OMG -- I appear to be first. Gotta figure out what I'm gonna do with the prize. Is it taxable?

CP gave an answer about Gunnera at the end of the last kit, but here is a lovely picture from BC of the plant and a blue heron.

http://www.shuttermoments.ca/closeup/closeup25.htm

Oh, dear. And I was rooting for Pluto to make a comeback. :-(

On a better note, I did hit 12/12 on the flag quiz. Better get back to the grindstone now.

Oooooooh. Neato. DMD and DR, thanks. Raysmom will adore that shot.

Thanks for all the comment on the plant, by the in-the-know flora peeps.

Perhaps growing this as an annual is worth it.

Still looking to see if I can "see" this from Google Maps. For Buchart Gardens, GMaps is missing the high res images.....will keep fiddling, since I am free for the rest of the day.

Kit connect: neither flora or fauna exists on Pluto and of this I am certain. I BELIEVE!

I think Pluto was always hampered by its name, all I picture is that goofy dog.

I noticed that Pluto/Eris thing earlier today, too, Joel.

Here's a link to my Pluto Series of blog items from last year:

http://www.10thcircle.com/10/?cat=12

I'm particularly fond of the "What's in a Name?" piece.

Enjoy, everybody.

bc

No, no. Goofy is the other dog.

*Sigh* I need to discover something, darn it.

CP one last link for you,

Pictures from Butchart

http://www.butchartgardens.com/gardens/bScenes.php

*Tim you *did* discover something.

A trans-Uranian object in those tighty-
whiteys of yours.

And the OuroBoodlian circle is complete.

Joel, if you feel compelled to delete that, I understand.

bc

repost:

5/10 on the movie quiz which is about right cause I pretty much was guessing all but two of them. What I found interesting is I got all the odds wrong,hmmm.

Knew Kipling and Flicka (Don't know how, just gut instinct) answers though

My Gunnera comment struck a Canoocki chord. I shall blog about that plant for my next entry. Thank you, SD, DMD, DR of the North -- did I miss anyone?

Dave of the Counties weighed in with his idea about palm trees at the British Embassy in DC.

Here is my Google report: Alack and and Alas and fiddlesticks! Both the Buchart and Vandusen Gardens Google Map entries do NOT contain the high res images so I cannot look for the MegaFauna of Gunnera.

But, Dave, I can look at the British Embassy. The picture, however, looks like early spring. Perhaps you can find a palm? Or perhaps the palm plants were not installed for the celebration yet.

Does any Good Google Geek know how often the images are updated.

MostlyLurking, I wonder if you can grow Gunnera in the lovelines of the Pacific Northwest? RD Padouk can send Gunnera plants as presents to relies living in the land of cloud and fog. And strong coffee.

dmd, thanks for the Gunnera/heron shot. Gunnera can also be found in Stanley Park in Vancouver. Maybe googlemaps can zoom in on those.

6/10 on the animal movie quiz, although most answers were complete guesses. Haven't seen Babe, the new 101 Dalmations, or Almighty.

I thought Busch Gardens were in Virginia, or Florida or something...

*confused*

:-)

Just got back from a luncheon where David Gergen was the speaker. Mostly he spoke about women as leaders and how they can transform the workplace. But in the Q&A session, he also talked about the current political stalemate, the challenges facing the next president, and who, if any, among the current presidential candidates is equipped to meet those challenges. There are some people I could listen to all day, and apparently he is one of them! The hour felt like only 30 seconds.

Alas, etc. Stanley Park, in CA, also does not have high res images....and the tree cover is lux!!!!

SoCarl also commented on Gunnera.
Oh the wide and wondrous and fairly useless but harmless knowledge horizons of the boodle.

Off to bury a birdlet, and let the parakeet fertilize a foxglove given me by a neighbor. The parakeet is for the ages but will yield some calcium, I think.

11 for 10 on the p.hilton quiz.

Raysmom, please tell me he did believe there are people equipped to meet those challenges.

Will the reclassification of Pluto have a domino effect. Will Plutonium (Pu) have to be renamed or lose its place (94) in the periodic table of elements or be reclassified as a dwarf actinoid? Inquiring minds want to know.

Oh, goody goody. The Justice Dept. is investigating Alberto. Wonder how that's going to turn out.

On the same page as the Alberto is photograph of a euthanized whale shark. Go figure.

Very good point, SciTim. It's just not fair. Pluto has never gotten any respect. Goofy wear pants, but Pluto drinks out of a dog dish. And he is a mouse's pet. The indignity.

They named a whale shark Norton??? I thought the obvious name would be Ralph.

:-)

Here's Butchart Gardens from Google. The area at the bottom is the 'converted' quarry. The oval above is the very nice rose garden.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=victoria+bc&ie=UTF8&ll=48.56483,-123.468647&spn=0.002833,0.007231&t=k&z=17&om=1

6/10 on the movies.

The astronomer Mike Brown cited by JA started a website charting his daughter's sleeping habits etc., inspiring me to do something similar. Here's his website for her: www.lilahbrown.com

Factoid: Planet Lilah was his codename for the Kuiper Belt object he discovered.

Ralph was the name of the whale shark who previously died there, Scotty. And yes, the names of the two females in the aquarium are Alice and Trixie. True. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/13/AR2007061301973.html?nav=E8

Well, that makes plenty o' sense, 'Mudge.

I should read more.

:-)

The whales in Star Trek IV were named George and Gracie. I mention that every chance I get.

Yo, Joel, I hear you killed at the Smithsonian yesterday. Dr. Mrs. Kurosawaguy was much impressed and said that the room was packed and the crowd (mostly) stayed awake til the end!

Such is the state of science ed. in our fair land that this year my little town's children were still studying Pluto as if it were one of 9 similarly situated planets with but one brief mention of the demotion. Why? Because the number and order of the planets "might be on the test" and the old answer would be scored as the correct one.

I know boodlers who are trying to zoom in on specific plants will enjoy these pictures from Smithsonian's photo contest.
http://photocontest.smithsonianmag.com/v4/natural10.html

OMG! A Kurosawaguy sighting!

And Joel was talking at the Smithsonian AND WE WEREN'T INFORMED!!???!!!!???? *swiftly dialing up the umbrage setting*

Gunnera, the seed of dinosaurs looks an awful lot like our rhubarb to me.

I think I am missing something. You mean to say that you can't eat Gunnera for dessert?

CP,
The British Embassy thing is fairly complicated. The newspaper story said the embassy's garden administrator is growing palms in his yard. Trachycarpus and Rhapidophyllum (Needle palm), I would guess. Trachys are not terribly big, but I did manage to spot a big old one in Portland, Oregon. Ask Google Maps for "2550 NE Glisan, portland, OR" and at the second-closest setting on "satellite", the top of the green arrow should almost be touching the green top of the palm, which is overlapping the edge of an apartment building's roof.

According to the girlfriend, no you definitely don't want to try to eat Gunnera. Its far more likely to eat you. She said the one they have in their backyard has spiney things along the stalks, and its leaves are a little sharp to brush against.

And in case the size of the thing isn't impressing you, they had to move the hottub because of the plant.

Public Service Advisory: don't plant Gunnera, then.

Plant rhubarb. Rhubarb lovers everywhere will thank you.

dmd, sadly, no, he felt that no one has yet demonstrated all the qualities necessary to emerge as a uniting force.

Barack--good instincts, but unproven
McCain--has lost his momentum and goodwill
Hillary--too polarizing

(Please understand, these are my paraphrases of what I heard him say. Hate to see my oversimplification in a headline somewhere.)

Can't tell you how sorry I am to hear that Raysmom.

