Hmm. Potentially radioactive reptiles. Could get dicey.

Har

Curses, foiled again.

The big one the officer is holding by the tail could be sliced-up and make a delicious bbq fo 20 or more guests.

"Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen" was the final episode of M*A*S*H. The episode aired on February 28, 1983 and was 2½ hours long. It was viewed by nearly 106 million Americans (77% of viewership that night) which established it as the most watched episode in United States television history, a record which stands to this day. The episode was seen by so many people that just after the end of the episode, the New York City Sanitation/Public Works Department reported the largest use of water ever around the city; apparently New Yorkers had been "holding it" through the show.

"Hardwick says there are 5,000 invasive primates on the loose in South Florida." Apparently humans aren't included in that count.

Is there a Harry Potter tie-in here somewhere? Any loose dragons or basilisks?

Right you are SD. I was going to mention that I've heard they taste like bunny but I couldn't stand being beaten by RD so many times in one day.

Saw Son of Carl's post on the last boodle. All I can say, SoC, is that my dogs were traumatized enough by neutering; they certainly wouldn't have a dogbris.

Radioactive reptiles? I feel a Blue Oyster Cult tune cootie coming on:

"With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound..."

RUN!!
From the NYT article.
"There are several recorded deaths of pet owners in the United States strangled or suffocated by pythons."

...and I've been harping on responsible worm disposal.

CP-no virtue here, just willing to suck up some discomfort for one season so Frostdottir would have something to take her mind off Mr. F being deployed. It turned out to be a good move, though we've moved twice since that year she's stayed close to a couple classmates and swim friends.

Martooni-your fairy door workshop would be a good fit for the industrial park. You'd have ready access to certified sustainably harvested forest products. Alas, it is rather cold much of the year. In fact, we wouldn't mind drawing a high tech firm looking for free cold air to cool equipment.

Garden report-Morning glories are just about ready to bloom, at long last. Next year I will plant them earlier in window boxes then sink the boxes into the ground. (Idea stolen from a big resort with Disney style landscaping ambitions.) My direct sown plants are farther along than the transplants which had a 4 week jump start. How's that for transplant shock?

Some critter has dug up all of my fancy sunflower plants grown from a seed mix called "Monet." Each morning when I go to check on them another is pulled out of the ground as if deliberately harvested for its roots. No teeth marks or discernable tracks give the culprits away. The weedish sunflower volunteers from 'neath the bird feeder are ready to bloom.

The shade garden is a marvel in pinks, purple, white and green. The blue, and purple blue of Jacob's Ladder and columbine have given way to a second wave of lamium bloom, impatiens hitting their stride and campanula "Bowl of Cherries" taunting me for not buying a truck load of plants when they were available.

The prairie garden is a jumble of unidentifiable stuff that I have renamed "the wildflower test bed" to get Mr. F off my back. Either he still doesn't understand higglety pigglety, or I have gone round the bend. I reckon we are 6 days away from tomato ripeness.

Yipes, time to unlock the school for the summer music program. Toodles boodle.

A great day for female talent:

1979 - Rose Byrne, Australian actress
1981 - Summer Glau, American actress
1982 - Anna Paquin, Canadian-born actress

Happy bday ladies.

*too busy to make a comment, not that I could in any case*

:-)

>Error, you will have Cincinnati chili if I have to come down there myself and make it.

Thanks Yoki, I appreciate the thought but I think dbG's got me covered. I can get to Philly in a half hour, save your frequent flyer miles!

EF will eat Cincy Chili prepared by Philly-DBG, with consultation by Yoki.

Delish.

EF study up, as you will need to answer this question: x-way, where x is a variable relating to (Wikiquote begins now --
When served over spaghetti, the chili is typically topped by a large mountain of shredded mild cheddar cheese (as much as will fit on top without it falling over the sides). Because of the large amount of cheese piled on top, the first few bites often consist entirely of cheese, at least for inexperienced diners. The serving method is based on (and is ordered in restaurants by) a traditional code. A "one-way" would be a bowl of chili only, but it is almost never ordered this way. A "two-way" is spaghetti topped with chili only. More typically, the chili is ordered as a "three-way" (noodles, sauce, and cheese only), "four-way" (with added red kidney beans or chopped raw white onions), or "five-way" (with added beans and onions). "Inverted" is the request to place the cheese under the chili so it melts. Dixie Chili offers a unique "six-way" with all of the above ingredients, plus chopped garlic.

