revives and I rejoin the SCC:some=>someone

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/columnists/krodriguez/stories/MYSA022307.01B.rodriguez.12c6c61.html

A new theory out about (or put forward) how the Helotes brush fire was started, in a column today by San Antonio Express-News Metro columnist by Ken Rodriguez.

It was started by ALIENS!

Before I give you the relevant paragraphs, please know that very early in the reporting cyle of this continuing saga of the blaze, the Express-News reported and alleged that several teens, on Christmas night, drank too much spiked eggnog (if you know what I mean), drove over to the mulch pile, and doused it with gasoline, going so far as to draw their names on the side of the pile in a fine spray of gas, and then ignited their "work."

The proof? The lock on the gate on the Zumwalt property had been broken. As the story unfolded and facts became known, turns out it was the Helotes Fire Department that broke the lock on the gate in order to get on the property and to attempt to extinguish the fire the first night it erupted.

All reporters' questions, as well as my own, as to how the fire began have been met for the last month or so with the pat answer "It's under investigation (by the county fire marshal's office)."

There are two relatively obvious theories ccirculating, however: the fire began by spontaneous combustion given the size of the heap, or there was deliberate arson.

Today, the third theory, midway in Rodriguez's reporting:

Almost two months after the fire began, no one has been arrested. A $25,000 reward for information on the fire starter has gone unclaimed. If that's not enough, consider this: Investigators say they don't know how the fire began.

As Helotes mayor Jon Allan put it, "They don't have any evidence to show somebody else started it. You could say space aliens came down and lit it."

You don't suppose Helotes Mayor Jon Allan has been reading the Achenblog and getting into the spirit of things around here, do you? If he is, it's nice to see him put aside his serious scientist and serious local government leader hats for a few minutes and indulge in probably some mulch (much)-needed humor.

I'm so clumsy that, when I type, unique combinations of keys can coujure various bombs that affect our CPU. I keep waiting for it to crash, but it takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'...

Lazybones that I am, I shan't put up a new kit, but I did add a few things to the top of this one. Links. I found my earthquake story (Nat Geo) online, in full, though it looks terrible the way it's a big block of text. I think previously only a portion of it had been online.

Hmm, no love for the "End" and "Home" keys? How about "Stand by", "Control", "Shift" and my fav, "Hibernate"?

I agree with those that posit "Insert" and "Enter" are the keys with the most comic potential.

bc

Wow! we're back. Thanks folks for the kind words.

I've been out this morning, to that washroom. I've had my lunch, and now the Achenblog is up to speed so I can lurk the rest of the day.

JA, I believe I fall in that category about the keys. Many of them, I have no idea what they're suppose to do. I've never used them, and I like you, don't even look at them. I suspect you are so much better at this than you lead us to believe.

Slyness, I took the course for writing grants, but I suspect more would not hurt. For the grant that was declined, I had help from one of the instructors at our local community college. I think our problem is finding funders that would be willing to take us on. I'm stretched out in so many ways, I can't put the time and energy in finding funders and writing as I sould. I welcome any and all help, I really do. I know I am limited in what I try to do. So much of what I attempt I am so out of my league even though my heart is in the right place. I never, ever, turn down offers of assistance, because for me, that gives the illusion that I know what I'm doing, and that is just not the case so much of the time. And I thank you Slyness.

Have a good weekend, my friends.

just reread my post for the third time and what do I see: Another SCC entry.I am so unworthy

Who are the breadcrumbs people?

Uh-oh, it's that time of day again

Boko999 - I thought of that as soon as I wrote it.

Great earthquake article Joel. (By which I mean a great article about an earthquake all you breadcrumb people.) I work with two people who were educated as geophysicists. Neither one of them likes to spend much time in California. But you know what really scares them? Missouri.

Good afternoon! The Boodle is here and there is much rejoicing. I'll leave you to imagine the truly brilliant posts I attempted to no avail yesterday. I was trying to express sympathy for Cassandra, though.

Also, if we give up Boodling on the presidential election until 2008, won't the election be over for all practical purposes?

There have been several small earthquakes the last week or so in central Oklahoma. We haven't felt them here at the house, but that could be because we are so solid and grounded. Or not. Perhaps we just aren't paying attention.

Boodle question: I was reading from the Boy's science text (already outdated) during his recent illness. They are studying the Solar System. The book refers to several NASA space exploration projects which were to launch in 2007 and 2011. He wondered if they're still on track. I told him I would ask the Boodle, because it has Those Who Know.

