Such an Easter present! Good work, bc.

Thanks JA,

Good morning, everyone.

Oh, bother, now I have to spend the time to post this on my blog. Time I don't have!

Thank Berners-Lee for hyperlinks...

bc

Happy Easter, everybody!

Two years. Wow!

As the guy said on April 11, 2005, this comment thing is just a phase that won't last.

Yeah, right. And we have the community to prove him wrong.

Now I gotta go find my copy of "Einstein's Dreams". As if I have the time.

[reposted from previous Boodle...]

btw... maybe GPS isn't the answer to getting around New Hampshire (or anywhere else, for that matter)...

Intense Solar Flare Worries Scientists
Blast of Radio Waves Larger Than Thought Possible Caused GPS Disruptions

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/07/AR2007040700916.html

I guess what's got the pointy heads' knickers in a twist is that we're currently at the low point of the sun's 11 year when solar flares and sunspots are least frequent and powerful. When we hit the high point, they're afraid all hell's gonna break loose.

And aren't we due for a shift/reversal of the Earth's magnetic field soon? (which reminds me... gotta buy stock in compass manufacturing companies)

Happy Easter and Happy Boodle Birthday! The Easter Bunny (Beagle, Frostbitten? Snoopy?) has come, and it is almost time to hunt eggs. It is cold, but bracing. That's the word. Whether you celebrate Easter or not, you'll be celebrating the Boodle, so have a joyous day!

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Happy Birthday Boodle!!

Happy Happy Happy!!

Now back to the kitchen for a serious smackdown or should that be snackdown?

SCC: "11 year *cycle*"

(maybe I better nick a bit of Little Bean's chocolate stash and put on another pot of coffee)

Well, I posted the item to my blog, added a little verbiage and a link back to the piece I wrote for the one-year anniversary.

martooni, if the earth's magnetic field flips, all you need to do is use a Sharpie to replace N with S, S with N, E with W, and W with E. Upside down, of course.
No problem. I'll bring the Sharpies.

bc

I meant to add earlier: Happy Easter and Happy Boodleversary.

bc

Happy Easter and Boodleversary to all. Thank you BC for explaining boodleativity.

Sweet potato casserole is ready to go in the oven and the bunny brought me some garden pr0n-a Wayside catalogue- and gift certificate.

Overjoyed at your lucky 13 Martooni.
To all of you chilled believers I wish you well. Remember-
Many are cold, but few are frozen.

Ivansmom-Good catch. The Easter Beagle (Snoopy) traditionally, at Chez Frostbitten that is, brings underwear in unconventional "baskets." This year it was polka dot socks and panties in purple plastic storage bins for Frostdottir.

Thanks, frostbitten...

My pr0n is the weekly Home Depot and Lowe's circulars. Jesu forfend anyone should need to use my bathroom when the Rockler catalog shows up.

Very nice, BC.

Happy Easter and Boodleversary everyone.

I am, regrettably, working today. It's very quiet so I've had time to peruse the Post. I was reading Weingarten's wonderful piece this morning and actually wondered if there were other Boodlers reading it at the same time.

We have an actual Easter beagle and he has brought lots of chocolate, flip flops, bathing suits and smoothie cafe gift certificates to my offspring in their Easter baskets. Trying to think warm on this very chilly day. The loyal beagle gets Pupperoni. It's a good day.

Nicely done bc!

Since I failed to adjust the VCR to account for Daylight Savings Time and have therefore recorded only HALF of the Malaysian GP I will have to wait until after dinner to watch the end, assuming I don't screw up recording the tape-delayed broadcast.

This is going to be an interesting application of relative time. As in, I'll be spending the time in-between with relatives wondering who won, and avoiding the news.

A very Happy Easter to all celebrating it, and a very happy day to everyone who isn't. It's good to be here - it's good to be anywhere.

EF, I think I got the Malaysian GP, but I won't be able to watch it until tonight.

Speed is supposed to rebroadcast it today at 3:30 PM EST, so you're not completely out of luck. Unless you wanted to watch the Champ Car race at the same time...

bc

>Speed is supposed to rebroadcast it today at 3:30 PM EST,

Yeah, that's why I was too lazy (and sleepy) to fix the VCR. Then I found out what time dinner is - 3pm, 25 miles away. *sigh*

They'll let me watch but in any case I'll be stuck on lap 23 for the next 6 hours, 'cuz that's about where the tape will run out!

Happy Boodleversary to everyone! It feels good to be two and counting! bc... thanks for putting it so eloquently. I do enjoy spending quality time with all of you.

Now to immediately move to a previous-boodle topic: Last night, believe it or not, I found out the secret to deep-red Easter eggs: Use brown eggs.

Now I'm off to make my roasted potatoes (yesterday I made my "mock" Easter soup and dyed the eggs); we're off to my sister's house today to celebrate the rare Greek/American Easter on the same day!

Have a great day everyone, whether you celebrate Easter or not.

Happy Easter and Happy Boodleversary to all.

Hadn't watch TV for a couple of years now. Didn't know the Malaysian GP was on. Had to learn it from Error Flynn and bc on the other side of the globe. Shame on me!

Happy Easter and Boodleversary all!

martooni - rumor has it that solar flares may have already caused your secret world government serious pain.

The boodle is important to me because, frankly, I don't get out much. Neither my working environment nor domestic situation really allows a lot of socializing. So you folks must suffer my pendantic and pointless posts in order to help keep me reasonably sane. Consider it a civic responsibility.

For which I, and a grateful nation, sincerely thank you.

Speaking of sports, is it just me or does that Tiger Woods fellow have, like, a serious potty mouth?

Way to go Boko! BC, very nice. Above my kitchen sink hangs a sign that says, 'Time is precious, waste it wisely'.

The boodle continues to be an unexpected beauty and there is no one I'd rather waste my time with.

Congratulations to the boss and to WaPo for hosting THE nicest porch on the net.

RD, it is our pleasure. Truly. I find I also use this forum as a substitute for inflicting pointless pedantry on my colleagues, whose good will only goes so far.

Martooni, congratulations, and watch out for spinning Beans. The Boy gets more little toy-type things than candy in his Easter basket, which cuts down significantly on the sugar rush. There is a good chocolate bunny, however, for him to share with me. This year, he asked for duct tape in his Easter basket. I was so proud.

bc, thank you for assisting with the Boodle celebration. Well said.

Eggs were hunted, and found, and distributed (mercifully) unequally among the cousins. Otherwise, we'd be eating hardboiled eggs for months. Soon, church. Then, a lovely social gathering. Perhaps later I'll be able to see how y'alls day went ("y'all" being, of course, the collective "you").

I appreciate the boodleness of wide-ranging and thoughtfulness for ways similar to RDP: Like going out, while staying at home. For some of us, this marvelous bi-location helps us sane and home fires burning.

Martooni -- you are better, way better, than the Easter Poodle who comes our way with chocolate, playing cards, and socks. Socks, too, come from St. Nicholas on December 6th. The power behind the curtain is not that imaginative and socks are both practical and soulful. Pardon my most grievous pun, and my soul, so shriven lately too.

On the table today: buffet that will not overwhelm the college age/career gals in/out the house. Ham and turkey, sliced; small wheat rolls; three kinds of mustard; blueberries lightly cooked with lemon zest spooned into pastry shells; Swedish meatballs in the crockpot (thank you, Ikea); pinot grigio for the recently graduated to legal-age dottirs.

'Mudge -- tried so hard to make the cherry faux specialness you invented for us, but the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I think that we need a cherry-pie meet up when the sours come in season.

Hi SuperFrenchie. Good to see you.

Guests coming, gotta run. Have a great day, everyone.

I'll check in later.

bc

Happy Boodleversary! What I want to know is, now that we are two, will we start throwing tantrums, etc.? Will will be *terrible?*

mostly, if I'd have known, I'd have worn a sign. They don't shoot our section often because we sit near opening end hack (foot thingies). There is usually far more interesting stuff happening down there.

I tell you, I am torn about who to cheer for today. Sure I should cheer for Canada, but the Germans worked harder for it. The energy, the focus, the intensity of the German team emanates in waves around the arena but all you have to do is look at Glenn Howard's eyes and the eyes of his teammates as they throw their rocks to see that same energy, that same intense desire. How can I pick between such teams, between such competitors?