I recommend the inverted six-way Cincy serving.

mostlylurking, I worked at GU hospital in 1981-1984 part-time while working on a masters (the first time). I then had my first child and had to get a regular M-F job. The masters was put on hold for 16 years (!) while raising 2 kids but I finally got it.

Mudge needs to be careful cause July is when first year med students and interns start their rotation and they are pretty clueless. Mudge, be sure and double check your IV solution and medications. Great, huh. It might be better there now with more electronic records and barcoding meds, etc. Take care, Mudge!

I am still a little agnostic about the long term effects of introduced species. It is still unclear to me if the ecosystem, as a whole, is really being destroyed or if it is simply being altered in ways that we may find aesthetically displeasing.

Obviously some indigenous populations suffer, which can be ugly, and the introduction of unfamiliar species can be disturbing and dangerous to people unaccustomed to them, but isn't this process just Darwinism in action? Might not the new ecosystem be just as stable and robust as the old one once things have settled down?

Perhaps am I being unrealistically sanguine because part of me thinks twenty foot snakes are kinda cool.

I mean, they certainly would help with the surplus ground hog population.

EF: //And we always read the manual. *cough*//

Sounds like the fine, insouciant style of system administration that I follow myself, but it could just be a case of IT
gene cooties.

CP, Yoki's recipe for CC is my friend's mom's, from when we all lived in Cincinnati together. It includes a square of bitter chocolate for the required mole effect.

Yoki, perhaps you'd be kind enough to make dinner for all of us if you make it out this fall? (including that plum clafouti?) :-)

RDP: //Perhaps am I being unrealistically sanguine because part of me thinks twenty foot snakes are kinda cool. //

Imagine the leftovers!

>EF study up, as you will need to answer this question

Wowsers! I had no idea it was so complicated. I'm thinking I'd want to sneak up on a one-way and then skip to the three-way like da freeway.

Howzaboutthat?

dbG - yep, I hear they taste like chicken.

(Oooh - just noticed the Yoda-like "am I" in my post. Curses.)

DBG -- I read your post as clam plafouti, which I think we should imagine, test, and make for Mudge's return to the brig, er make that bridge.

EF -- no bad choices on Cincy Chili. Just close your eyes and think on your beloved, gourmand of a step-father, Joey Dee.

20 ft snakes are cool in Fl, please DoC just make sure they don't slither their way up here. How do you order snake meat at the snake store, by the foot? You get 3 ft of python for a party then some guests don't show up and you're stuck with a foot of leftover snake. One can give it to the local caimans I guess.

>I mean, they certainly would help with the surplus ground hog population.

I dunno RD, I'm not sure that's a trade-off I'd make willingly. I think I'd be more comfortable with a dog. :-)

As it happens, so far so good on the groundhog front. It's kind of weird actually. Vewy vewy quiet and still. I think the birds are filling in a bit, and the bunnies haven't complained. The g-hog burrowed part of the garage is due for some major concrete work this week or next.

I've got to get some pictures of whatever's under there!

That will be fun! Of course. Maybe more than once. We'll do the Cincinnati chili dinner with clafouti (this is perfect for EF, I think, as the food is neither too spicy nor too sweet to appeal to his current palette). And then we'll do something equally appealing but more Canadian. How would that be?

My only reservation is that I usually travel with my knives and steel when I know I'm cooking; I'm thinking those won't pass security in my carry-on?

What you need Yoki, is a nice set of ceramic knives

>I usually travel with my knives and steel

You're coming to the US North East and worried about finding knives? :-)

There's all kinda steel around here. Of course much of it is blued or chromed...

It has been brought to my attention that I am vastly underestimating the danger of invasive species. Although it is true that in the end a stable new ecological configuration will probably emerge, the transitional pain is something to be carefully avoided. Or, as it was put to me most forcefully, you don't go [messing] with Mother Nature.

But I still think the 20 foot snakes are cool.