What a brilliant day! While chomping a burger by the canal I caught the line and helped dock a yacht from Buffalo that looked bigger than my house. Nice guy, shared a couple of beer and gave me a tour. The cockpit looked like something from a F16. Had a nice chat with the astronauts on the space station.
11/12, missed Georgia, mustn't let it get on my mind.
I'm saving one up for you SoC.

Kurosawaguy, it was a very amenable and agreeable audience. I was the guest of the department of paleobiology. I knew it would be an easy event when I mentioned doing a Why item long ago on "Why don't apes evolve into humans anymore?" and everyone laughed. Most crowds you just get a snicker for something like that.

I'm going to add to the kit shortly.

The genus Gunnera seems to form its own family (although it's been grouped with water milfoil). Deep Green
http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/htree_intro.html
places Gunnera kind of by itself.

Remarkably, Hawaii has native Gunneras in the mountains. Their ancestors must have come from South America, presumably via bird-mail.

Redstate Update takes on Ron Paul, sort of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntii9tK7H5Y

I added a few grafs to the kit, fyi.

kurosawaguy, good to see you aboard today.

I could have cried at the words in the kit, 'this is Pluto's last chance'.

So what exactly is wrong with the word "planetoid?" It's been around a long time but no one will use it. Seems like a word that is much in demand right now.

Re.: Frostbitten's remark on still teaching 9 planets in elementary school, I wonder how many states of matter they are teaching kids these days? A friend was lamenting they left out "plasma" in her son's first science class, stating the old "there are three states of matter" formula. Nowadays, there is at least one more, Bose-Einstein condensate, and some will argue liquid helium is another discrete state of matter. Time for our first stop at Wikipedia before buying the expensive seats:
"quark-gluon plasma; Bose-Einstein condensates and fermionic condensates; degenerate matter; strange matter; superfluids and supersolids; and possibly string-net liquids."

I'm off to read the rest!

>"Why don't apes evolve into humans anymore?"

The salary cap?

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

SofC-that really warranted a spew alert.

Thanks for the DNA snip, Achenbach.

To add to the complex picture, it's now apparent that DNA and RNA have their own defenses against viral and bacterial DNA and can help launch intranuclear defenses (I almost wanted to say "Nuclear weaponry") against intruders trying to hijack the cell.

RNA and DNA also can act as ribozymes and DNAzymes-- effective catalysts for reactions, either solo or in combination with protein substances.

Very interesting stuff. It's like DNA and RNA are both blueprints AND the paper-mache' of the cell.

Why do monkeys always appear to be laughing when observing the human side of the family?

kbertocci,
Did anyone send you the link to the article you wanted?

Here it is, though I don't know if Time Select will allow the link.

http://conniff.blogs.nytimes.com/

D of the Counties -- Amazing! Just for fun I googled myself and am glad to report that if student-stalkers try to locate me by address, they will miss.

Instead of my modest house down the hill from the huge corner lot, they are directed to the MANSE. This manse is the aging dowager house of a UMCP prez from the 20s-30s-40s. One thing I dislike about planned communities is the economic and other-wise sameness. In old neighborhoods, a range of wealth can be found sprinkled, higglety-pigglety. So at the top of the hill, the Prez, lowering ranking university-peeps going down the hill.

My house was a test site for the first zoysia lawns. Also found in our neighborhood are a wide range of experimental azaleas, many of them proto-type "Glenn Dale" specimens. Apparently, a major problem with the white azaleas in my 'hood is that they fade to decaying buff in about two days...... You can also find about a dozen Metasequioa trees, or the Dawn Redwood. Once though extinct this tree was "discovered" in a remote part of China in this century. I think the local people experienced the tree as there, all these many eons.

Ever since the Corcoran event, Joel is hesitant to let us know when he's appearing in town. He does have to fend off his adoring fans anyway, you know.

Oh.. and one more thing...

Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head.

TBG -- Here is an insult from the 20s:
Dick Cheney is a pantywaist.

frostbitten and dmd - thanks for the great pics. I loved the Smithsonian contest pictures especially. *Jr needs help* and the *Oregon storm* were striking but the winner really deserved it. A lovely shot.

Mudge - nice laugh for me. A euthanized whale and Torqueberto...
And of course, if *we* didn't do well, the animal movie quiz could not have been a good one. I'm just sayin'.

CP... there are four orange/gold azalea bushes in the yard of a nearby house slated for demolition to make room for a small McMansion neighborhood. I'm wondering if I should sneak over there at night and dig them up.

I can't imagine the company tearing down the house is gonna care about these rare plants.

Has anyone imagined the simplest molecule that could self replicate?

A Rorty piece I didn't have a chance to read yesterday.

...The role of public opinion in the gradual expansion of the scope of human rights in the Western democracies is, to my mind, the best reason for preferring democracy to other systems of government that one could possibly offer. The history of the US illustrates the way in which a society that concerned itself largely with the happiness of property-owning white males could gradually and peacefully change itself into one in which impoverished black females have become senators, cabinet officers, and judges of the higher courts. Jefferson and Kant would have been bewildered at the changes that have taken place in the Western democracies in the last two hundred years. For they did not think of equal treatment for blacks and whites, or of female suffrage, as deducible from the philosophical principles they enunciated. Their astonishment illustrates the anti-foundationalist point that moral insight is not, like mathematics, a product of rational reflection. It is instead a matter of imagining a better future, and observing the results of attempts to bring that future into existence. Moral knowledge, like scientific knowledge, is mostly the result of making experiments and seeing how they work out. Female suffrage, for example, has worked well. Centralized control of a country's economy, on the other hand, has not.

from Democracy and Philosophy

http://www.eurozine.com/articles/2007-06-11-rorty-en.html

Potatoes self-replicate.

I'm not certain, Boko.

A lot of chemical reactions can favor their continuation-- something like how you can't set off just PART of a dynamite stick.

Frostbitten I too loved the photo link, the winner was beautiful and the storm in Oregon has a very spooky sky.

Shiloh if you were in the monkey family wouldn't you be laughing at us, I mean really we have done some good but there is a lot to laugh at.

And perhaps, dmd, it is the monkey laughter that accounts for why apes do not evolve into humans any more.

Even Dan Quayle can self-replicate. Can't he?

However, I'm not clear how the self-replication of a potatoe (Quaylean orthography) has any bearing on the self-replication of an individual molecule. Perhaps I am missing something.

I have noticed that Dan Quayle's spelling of "potatoe" has cropped up from time to time, without irony or sarcasm. It worries me.

Pluralize potato, please.

SciTim, why is the plural of potato, potatoes? Speaking for myself much I my confusion stems from that issue.

Crystallization is arguably the simplest form of self-replication, of the underlying structure at any rate. So I say NaCl.

Asking that question opens any number of philosophical snares.

A chicken is the egg's way of making more eggs.

SciTim, I really hate to admit it, though its not going to be a surprise to the really wordy people here, I have always spelled potato with an 'e' I even googled to see if this was one of those British/American spelling things but

http://www.potato.org.uk/

I'm sorry but it looks so wrong without the 'e'. I'm not sure I can do it. It would be like having to say Zee instead of Zed.

chips

I'm so sorry to see Pluto go (although I guess it's not really going anywhere). I was always hoping that they'd do something with Uranus - you know, re-name it, demote it or get rid of it all together. You just can say that name without a snicker...

dr, just always refer to them in the plural and you will be correct, like you the addition of the 'e' looks better to me.

Po-ta-toe (n.)= An ugly, misshapen toe with small sprouts of hair or warts, so called because it resembles a potato. Found in gnomes, hobbits, and humans.

Po-ta-mac toe (n.)= ringworm or other mycosis acquired in the Potomac basin.

SCC - CAN'T - can't say that name....

Most nouns ending in O preceded by a a consonant form plurals by adding es, except nouns of foreign origin, as in Kimonos.

Potatoes are correct, as are volcanoes, heroes, tomatoes,

Potatos look Spanish.