No matter who wins today, mrdr and I have had a wonderful ride.

I tried something last year that went over as a big hit. You know how when you get family together you have to take a picture of the whole group. But when you are older like we are, we all just look another year older. This year I am making everyone pick out a hat and we will take our pictures with our hats on.

The hats range from a Santa hat(complete with hair), a Witches hat(complete with broom). To head phones, a six pack cooler,
a tool belt, a bike helmet, a couple of fishing nets, a bee keepers hat and a cloth toilet seat cover(clean of course). Just a little something to spice up the Holiday and make the picture something unique.

Have a Great day everyone!!!

I heartily second dr's comment:

"The boodle continues to be an unexpected beauty and there is no one I'd rather waste my time with. Congratulations to the boss and to WaPo for hosting THE nicest porch on the net. "

Happy Easter to all, and Happy Ishtar too. Today I will refrain from posting my extremely dark Easter piece which I sent Joel a while back and which he wisely ignored and pretended he did not know me. And I will refrain from a similar tale, Part 2 of the Lucky the Dog saga. As well, we sacrificed no lambs this weekend and instead will be having, I think, creamed eggs.

Today I am going to lay out my Theory of Slack. Einsteinian in its scope, it should revolutionize both physics and economics. As Einstein united space and time into spacetime, Slack unites spacetime, money, and energy into one fundamental force. Note that the term "slacker" is mostly only tangential to its true meaning, although some so-called slackers have probably mastered the conceptual unification to which I refer.

Some examples: slack will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no slack. If you have slack, money is obtained at the most convenient time, which is soon. Convenience is the essence of Slack. Time, distance, and mechanical effort are the essence of convenience. Money = slack. Slack is fungible. Slack is quantifiable in the capitalist marketplace. Slack is created in socialist bureacracies, and then consumed. Slack is power.

The equations themselves are forthcoming.

Mornin' boodle! Joel, great kit! Whether I actually post or not (and I'm *always* better off if it's a "not") the boodle is, and has been, a window into many different conversations of normalcy for me (no, really). My volunteer work with the down-'n-out, emotionally stressed, abused, traumatized and otherwise in-a-bad-place-right-now segment of the population (I tend rescue people as well as animals, it's a bad habit - at least I've stopped bringing the humans home!) doesn't allow me much of a glimpse into the mainstream. Given my somewhat horrifying daily view of humanity, I appreciate the chatty neighborly posts that wend their way between the scholarly and point-y discussion more than I can say. I seldom have anything to add, since my home life is vewy vewy qwiet (thank heaven) and my social life, such as it is, is rather boringly concentrated on music (keeps me sane. Mostly. . .)

Anyway, Happy Anniversary!

Happy Boodleversary! Hope everyone is having a lovely Easter. It's starting out nice here, but it's supposed to rain later. I should be out making the most of the sunny weather, but here I am boodling. bc, your piece had me all misty-eyed. You're the best imaginary friends I've ever had. Wonder if Boko will change his name to Boko100000?

dr said:
"if I'd have known, I'd have worn a sign. They don't shoot our section often because we sit near opening end hack (foot thingies)."
See, now you've lost me with curling terminology! I have no idea what the opening end hack is, or foot thingies. Sigh. You should have worn a Theron bow, or your crocheted mitts!

(Thanks, Joel, for the nice present and for putting up with the likes of us.)

If money=slack then how can slack get you through times of no money better than money can get you through times of no slack? If money = slack, then no money= no slack. However,I realize I'm asking this too early. Haven't seen those equations yet.

Oh, and I'm so glad the 100,000th comment wasn't one of Mudge's when he was channeling Elmer Fudd! That would have been vewy, vewy Achenembawwassing.

SCC: "tend TO. . ." (oops)

Dear Jumper, I'm afraid The Rev. Ivan Stang has you beat by a couple decades. From The original Cheesy Pamphlet, some Orthodox SubGenius (tm) literature:

The SubGenius MUST HAVE SLACK!

The Goal: Slack
The Method: The Casting Out of False Prophets
The Weapon: Time Control
The Motto: "Eff Them if They Can't Take A Joke"

"You'd PAY to know what you REALLY think." --Dobbs 1961

http://www.subgenius.com/pam1/pamphlet_p1.html

Sevenswans, as somebody who went through "otherwise in-a-bad-place-right-now" times as a pup that I'd rather forget...
I'm very glad you're keeping your eye on the brighter side of life by participating here. Sometimes the best gift is just to bring a happy touch of peace into other's lives.

And, it sure is good to get out! I've been outside watching for Easter Bunnies, but nary a sniff.

I do so love hard-boiled eggs, so really, if that bunny'd just come by and unload a few eggs, he could get off without being chased for miles over forest and lawn.
(Honestly!)

I hope I haven't been lied to. Wilbrod says the petshop will be closed so I can't even see the bunnies there. And they call this a rabbit-centric holiday?

Happy Boodleversary to all! What I appreciate most about the Boodle is its ability to go from the pointy to the silly to the profound to the spiritual and to the coffee-spitting hilarious. And I'm sure my co-workers thank you all for helping to satisfy my need for the silly.

If you could all take a minute to say a prayer or send good thoughts to the FSM, a very tiny girl could use them. Good friends' first granddaughter was just born at 27 weeks. So far, so good, but she and her parents have a long road ahead.

Raysmom, hope all goes well with that family.

To illustrate your very well-made point, as promised, the results of the Seattle Times Peeps contest:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2003653399_peeps08.html
The lovely young woman modeling the "Peep Couture" is the daughter of a colleague of mine (he's a computer whiz). Her mom is an artist whose usual medium is Etch-a-Sketch art.

As usual I'm late to the weekend boodle, but Happy Boodleversary, everybody. Well done, bc. And I wanna second Nellie's seconding of dr: this is the best porch on the whole Internet.

In other matters, Happy Easter to those who indulge, Happy Passover and Good Yontif and may you find the afikomen, for worshippers of the Might Favog, please try not to make too much noise as he's sleeping, and to the Flying Spaghetti Monster and his adherents, may your pasta always be al dente.

Cassandra, I've fax you some ham and au gratin potatoes for dinner.

Gotta go. She Who Must Be Obeyed is calling for me to go out into the cold, cold yard to do unspeakable things to bags of cedar mulch. Later, peeps. (Appropriate for Easter, doncha think?)

*sigh* *faxing a lagomorph to Wilbrodog*

Remember, your species can't eat chocolate.

So I keep getting told whenever I sniff at the chocolate-colored bunny at the shop. .

I'd settle for a rabbit made out of steak, plush, eggs, anything. I'm not fussy.

In Elbonia, we are building a steak rabbit just for Wilbrodog. Please await FAX. Please await FAX without drooling if in house.

Oh boy! That better be steak, not stake rabbit.

By the way, here's a story about why it's the dog owners that are dangerous, not the dogs...

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=nw20070403135924522C489574

Especially Amish dog owners.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/16925807.htm

If you wonder why the auctions are causing such controversy, here's a sample of what goes on at puppy mill auctions:
http://www.prisonersofgreed.org/JBauction.html

mostlylurking- that peeps slideshow is very funny. I particularly like the peepiary. Now-that's talent! Forget the virtuoso violinist!

"Creamed eggs", Jumper -- just today, as we were dividing the hard-boiled eggs, my aunt told us that her mother (who died before most of my generation was born) used to make creamed chopped eggs. She'd put chopped hardboiled eggs in cream gravy and serve it on toast. As we all murmured "Hmmm" the Aunt concluded, "And it was AWFUL!!" Of course, that was through the Depression and WWII, where a farm family with chickens ate a LOT of eggs and glad of it.

My friend's Indian egg curry recipe has chopped hardboiled eggs in tomato-onion curry base, turmeric, chili pepper, salt, and cream. The crumbled yolks are fully blended into the curry and only pieces of whites exist to form the lumps.

It's actually quite tasty, doesn't taste like eggs at all, but it's like taking cholesterol by the spoonful. (when you think about it, ice cream, custard, etc. is made with milk and eggs)

It is NOT served on toast, though, but on rice. Hardboiled eggs in plain cream doesn't appeal to me either.