Was taking a break from shop-cleaning and came across this piece by Dionne:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/23/AR2007072301361.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Nice to see the governor of my state is getting noticed. Of course, I voted for the guy, so that says something. Also note the usual reference to my town (Youngstown) as one of the hardest hit by globalization (very true).

If I could just figure out a way to box up and sell rust and hazardous waste materials, I could be a bazillionaire.

Think of the ecological shift from invasive species introduction as similar to filling a tooth, with no anesthetic. The new equilibrium state is equable and pleasant, as was the pre-cavity condition. However, there is a transition period that is ... uncomfortable.

No problem then, we'll just forge some when I get there.

That reminds me. What I sell is lawyers' brainpower; services, soft advisory stuff, which is very hard to cost out. I often look with envy at tenders for "cold-rolled steel plates" and similar items. I think how easy it would be to respond to something like that.

omni, that is very funny. I'm such a dodgy-looking character, however, that my bags are frequently searched. I'm nervous even talking about it in jest; I can practically hear the helicopters.

I am really tired about all these people complaining about "hearing helicopters." That is just crazy talk. Everyone knows that the new ones are acoustically damped.

Yeah RD, it's when you don't hear helis that you need to be worried.

Yoki - I hear you regarding the "cold-rolled steel plates" envy. As someone who has always been in the service industry, I often think it must be nice to point to something solid and substantial and say "I helped make this."

What I want to know is: are the helicopters really black? Or is it more of a deep navy?

Rd, SciTim, invasive species is one of our bigger issues we deal with at work, the transition is indeed difficult and in this are very expensive to deal with.

Another prespective from a Burmese python
www.dailyprobe.com/arcs/102405/dp102405.shtml

I am very fond of reptiles, and large snakes in particular. That said, the sudden prevalence of pythons (and anaconda!?!) and other furrin, if not furry, critters in Florida is disturbing. [Please note critters may include bugs as well as fish, reptiles, amphibians and mammals, making it the perfect all-purpose term.] I mean, these aren't just invading from some other part of the vast expanse of the continental US, in which case one might argue they were native somewhere to the country. They really are invasive.

Also, of course, I deplore the habit of bringing home a critter because it is cool, cute, or threatening, then abandoning it once it becomes less than cool or cute, or too threatening. As we say when confronted with misbehavior, "Where are their mothers?" With luck, not eaten by the threatening critter. Though I suppose that would be a reason for parting with Fido the python.

SciTim, by any chance did you have Mrs. Neve for math in high school?

Oops, Lindsy Lohan busted again. I'll bring you updates as I find out more.
Any recipes for purple loosestrife out there? We have a ton of it up here.

Another prespective from a Burmese python
www.dailyprobe.com/arcs/102405/dp102405.shtml

RD Padouk,
If only that were true! Thinking biley, I hear myriad helicopters every day. Makes it hard to concentrate while on my screened porch.

The movie "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" dealt with exotic pets that had been released and had formed colonies in cities. Really interesting!

I love the filling-a-tooth metaphor for ecological transition with introduced species. Except that you can't always count on a new steady state - you don't [mess] with Mother Nature, indeed.

//RDP: ...I often think it must be nice to point to something solid and substantial and say "I helped make this."

==

What's it like as a writer, the difference between being "published" on the internet, where you are (theoretically at least) instantly accessible by anyone in the universe, versus being published in a book or newspaper, where you can hold the finished product in your hands, give it to people, shelve it, file it, really see it, and believe it might last forever.

Here's an article from Business Week about "paperless newspapers"

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_30/b4043029.htm

Jon Fine says, "Play with me on this one: Which major American newspaper should be the first to throw up its hands and stop publishing a print product?" and he even answers the question: The San Francisco Chronicle.

Maggie O'D, if you can hear the helicopters, they're not coming for you.

Kind of like the snakes.

Yes Boko, the invading plants are more of a problem up here. We do have the occasional problem of range extension (such as the arrival of the eastern cottontail and the coyote) and the occasional european import such as starlings and buntings but pythons and caimans would not do well in the Rideau canal in January. And there are the loathfull Japanese beetles of course.
On the other hand my backyard is under constant attack from buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica). The birds are obviously distributing the seeds freely.