Wiki has a lecture on plurals. Native English words tend to have the -oes plural, whereas borrowed words such as canto, quarto, etc. have -os plurals.

OTH, we say pizzas instead of pizze, so maybe we should start striking one for English orthography by spelling those furrin words as "cantoes" and "pianoes"

Thanks Shiloh, there goes my only defense for mispelling Potato :-)

wilbrod, are you meanting that tomatoe is tomato? 'Cause if it is, I'm just plain old going to hang my head in shame and go home and pour a stiff beverage.

And then the question arises, can Quayle self-replicate by parthenogenesis or by cloning?

Come to think of it, are there any really native words? English is an opportunistic language. Potatoes are native to Peru and Bolivia so wouldn't the word be sourced from those native tongue spoken in the 1400's in those countries?

I vote for potati.

I think a dinner of steak and potati sounds delicious.

Swedish potati with saddle or reindeer is also very good.

Swedish potati with saddle of reindeer is also very good.

Swedish potati with saddle of reindeer is also very good.

Both the demotion of Pluto and the asserted debunking of "junk DNA" suggests to me that nature is often not amendable to the well-labeled drawers of Taxonomy. That's why I like it so much.

I would provide more most fascinating commentary, but my brain hurts real bad.

Et cum rerum, potati sunt crapulae, RD.

(And with that stuff, they will drink crappy wine)

Be careful and treat your brain well, RD.

"Plures necat crapula quam gladius"

The hangover kills more than the sword.

http://proverbs.bestlatin.net/audioproverb/2007/01/plures-necat-crapula-quam-gladius.html

Sorry about the triple post. Changing or to of in mid post perplexed my computer and it self-replicated. I even had to switch to the safari browser to get back.

Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo self-replicator.

That's funny, Joel, I don't recall Rick Weiss mentioning God in his article about the genome. Maybe Weiss would like to weigh in on the topic?

So, then, God is in on the mutation that causes Type II diabetes? So perhaps God doesn't make junk, but she makes mistakes, which are junk. Nice to know a person with a rare genetic disorder or an illness whose underlying cause is genetic is living a life as a factory reject?

Weiss:
Greally noted that several recent studies have found that people are more likely to have Type 2 diabetes and other diseases if they have small mutations in non-gene parts of their DNA that were thought to be medically irrelevant.

Look. I'm serious. If these "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head" posts keep popping up there will be trouble. Oh, sure, some might claim that saying things like "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head" is nothing but an expression of free speech. But those who post "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head" for this reason are missing the point. To say "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head" is simply rude. True, perhaps saying "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head" is not as bad as yelling fire in a crowded movie theater, bit are posts like "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head" really what we want to be known for? I say leave things like "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head" for Weingarten and his ilk while we show our sophistication by meticulously avoiding anything as tasteless as "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head."

Now. I hope I have made myself clear. I still have one more day of PM class and a big test to take, so I want to concentrate on my studies without being vexed with ill-mannered assertions that "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head."

Hmph.

RD, I just wonder if the Vice-President ever pulls anything up on his computer, you know just to relax? That phrase should be coming up on Google anytime soon. Perhaps he has a sense of humor. You think? Somehow I've always pictured the man as shooting something, and this as a form of relaxation.

There is a suggestion that those with certain non-lethal genetic "diseases" might actually have them for evolutionary reasons long gone. For example, I have Thalassemia Minor - a benign condition but one that could have devastating implications if I had fathered children with a women similarly afflicted. So why has this condition survived? Some suggest that it provided my ancestors with a partial immunity to malaria, and hence gave them a reproductive advantage.

The point is, to identify certain genetic conditions as "mistakes," although doubtless true for an individual today, might not necessarily have been the case for someone in the past.

SCC: with a woman. With a women would be both morally and grammatically wrong.

Now, off to study with the Rabbits.

Cassandra - As I have made clear, in a very real and legally binding way, I in no way condone the phrase "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head."

No singing

RD Padouk is a big doo-doo head.

*

*

Our grandchildren are coming on Sunday for a cookout on our beautiful new deck. Honestly, this fellow, who also did our kitchen, is some kind of carpentry master. The finish work (mitred corners on all deck surfaces, curved railing at the top of the stairs) is so good that "S" and I can't stop looking at it. Anyway, my question is this, would it be wrong to teach the little ones to say "Dick Cheney is a big doo doo head." School is out now so they won't be apt to run into some neocon teacher who takes offense - of course here in MA one would be hard pressed to find anyone who would take offense. So is "Dick Cheney is a big doo doo head" a suitable phrase to teach to ones so young and innocent? Or should I run "Dick Cheney is a big doo doo head" past the parents first to see if they have any objection to us teaching their children to say "Dick Cheney is a big doo doo head."

Get them T shirts

There is an interesting corollary that I overheard expressed at the Fort Worth zoo many years ago- "If we's evolutionized up from tha apes, how come tha apes is still here?" I would also add that among the many words and phrases that the NSA computers at Fort Meade search for in cyberspace and flag for special scrutiny are "Great Satan" "Death to America" and "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head."

Maggie O'D, thank you for posting that link. As you figured, it doesn't work unless I pay, and I will not pay for New York Times Select. Did you read the article? Could you just summarize in a sentence or two what negative point the writer has about buying your food locally? I just can't imagine how that could be a bad thing.

Hey K-guy! Good to hear from you!

NSA must already have me in its sights.

Dick Cheney is a humongous doodoo head.

;)

Great idea Boko!

The SETI project has confirmed that ultraband sensors have picked up signals from Alpha Centurai and beyond that indicate that Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head

I hope this is kosher (if not, sshh):
this is the blog entry...

June 13, 2007, 5:38 pm
Don't Buy Local!
By Richard Conniff
A lot of people have begun to lose their appetite lately at the thought that their food travels, on average, 1,500 miles from farmer to dinner plate. Buying, instead, from local farmers looks increasingly appealing: We get fresher produce (and benediction from Alice Waters), while also preserving open space and protecting local jobs.
But what's really lifted the "buy local" movement out of the foodie realm and into general public awareness is fear of climate change: It suddenly seems dangerously profligate that we spend 36 calories of fossil fuel energy transporting one calorie of California lettuce to a consumer in New York. Likewise that apples in a New England supermarket come from New Zealand, or potatoes in Ireland from Cyprus, or flowers in the Netherlands from Kenya. Carrying carbon to Newcastle seems to be among the chief functions of modern international trade.
So my first reaction was to think that buying local makes a lot of sense. And if it's true for food, what about the pots we cook that food in, or the furniture we sit on, or the cars we drive to the supermarket? When does "Buy American" morph from jingoism to progressivism?
And yet buying local may not be the simple answer we're looking for. For starters, it's more likely to hurt American farmers than help them. Agriculture is one area where the United States still enjoys a trade surplus, amounting to $5.66 billion last year. But the "buy local" movement is strongest in Europe, where it got its start, and American agricultural products feature prominently among the targets.
The "local" label also says little or nothing about a product's actual environmental friendliness. A resident of Sacramento, for instance, can take comfort in buying "local" rice, but it's still likely to be rice grown in a heavily irrigated desert, at huge environmental cost. In the overall carbon footprint of a product, the cost of transport often turns out to be relatively trivial. For instance, a New Zealand study recently made the case that better conditions make lamb grown there and shipped to Europe four times more energy-efficient than home-grown European lamb.
The opposite is true for products that must be air-freighted, like flowers and certain fresh seafood; good sushi probably comes with a huge carbon footprint. But sea freight can be surprisingly efficient, even for heavy manufactured goods. I asked an environmental group, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, to calculate the cost of getting an average car from Tokyo to San Diego, and we were all surprised that it came to between 1,000 and 1,800 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. That's close to what the same car will typically produce every month for the rest of its driving life.
But how do you factor a product's total carbon footprint into the debate over international trade? For instance, would it make sense to impose a carbon tax at our borders, so countries that fail to control their global warming emissions, like China and India, don't get an unfair competitive advantage over countries that take global warming seriously? Great idea. Kyoto-signatory nations in Europe are already talking about taking that kind of stand-against the United States.
Or maybe we could piggyback on cap-and-trade systems like the one already functioning in Europe. These systems impose mandatory overall limits on global warming emissions within a nation or region, but allow businesses that do better at meeting targets to sell carbon credits to businesses that do worse. To enter a market with a cap-and-trade system, an importer would have to compensate for a product with a big carbon footprint by adding the cost of carbon credits into the price. Such a system would catch countries or individual manufacturers that refuse to act on global warming (again possibly including the United States).
But either the carbon tax or the credit system is likely to lead to years of litigation through the World Trade Organization, according to Elliot Diringer of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. That's because the subtext in both approaches is confrontational and protectionist. Avoiding the us-and-them mindset and seeking collaborative solutions makes far more sense when scientists increasingly suggest that all of us together could soon be up to our knees in the rising consequences of global warming.
So where does all this leave the individual shopper trying to make good choices? Tesco, Britain's largest retailer, is now working to put a "carbon label" on every product it sells. Instead of the comfortable illusion of environmentalism provided by the "buy local" idea, this label will detail the actual global warming cost of a product. And that will probably show that it makes sense to buy that compact fluorescent lightbulb, even if it was made in China. And, yes, the climate will probably be better off if you buy a Prius manufactured in Japan, not a Cadillac Escalade made in the United States.
Beneath the surface, the urge to buy local is often just a disguised version of the urge to punish someone foreign. But as a way to fix global warming, fretting about where your salad was grown is like thinking you can win a war by calling your sauerkraut "liberty cabbage."