So, which is worse--living in the hindgut of a termite while being sculled around by spirochetes, or living in a puppy mill? Who would want to grow up a modern Thankgiving or Christmas turkey? Any volunteers for spending life as a tube worm on a thermal vent? Happy Easter, you infinitely lucky souls! (FAX to follow)

A paean to spring, and to life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0E-0ntoNWo

(FAX will be there in a Friedman)

Anybody understand some of these bizarre references to the Boodle being "silly"? I swear I have no clue what you people could be referring to. bc? Scotty? Any idea? Yeah, yeah, you guys are a big help. I gotta do all the heavy intellectual lifting aroiund here. I'm seriously thionmking about working up some umbrage.

(Just taking a mulch break here.)

Cedar mulch, Mudge? We have been advised that triple-milled hardwood mulch is the best. We only need 10 cubic yards.

C-c-c-oooldd in the Carolinas. The hydrangas look terrible, even though I covered them last night. Oh well, they will come out again. What we really need is rain.

I'm glad this Boodle thing has worked out well for Joel. If the move to Outlook is a promotion, I won't complain for him. That doesn't mean I will accept fewer kits, however...I do assume it means more political-type stories. A Renaissance reporter, that's our Joel!

That Mocha hamster is just riding the hand holding otter coat tails.

Sorry, Frostpigs took control of the keyboard.

Yes,Outlook for JA. Would be a promotion one would think. Selfishly I've been more concerned with my Sunday morning routine. Try not to read the Sunday column until then, even when linked from the boodle by an early bird.

My beloved Pistons just beat Cleveland. My Red Wings are all set for the playoffs, and I'm sure my Tigers will be getting their baseball legs under them soon. As for the Lions, well, I'd rather see them in Africa, as they tend to be a bit more active there.

So there. Carry on.

Hmm, I seem to have killed the Boodle. Not intentional, I assure you . . . .

We are all just stuffed with food and can't get off the couch.

I got stuck with the toilet seat cover as my hat.

I taught Ivan Stang everything he knows, but I didn't teach him everything I know.

He (and they) know Slack when they see it, but they are mere jokesters, and slackers of the more widely-known sort. Besides, Stang wants to be GIVEN slack. Slack is more properly earned.

Creamed eggs can be fine. After all, if you like eggs, that's pretty much the taste you are going to have.

We didn't have creamed eggs after all. Someone sacrificed a goat at the local Indian restaurant, so we had that.

What a great day, celebrating Easter and the Boodleversary--now, isn't that strange, when everybody else wrote it it looked fine to me, but when I typed it, all I could see is the word "lever" in the middle and I want to write it Boodle-versary. Hummmm.

Anyway, the traditional 2nd anniversary gift is cotton, so I guess I'll just fax a cotton-tailed rabbit to everybody on the boodlelist (and an extra one to the COTR).

Did someone say "silly?" Why, I never.

Thanks for summing it up, bc.

And Joel, thanks for starting us off on the right foot and showing up regularly to set the tone and keep up the standards.

And to everybody, thanks for lots of laughs and other brain-stimulation.

A quick check in (been lurking most of the last couple weeks) to say Happy Easter, and best wishes for the next year of Boodledom!

JA, the boodle is such a great idea. You did wonderful.

And to the boodle, Happy Anniversary, and hopefully many, many, more.

I am so glad I get to talk and listen to you folks. All of you brighten my day.

Thanks Mudge, for the food. I am so stuffed already, but will probably have room later.

Cassandra, I'm faxing you some pound cake, whipped cream, and blueberries.

bc

>Slack is more properly earned.

Well, some would say slack is more properly stolen, or found in the back of your utensil drawer, or stumbled upon in the course of cleaning your trunk. Or having someone ELSE clean your trunk.

It's a good thing I wore my "fat" pants today. I literally had to let my belt out a notch after dinner. No strange or exciting new tastes to report -- just the typical ham, kielbasa, turkey breast and several casseroles straight from the Campbell's Soup can recipes. I've never met a less adventurous family when it comes to food.

Ended up on the couch (where else?) watching something or other about the pyramids on Discovery and trying not to doze off or emit any gases. Little Bean was extremely hyper at first, but the nice thing about sugar buzzes is that they burn out fast. Of course, now that we're home she's got her second wind and let her inner Tigger loose.

btw... anyone have any good leg-o-lamb recipes? I have a whole one in the freezer and was thinking of cubing it and making a curry, but I'm wide open to suggestions. Is Epicurmudgeon in the house?

I'm here, martooni, but unfortunately not going to be of much help. Don't have any lamb recipes, and my family seldom eats it. Don't know why, but none of my relatives/forebearers do either.

Just watched a show on Nature about octopuses and the giant Humboldt squid. Just killing time until the Sporanos' seasoner opener at 9--I'm really psyched for this final season. I have this strange notion that by the bitter end, both Tny and Christopher are gonna get whacked, and you know who's gonna take over the family? Meadow.

Leg-o-lamb? Just roast it, ideally on a rotisserie in the barbeque. That's a wonderful treat. If you don't have a rotisserie, just plain roasting should be fine. Be sure to stuff a lot of garlic slices into the meat.

A rotisserie has the wonderful quality of defeating gravity. Roasted meat dries out because the juice and melted fat are drawn by gravity and fall out the bottom. They can be captured in gravy, but that's not as good as leaving them in the meat. A rotisserie counters this by eliminating the bottom of the meat -- there is no bottom, it's always going back to the top. That's why the staff at the supermarket can produce tasty, moist rotisserie chickens without any necessary knowledge of cooking. It's not the cook, it's the rotisserie -- it does it for you.

Martooni-I'm with LTL-CA on the rotisserie for leg of lamb. Better yet if you have the time and patience to shave thin slices of the tasty outside bits just as the juices carmelize and give a bit of crunch. If you like doner kabob you might try liquifying some onion and marinating the leg of lamb overnight in the juice along with a sprinkling of paprika or black pepper.

Although I've become increasingly vegetarian over the years, I do fondly remember a leg of lamb. Think about cutting little notches over it and stick garlic slices into the notches. If you can get fresh rosemary, liberally sprinkle it over the leg (dried rosemary works fine, as well) and a little thyme and maybe some lemon grass. Roast it or rotisserie it. I do recall (it's been so long) that it was indeed yummy.

I just got around to reading about Joshua Bell at the L'Enfant Plaza metro station. Geez -- if I had been there, I would have parked myself in front of him (actually, against a wall, so my wobbly knees and equally wobbly back would have support) and been enthralled at his majestic prowess. I'm gonna go snap up his latest CD (which will make a fine BD present for a friend whose BD is looming towards the end of the month).

That's all folks.

We are back from the multi-family Easterpalooza. Much champagne was consumed, daintily, with OJ (you can add champagne infinitely to a glass of orange juice). Many tasty foodstuffs were eaten. A large pack of children, several in their teens, exploded from the house to hunt candy-stuffed plastic eggs. The Boy spent approximately three of the last five hours on the trampoline. Tonight, we will sleep well. I hope the same for all of you. Happy Boodleversary, imaginary friends.

Happy Boodle Day *and* 100,000 posts? This is a most auspicious occasion, indeed. Shouldn't Boodle Day be the next national holiday? Or maybe, given this crowd, the first International holiday. Let me also compliment bc on his post. Nicely done.

Mom used to make leg of lamb. She'd put it in a covered roaster with potatoes and carrots. Then we'd go off to church. I still remember the wonderful smell we would get walking back into the house after being gone for a couple of hours. Make a quick salad, set the table, and dinner was ready. Good stuff.

I've got several Joshua Bell CD's on order from the library. One is Appalachian Anthology - with Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, Alison Krauss, James Taylor, Edgar Meyer, as well as Yo Yo Ma, Mark O'Connor. The soundtrack to the Red Violin contains the Chaconne piece. I've listened to the clips included in Gene's article - they're not long enough! I will no doubt be adding some Bell to my collection.

Happy Boodle Day! I hope everyone has enjoyed their Easter/Passover/Vernal Equinox celebrations. See you during the week.

Hi, pj!

Just swinging by to wish everyone a Happy Boodleversary.

Hi, mostlylurking! I've been wickedly busy, so it's nice to come visit my imaginary friends again. The Bach Chaconne is an extraordinary piece. You can also check out a transcription of it for the guitar by Segovia. I'm not sure which is better. I heard the Segovia before I heard the original violin version, so I guess I lean toward the guitar.