Nope, my high school math teachers were, let me see now... Mr. Lafferty, for sure. And, um, two others, whose names I don't recall, neither of whom was a "Mrs." at the time. Why? Was it something I said?

If you wonder whether you know me from real life, you could always try my storytelling web site at
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/timtales/

I have found that the sites that feature me as a scientist or science educator tend to be kind of embarrassingly old, as if the people involved have died or something. Nope; just lazy.

Added some stuff to the kit and flipped the two items, fyi.

Nature, red, in tooth and claw...

You just can't make this stuff up.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070723coyotejul23,1,5162431.story?coll=chi_tab01_layout

Shriek, don't forget earwigs!! I had a wonderful professor my last year of university who started the first class (and his first class after a return from sabbatical), with the history of the earwig in the Ottawa area. Had nothing to do with the course but very amusing all the same.

Zebra Mussels - enough said

It would have been kind of nice if Sen. Clinton had answered the question about public vs. private schools more forthrightly: "We sent our daughter to a private school in which it's not that much out of the ordinary to have your parents in high government office, so that she could have a more normal relationship to her peers. Also, it's no secret that the Washington, DC public schools have major problems. As a parent, I need to make the choices that are best for my child, and I was able to afford an expensive private school. The answer to our nation's education problems, however, is not to offset the cost of sending more children to expensive private schools, because that would leave many children with public schools that are even more troubled and desperate for resources. The answer is to provide public school for everyone and to make the public schools better, so that every child has the opportunity for the kind of excellent education that would be limited to the privileged few by a system that relies on private schools."

Earwigs are disgusting little critter allright. Especially when they form a clump. It makes be wish for a flamethrower. Speaking of which boko, lots of grilled chicken not too far from your place: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=7e8b623e-73cd-4c5f-b11b-efdc352c9ac8&k=76343

Ew, earwigs! The most disgusting thing I ever experienced (OK, not the most, but close) was picking up one of my grandmother's old folding lawn chairs and having literally thousands of earwigs pour out of the aluminum tube structure.

I think the very most digusting was, having arrived in Mumbai at midnight after a 30 hour saga-journey, making my way to the "First Class" hotel near the airport, jumping into the shower, and having a centipede literally the length of my forearm crawl up out of the drain and over my foot as soon as the water hit it. Did you know that one can turn off water, open shower curtain, exit bath, grab and don towel and find oneself standing on the balcony of a hotel room 16 feet from the bathroom, all without conscious thought and within 1.2 seconds? One can!

Did one draw a large crowd standing on the balcony in a a towel? :-)

Fortunately, it was about 2:00 am when that happened, so not as large you would expect in one of the world's mega-cities. Thank goodness! Most Indian men already think western women are loose; just think what prejudices might arise.

Yoki, that makes my skin crawl, just reading about it. I hope Himself was able to take care of it and that you took your shower and rested comfortably afterwards!

Slyness, you are so sweet! Himself was 3000 miles away, looking after the wee girls. I was all alone!

No, what I did, was, I got dressed, picked up my bag and spent the rest of the night in the hotel's coffee shop until the airport reopened and I could catch my connecting flight to Chennai.

For all I know, that centipede moved his whole family into the hotel room. They could still be there! Maybe I'll get a bill one day.

Sounds like Alberto is outdoing himself on the Hill today:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/benchconference/2007/07/post_39.html?hpid=topnews

The exchange with Schumer is breathtaking.

Yoki, you are a brave woman. My scream would probably haven woken everybody within half a mile.

When I first worked for the fire department, our office was in a building constructed in 1925. We didn't see them often, but once in a while a roach would come out, looking for water. They were three inches long, and I don't exaggerate. Disgusting!

Of course, the firefighters were in the adjacent station, and they talked about the size of the rats in the basement. Big as cats, they said. I never ventured down there to see.

Thinking of new ecological equilibriums arising after invaders arrive, I don't like to think of south Florida turning into something like low-elevation Hawaii, where you see almost no native plants or birds. As much as I like coconuts and mynah birds, individually (and maybe even the occasional African tulip tree), it's disheartening to see them all together, in large numbers.