You know how some people like to add a phrase to the end of fortune-cookie sayings to make them funnier?

Like adding "in bed" or "in prison" to the end, as in "It takes more than good memory to have good memories... in bed" or "Excitement and intrigue follow you closely wherever you go... in prison."

Well.. my new phrase will be...

Scooter Libby is a big doo-doo head... in prison.

Where's Wheezy and who's this guy having corollarys all over the place?

Maggie would it still be OK for me to be excited that the local strawberries are in the store. I am happy just because they have a different taste than the California strawberries we get the rest of the year. I can't say they have a smaller carbon footprint but they taste delicious.

You should always cut away the carbon footprint on strawberries to avoid an "off" taste.

Nah just adds to the earthy local flavour!!

TBG just think how happy you would be if you could extend your phrase to the following:

The Bush administration are a collection of big doo-doo heads... in prison

Now, now, dmd....let's not allow our fantasies to run away with us. I'll settle for Torqueberto GONE and Libby in jail fantasy.

Kguy, great to see you! Slats, too. Where has Wheezy gone, and PLS? Roll call for the missing boodlers, and those who appear again.

CP, I don't have room for a gunnera. They do grow well here, although the occasional cold winter will do them in. I believe they need a lot of water too, and believe it or not, up here on a hill of glacial till, the soil in my yard is very fast draining. So I thought better of acquiring a gunnera. And you know, I do have a bit of an aversion to rhubarb.

Wish I had the money and room for one of these:
http://www.littleandlewis.com/llhtml/sculpture3.html

I don't understand why women get so exited over vegetables- in prison.

Some limey by the name of Terry Eagleton (a catholic/marxist professor of Cultural Theory, bwa ha ha ) wrote a review of Richard Dawkin's new book. I haven't read Dawkin's book yet but was looking to find a rebuttal to Eagleton's review when I came across this amazing website in Austraiia called Club Troppo. I think some boodlers may get a kick out of it so I'm gonna post the link. *curtsey*
http://clubtroppo.com.au/2006/10/22/terry-eagleton-on-richard-dawkins/

Did somebody mention that Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head?

We now have photographic evidence to prove it:

http://www.danghippie.com/images/cheney_doodoo.jpg

:-)

martooni.... I love it.

If that's evidence of your handiwork, I can understand why the Dang Hippie business is so good!

I believe the nom d'blog *factory reject* is open.

Martooni - eeewwww, gross! But somehow, it seems fitting. You're on the lookout for jack-booted thugs, I hope....?

B999 - interesting link. Any site that has comments such as "Are my ideas relevant to the frittata I made yesterday?" is a link I'm going to enjoy.

Thanks again, Maggie--interesting article.

You are an artist Tooner.

TBG, if they're going to destroy them anyway . . . When I lived in Ohio, standard procedure was inserting phrases anywhere in the fortune. "It takes more than a good memory ... in bed ... to have good memories," "In prison, you will meet many famous people."

Great picture, Martooni!

Meg in PA, heading up to that town at the base of your mountain this weekend.

My older dog has a torn ACL and is lying on his side in the living room whacked out on drugs, studying the (undoubtedly psychedelic) patterns in the tile. *Far out, Dude. Do we have anything for the munchies?*

TBG... not one of my better quality Photoshops/Gimps, but yup. If I had the time (and the intestinal fortitude to keep that ugly mug on my screen for more than a few minutes) I would have done a better job of matching the resolution and lighting angles and added some guano steam.

Doh! Time for Bean's bedtime story. BBL...

Martooni | How'd you get him to sit still long enough to take the shot? I thought vice-presidents were too busy tearing up the constitution.?

GuanoSteam is available as handle.
Does my dog have a ACL? I don't see any markings.

I refuse to call Dick Cheney a big doo-doo head because to call Dick Cheney a big doo-doo head is an insult to all the other big doo-doo heads out there.

Speaking of big doo-doo heads, the pardon watch begins:

http://www.slate.com/id/2168450/

Just another stop on the Bush "how low can you go" tour.

Well...this piece makes me wonder if the grown-ups have really been in charge since 2001. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR2007061402098.html?hpid=topnews

I hope the boodler who figured out that Dick Cheney is a big doo doo head won't mind but I went back as far as I was allowed to post comments and inserted the proper phrase. I didn't Boko it out of respect.
Hi Bill.

Go, Spurs, Go!
Go, Spurs, Go!
Go, Spurs, Go!
Go, Spurs, Go!

CLEAN SWEEP!!!!

Well, I've been disappointed that Loomis hasn't told us yet which of her extended family first uttered the observation that "Dick Cheney is a big doo doo head", but, like her, I've been rooting for a Spurs sweep.

On (briefly) to old news, I thought that her Sunni/Shiite/guns remark was fair and funny. The responses were well-measured also, IMHO.

Hi Bob. I was hoping you'd show up.
Some folk construe straight talk as 'being mean.'

Hi, Boko. I've given more (MUCH more!) than enough confrontation-style input here to disqualify me from criticizing anyone on that basis. I'm uncomfortable with personal attacks, I'm pretty comfortable with harsh ridicule of inconsistent thought, but drawing the distinction isn't always easy, and I'm sure that I don't always (even usually?) get it right.

Ahhh, well, all I can do is keep practicing, and try to get it better, yes?

(On the day he sought more jail time for Paris Hilton, Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo acknowledged his wife got a traffic ticket two years ago while driving with a suspended license. She received the ticket - and the $186 fine - for failing to obey a turn-only sign, but wasn't ticketed for driving with the suspended license).
FREE PARIS!!

I'll note that "Dick Cheney is a big doo-doo head" (with or without hyphen) is still pulling zero hits on Google, but gets a couple of Achen-hits on Yahoo.

Boko - Well, a buck-86 seems stiff for an illegal turn, but:

"Driving without a valid license" is the same charge for which our dear Gay Paree is doing hard time, right?

Correction - "$186 seems stiff for what amounts to an illegal lane-change."