That Appalachian Anthology sounds great. Anything with Sam Bush, O'Connor, Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, and Alison Krauss on it has to be wonderful. Throw in Jerry Douglas and you'd have a touch of heaven.

Yay, everybody's dropping by. Hi, Dooley.

CowTown, I saw this photo in the paper and thought of you.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/getaways/310113_shorttrips05.html
Awwww - Guernseys (or maybe they're Jerseys) are so pretty.

Psst, CP, there's a picture of rhubarb with that article, too.

dr must still be celebrating.

Alison Krauss is going to play here in the summer - with Jerry Douglas - I will have to try to get tickets for that.

RD,

Yeah, Tiger Woods cusses a lot. Quite a few golfers do, not to mention other athletes. Woods might be a bit more audible because each shot he takes is either broadcast or taped for replay. So you'll see more of his shots that those of other golfers and therefore hear more of his soundtrack. But he does cuss a lot.

I recall Tom Watson telling a story about advice he got from, I think, Don January (a pretty famous and crusty golfer from the late '50s and 60's) about dealing with unsolicited advice from the gallery: Just tip your hat to the crowd, smile, say "[Ford] you very much," and keep walking.

It's been a week of Mondays here (shoot, who am I kidding? it's been a few months of Mondays), but at last the house is quiet.

A few notes...

Happy Boodleversary. It certainly is an interesting place. Great piece bc.

Raysmom, Thing 2 was very preemie (2 lbs, 2 oz.), and to look at her today, you'd never know it. She's beautiful, talented, very happy, and bright (valedictorian this June). There were a few issues to be addressed when she was younger, but those days are long gone..amazing what modern medicine can do. I will keep your friend's grandchild in my prayers, and I will keep her family and doctors there too.

Martooni. I think of you and the Bean often. It seems a corner has been turned. It really is such a beautiful thing.

As for lamb...combine 3 T parsley, 1 T basil, 1 1/2 t onion salt, 1 1/2 t crushed rosemary, couple turns of a pepper grinder. Mix well. Trim fat and fell from lamb. Make a few pockets with a sharp knife for garlic slivers. Rub lamb with lemon juice, then add garlic slivers, then coat *heavily* with herbs. Roast on a rack, fat side up, 325 degrees, 2-3 hours, depending on size.
For gravy...
Combine 1/2 c chopped celery, 1/2 c chopped scallion, 2 beef bouillon cubes, couple turns of the pepper grinder, and 1 1/2 c water. Bring to boil, then simmer 10 min. Strain. To 1 c of this, add a T or 2 of drippings from lamb. Set aside. Combine 2/3 c sour cream (or plain yogurt) with 2 T flour and 1 t dillweed. Add to liquid, stirring with whisk. Add some sliced mushrooms. Cook, stirring constantly, til thickened. Cook 1 more minute. Yum.

Dear Child had a great day, didn't notice there were more tub toys than candy in her basket. She spent the day playing with Thing 2 and a few cousins. A very loud but happy day. SigO continues to recover (yet is way too thin IMO); another surgery is scheduled for next week. Hopefully, just minor follow-up stuff.

The boodle has been a great place for me. You make me think, laugh, sometimes giggle like a 5-year old. Some of you (and you know who you are) make my eyebrows jump, my eyes the size of saucers. Through it all, I've come to care an awful lot about the people here. The cyber-meeting of the minds is priceless.

Such nice words, everyone, thanks.

Those lamb recipies sound great. LiT, you hit me right in the stomach with that gravy. Leave the mint jelly in the fridge, don't need it, don't want it. Mmmmmm.

For those of you who are having health issues or have family members with health issues, I'm sending good thoughts your way.

pj, Dooley, thanks for dropping by today. We don't see you guys as much as we'd like.

I'm glad those who celebrated a holiday with friends and family had a nice time today.

It's been a good day, and a really interesting and fun couple of years.

I'd also like to thank Joel for being so good to us; letting us have a remarkable little corner of the internet here at WashingtonPost.com.

G'night, all.

bc

Two artists gone this weekend...B.C. cartoonist Johnny Hart (note his controversial cartoons in his obit) and conceptualist Sol LeWitt (see his obit and colorful works at the NYT).

Martuney,
You might want to consider a Moroccan lamb tangine. I made one once--without the tomato sauce, as I recall, and most definitely with several threads of saffron--to rave reviews. For some reason, I don't see you as the kind of person to work with saffron, but you could be ful of surprises.

http://www.calraisins.org/recipes/recipe.cfm?id=268

I'm too lazy to pull up the Moroccan cookbook I own and used for the dish at this time of night, but this recipe resembles it far more closely--especially the saffron, honey and couscous. Note that the dish is also spelled tagine.

My recipe called for basmati rice. It's not fair that I'm not sharing my recipe with you, but you cook the tangine over low heat so the rice forms a very pretty light brown crust on the bottom--it'll make make your a near-Moroccan. Exotic and a wonderful alternative to a leg of lamb--prepared in Mediterranean or Central California fashion.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/108492

Do we all have a latent teenager inside our brain?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5327550.stm

LiT... I like the sounds of that one -- sounds a lot like how they serve it at a little restaurant/bar I used to go to in Western PA. They didn't do the gravy, though -- just a monkey bowl of hot pepper rings and garlic cloves marinated in olive oil. Your gravy sounds like a tasty alternative.

btw... I make a mean hummus. Two or three dips with some fresh Syrian bread and you'll repel vampires for a week.

My curry recipe is just a wee bit on the nuclear side, so it pretty much wipes out the flavor of the lamb (not to mention I'd have to find it). This particular leg belonged to a lamb raised by a guy I know, so it's not all doped up with antibiotics and all the other stuff they use on the commercial farms -- basically it was a "free range" lamb -- so I want to do it up right.

I really wish I had a rotisserie. I suppose I could make one, but I have a tendency to overbuild things. Picture a Tim Allen "Home Improvement" version that hooks up to a dual-carb air-cooled VW motor with a Rube Goldberg series of gears and ramps and windmills that captures all the juices and then circulates them back to the top to auto-baste.

Speaking of air-cooled VWs... I recently learned that they use the same motor in zambonis. I think it had something to do with not wanting to chance getting anti-freeze anywhere near the ice.

Yours sounds good, too, Loomis (actually, everyone's tips are sounding good to me right now).

But now that you've mentioned saffron, you've given me a tune cootie that I am now obliged to share with the rest of the class:

I'm just wild about Saffron,
Saffron's mad about me
I'm just mad about Saffron
She's just mad about me

They call me mellow yellow...
They call me mellow yellow...

Is Donovan even breathing these days?

He'd be a good one for that "live or dead?" celebrity game.

martooni, Donovan is alive and well, at least as far as I know! It's hard to find his albums on CD - or maybe I just didn't want to pay top dollar for them. My library doesn't have them. Anyway, he's on a CD that Arlo Guthrie put together called Banjo Man - for a folk artist whose name is escaping me now - Darrell Adams? It's really good, and made me nostalgic for Donovan. His daughter is Ione Skye (actress) and he has an actor son who goes by the name Donovan Leitch. He (the son) was on Grey's Anatomy in one of the early episodes as a guest actor. I spent the whole time looking for Donovan, before I realized it was his son (who doesn't resemble him much, not the way he looked in the 60's, at any rate). I once saw Donovan in concert at the Kennedy Center - he was wonderful, all in white, unaccompanied, sitting cross-legged on piles of pillows.