In the 1800s, the British decided that Ascension Island in the South Atlantic needed a forest, so botanists duly imported seemingly suitable species. The island now has a cloud forest composed entirely of introduced plant species. The fact that the forest is a functioning ecosystem kind of put the lie to the notion that "ecological communities" must evolve together over great lengths of time.

On the positive side in south Florida, the native crocodiles are doing nicely and seem to be more compatible with people than alligators.

Tinkered with the kit some more.

Also talked to Mudge. He'll be in the hospital until Thursday. Doing fine.

Back in the day when I was in DC, lawyers were fleeing Justice like rats fleeing a sinking ship, and that was the Reagan years. In retrospect, that was some kind of shining model of jurisprudence. I can't even imagine what it must be like to be an attorney at Justice now.

But, Joel! You cut the zinger, where I suggest that Sen. Clinton should then have decried the notion that access to expensive private schools is the solution to the nation's education problems.

So, I wonder -- should lawyers at DoJ conduct a massive and public resignation in an attempt to shame the Bushies, who are incapable of shame, thereby leaving the crazies free to fill all the posts with ideological cohorts? Or, is it better to try to wait them out, preventing the worst excesses but tacitly accepting the wretched joke that Gonzales and Bush make every time they mouth the phrase "rule of law", hoping for responsible government to arrive on January 20, 2009, to save the day and the nation?

I am very appreciative to Joel for including actual transcript excerpts.

Is the full transcript available anywhere? I didn't bother to try and watch, because when I hear YouTube, I think no captioning.

The internet video on CNN site has no captioning, and I can't find a transcript.

Too many news websites that caption their TV news religiously fail to do the same with their internet videos, over and over again. They don't even provide a transcript alternative for their "video stories".

Most video editing software HAVE the ability to caption them as well. It doesnt cost anything but labor and time. I'm fed up with such idiocy; it's why I stick to print media websites for my news.

SciTim - you got ink. Be honored.

I think everybody, including all state governors should vote to phone their congressmen and representatives and strongly suggest they impeach the current administration in an unanimous vote overnight.

We the People. Not Us the Executive Branch.

And since I believe Congress authorizes the salaries of the Executive Branch and the secret service, they could simply do a payroll freeze.

Congressional privilege, no?

Yeah, sure, I got ink -- but what will this lopsided portrayal do to my chances to become President Clinton's science adviser?

It's one thing to be lied to, it's another to be lied to so badly. Either Gonzales is stupid or he isn't even trying. I wonder if he ever worked for Ed Meese.

If you think you could pass an background investigation already, especially with your BPH reputation, I'd say your chances are good.

Oh no Tim, you could get a job as science advisor to a Republican and spend more time with the ScienceKids.

That's a good point, Boko; lotsa free time as a science adviser to the Repubs. My job would be to insulate them from actual advice. So long as the position is salaried, not based on billable hours, I'm there. Would I make enough in a month to call it a significant haul before they fire me for publicly criticizing my masters and calling them know-nothing fools, ignorami, and wicked tools of Satan? (The Satan thing is to get the evangelical ecologists on my side, too.)

I think Gonzales is not even trying to be plausible in his lying. He just needs to avoid saying something sufficiently specific that it could be used to accuse him of perjury. Gonzo and his boss are demonstrating complete contempt for the concept of government responsive to the people. For them, these hearings are merely a tiresome annoyance that must be endured. Meanwhile, the job of the senators is to get him to make an overt and demonstrable lie by encouraging him to keep opening his yap. The purpose of this little show is not to evoke truth, which they know he won't offer; the purpose is to keep giving him opportunities to stick his head through the noose, so that they have something specific and provable to use in impeaching him. So far, he hasn't made the sale.

ScienceTim, the best parts always get cut for space.

WELCOME TO MY LIVING HELL.

Maybe some people should go over to The Trail and post a few comments.