Sky report: Wind is too strong to open eyes while outside. Through window, lots of sunshine and half-grey clouds. Probably thunderstorms tonight. In February. Gosh darn global warming extreme weather events.

It's very windy here in DC also. Did we cancel the last week of February and skip right into March. When is the kite festival on the Mall.

Ivansmom, the world is in flux. You'll have to tell me which missions the Boy wondered about, or have him email me directly -- you can get my address from my storytelling web page: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/timtales/

Or, he could do what I do -- Google the mission names.

Kepler is due to launch next year. It will look for planets transiting stars.

Rosetta launched a couple years ago and is on track to reach Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014, I believe.

New Horizons launched last year and is on its way to Pluto. It has just flown by Jupiter.

The Dawn mission to Ceres and Vesta is still under preparation.

>But you know what really scares them? Missouri.

RD, during the Loma Prieta San Fran quake in '89 I was in New Madrid, MO. Peter Jennings comes on with his export and says "Well, isn't it true that the largest earthquake in the US was actually in New Madrid Missouri?"

I almost fell out of my chair. The locals claimed the fields rose in waves 30 ft. tall. I couldn't help thinking what that would do to my car at 60mph. The river ran backwards, changed course and completely covered the town.

Apparently it was strong enough to ring church bells in Boston!

What, Tim, no NASA mission to Tiffanie Culpepper IV????? It was those b@st@rds that set fire to the mulch in Halitosis, Texas. The very least we can do is TP their sonic disruptor manufacturing facilities.

Fer cryin' out loud. The judge cries as he's handing down his decision after the Anna Nicole Smith hearings, Scooter Libby's lawyer sobs during his summation at the end of that gentleman's trial. I'm afraid to sell my house, I'm not sure my lawyer can take the trauma.

Thanks, ScienceTim. Many of those names are similar to the ones they used. I'll have to talk him into bringing the book home (what? bring a textbook home to work? horrors!) for the rest. Thanks also for your webpage link -- I'd intended to go look for that.

Tonight begins the annual Friends of the Library book sale, with the advance sale for ticket holders ($10 for 4 tickets). Tomorrow and Sunday they open to the public. The books fill a large building at the State Fairgrounds with two rooms - general reading and "collectors". The former is all hardbacks $1, paperbacks something like 50 cents (oh my gosh, does my keyboard not have a "cents" symbol?). The other room has rarer books or those in really good condition, for slightly more. It is a great deal. When Ivansdad & I first moved here we'd haul home 400 or so books. We're more temperate now, or more choosy, but it is still a big night. Time to go get the tickets.

Boko, we New Age men are very sensitive, and aren't afraid to get in touch with our Inner Selves, and show our emotions. Now shut the hell up, pass me a brewski, and let's see what's on ESPN2, dammit.

Cue: Christine Lavin singing

Oooo, ooooo wahhhhhh oooooo
Sensitive New Age Guys....

SNAGs

---
She also wrote the charming "Cold Pizza for Breakfast (in a pinch, spaghetti will do)"

So many great links in the Kit update, so little time. As a Valentine's Day gift, my husband agreed to a year's subscription of National Geographic. The annual subscription: $12. The newsstand price at B&N: $5. How could Loomispouse go wrong? It's been so long since we (I) subscribed to Natty G, but February's issue was such a winner.

I'll have to give my Oscar picks this weekend. I refuse to Boodle during the Oscars, as it would mean commuting between floors!

I did watch this morning all four video segments on the best Academy Award picks by the four WaPo movie reviewers. They're really awful videos, but some of the discussion by the four movie critics was interesting--something I may refer to and pick apart on Sunday (most likely, as I think we're taking out a small, dead tree in the backyard on Saturday, followed by errands).

Shall I reveal myself as "Media Consultant" on Cillizza's blog--a post I made several weeks ago? The medium IS the message, guys and gals.

Ivansmom, you just caused me to well-nigh drool with envy! I once lived in a city that had an annual Friends of the Library book sale, and I planned my year around the hundreds of tomes I snagged at the $1 and .50 price (and the last day was half-off of *that*). Where I live now, a local non-profit accepts all of the library's unwanted book donations and sells them in a big annual sale, but. . . they carefully look up the used-book prices on the 'net and price everything - even the paperbacks - accordingly. Its not exactly a bargain (many are cheaper if bought new at Borders, fer cryin' out loud). I miss the FoL. I'm sure Ikea misses my annual bookshelf purchases, woo.