Dahlia Lithwick's Washington Post op-ed today scares the bejeebers out of me--explaining the way Ashcroft and Gonzales have transformed DOJ and the connection between Ashcroft and Monica Goodling:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/06/AR2007040601799.html?hpid=opinionsbox2

Top Boodlers by count:

Count Boodler
_____ _______________________
236 Pixel
237 Gomer
242 Linda Loomis
249 bostonreader
250 sparks
253 Wheezy
255 nellie
256 Eurotrash
276 Videlicet
277 TA
301 byoolin
303 a bea c
303 greenwithenvy
334 LTL-CA
343 Reader
349 Raysmom
352 ebtnut
354 L.A. lurker
365 Pat
367 LostInThought
368 omnigood
370 Bad Sneakers
374 frostbitten
374 nelson
412 LB
448 Dooley
461 Dave of the Coonties
481 superfrenchie
509 dbG
526 Tim
616 pj
632 shiloh
668 LP
677 College Parkian
743 jack
753 martooni
768 Dolphin Michael
804 Shrieking Denizen
827 kurosawaguy
862 Dreamer
879 Bayou Self
936 Tom fan
944 Nani
1039 Ivansmom
1046 Bob S.
1050 Yoki
1148 ScienceTim
1162 Error Flynn
1175 Cassandra S
1246 omni
1264 Boko999
1271 kbertocci
1305 Sara
1315
1430 CowTown
1497 slyness
1580 SonofCarl
1582 mostlylurking
1696 Achenbach
1711 Achenfan
1739 jw
1866 mo
2074 yellojkt
2144 dmd
2377 dr
2464 TBG
2742 Scottynuke
2933 Loomis
3316 RD Padouk
3803 Wilbrod
3988 Curmudgeon
4048 bc

Here, it's time for the annual plea to adopt Easter lilies. They're native to the Ryuku Islands (Okinawa and vicinity) and seem to like Florida very much. Now that I have a nice pair of Satake palms from the Ryukus, I should find some space for orphaned lilies, too.

Adopted Christmas amaryllises should begin flowering in a couple of weeks.

The Joshua Bell story was fun. I recall squeezing into an auditorium at the University of North Florida, a state college in Jacksonville, where he'd done some educational work for a few days and was finishing off with a concert. The place was jammed. And he finished off with a few of those Kreisler pieces.

A 26 year old Venezuelan has just been appointed the new Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Gustavo Dudamel is a product of the country's remarkable music education system.

Curry? I'm experimenting with cans of curry paste from Thailand. Maesri's rather sugary Masaman is a little more tractable than some of the pastes with double the chili.

Stop!!
You are all making me hungry with these lamb recipes. But I will be eating leftover ham, turkey and doing something with a lot of hard boiled eggs for probably several weeks.

I have enjoyed the boodle very much too, everyone makes you feel like family.

Like a boodleutopia

Happy Boodleversary!

633: I have a lot of catching up to do.

Good morning, Boodle. It is I, Mulch Man, sore, aching superhero and master of the realm of chipped wood byproducts and so impatient to move on to other things some people have said my bark is worse than my bide. The herb garden is mulched. The back berm is mulched. The far side of the garage driveway is mulched and the gigunda ornamental weed thingy is cut back (about 80% of the total mulchatudinous Curmudgeon estate). Still left: the bases of the trees out front, and the English garden.

At any rate, whilst mulching my brains out yesterday afternoon, it occured to me to ponder (as is my wont to do) whether any of the famous Loomis ancestry had anything to do with the creation of the mulch industry. In particular, I was wondering if ever there was a Loomis who combined his/her mulch processing industry with any French writers who had a sideline in the mashed chickpee business. If so, such a diversified firm might have been called Loomis & Dumas Humus and Hummus, Inc. (This only works if one deliberately mispronounces Dumas, which I am perpetually wont to do, especially after the 84th bag of mulch when I begin to question exactly who the Dumas in my yard might be.)

We now see the sad effect of pondering whilst sniffing humus dust.

Indeed, Shiloh, indeed. It's very sad.

Hey, TBG, didja see Rita Wilson's (wife of Tom Hanks; she's famously Greek-descended) article on Greek Easter (versus "American Easter") at http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2007/04/why_easter_is_greek_to_me_xris.html

Good morning, friends. BC, I can't remember if I complimented you on that piece in the kit, but in case I did not, it was great. Very nice.

Mudge, I'm with you on the sore back, and I haven't been outside that much. Mine is probably due to coffee and Coke.

It is Monday morning, and school is out this week. That means I get a break from the Center and the after-school program at church. But it also means that I have to face the "light" this week. Starting tomorrow, liquid diet. Just maybe I'll lose a couple of pounds. That would certainly be a step in the right direction, mind you a small step, but a step anyway.

Have a good day, folks. I hope your weekend was super. I can't believe the nice crowd of folks I fell into, thanks to all.

The g-girl and her mother are still here. I made the rounds yesterday, but was hurting so bad, came home and went to bed.

Martooni, you sound wonderful, keep praying, and so will I.

On the way to church yesterday, I asked the g-girl, where is your Easter basket? She looked at me, and said, at Wal-Mart. I said did your mother buy you an Easter basket at Wal-Mart and take it back? No, grandma. It was so cold, but when I pulled up in the church parking lot, I was still laughing. I asked her mother about the Easter basket. She said it's home, I was not going to fight with her about that candy. Luckily at church, her Sunday school class gave out Easter buckets. Of course, the battle was on with me and her, not about the candy. They also gave her the thing with the ball that one bounces back and forth, I can't remember the name of it, but she wanted to do that in church. It was a great day.(Please forgive the sentence structure, coffee hasn't quite kicked in yet.)

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

Note:

Must increase post numbers.

:-)

Ha, Cassandra! No candy here, but I did have a bowl of French vanilla ice cream with fudge topping. Only because my daughter bought the ice cream...

I see Imus is still in trouble for his remark last week. Good!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/08/imus.ap/index.html

Scottynuke, you devil you.

Slyness, getting ready to read that link. Hope your weekend was great.

OK, enough of that...

Happy Boodleversary plus one, all!! *interpretative Grover-waving and cavorting*

I blame my browser for not displaying this Kit when I posted yesterday in the previous Boodle.

Raysmom and LiT, many good thoughts heading to your respective loved ones.

Martooni, you sound great! *ongoing applause*

'Mudge, didn't company also dealt with North American wild big cats? Coulda sworn it was Loomis & Dumas Pumas, Humus and Hummus...

:-)

It is a known fact that latent anthrax and other evil microspores lurk in humus dust. One psychological condition attributed to snorting humum dust is Paranoid dyslexia: the feeling with absolute certainty that you are following somebody, but don't know who it is. 640

*discreetly covering my horns and tucking my tail in*

Morning, Cassandra! *L*

:-)

Why, oh, why, do these folks run to Black radio or the leaders of African-Americans. Do they believe these folks can absolve(?) them of their hate. And lets us not daydream, it is hate. Would one say that about someone they love? I don't think so. Imus needs to apologize to every African-American female in America, and elsewhere. It was hateful and oh, so, disrespectful. He was surely talking about me, as well as every African-American female in America, and Black woman in the world.

This is a deeply rooted problem in America, and it will never get better until we come to terms with racial problems in this country we all love and cherish. We have to be able to talk to one another, and not let that stuff come out of our mouths, the way it rolls out so easily. And first we need to identify and admit we have a problem, all of us. Not some, but all.

People it a'int gonna work unless it is the truth. That is what God loves, nothing but truth.

Hi Cassandra -- We will talk about the language problem in class today, re Imus and others who think that crass and destructive speech is "OK."

Cassandra -- does your pastor or other church leaders take on the language problem with youth? Youth culture across all classes and races is notoriously awful: racist, sexist, homophobic, crude, laced with what RD called yesterday as "potty mouth."

The change must happen in hearts, neighborhoods, schools, youth groups, families, etc.

Language is still one of the most powerful weapons we have.

Ack! It will be a quick, brisk bike ride. Like 'Mudge says, cue the heroic music.

We all sometimes say things we later regret. Imus apologized in the same venue as his inappropriate remark, but that seems not acceptable to those who would devolve even an apology into vitriol.

Playing catch-up today. A few thoughts.

Thanks pj for the info about Woods. I don't watch a lot of sports, so when his "colorful" language came out of my father-in-law's television, I was a bit shocked. Simple man that I am.

Am a bit embarrassed at the high number of my posts. I would suggest that these numbers are skewed towards those who submit frequent short posts. If one of you IT types want a challenge, figger out the ranking by number of words.

What the heck happened to George 104?

SCC: didn't that company also deal...

*staggering to cafe for coffee*

:-)

RDP;

Didn't he become Number Six?

:-)

Like Padouk, I prefer the terse to the verbose and expect a word count would find Joel and Loomis in a dead heat with Curmudgeon taking the bronze.

Like RD I don't watch golf often, so I was particularly impressed by one shot Mr. Woods made yesterday. That would be the one that required, as part of his follow-through, his club to strike a rather large tree. How he was able to execute a normal swing in spite of the hand-smarting aftermath sure to come was impressive to me. So I'll forgive a bit of potty-mouth, I guess.