Actually, Wilbrod, I'm in good shape for the character-assassination part of the process: one spouse, no post-marital affairs, no unusual pre-marital history, only one former girlfriend who really doesn't like me now, no misdemeanors, no felonies, two moving violations (in my youth), no illegal drug use, no alcoholism, public service, no shady business deals (heck, no business deals). Where I'm lacking is in the area of that whole "eminence" thing -- I am not eminent (and certainly not a gray eminence). I have not been a captain of industry nor of academe. I have not managed a budget of billions, nor even millions, nor have I managed a workforce of thousands or more. I have no record in public policy or international relations.

If I were recommending, I already know who I would recommend:
http://cisac.stanford.edu/people/christopherfchyba/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/authorarchive/?christopher-chyba/2007/01/

Chris got his foreign-policy experience as a junior science-policy advisor in the first Clinton administration. However, he refused to take my advice to go berate Bill for not sticking up for his candidate to the bitter end with Lani Guinier. Sometimes, you need to take a principled loss, and that seemd like an appropriate time. Perhaps it's because he basically never actually saw Bill. Like I said, he was junior back then.

I had the opportunity earlier today to do some reading on arboriculture and happened across the wonderfully named Pterocarya fraxinifolia - the Caucasian Wing-Nut.

Just wanted to share that.

Might come in useful in later, you know.

I might even be tempted to change my handle.

>Would I make enough in a month to call it a significant haul before they fire me for publicly criticizing my masters and calling them know-nothing fools, ignorami, and wicked tools of Satan?

1. interesting Ignoramus etymology

C16 (as the endorsement made by a grand jury on an indictment considered to be backed by insufficient evidence to bring before a petty jury): Latin: "we do not know"

2. In direct response to the question, the key is to generate enough media heat to propel a book tour and speaking engagements

Truthfully, I'm stting here giggling because now that someone has done a YouTube debate, you have got to know that there will be youtube debates for every tom, dick and harry election. Translated to Canadian elections...I cannot wait. I even know my question.

Goodness, I love the internets(although I'm a bit shamefaced, not being up to date on the Pluto/Neptune relationship, no excuse really). It seems Prof. Guinier got the same treatment Jocelyn Elders got when she tried to advocate tying policy to the reality on the ground.

I think we'll just call the next troll that, SoC ;).

SciTim, I kind of figured that. Although anybody can be swift-boated, it takes more effort for some people.

Jeez Boss, if ya gotta yell why not go to
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/pop_socket
He loves it.

I imagine that writers feel the same way about editors as music fans do about "best of" albums.

Founding Father Quote for the Day:

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither freedom or safety."

-- Benjamin Franklin. Was that even mentioned in the Youtube debates?

I wouldn't know.

I posted what I intended to be an intelligent comment at "The Trail." You can tell it's by me because it contains a ludicrous typo.

Sigh.

BTW "viscous barracuda" is now available as a boodle handle.

I miss Molly
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/05/19/ivins.impeachment/index.html

Ok, now I do know... found the transcript

Part 1 (with a link to part 2)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/23/debate.transcript/index.html

Reading it now. Those guys actually sound funny to me.

Ok, now I do know... found the transcript

Part 1 (with a link to part 2)

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/23/debate.transcript/index.html

Reading it now. Those guys actually sound funny to me.

Trail?

Mark? Appalachian? Heritage?

*post-work confusion deluxe*

:-)

Snuke - it's the new WaPo blog Joel was soliciting comments for. You gotta be registered though.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/07/24/hillary_blames_the_media.html

Ya gotta watch out for those 'cuda slicks'

Wilbrod, SOC, great idea! We'll name or rename the trolls. Suggested protocol:

a post which defines the time and/or name if they've used one, then the newly christened name.

We did it with Pop Socket, and he turned out all right!

Oregon Trail? Trail Mix? Hit The? I'm so confused.

Taa Daa!!

Not so confused as to stop you from posting a comment at 7:04pm on the Trail site. Gee, ya gotta know people watch that sh|t.
If you want to destroy public education, cancel foreign aid, defund the social safety net and sleep with Bay Buchanan you have to keep on your toes.

Ewwww. I boodleskimmed really quickly to avoid the critters with no feet. So I may be missing things.

Back boodling - I have the spelling gene too, as does most of my father's family. I'm also surprised by lilies. My Four O'Clocks usually winter over, which is why I didn't worry about starting more this spring. But for some reason, none of them have come up (we had a cold snap that took out my tree ferns, too).