She went straight ahead when she was in a lane reserved for turning, correct?

If Alexandria, VA would institute a $186 fine for that offense and enforce it vigourously, they could pick up an easy $5000 bucks per day at the intersections (there are two, one in each direction) of King Street and U.S. Rt. 1.

At least one third of the time that I'm in those intersections, someone in the left-turn-only lane (the left lane) shoots straight across the intersection, causing a near-collision with someone who proceeded properly through the intersection. Ugly stuff.

"vigourously"? Sheesh! G'nite, all.

I consider my inconsistency a sign of open mindedness. In others it smacks of rank hypocrisy.

That was truly a selfless act, Boko. I commend you.

12/12 on the flag quiz, purely on the descriptions. 6/10 on the movie animal quiz.

Speaking of animals - funny article on wildlife in the 'burbs:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/13/AR2007061302361.html

And goats for rent:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/319789_goats14.html?source=mypi

Morning Boodle... I'm up and Grover waving before Scotty, eh?

Big day today... Son of G graduates from high school. I remember the pre-school Christmas program 15 years ago when he stood up between songs and pointed to his father, shouting, "I didn't know you could come!"

I just hope he can restrain himself today. I've made sure he understands that his father WILL be there.

It's interesting that this article, which Kim pointed out last night, is the top story on the WaPo home page, but appears on page A18 of the paper paper.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/14/AR2007061402098.html?hpid=topnews

*yawn*

Been up all night, writing my proposal. It's getting there. Unfortunately, I am socially obligated to attend an event at 3:30 today, when I would otherwise be taking a nap. I may take a nap anyway, despite my best intentions to do otherwise.

I am not on board with this vice presidential Google game. RD Padouk, you started it so why don't you call it off now. This space is property of the Washington Post, and presided over by our esteemed leader, Mr. Achenbach. I think the repetition of any phrase, especially one that's not funny, and defamatory in an extremely childish way, amounts to a sort of cyber-vandalism. If the WaPo decided it needed to be cleaned up, I can imagine Joel getting stuck with the task and that would be a big waste of his time.

If you have your own blog, then I would definitely defend your right to post whatever you want. But this is not our blog, even though Joel is very generous and lets us pretend otherwise.

That, as bc would say, is my $.02.

*Stepping off the soapbox, rushing off to work*

'Morning, Boodle.

Does that lead story mean what I think? That Arbusto's abilities as an international diplomat are circling the drain? And that his predecessor, Bill Clinton, had more success in the Middle East than he did? Who'd a thunk?

And speaking of who'd a thunk, who'd a thunk our Loomis was a basketball fan? And a hometown booster at that? Will wonders never cease? [We'll probably discover that one of the Spurs is the great-great-grand-second cousin twice removed from Wilt Shaquille Loomis Bird-Cousy, the well-known mulatto janitor at the YMCA Training School (later called Springfield College, Mass.) run by phys ed. instructor Luther Halsey Gulick, who hired Canuckistani-born Dr. James Naismith. It was Gulick who gave Naismith 14 days to create an indoor game that would provide an "athletic distraction" for a rowdy class through the brutal New England winter of 1891-2. And of course it was "Shaq" Loomis Bird-Cousy who provided the peach baskets.

Yes, that means what you think: the nation that gave us curling, hockey [a.k.a. ice hockey], and Phil Hartman [Brantford, Ontario] also gave us basketball. When Naismith first arrived in the United States, his first effort at creating the new game consisted of players trying to "dribble" a large rock down the court with brooms. After several YMCA players, called "goalies," were killed by being hit in the head with these boulders, Naismith made a number of necessary changes in the rules. Instead of three periods separated by 10-minute poutine breaks, Naismith divided the game into four 15-minute quarters, installed bleachers for Jack Nicholson and Spike Lee, and created the "free throw," during which a player had been fouled stood 15 feet away from the peach basket and hefted the boulder up between his knees. From that position -- some theorists believe it derived from "tossing the caber" -- the player was supposed to lob the boulder into the peach basket. After several dozen more injuries, some very serious, including at least one terminal hernia, as well as repeated repairs to the hardwood floor or "court," Naismith continued to make more changes, until he eventually perfected the game we now know as basketball.

I have to take a shower and go to work now. Everybody have a good day.

kb - if you don't think it's funny and ironic, then I failed and I am sorry. I'm done with it.

TBG enjoy the graduation today.

Mudge very funny description of the birth of basketball. Would be an ineresting script for one of our "Canadian Historical moments". Good work.

Lampooning politicians is an art form, RD, and there is no accounting for taste in art. I find your characterization of Dick Cheney as a doo doo head perfectly in keeping with the infantile machinations, transparent deceptions, tantrums and otherwise childlish behaviors of this administration. The fact that Dick Cheney is a $...head was well expressed in language suitable for this forum.

Morning all!! *extra Grover waves to catch up with TBG, with extra Snoopy dances for Son of G*

:-)

'Mudge, it might be time to send in your application, there's an opening coming up...

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6924504?MSNHPHCP>1=10136

AND I MISSED K-GUY??!?!??!?!?!?!? *ratzinfratzindagnabitall mumbles*

:-)

TBG -- Special day for your family. Huzzah, as HistoryTim said a day or so ago.

MostlyL -- I see why you like the cast metal Gunnera leaf: everything on the site is of such an interesting and clean aesthetic. Any lupines? Would they like your fast-draining sharp soil?

'Mudge -- like the peach basket story. Long ago, when PE was a daily class, complete with a text and grades, I learned this story. Confession: I earned a D in basketball my junior year of high school. I cannot do either a right-handed or left-handed lay up. The shame of it.

TBG -- About the red and yellow azaleas, I understand. Just a month ago, after somebody mowed the lawn of a house for sale for more than one year, I skipped in at night and dug up about a dozen crowns of Rose Champion. These flowers were planted by bird perhaps or the wind. They managed to grow in zoysia grass and bloom for the last fifteen years, despite benign neglect by the eccentric owners of the house and the succession of student renters.

Of course, two days after I made my raid the sales sign went down. Oh my. I though that I would casually offer most of the crown back to them, say in the fall. The injured plants now live in a nursery flat and are doing well. Sigh, new owners have cleared the lot, graded it, laid sod, ripped out a stand of mature lilacs, and gasp, planted a brace of pink and red begonias anchored with balls of boxwood at either end.

Can you chat with the realtor?

RD, I am better at self-righteous tirades than at telling people I love them, but I want you to know so I'm trying to formulate a declaration here. I do admire and respect you and hope I didn't hurt your feelings. No need to reply--I am not in need of reassurance, just want this on the record.

And ditto for all the rest of you boodleheads.

Congratulations to Son of G! We look forward to his college career.

TBG-If taking those azaleas is wrong, you don't want to be right. It's stealing to be sure, but I say do it anyway. However, I suggest doing it in the middle of the day with a white panel van or open trailer with lawn mower pulled behind a pick up parked at the curb. Better yet if you have a shirt with someone else's name embroidered over the pocket(D. Cheney?). Look official with a clipboard at the ready and leave an "invoice" tucked in the storm door. If challenged say the numbers on your work order were transposed and drive off to the "right" address.

Frosti -- that 70s soulish tune:

If lovin' you is wrong
I don't wanna be right.

---
In the middle of a high school dance -- 45s on a 10 dollar portable high fi turntable with the PA mike close by -- this song came on.

The principle, suddenly contempleted the words, and walked over to change the record. The new one?

Me and Mrs. Jones.
(Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Jones)
We got a thing,
goin' on (on, on)

And the cleansing tune is Amazing Grace, right?

Remember, boys and girls, the princiPAL is your PAL.