SCC: "too" (woo!)

Loomis, I caught the 'aliens started it' just before going to lunch. Of course they did. It was so right to hear that on a Friday after the boodle had been broken.

This might answer some questions...

Safari can't open the page "http://www.washingtonpost.com/" because it can't find the server "www.washingtonpost.com".

That's the error message I get when I try to go to the WaPo home page.

Testing... testing...

'Mudge | I was raised in "Toronto the Good", WASPs don't touch their self. Especially inner.
When faking sensitivity pretending to like Jane Siberry is always a good start.

Got to sing "Sensitive New Age Guys" on stage with Christine Lavin a few years ago...

Didn't even tell her that my favorite sports league is the WNBA.

I forgot to mention that when Ivansdad & I moved here, the books at the book sale were 50 cents hardback, quarter a paperback. It was a feast.

Boko, the Smith judge, I can't explain. Scooter Libby's lawyer was paid by the tear.

Boko, it's OK to touch your inner self. It's your outer one that you aren't supposed to touch. And, generally speaking, other people's, too. Unless they ask, of course.

Or have had a lot of wine.

(Somehow I think I still have to work on this Mr. Sensitivity thing.)

So a jury of Scooter's peers are lying ten year olds who got caught. Sobbing just might work with them. Personally, I prefer snivelling.

At the last day of our local book sale, they were clearing out the books for $2 a bag (the plastic grocery kind). We ended up with a huge box of books for $10. Ah, the riches!

Mudge, can I at least SNIFF your self?

Now here's the kind of thing that makes smoke come out of my ears:

AP: Nearly 800 Iraq Contractors Killed
By MICHELLE ROBERTS

In a largely invisible cost of the war in Iraq, nearly 800 civilians working under contract to the Pentagon have been killed and more than 3,300 hurt doing jobs normally handled by the U.S. military, according to figures gathered by The Associated Press.

Exactly how many of these employees doing the Pentagon's work are Americans is uncertain. But the casualty figures make it clear that the Defense Department's count of more than 3,100 U.S. military dead does not tell the whole story.

"It's another unseen expense of the war," said Thomas Houle, a retired Air Force reservist whose brother-in-law died while driving a truck in Iraq. "It's almost disrespectful that it doesn't get the kind of publicity or respect that a soldier would."

Employees of defense contractors such as Halliburton, Blackwater and Wackenhut cook meals, do laundry, repair infrastruture, translate documents, analyze intelligence, guard prisoners, protect military convoys, deliver water in the heavily fortified Green Zone and stand sentry at buildings often highly dangerous duties almost identical to those performed by many U.S. troops.

The U.S. has outsourced so many war and reconstruction duties that there are almost as many contractors (120,000) as U.S. troops (135,000) in the war zone.

Hands and feet, Wilbrodog, just hands and feet. Last time we were at McCormick & Schmick's and you were under the table Scottynuke got a sudden look on his face that seemed to indicate you had exceeded your authority.

Mudge, you need to post that photo!

Lies, Mudge. It was SciTim playing footsies, actually.

CNN has a story about a 70 year old American tourist in Cost Rica who killed a twenty year old mugger with his bare (bear?) hands. Way to go guy!

In an unrelated story the protester who Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien throttled a few years back is running for Parliament in Quebec.

When I helped run the art gallery, we named one month's multi-artist show "Control - Alternate - Delete." The critics loved it.

This keyboard has a funny key.
There are many here among us
Who think that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that
And that is not our F8

Running for the bus. Have a good weekend to anyone who tends to drop off the boodle for the weekend. See the rest of yuns a little later.

Ivansmom, I laughed so hard at your last post. Libby's lawyer getting paid by the tear. That's really telling a story, and it probably isn't funny, but oh, how I laughed, and still laughing.

Mudge, there isn't anything funny about Iraq, but that last line in your post about the contract workers was pretty funny too.

$25,000? Yeah, it was a Texas alien, all right. It happened this way: a WaPo lippmann did it so that his blog comments would fill up. A little waterboarding would elicit the details, if the questions were put in the right way.

Where do I collect?