Some of the geese have paired up and are nesting along the ponds. Now I respect the need to share space with them, but one pair built their nest two feet from a public trail. And then the he-bird gets all uppity and hissy when people walk by. Location, location, location pal!

350.

Good one bc. Keep on posting.
Padouk, use the ScienceTim/CulinaryTim/StorytellingTim/Tim stategy to reduce the number of post. You could use PedanticRDP/FunnyRDP/RabbittyRDP/TravellingRDP etc...

CP... will "Ride of the Valkyries" do?

Cassandra... I'm still working on it, but I think I'm getting better at it (praying, that is). The last couple of weeks haven't been exactly easy and even though I'm trying to "work" the program, I'm still "fighting" it. Last night while meditating it hit me: Listen. Learn. Love. Live.

Curmulcheon... I'll trade you the mulch job for crawling around a small dirty attic running new electric (and no, I haven't reprised my "ceiling episode" stunt from Christmas Eve).

Oh, and Martooni; here's my pan roasted leg o'lamb. It is the Eyetalian method, I believe.
(if frozen New-Zealand/Australian meat is used remove the tough membrane around the meat. Leabe it there if local lamb is used)
-Make 4 to 8 incisions in the meat and insert sliced garlic clove in the slits.
- Rub the meat with a mixture of rosemary, salt and pepper.
- Brown the meat in 3-4 tablespoon of olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pan that can be covered. (The shank may be sawed-off to help the piece of meat fit in the pan).
- add half to one cup of dry white wine, let it boil then reduce the heat to a slow simmer. Cover the pan but leave the cover slightly ajar.
- turn the meat around once in a while. Check the amount of liquid regularly, add a tablespoon of water if necessary. There should be about half a cup of liquid left at the end.
- cook for 2-2 1/2 hours until the meat comes off the bone.
- Slice the meat and pour the cooking juices on the slices. Serve on warmed-up plates.
There you go. We had a large roast Saturday night, the leftovers are scheduled for tomorrow. Yummy.

Raysmom... next time that goose acts up, wave a turkey baster and a fork at him. Sometimes a little reminder of who's higher than who on the food chain is useful.

I have a particular dislike for large birds for three reasons:

1. I was "treed" by the neighbor's rooster when I was about 3 years old. The tree was a scraggly little thing (think Charlie Brown Christmas Tree) and was bending under my weight as my feet dangled just out of the chicken's reach. I was saved by our collie even though she was tied up to her house -- she dragged that dog house behind her about 20 yards and proceeded to snap that mean old rooster's neck with one bite (dang I miss that dog).

2. I was attacked by a turkey at another neighbor's farm. He got a few nips in, but guess who we had for dinner? I ate that turkey with relish (well, cranberry sauce, actually).

3. When I was married, my ex and I lived near a small lake that was a regular stop for migrating Canadian geese. For whatever reason, the geese really liked our back yard (we were nowhere near the water) and any given morning you'd find a couple dozen of them out there honking and pooping all over the place. Needless to say, we always wore shoes when in the back yard.

Mudge... thanks so much for the Rita Wilson link. What a great description.

This year my nephew-in-law won the egg-hitting contest with an egg with such a hard shell that it still was intact after colliding with a plastic egg. I imagine he'll have a banner year (I can only hope so!). Of course, he still ate it; after all, an egg is still an egg.

Speaking of turkey basters, did you see that vets at the National Zoo are attempting to give Tai Shan a little brother?

Happy Boodle-versary everyone. I see I just barely cracked the top 10 Boodlers by post count, if not substance. Sorry, mo. I'm even four spaces ahead of that Achenbach fellow.

I'm doing boodle catch-up since I was too busy recovering from a few days driving around Atlanta. As a driver that goes by the dead reckoning method I like cities like Boston, DC, and Atlanta that afford lots of ways to get lost.

For another take on the passing of Johnny Hart, here is the Comics Curmudgeon (not ours) and his memorial:

http://joshreads.com/?p=1023

We need some words from Weingarten. Make sure someone infiltrates the chat today.

I'm really not trying to increase my post-count. It's just that my major task this week is editing documents (aka turning Engineeringeze Gibberish into coherent human speech) and I'm procrastinating. Apologies to the obviously eloquent engineers in our midst. Mudge, could you fax me some commas and perhaps a bit of Prozac?

I would never stoop to using an alternate Boodle identity to lower my post numbers.

Hey all, back from walking in the cold. I think I'll keep my Cuddleduds on for a while.

Dave, or other biologist types, will you please identify this one for me? It visited us last week:

http://flickr.com/photos/60157275@N00/452308596/

Also, a photo I took Saturday morning in the mountains. Yes, last Saturday morning!

http://flickr.com/photos/60157275@N00/452308606/

Good grief, over 4000 posts in 2 years?

I don't know whether to laugh or cry, or continue to stare at my screen, ringent in disbelief.

If you total Achenfan/Tomfan/Dreamer, that's over 3500 posts, a very solid 4th place.

Thanks for the compliment, Cassandra.

bc

Here ya go, Raysmom.

*faxing ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; (if you run out of commas, in an emergency you can put in a semicolon and use a letter-opener or staple-puller to pry off the period above the comma--it turns out they aren't soldered on very well)

-------------------------------------

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..
????????????????????????

#################### %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

***** ((((((((((())))))))))))

[[[[[[[[[[[[[[]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]

{{{{{{ }}}}}

+++++++++++++++++++ =================

^^^^^^^^^^^

and just in case of umbrage: !!!!!!!!!!

Also included: Prozac and a bottle of Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling for morale-building and soul medication*

yellojkt, I did think of you when I heard Hart passed away yesterday.

I imagine that you'll post something on Foma about it soon? Love him or hate him (and plenty of people did), he did die rich.

bc

Glad to see the fax machine is still working. Thanks Mudge--although I will hold off on the Riesling until tonight. (Do you ever have to suppress the urge to shake someone and ask "What in the world are you trying to say???")

Mudge, you're one prepared dude to be able to fax all that stuff over to Raysmom (turkey baster - ha!).

Were you even an Eagle Scout, or a member of the 1662 Trinity College JV It's Acedemic Team, or something?

bc

Raysmom, I ask myself that question all the time.

bc

Raysmom;

The scary part is, they're usually trying to say EXACTLY what's on the page...

*SIGH*

FYI:

Count Boodler
_____ ______________________
5 Cmmrwllwelcrynmwsllwn
66 Cmmrbnd

SCC: "Academic". And you wonder how I got to over 4000 posts?

bc

An apology has to be a sincere effort, not something one does to appease bean counters, and the thing apologized about, not done again or real work done not to do it again. We're all human, and yes, we do all say things that we should not, but some that are spouting out these hateful sayings are very much public people using whatever as an avenue to do these horrible things.

And they seem to think they can just mouth an apology, and keep on doing what they do, not missing a beat, and their lives not changed one bit. It always helps to place one's self in the shoes of that one that is going through these things. Reverse the stuff, and see how you would feel. And if your soul is made of rock, mine isn't. It hurts. And I am not ashamed to say so, because to do so would be lying. I often apologize to people if I think I have offended someone, I do it here a lot. Yet I will tell you in a heartbeat if you hurt my feelings, I will tell you what bothers me, because I want to be as honest as possible with all of you.

And what is at the core of all of this? Trying, and perhaps not always reaching, just plain old truth.

Beautiful pictures Slyness. The snow in the mountains brings back memories. I was working in the San Francisco bay area for 2 years in the late 80s. Whenever I can, I go to Kirkwood to ski the bunny hills. The scenery there was simply beautiful.

Obama struggles to find his identity in Hawaii? Aloha nui loa.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/09/opinion/09mon4.html

People in this motley state [of Hawaii], less a melting pot than a tossed salad, invented a host of slang terms for themselves. A pidgin English field guide would list buk-buks, pakes, buddaheads, katonks, mokes, titas, popolos, yobos, blalahs, haoles and portagees. ...

Being black isn't common in Hawaii, but being biracial is. ...

The multitudes that he contains -- Kenya, Kansas, Hawaii, Indonesia, Harvard, Illinois -- could have been arranged in infinite ways.

I'm lousy at birds, but Slyness's visitor looks like a red-tailed hawk.