White-knuckle moments in the WSJ/Murdoch saga:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118532009200176867.html?mod=home_whats_news_us

Interviews with more than a dozen family members, outside advisers, lawyers and others involved in the process suggest that the outcome remains too close to call. What has seemed to many analysts like a logical move -- accepting a $60-a-share bid for a company whose shares previously had been trading in the mid-30s -- is still in question amid the deep emotions the bid has stirred. Participants said more doubts about a News Corp. deal were apparent at the end of the six-hour session than at the beginning.

However, it will still be difficult to block the transaction, given that it would take only a few players to deliver a deal to Mr. Murdoch.

...At the meeting, among those arguing against the deal was another important trustee, Christopher Bancroft, also a Dow Jones director. Mr. Bancroft, 55, said he saw no need to sell the company. He said Dow Jones was worth more than $60 a share. Pacing as he spoke, he told the group that "we're not broken," participants say. He said selling to Mr. Murdoch was a bad deal, and the family was about to "sell the milk cow for beef."

...Mr. Bancroft -- who emerged from the meeting shortly before 7 p.m. wearing a baseball cap embroidered with a picture of fishing lure and the line "Bite Me" -- said it was still unclear whether the family would support the bid.

Note, by the way, the very very rare quintuple byline on that WSJ story.

Hey, I just got out of the hospital last Thursday. Left leg!

Mudge, I'm a week ahead of you. When you get out, maybe we can share a few words on hospital food? or perhaps nurses?

I didn't think anything could make my skin crawl more than earwigs until I saw Gonzo's testimony today. He just doesn't care if he looks like he's lying because he knows his boss won't fire him and Congress doesn't have the spine to do anything to him. I too wonder if we really will have elections next year. This administration is way beyond belief in its skullduggery.

But on a more pleasant but oddly related subject, I too find snakes interesting, RD. As I've written here before, #2 daughter has a red-tailed boa about 8 to 10 feet long - we're not sure as we can't get him to straighten out for measurement. Sent her the link to the picture of the police officer holding the tail of that very long snake, she was impressed.

I can't work up much interest in the sale of the WSJ, but I like what Mr. Bancroft was wearing on his head.

I neglected to say welcome back to Pat. Glad to have you here again. Martooni, just keep up the meetings and don't think too much.

I'm still not sure I understand all the argy bargy surrounding the WSJ, Dow Jones sale. We've been told that the news section consists of objective (see Aspen Daily News homage to HST) journalists while everyone on the editorial staff is sharing Koolaid with Bill Kristol. I don't see how it could get any worse/better and frankly, who cares? I can't read the crap in their rag without a subscription and if I had the coin I'd spend it at NYT to see what the goddess MoDowd was pronouncing.
I suppose it looks different to people in the business.

Hey Pat! I took Buddy out on the deck a while ago, the sky was wild and I thought of you. The moon is at 3/4 Full (waxing or waning, I don't know) lighting a strip of cloud that intersected the Milky Way at almost 90 degrees. Very cool. Venus (I think) is lovely.

Hi there! I haven't been keeping up with the Boodle, but this morning the sky was interesting, gray clouds with a pinkish gray backdrop where the sun was rising, and thought of Pat. So I thought I should drop by. Hi Pat!

I must back-boodle to find out why Mudge is in the hospital! Get well soon, whatever your ailment may be.

And hello! to all you other Boodlers.

Boko999, this just shows me you *still* don't get the whole journalistic separation of church (editorial) and state (journalism). I feel really reely sorry for you.

I do not share the rightist editorial views of the WSJ (Bancrofts), but I have (had, used to have) the highest confidence in its reporting.

For pity's sake, man, give reporters the credit they are due!

It's the big shark circling around another sinking newspaper. Of course it gets the newspaper industry folks jittery--

After all, what if the conservative businessman then has NO news source except Murdoch?...

I actually delivered the Wall Street journal for a brief while, and I must say I found the public interest stories good-- profiles of various people, and some interesting facts as well. There was always one such story on page 1.

The rest of it, I wouldn't be able to read without snoring most of the time.