Let me clarify. Not the contractors getting killed, that's not funny. The fact that we outsource wars with as many contractors as soldiers, at least the way mudge said it seemed a little funny. Tying myself up here, and can't get straight. Too much chocoalat(?) ice cream.

A real winter storm is supposed to roll in to Minnesota tonight and tomorrow, though it looks like the bulk of it will pass south of us (in the tropical Twin Cities). Must be the vestiges of NoVA in me for I find myself thankful for the 30 rolls of toilet paper stored in the garage. Alas, no bread in the house but I think I can survive on beer and whatever.

The boodle outage forced me to pay attention to semi-real life and the cultural whiplash is killer. My Tampa based self is marveling at the Largo city manager's announcement that he will be undergoing gender reassignment surgery after he completes a year of living as a woman. Apparently his 13yo son found out only after the story was leaked to the St. Pete Times (really one of the nation's top ten papers?) In Tampa, a middle school principal has resigned after buying crack from an undercover police officer, (here it comes) in his school office.

I won't say MN is boring, but big news here today is tomorrow's scheduled rally in St. Paul of the Upper Midwest Pagan Alliance. The Veterans Administration has been unsympathetic to requests for inclusion of the Pagan Pentacle as a "symbol of faith" eligible for free engraving on the VA provided headstone of deceased veterans, and the Wiccans have tried gentle persuasion long enough. Lawsusits are filed and now they are traveling from as far away as the UP to demonstrate. Rally will go on as scheduled unless the governor issues a "no travel" order.

That is big news, Frostbitten. As far as I'm concerned, a pentacle is about as easy to carve as a Star of David or a cross and if they permit that information to be on a tombstone, they should allow symbols of other religions, such as the crescent moon of Islam, the dagger symbol of Sikhism, the lotus of buddhism, and the pentacle or whatever.

It's covered in the bill of rights, and the VA has no business discriminating against one religion or another when it comes to people who gave their lives and careers for what America is supposed to stand for.

frsotbitten, yeah, those stories make my boring life seem pretty good.

On the other hand,

http://www.usacurl.org/events/07MW/page1.htm

And in the Scott tournament of Hearts, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are tied for second, with team Canada, last years winners on top. Tonite the Page playoffs begin, pitting PEI against Manotiba, and Team Canada against Saskatchewan tonite starting 8 pm local Alberta time.

I'll be very busy this weekend keeping on top of the curling. I don't think I will be doing any housework at all. Pity.

*peals of laughter and semi-pandemonium*

Our daughter has a friend over for an overnight visit. Our son is going for an overnight on the morrow. Our oldest daughter is out with the youth group until midnight, and we accidently found out she has a myspace gig. She used good sense when she set it up, so we don't think it's that big of a deal. Our female dogs are getting ready to hit the circuit. Hopefully one of them will finish. Tonight I feel older than usual.

Wilbrod-you are completely right. In fact an Islamic sect's allowed symbol is much the same shape as the one requested by the Wiccan groups.

dr-One of my high school English teachers required students to keep meticulous notes which he graded each quarter. He was quite the skip in his day and devoted one long lecture each year to the joys of curling. Fascinating sport. Alas, the one CBC channel I get is showing the Winnipeg Comedy Fest tonight.

Has anybody else seen this?

http://www.quakefinder.com/quakesat.htm

It seems a little flaky too me, but this isn't my field. I may ask my geophysics coworkers about this on Monday.

This is probably stupid, but does "put the rock in the house" mean something in curling? I ask because there's a song called "Curl" I heard lately which repeats that line over and over, and it dawns on me that it's a song about the sport, not hair.

Wheezy - yes it does. It means scoring potential points by putting the curling stone into the far end of the field of play.

For your cultural edification

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

Thanks, RD. I don't know from curling. Obviously.

That site about the satellite seems legit to me - they should probably note that they're not sure they will glean any useful information from the satellite, but I can kinda sorta understand why they wouldn't say that up front.

"Cool Hand Luke" is on. It's been a long time since I last watched it, and now I am amazed by the number of well-known (or mostly well known) actors in this thing. Besides the leads Paul Newman, George Kennedy and Strother "Failure to communicate" Martin there are: JD Cannon, Lou Anontio,Jo Van Fleet, Wayne Rogers, Clifton James, Morgan Woodward, Robert Donner, Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton, Ralph Waite, Anthony Zerbe, Joe Don Baker, and James Gammon. Most of these guys were unknowns back then. Amazing.