About five times a day, Raysmom (re: trottling people).

bc, I was about as far away from being an Eagle Scout as one could get and still be in that organization and not have my epaulets torn off and my (five) merit badges revoked. If they'd only had merit badges for teenage lust, basement Gilbert-chemistry-set bomb-making, teenage angst, cigarette-smoking, stealing Dad's vermouth, writing parodies of teachers, making wisecracks in class, and wistful pining over the divine Miss MS, I coulda been a contender. I did learn to cook and camp out, though, so it wasn't a total waste.

>The scary part is, they're usually trying to say EXACTLY what's on the page...

The other scary part is they've probably ALREADY dumbed it down. :-)

SCC: throttling.

Question: do SCCs count against one's post total? Shouldn't they be zeroed out on the grounds of public service, or something? It doesn't seem fair to penalize someone because of their dexterity handicaps and/or posting before dawn when the coffee hasn't kicked in.

My thought, too, on the red-tailed hawk. I e-mailed that link to a friend of mine who is a raptor expert. Expect to hear back from him shortly. If the raptos haven't got him.

Error, the dumbing-down is the easy part. What's tougher is making a logical, coherent argument out of something presented thusly:

Fact 1: Something that the reader should know in order to reach a conclusion on the topic at hand.
Fact 2: Something that, upon further inspection, is totally unrelated to Fact 1 or the topic at hand.
Fact 3: Essentially a reiteration of Fact 1.
Fact 4: A personal opinion of the writer about the decision that should be made, cleverly disguised as a "fact."
Fact 5: Yet another reiteration of Fact 1.
Analysis: A stream of numbers and text only peripherally related to the facts presented.
Conclusion: A restatement of "Fact" 4.

The 10:13 was me.

Has everyone seen this "Mad TV" bit about Apple Computers and "Irack"? http://www.glumbert.com/media/irack

Mudge, for a second, I thought you wrote "rapture expert", and wondered who your friend was.

bc

For those of us who never get enough sunrises...

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/04/09/sunrise_surprise_of_mt_washington/

And I take a backseat to no one when it comes to dumbing-down.

Uh...

:-)

Good morning! I'm glad to see the Anniversary Boodle going strong. Hey, Blog Stats, you're scaring me -- over a thousand posts and I've been hanging out less than a year. Well, I'm embarrassed. I would say I'll be quiet now, but we know it isn't true. Achenaddict. . . .

My sympathies, Raysmom et al. I often read briefs which I know were intended to be in English, but somehow lost the sense of the language. Yesterday I introduced the Boy to the classical logic fallacy: "Rodents are mammals. Monkeys are mammals. Therefore, monkeys are rodents." [Prompted by a quick reply as to why he couldn't have a monkey.] He was appalled. I told him there are people out there who think like that, and you must be prepared to catch them out.

Happy Easter all.

Can't believe my number of posts, if only their quality matched their quantity :-)

Its a mellow day here at work, I have the ceremonies marking the 90th anniversary of Vimy Ridge on my computer at work, it is a very emotional event, made more so due to the death of six Canadian soldiers yesterday in Afganistan.

If we're thinking today about race and Imus and Obama and Johnny Hart and what it means to live "B.C.," then I think this is as good a day as any to bring Spencer Wells and his National Geographic book, "Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project" into the conversation.

There are two startling (at least to me) assertions in his 2006 book.

This one paragraph, pp.101-102, sums it up pretty well, without a long analysis of haplotype groups, (and I can't help but think of Nate Philbrick's telling of the Violent confrontation between King Phillip and Caleb Cooke):

"What this tells us is that the ancestor of most western Europeans **and** Native Americans was a man who lived in Central Asia around 40,000 years ago. From here, his descendants moved westward into Europe and eastward until they encountered Beringia and ultimately the New World. It is poignant to consider that when Columbus encountered Native Americans in his 1492 voyage, he was reuniting two branches of the human family tree that shared the same great-, great-,...grandfather on the steppes of Asia 40,000 years ago."

[Crimeny...why don't they teach this in world history classes?]

Second, the following, pp. 226-227, from the appendix that explains the haplotype groups in detail, in this instance R2. Mudge mentioned musician Nicholas Reyes of the Gipsy Kings several days ago. I cannot shake from my brain the gypsy images from the old classic children's films "Lassie" and Russ Tamblyn's dance among the gypsies in the 1962 "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm."

Haplogroup R2
Ancestral line "Adam"...M168...M89...M9...M207...M124

About 25,000 years ago, a man from south central Asia first displayed the genetic marker M124. His descendants migrated to inhabit what is now Pakistan and also father east in modern India. Today they are found in northern India, Pakistan and south central Asia at frequencies of 5 to 10 percent. The R2 lineage also belonged to the second major human migration into India, long after the first large wave of African migrants 50,000 to 60,000 uears ago.

Members of the haplogroup R2 are also found in eastern Europe among the Gypsy populations. Their genes tie these wandering people back to their origins on the Indian subcontinent. These ancient migrations and the distribution of their genetic lineages still remain mysterious as scientists search for more data with which to uncover the history of this haplogroup.

[And to think newspapers pander to the public with splashy coverage with photos (local) about a 250-year-old passion play that draws 20,000 to the five blocks of closed city streets and (Washington Post's weekend coverage of) New Mexico's Sanctuario de Chimayo.]

Bah, fey. How will science ever advance in this atmosphere?

dmd, I first heard of Vimy Ridge while watching Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday. Even the military buff, Raysdad, had not heard of it. (Blame the American-centric education we both received.) Plans have been made to learn more, but if you have any good sources...

The final curling report. Canada won, Germany was not quite at the top of their game. I ended up cheering for Germany, a very hard thing in a partisan crowd. A big venue hosting curling in Canada is probably the only place where you will hear 16,000 people moan at the same time. Curling audiences are made up of people who curl and remember missed shots for days. In the annals of sport, curling is the only one I know of where the cheers for the loser is as big as the cheer for the winner. Well darn close. The cheer for Germany was more sustained, while the cheer for Canada was louder. Much beverage was consumed by all.

Except for the R's who had a houseful of people coming for dinner, so we scooted off as soon as the event was done. On the way home we contemplated going to Grand Forks for next years spiel. Could a person sleep in a camper van in early April in Grand Forks and not feel like a popsicle?

dr, I am going to miss your curling reports you captured the sense of the competition so well.

Raysmom, here is a link the the Globe and Mails coverage of Vimy, it delves a little into some of the mythology that has built up around Vimy and explains the battle extra. You could also go to the cbc.ca website or the Ottawa Citizen both of which have very good special sections. The cbc site is currently showing the ceremony and didn't think I should provide a link.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/vimyridge

Prairie Home Companion ran a song about Minnesotans eating outdoors in April, to the tune of "The Lion is Sleeping Tonight."

The Florida version, in August, involves being late enough in the afternoon so that a poor excuse for a sea breeze may have started, but not late enough for the mosquitos and no-see-ums to be out in full force. Maybe I should raise citronella (a grass) as a biofuel, throwing bundles of leaves on a fire at intervals. Wonder if lemongrass repels mosquitos, too?

[I tried to post this earlier but it was held. I suspect the culprit to be the word for which street walker is a euphemism, and with which Imus's comment rhymed.]

Regarding language and apologies, I agree that a sincere apology needs to be accepted, and that the logical place for the apology is in the venues where the folks to whom it is directed will see it. However, it is that "sincere" part which troubles me. Imus is just one example of many recent foot-in-mouth racial or ethnic celebrity insults. What does he say? He's not a bad person, he's a good person who said a bad thing. WHY do we have to know he's a good person? WHY is he compelled to say this? After all, an apology isn't supposed to be an excuse. To apologize is to say, I'm sorry, I was wrong, I shouldn't have said it. Why the focus on how he's not a bad person? Because this apology is about him, that's why, not about what he said.

Imus wants people to know he does a lot of good for black people, he just happened to gratuitously insult a group of young black women because, well, because his show is like that and some folks might find it funny and now he understands that you just can't make fun of people who don't find it funny.

I don't blame young college women (and, by extension, black women) for not being amused by being called ill-groomed street walkers. That isn't funny. It isn't clever. He was speaking of a group of women athletes who had just lost a championship game -- a genuine accomplishment to get that far -- as if they were crack-addict street walkers. And no, it wouldn't make it any better if he compared a group of mostly white women athletes to crank addicts or trailer trash. It shows a profound disrespect for the women in question, as women and as athletes. I am not convinced, from his apology, that Imus understands the problem.