CP-I get a tune cootie of that song every time I have plant envy. It's particularly hard to ignore when I plunk down money for a plant I know is marginal for my gardening conditions. But sweet cheeses the rewards when we beat the odds.

I should note my own plant saving expeditions have all been done with permission. Though when asking I have not always gone beyond the kid unloading stuff from the demolition contractor's vehicle. Better yet if his English is iffy.

Mornin' all...

CP... a bizarre tie-in to your azalea caper. I had a dream last night where I was hauling around a Christmas tree on a sled and went past a Christmas tree farm. The lady who owned the farm demanded I produce a receipt from wherever I bought it or she was going to call the cops. Of course, this being a dream, I couldn't find the receipt (though I *was* wearing pants). I did manage to wake up before the cops showed up.

I don't even want to know what Freud would think of that.

I'm stuck at home today waiting for FedEx to deliver Stella's new brake parts. My local guy never came through so I had to resort to the Intarwebs and am now entertaining myself (not a hard task) by following my shipment's progress -- made even more entertaining because FedEx says it left "Effingham, IL" at 6:30 yesterday. That gives me a few hours to effing get the effing main wheel nut off. My neighbors may want to keep their younguns inside today unless they want them to end up with a greatly expanded vocabulary.

Peace out...

(81)

Congrats to Son of G. TBG, you may also take a bow.

Well done, CP, and I say go for it, TBG.

SCC: I meant TBG, not CP.

and TBG... congrats on the Grad.

martooni, it could mean your thinking about a family festival and your worried your mean neighbor will call the police.

I see Google Ads has been expanding its reach...

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earth.google.com

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www.esecureperipherals.com

:-)

Good morning, all.

I know there are several Boodlers and Boodleteens celebrating High School graduations this week.

Let me add my congratulations to all of you. You should be proud of your accomplishments, take a moment to appreciate them. And yourselves. Wipe those tears of joy (and perhaps, some relief) from your eyes and enjoy the milestone moment.

It won't be long before many of you are preparing to take them to the next stage of their lives; packing them up and driving to a dorm or an apartment somewhere, where hopefully they'll spend the next 4 years (less summers and breaks, of course) learning and growing into adults.

Enjoy this summer, folks. And congrats again.

bc

Thanks for that link, Scotty; Froeming is a hero of mine. Unfortunately, I'm nearly as old as he is. And I had toi hang it up after 17 years because of my legs. Thethought of 5,000 games---jeez. The man is made of steel.

It'd be nice if they brought that woman up, but there's probably too many guys with seniority ahead of her. And jumping her up the list would make her life hell.

omni... my neighbors don't call the cops. They call the zoning officer. I try to be a respectable hippie/hillbilly (the grass is mowed, no vehicles on blocks), but I do have a tendency to let things pile up (they call it construction debris, I call it "stuff I might someday use/fix").

That discussion yesterday about spelling potato is funny considering that Dan Quayle spelling bee eipsode was 15 years ago today. Also funny is that Dan Quayle was mentioned as well. You guys crack me up.

Woohoo! FedEx says: "Jun 15, 2007, 8:30 AM - On FedEx vehicle for delivery - YOUNGSTOWN, OH"

I better get dressed.

Thought you'd appreciate it, 'Mudge, de nada. And yeah, 5,000 games at the major league level is ridiculous!

Dan Quayle was FRAMED by a stupid teacher. She set him up with an incorrect flash card. Dan gnu better than too correct a teacher. What worries you more, that the Vice President can't spell silly toober names or that a teacher of our next generation is mis-educating are children? Those kids were LEFT BEHIND by bad educators and are now old enough to vote for RON PAUL. He will abolish the Department of MisEducation and keep vice-presidents out of classrooms.

Tired this morning from lack of sleep. About 15 minutes after my post late last night, the honking started. A couple of short blasts of the horn later on in our neighborhood, just before midnight, but a hour's worth of honking horns in the distance, in all likelihood the freeway about 1.5 miles away, lasting about an hour, beginning just after 11 p.m. I could hear them, the dog could hear them, but my husband, after removing his hearing aids, fell into blissful slumber.

According to this morning's paper, it was literally a cacophany of honking horns downtown, despite the heavens opening up with showers. On the near West Side, there were fireworks displays, not exactly legal, I believe, but after the third win in the series, people began to prepare for the festivities, including the City Of San Anatonio.

There will be be a big welcoming ceremony for the Spurs at the airport today, with people not allowed to park at the airport, but being bussed in, when their plane touches down at 2 p.m. The big enchilada celebration will be at 6 p.m. Sunday, when the team will take to barges and float down the San Antonio River in a victory celebration, to culminate at 9.m. at the Alamodome for an awards ceremony. No doubt, thousands will turn out.

Since the day will be cooler, with more showers expected, I talked to Loomispouse about going downtown, but he thinks it'll be a zoo and said he would rather avoid the large crowds. I've never seen the Spurs up close and personal, I have to admit, so it could be kinda fun getting a glimpse of Tony, Tim and Manu.

A local sportings goods outlet was open last night at midnight, selling championship gear, and, again, no doubts that they did a brisk business. The main section section of the paper is full of ads this morning for all kinds of Spurs victory memorabilia.

So much for St. James and his Court! Ha! The paper has anointed our team "Kings" today.

On another note, I found myself in the last week exchanging some (business, actually) e-mail with a deck officer of the Merchant Marines, who ship is now home in port for a while. The brief subjest: the sinking of the Andrea Doria. He mentioned how the sinking was caused by the failure of radar or more likely, the failure to properly interpret radar. If there's one go-to-guy for nautical, it's you-know-who. Do you know enough of the Andrea Doria story to elaborate on the radar failure, for a graf or two more of info, Mudge?

If we're talking about how certain sports started, ya'll may want to check out Peterboro, New York, as the origin for the women's baseball (the first league of their own), with a story attached about the popularizing of women's bloomers.

Loomis, I won a bet that the Spurs would take it in four games.

bc

TBG - Congratulations on this happy day.

CP - total tune cootie going on in my head. I can't stop humming "Me and Mrs. Jones." That song was used in a most imaginative way in a little indie flick that I love...has anyone seen "Off the Map" with Joan Allen and Sam Elliott? Very different, well worth a dvd rental if you get the chance.

A little off topic, but not my fault. It's CP's fault.

Loomis
Definately do the trip down to see your team. It is always a lot of fun to run around with a bunch of total strangers celebrating a Championship. Also take out the Queen cd with * We are the Champions* and play it a couple of hundred times. You are entitled. Congrats!!!

Congrats to Son of TBG. Now he can go off and cut a swath through the hearts of Queens College.

TBG, you are my hope and inspiration. I just keep telling myself, one more year, one more year.

Congrats TBG and SonOfG (sorry for the belatedness).

When I graduated High School (1980) I wanted to take a year off before heading to college. My mom was worried that if I did I wouldn't go at all. The practice actually became prevalent in the 90's and has a term for it: Gap Year. Who knew I was so ahead of my time.

Hi!

I can't go out in the hall. If I see my students leaving, I'll cry. I've been counting down the minutes, and now I can't bear to have them go.

Oh, well.

I'll back-boodle after our "mandatory" luncheon.

In the nature gone wild department, mrdr is just back from a fishing trip with his brothers and his dad. It's a serious male bonding event, but he always brings me home something special. This time these were in full bloom.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62628983@N00/

They like the sandy soils of Northern Saskatchewan near Pinehouse Lake.

Since these slippers don't propogate well, pictures is all I will ever have, but man I love these flowers. Its almost as good as the rare field of Tiger lilies back home by the farm.

Lovely dr, Lady Slippers?

On a totally unrelated topic, this story brought tears to my eyes:

http://www.charlotte.com/112/story/157857.html

It made the front page of the Charlotte Observer on Wednesday. When my husband emailed me the obit from the Winston-Salem Journal this morning, I tracked it down on the Observer website and cried again.