"What we got here, is a failure to communicate" is a line I use with alarming frequency with my teenaged son.

Somewhere in the darkness....gotta keep those Canadians down...

Here's a link to "Curl" with that catchy "come on baby put the rock in the house" hook.

http://www.jonathancoulton.com/mp3/Curl.mp3

RD - a few weeks ago you said you would have to wait to have a drink one evening until your chauffeuring duties were done - I'm having the same problem tonight. I have to pick up some 13 year olds from a movie in an hour, and can't reasonably have a drink until then. I wish it was 1950 and I could justify it to myself. But God, think of the giant cars of death back then, with REAL GLASS windows and no ABS - you were taking your friggin life in your hands to drive even stone cold sober back then.

Course, there were no mile-high SUVs shinking their halogen headlights right into your eyes and blocking all visibility back then, either. Road rage was probably less of a problem.

Yes, frostbitten, that's the song. I made a CD of the free songs from Jonathan Coulton (without listening to most of them first) and I've been enjoying it. My kids don't, though. The guest 13 year old was a little freaked out tonight when she heard "Stonecrusher Mountain" - sounds like a sappy pop rock song, till you listen to the truly weird and freaky lyrics. Gotta watch out or I'll get a bad reputation.

Wheezy - yes it is one of the problems of parenthood that doesn't get a lot of press. For what could be more dangerous, in many ways, than picking up a teenager (or teenagers) with demon rum on one's breath.

SCC: it's Skullcrusher Mountain.

Not the kind of comment you ever think you'll have to type, that.

Frostbitten, it'll be interesting to see how those stories are presented when they make it to the Sydney Morning Herald. The Aussies like to report our silliness, and they don't have to try very hard to find something, pretty much daily.

Speaking of how we look to others....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6391891.stm

On the general subject of families, deaths, gatherings, etc...

The last several times that my family has all gathered together was for funerals. The most recent time on my mother's side of the family was for my grandmother (some of you may remember that I was actually a little shaken by that one, and I don't shake easy! Her funeral/memorial service announcement here: http://www.americustimesrecorder.com/obituaries/local_story_005183305?start:int=0
Scroll to "Buena Vista Sparks Crumpler".
You can probably figure out which grandkid I am! I'm pretty sure that 25-35% of the active and retired Methodist ministers from south Georgia were at the funeral and/or memorial service, as they were for my grandfather's a few years earlier. She was a great lady, I've told stories about her here before.)

Anyway, next weekend, we'll gather in Baltimore for something joyful. Another of her grandkids (the "Elizabeth" in the list of grandchildren) is getting married, and all of her children and grandchildren will be together for the first time since her passing. Nice to be together for something forward-looking, for a change!

I think the world of Dana Priest and appreciate her chats. Love when someone has the temerity to accuse her of being part of the MSM conspiracy (either left or right!) or when dummies like this post to the chat:

Michigan City, Ind.: Hi Dana. If the anti-war liberal Democrats are able at some time(after Mr. Murtha's "slow bleed" of our troops) to totally get us to cut and run from Iraq, and "The Pol Potting" gets into full swing in Iraq, what timeframe might we expect a movie like, "The Killing Sands" to be put in "the can"? Maybe Mr. Geffen would like a crack at that filming project, with Jane Fonda's official okie-dokie, of course ... sigh.

Dana Priest: You managed to tuck in more loaded nouns and verbs than the highly-partisans usually can fit in one question, so I'm passing this along for those interested in this tradecraft. (And to repeat that for those who are, you probably will get more relief from your affliction in the blogosphere.)

Joel, you don't know how lucky you have it with the posters here!

'mudge - A lady friend of mind who absolutely HATES the idea of prison movies, violent movies, movies full of men, etc, took a leap of faith once. After I assured her repeatedly that "Cool Hand Luke" was a genuinely good film that she would eventually regret not having seen, she watched it with me. She allowed as how I'd known whereof I spake. Although she did say that the ending was enough of a bummer that she probably wouldn't ever watch it again herself, I know that she's enthusiastically recommended it to others.

It really is a rather astounding cast, ain't it?

bill every - Aahh, you greatly underestimate the wonderful wizardry of Ach!

There's no luck at all, any more than a bar which removes the pool tables, replaces the carpets, turns up the lights, and raises the drink prices is lucky when the clientele changes.

Wheezy-there's nothing quite like tormenting a teen with your own music. Check this ou