I think you have hit on the core issue, Ivansmom. Not just disrespect for black women, but disrespect for any group. When will we ever learn? It is an issue that concerns all of us.

On further reflection, my premise itself makes no sense. As, apparently, profound disrespect is Imus's stock-in-trade, I shouldn't be surprised that he misses that as a reason for apology.

Loomis, I find the information on haplogroups interesting. I'm not sure I understand your complaint about the coverage of the local passion play, though. Why should commemoration of a religious holiday with an historical play affect the emerging understanding of, or popular interest in, research into the genetic origins of humankind?

I see that when one adds up ScienceTim and Tim, I/we come in at 1674 comments (um, now 1675), just behind that Achenbach fellow. I am uncertain how to feel about this "achievement." I have posted under a few other pseudonyms, so I think that would get me up to about 1900. Of course, neither StorytellerTim, CulinaryTim, PhilosophyTim, HistoryTim, nor ConceptualTim seem to have made it into the bottom rung of the listed stats, so maybe they don't add up to all that much.

There is a rather steep increase at the top of the field...

Here's an interesting concept that would be difficult to execute a search for: how many posts related to the the content of the Kit?

Hmmmm, if Imus really means to apologize, he should go and do it in person to the Rutgers team, and look each young athlete in the eye as he apologizes to her personally.

I have no forgiveness for Don Imus; of course, I never was a part of his audience, so I doubt he would much care. When Michael Richards mouthed-off, I was ready to condemn him merely to purgatory, with an eventual possibility of redemption (I don't doubt that my feelings would be a tad different if I weren't a totally white-bread guy): he was in a high-pressure environment (on a stage), rattled by heckling, the guy is an actor, not a comic, and not well prepared for the situation, and he mistakenly imagined himself to be part of a group (comedians) who can be outrageous and use that word and be accepted. He was wrong.

Imus, on the other hand, was in his medium, doing what he does routinely, and given the luxury of choosing his words and his topic. I'm actually more bothered by the fact that his insult was directed to college students. If he had insulted a team of women who were fully-adult professional athletes, then they would be in a position to shoot back at whatever level of vile insult he threw. College students are still under society's wing and are understood to be learning to find their place in the world. His comments were vile, without a doubt, but at a level that an adult and a professional should be able to handle and reject, and a barely-adult shouldn't have to.

Imus' 'splaining had very little in common with the following, which could serve as a template for any suitable apology:

I am truly, very sorry to offend you.

I see how insensitive that phrase landed amidst all context.

You asked me to explain, yet apologies generally need more humility and less explaining.

I did not mean to hurt you, yet did. I am deeply sorry.

Posted by: College Parkian | January 3, 2007 03:40 PM

Indeed, he needs to deliver it face to face to the Rutgers women.

My high number of posts is only because I have been around posting so long.

That is my story and I am sticking to it.

*Tim;

"Here's an interesting concept that would be difficult to execute a search for: how many posts related to the the content of the Kit?"

Talk about an imaginary number!!!

*L*

Speaking of imaginary numbers, Euler gets a write-up in WaPo today:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/08/AR2007040800745.html?hpid=moreheadlines

What's funny is that the online version of the article completely mangles his most famous formula.

CP, at the Center where I work, we always talk to the children about their language, and for many, the habit of fighting in school. Behavior is very much the focus, sometimes so much so, the lessons get lost completely.

Ivansmom, the fact that the apology is sincere is certainly what I was trying to focus on, although you expressed it much better. And I, too, feel that Imus will not get that, but he is certainly not alone on that island. You think?

And yes, Slyness, eye to eye contact would not hurt at all.

The g-girl is off to find Easter eggs. Oh, for the little blessings in this world. God is good.

A few thoughts.
The original Imus apology does not contain the word I.
Where's McGuirk's apology?
Did either McGuirk or Imus attend a family function over the weekend? Wonder what that dinner conversation was like?
How long will it be before Imus can eat in a restaurant without someone spitting in his food?
Any chance either of them sees a live naked woman this year?

re Vimy Ridge: there's a stunning article in the Toronto Star about how Hitler posted Waffen SS troops to guard the monument there, described as his "favourite memorial from World War I", during the Second World War.

http://www.thestar.com/article/200480

Tim, FYI:

Count Boodler
_____ _____________________

6 ConceptualTim
9 HistoryTim
17 CulinaryTim
206 StorytellerTim
526 Tim 1148 ScienceTim

Estimation, thy name is Tim: the total comes to 1912 comments, which sends me up to 11th place.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

Not so imaginary, scotty. The answer is: 14. The other 99,986 posts were all off-topic.

dmd, you guys have a right to be proud of Vimy Ridge. I'm a bit surprised Canuckistanis pay it that much attention; there isn't a single WWI battle that very many Americans remember or know about, much less officially commemorate.

FYI, the well-known British armaments firm of Vickers commemorated the battle when they named their new bomber in 1918: the Vickers Vimy. (Alcock and Brown made the very first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight in a modified Vimy Mark IV in 1919 from Newfoundland to crash-land in a bog in Connamarra, Ireland.) (They walked away without a scratch.)

Hmmm, I'm getting "Comment Submission Errors" on what appears to be a fairly innocuous post.

Let's try that innocuous post again, using euphemisms that compel me to pun:

yellojkt, thanks for the alert on the article about Big Lenny E. It's guys like him that make me feel like, you know, a waste-consuming microbe in the hindgut of a termite. What an irrationally brilliant fellow. Except that he wasn't irrational, and he wasn't a (one-sllable word, rhymes with "berk", meaning unpleasant egotistical indvidual). He was a good man, and one of the towering intellects of human history.

Okay, so the offending word is one that refers to the consumption of solid waste, beginning with a 'c', used by Joel to refer to bacteria in a termite's nether gastric recesses. Who knew?

Because "consumer of solid waste" is such a common term in vulgar 'street' lingo: "Hey, you consumer of solid waste _______! Get away from my ______-_______ _______ , or I'll mess up your ______-_______ face!"

Or, perhaps "Wipe that solid waste-consuming grin off your face."

Yes, the WaPo has taken a stand against the vulgarization of public discourse.

Let's see if I can blog it this way: c o p r o p h a g o u s. There, now, that wasn't so bad.

I'm trying to look it up in my dictionary but all those spaces are giving me a problem.

Tim, both Achenbach and Weingarten used that word in the Sunday magazine 5/14/06. But we are not allowed to use it in the comments section of the blog. Listen: don't complain. At least we have apostrophes. ('''''''''')

On the other hand, I was daydreaming that in our third year, maybe we'd get formatting. I'm not stopping at italics. I want expanded HTML capabilities, different font styles/colors/sizes, graphics, and so on. Imagine how pretty we could make this place! Or not.

Mudge, the reason for all the attention on Vimy has a lot to do with the sense that that battle was what started the sense of Canada as a nation. It was the first time our troops fought together as a nation. It has over time become one of those defining moments in nationhood.

The CBC did a nice video this morning on the sculptures on the memorial. There are various sculptures that line the memorial from top to bottom, signify (of what I remember), sacrafice, charity, justice, peace. The bottom statute is called Canada, is is a woman draped with her head down, mourning the loss of life it is simple and yet incredibly stirring.

lostinthought, perish the idea about eating in a restaurant. My sister's ex-inlaws worked in an eatery many years ago, and customers that came in giving waitresses a hard time never saw it coming. I was shocked at some of the stuff these folks talked about. I worked in a fish camp as a dishwasher, one must always be nice to workers, especially if they're bringing you food. And I won't even go into that salad bar at most restaurants. Hot grease is the ticket, although it is not good for the arteries, but does those germs in every time.

hey guys! happy boolde-versery! sorry i'm been out of the boodle for so long! new job and all, been very busy! but i promise not to be gone so long in the future... now, who the heck is blog stats and how are you getting those numbers??

and yes, i <3 the boodle, best bunch of ppl ever!

and yes you must always be nice to the person serving you food! i've worked in the food industry for several years - i have stories that would keep you from eating out for a while!

For non-Canadian military historians, Vimy (April, 1917) doesn't get on the radar because it was a local victory in yet another larger battle (Arras) with dubious strategic outcome. It captured the national imagination because it was the first time all four Canadian divisions in the Canadian Corps were involved in the same campaign, and Vimy Ridge was considered a significant ob