R.I.P., Pvt. Burkett. *salute*

Pink Lady Slippers, Cyperipedium acaule, I think.

We have yellow one growing at home. We got them at Holes Greenhouses in the early 90's. Ours are just coming into bloom now.

http://em.ca/garden/native/nat_Cypripedium%20parviflorum%20var%20makasin.html

A really good native species website.

http://em.ca/garden/orc_photos.html

dr, if you are close enough to go to Holes I am jealous. Saw that you mentioned slippers but only after I looked up the flower - they are lovely. I am looking for native plants for the front garden - pretty shady so native plants should do well.

Slyness, very moving.

Thanks for that Slyness.

dr
Those pictures are great, you sure live in a lovely place and here is the most important question of all.

What did the guys catch fishing?

bc, was that you who made the comment on Warren Brown's chat that somebody who complained about lack of cupholders in a Porsche would want an automatic transmission?

This is the main website the orchids came from. Sorry about that. One of my favourites.

http://em.ca/garden/native/nat_photos.html

I actually live near, not really in that place. I wish their garden was my garden.

It was great fishing this spring according to all reports. They usually go after walleye. This year they ate their fill and brought some home too.

Tonite we are off to Rock Lake in the foothills north of Hinton. Its longjohn season up that high, but it will be very quiet. I hope we'll hear the elk calfs and momma talk again.

Loomis, there was a long investigation after the collision and sinking, and a Congressional hearing, during which these points were established [from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Andrea_Doria#Litigation_and_determination_of_fault:_1956-57]:

"1) Andrea Doria's officers had not followed proper radar procedures or used the plotting equipment available in the chartroom adjacent to the bridge of their ship to calculate the position and speed of the other (approaching) ship. Thus, they failed to realize Stockholm's size, speed, and course.

2) Andrea Doria had not followed the proper "rules of the road" in which a ship should turn to right/starboard in case of a possible head-on crossing at sea. As the Stockholm turned right, Andrea Doria turned left (to port), closing the circle instead of opening it. Beyond a certain point, it became impossible to avoid a collision.

3) Captain Calamai of Andrea Doria was deliberately speeding in heavy fog, an admittedly common practice on passenger liners. The navigation rules required speed to be reduced during periods of limited visibility to a stopping distance within half the distance of visibility. As a practical matter, this would have meant reducing the speed of the ship to virtually zero in the dense fog.

4)The Stockholm and the Andrea Doria were experiencing different weather conditions immediately prior to the collision. The collision occurred in an area of the northern Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Massachusetts where heavy and intermittent fog is common. Although Andrea Doria had been engulfed in the fog for several hours, the Stockholm had only recently entered the bank and was still acclimating to atmospheric conditions. The officer in charge of the Stockholm incorrectly assumed that his inability to see the other vessel was due to conditions other than fog, such as the other ship being a very small fishing vessel or a blacked-out warship on maneuvers. He testified that he had no idea it was another passenger liner speeding through fog."

Then this came later: "Recent studies and computer simulations carried out by Captain Robert J. Meurn of the United States Merchant Marine Academy and based on the findings of John C. Carrothers suggest Stockholm Third Officer Carstens-Johannsen misinterpreted radar data and badly overestimated the distance between the two ships. The poor design of the radar settings, coupled with unlighted range settings and a darkened bridge, make this scenario likely. Some critics have suggested that a simple and available technology, a small light bulb on the radar set aboard the Stockholm, might have averted the entire disaster."

So was it preventable? Absolutely. And once again the lesson is that it wasn't one single large thing, it was a series of small things--including a light bulb--that led to the disaster.

{The above refers to the collision itself. It is also probable that the AD needn't have sunk, but she was improperly ballasted, and so listed and was unable to achieve counter-flooding when she should have. Just more small incidents leading to the sinking, but having a cumulative effect.)

everybody at lunch?

Howdy y'all. Once again I miss a day and an interesting conversation too. Lots of rain and lightning here, our festive opening of Shakespeare in the Park at its new facility was rained out last night.

Congradulations, all gratuates and their families.

I believe that, as Pluto has been demoted from full planetary status, it should be removed from its position in the sky, and relocated to some place better suited to its reduced stature. This will hasten public acceptance of its ultimate failure as a planet.

Thanks, anon. I was Googling for this info as you were posting, but the info you provided is better than what I found--mostly the Time article about the collision from 1956 and a blog entry from a diver who investigtes old wrecks about the post traumatic stress suffered by the survivors, as well as two early books written by survivors, one a Canadian, Eugene Gladstone.

http://shipwreck.blogs.com/shipwrecks_historical_tim/andrea_doria/index.html

I light bulb, you say? Many small things or errors creating a cumulative effect? Thanks for what you've pulled together. I'm heading back to reread the info on the Andrea Doria that you posted, much more slowly this time. I may have a story for ya'll in about a month's time--the anniversary of the sinking--regarding this.

Ivansmom,
News reports this morning showed lots of flooding through much of the state of Oklahoma. You slogging through in rubber hip boots yet? The rain we got last night and are expected to get through the weekend is the result of that low pressure system spiraling over the Red River area.

Also, do you how and why Oklahoma got carved away from Texas and entered the Union so late, relatively speaking--I'm collecting the state quarters and see that section in pink that contains Oklahoma also includes New Mexico and Arizona, both getting statehood in 1912? (Full of questions today, aren't I? As though I couldn't get this answer via Google--but maybe, like anon's answer, Ivansmom's will be better.)

Mudge, Loomis
The series of little things that have to happen to couse a catastrophe is called the Swiss cheese effect by pro accident investigators. There is lots of small holes in Swiss cheese but you can't see through it. It doesn't happen often, but once in a while the holes fall in perfect alignment and a bad thing happen. (Such as Swissair 111, the AD, Pan-Am/KLM in Tenerife, etc.

Loomis: The "miracle child" of the Andrea Doria, Linda Morgan Hardberger, is a San Antonio resident, her husband a former Mayor, her late father a radio journalist who broadcast coverage of the collission from NYC.

This link was posted on a Canadian site I frequent, it was there pick of the week, entitled "Remember Me" dedicated to the US soldiers in Iraq and Afganistan, I found it really touching, a warning don't bother with the comments!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ervaMPt4Ha0

Second para: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Andrea_Doria#Casualties

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

Loomis, I delayed my commute today until this morning's high water went down. Our place is on a hill and has never flooded, but we did lose power for a while yesterday. I drove north yesterday afternoon and saw a lot of fields which might as well be growing rice. After years of drought it is hard to complain, but waterlogging isn't much better.

I will give you a slightly coherent picture of OK's genesis a little later. The short version is, TX didn't claim the land north of the Red River, and Kansas didn't want the land south of the Cimarron or whatever the heck that river is. For a long time Oklahoma was No Man's Land (Panhandle is still referred to that way, even after statehood; nobody wanted it). It was popularly supposed that nobody could live here, which is why the gummint gave it to Indians. Then they found out differently and took it back.

Ooooooh, HERE's a quiz for today!!

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/bing/0706/quiz.crazybosses.fortune/index.html?cnn=yes

:-)

Aaaaaaaaaaand the results:

Your final score: 29 out of 100

21-45: You're still okay. The boss is a little bent, but who isn't?

:-)

I took the quiz based on my former psycho-boss, and she only got a 26. Wait--she probably wasn't psycho, just a merciless micro-managing mind-changer.

My current (relative) sanity is based on the word "former."

21 for me - good boss

Current boss scored a 2. Boss at last job 66. I love my current job.

omni and shiloh...please don't get ahead of me on this Andrea Doria story. *laughing*

I am self-employed and failed the quiz miserably.

Tomorrow is Bloomsday. Peace out. Have a good weekend, especially all you daddies out there. Catch up with y'all Monday.

Pluto, not just a dog, but god of death and the underworld demoted? Plutonium sapped of its potency, the plutocracy shriveled to insignificance? Well, there's a cosmic solution to all our problems. Evict Pluto from the solar system, deny its legitimacy as a planet. Deny death and it will go away. Life and death are unprovable in scientific terms anyway. We believe the mind resides in the brain, but we can't prove a mind exists, either. Where is the gene for genius?

"Met-him-pike-hoses" is my favorite exchange from Joyce's Ulysses:

"Metempsyhchosis, he said frowning. It's Greek, That means the transmigration of souls."

"O, rocks! she said. Tell us in plain words."

Happy Bloomsday, Omni.

Transposition in Metempsychosis not intended as transmigration.

My current boss is a 26. I doubt I have ever had a boss that would crack 30. Lucky me.

Afternoon, friends. I've been quite busy all day, just got a chance to get online. Now I'm tired and ready for a nap. We had lots of rain this morning, and of course I was out in it. The laundry detail, and then raking my little space. Got the books to the center. And my back is screaming. Oh, well, it is a good day and I hope your weekend is great.

CP, your answer to my question yesterday was just beautiful. I forgot to mention it.

Martooni, that picture was awful. ugh. Just finished eating when I looked at that. Still swallowing.

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

For Father's Day, from James Joyce's POMES PENNYEACH, "On the Beach at Fontana" written for his son on the occasion of a storm brewing; from memory, my volume having disappeared long ago:

Wind whines and whines the shingle/
The crazy pierstakes groan/
A senile sea numbers each single/
slimesilvered stone/

From whining winds and colder/
Grey seas I wrap him warm/
and touch his trembling, fineboned shoulder/
and boyish arm.

Around us fear/
Descending darkness of fear above/
But in my heart, how deep unending/
Ache of love.

Hi all.. .thanks for your kind thoughts and comments about Son of G's graduation. The event was wonderful. Two of my sisters attended with us and it's been such a happy day.

The GMU Patriot Center was filled with nearly 800 graduates, their families and teachers. The diversity that was evident in hearing the names called was remarkable. I'm so glad my kids are growing up in an area like this.

We spotted Son of G the moment he came into the room and had the perfect view of him the entire time (he was on the end of a row--on our side). He beamed the entire time and the resemblance to his dad was amazingly evident.

To see the man he has become after starting high school as such a little squirt is great. As much as he looks like his dad, he is so much like MY dad--the wonderful Papou he lost just a few months ago. It was great to feel my parents there with us.

Our fabulous Greek luncheon was divine. We had a table in the garden under the trellis and feasted on a buffet of Greek delicacies. Mmmmm... soul food.

[When we left the Patriot Center to head for home before going out to lunch, Son of G and his sister took off for his car, which he had driven separately to be there much earlier. When they arrived at the house, they said they had stopped at the cemetery to visit their grandparents. Aren't kids great?]

A friend pointed out to me today that high school graduation isn't a given in much of the country (national rate for public high school graduation is only around 70%). I have always thought of it as something taken for granted, but I'm very proud of my son--and our entire family--for his success (my parents included).

Good one, Shiloh. Nicely done.

Thanks for the report, still emotionally a wreck at your kids stopping by the cemetary.

You and your husband have done well.

Yes, TBG, congrats. [A few of us BPHers were fortunate enought to meet Son of G at a BPH some months ago. You only had to talk to him for a minute or two to know he was a great kid. The cemetery visit was nice, yes.]

Running for the bus soon. Everybody have a good weekend and a good Father's Day. And happy Father's Day to those of you who are fathers, or wanna be fathers. To those of you who have girlfriends who are a little "late" (if ya know what I mean) and are sweating it, well, what can I say.

The phrase which will not again be mentioned here (by me, that is) is now available on Google! Now we can stop saying it. Must - not - say it... I checked and it's a google-uno for the moment.

Jeez, Jumper, I think you killed it. 80 minutes of pause. What, is tonight date night or somethin'?

Unless...maybe now that The Magic Phrase is in the Google memory banks, maybe Cheney sent the black helicopters to round everybody up.

Anybody out there? Boodle calling earth, come in, anybody...

I feel like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode. I hope they can get Redford to play me. (He played Death in the form of a cop in an early Twilight Zone, yanno...)

Ah, yes. "The Day I Graduated High School and my Mother was Taken Away on the Black Helicopters" by son of TBG.

Congratulations on a wonderful day, TBG! (The graduation, not the helicopters).

Of course I know. Let's see, I also know that both George Takei and William Shatner were on the Twilight Zone (twice for Shatner). Were any other Star Trek principal cast members on the Zone? So far as I know, Redford never was on Star Trek.

[Sound of rotors fading into the distance]

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you certain?

Awake time: 35 hours so far. It's just a bad habit by now. I figure, I'll watch something on TV, and instantly fall asleep.

Tim, I must have missed the reason for being awake 35 hours. Tell me why...I could never do it, I'd collapse after about 20.

We made it up the mountain in 2 hours, including a stop for gas (which is 20 cents cheaper halfway up than at home).

New stone steps in front of the house look good. They replace railroad ties that did nothing for me. It looks like all the plants have survived, and some we had given up for dead three weeks ago are showing signs of life.

Ivansmom, I'm still put out that you folks in Oklahoma are keeping all the rain. You should share, you know. We've had some storms this week but are still in drought conditions.

TBG, please give Son of G a hug from me!

Leonard Nimoy was in a "Twilight Zone" episode with Dean Stockwell, where a green U.S. Army 2nd Lt. on some Pacific island gets a TZ lesson in compassion after wanting to wipe out a cave full of sick, isolated Japanese...

:-)

And TBG, you know you've done a good job with Son of G, but a "Well Done!!!" is always in order.

Congratulations once again.

:-)

Extraordinary rendition for boodlers caught using forbidden phrase after site shutdown to harvest.

The site on Google beneath the "phrase that must never be uttered" is Scrappleface.com.

CBC Radio1 had a story about a man in China who has tried to pass his high school exams four times. The 74 yr old gentleman eplained his tenacity by saying he wants to improve his employment and marriage prospects.

Redford was on the Twilight zone, but he never did any trekking in the stars.

"Prior to production, Gene Roddenberry joked that he wanted Richard Burton for the role of Kirk and Robert Redford to play Spock. The joke was reported as fact by some media."

Damnit, Mudge, you could have made your fortune as Bones, and shown up Redford for the lame impostor he was.

I know, Wilbrod, I know. I've held a grudge against Roddenberry ever since.

I hope I can cancel the T-shirts and coffee mugs I ordered with 'you know what' printed on them. Good thing I ordered them with Padouk's credit card number.

I'll also have to reconsider suggesting Martooni modify the Cheney boobleheads.

Wow.. I have figured out a great scam that will make lots of money.

1. Schedule a rock tour, charge high ticket prices and an additionally high "convenience charge" per ticket.

2. Cancel the tour.

3. Refund the ticket price, but not the "convenience charge."

This is what happened to me today when I was notified that the Kelly Clarkson concert my daughter and I had tickets for has been cancelled. The entire 35-date tour has been cancelled.

Let's say you only half fill the arenas, selling 10,000 seats at 35 venues. Keeping that $4.25 "convenience charge" gets you.... $1,487,500!

If you have sold out the arenas, that's $2,975,000.

For an event that will not happen.

Boycott that skanky singer for 10 lifetimes, then.

You're right-- that charge is a scam.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070615/ennew_afp/entertainmentusmusic_070615173807

I guess American Idol doesn't test work ethic or character.

I don't normally do this, but I hear a dog called Tigger has been in the Humane society for 2 months now and has earned his Canine Good Citizen Certificate and badly n