Finance isn't my game, although I really don't know why.

Lemme see. I said there were objective (hee hee) journalists in the news section and idealogues on the editorial board.
Nope. I'm happy. I don't see your problem.

Very clever, you two.

And I would never think to question your social democratic values. so untwist them.

ac in sj, so good to hear from you! I wondered where you were! This is old home week - Pat just resurfaced, Sara dropped by, martooni's hanging in there, Mudge should be back soon. He had a flare up of cellulitis.

birdie, we missed each other by quite a few years, but nice to know that you've got ties to Georgetown.

Oops.

I just did something I seldom do. I watched the last two hours or so of Alberto's testimony on C-Span. Extraordinary. I hope Joel comments on it, but even if he doesn't this has got to have some legs in blogdom.

Scary part; the Schumer exchange I linked to in "Bench Conference" was only one of many, many ingenuous statements. Basically, Alberto, without saying so, because he knows the penalty for doing so, called Comey a liar.

It was really an unbelievable performance; based on a combination of the fact that Congress can't do anything to him personally as long as he doesn't perjure himself and, because of that, if anyone asked a question he didn't want to answer he would just provide a non-responsive response.

I know he is just a pawn in the Bush/Cheney game but this guy was a partner at one the premier law firms in the country. I honestly think at this point that John Mitchell, really, did less to discredit the practice of law in this country than this idiot.

That is pretty disgusting and, basically, how Sen. Leahy (without my reference to Mitchell) ended the hearing.

Mostlylurking, yes, living in Arlington at the time, my commute to Georgetown Hospital was short and sweet. Ah the memories... My next job and for the next nearly ten years was just off the 14th Street Bridge, working for a large company and often telecommuting when the concept was fairly new. My goal was to make money and spend precious time with my children. It worked pretty well for a number of years until I was bored silly with the job. All of this is one reason I can't stop reading the WP and the boodle. Washington D.C. and metro area has been a big part of my life.

Where are you from now, the West coast?

//but this guy was a partner at one the premier law firms in the country

-rising to become Secretary of State of Texas in 1997 and finally to be named to the Texas Supreme Court in 1999, both appointments made by Governor Bush.-wiki
Disgusting. Where's Molly?

I was glancing through a book on how to write by some guy, I forget his name. However, Dave Barry said " he knew more about writing than anybody he knew".

Many good tips, although he aroused my argumentative nature by his style preferences.

He had a chapter on Tom Swifties, and he pointed out Rowlings was a poor writer because she overused adverbs as in he "said angrily".

That's not inappropriate for a children's book, actually. It would be inappropriate for a WSJ column, but when do you see children reading the WSJ?

Children are at a language level where they are still learning how to "hear dialogue", and you would not want to ruin that by using words they may not recognize like "groused" or "snarled" as they may take them too literally, or be confused.

I think Rowlings made the correct choice in using simple verbs and adverbs there. Write for your audience everytime.

As this writing teacher says never had a proper education in the easy usage of semicolons and colons, he refuses to use them, saying they clutter up the page and are awkward beasties to read.

I say: one, lists are clear and concise; two, clarity is also beauty; three, a teacher should teach tools, not prejudices.

He inspired me to develop a counter-exercise to every exercise he used.

"Write a paragraph without adverbs."

"Write a paragraph amply filled with adverbs everywhere you can safely jam one. Trim to your taste, then compare with first paragraph written without adverbs."

"Her bosom heaved..." (as she drew a long breath after her crying jag. Dirty minds, the lot of you!)
"Her bosom rose shudderingly as she hiccuped after her crying jag..."

As long as I'm an inspiration for people to look up, I'm staying right here, but just a practical cautionary note for all those who like to gaze at the clouds, planets, stars and galaxies as they stride: please, watch your step, a 20-footer could be coiled right there. Ugh! the things I fear!

Oops, the 12:17 was me. Eyes are getting very droopy. Goodnight!

Boko, glad you picked up on that one line in my post. Sometimes I wonder to what extent my profession contains charlatans. As with other professions, we try to claim that we lawyers can discipline and maintain professional competency by self-policing ourselves. Other professions try to do the same.

I guess others have to decide whether, as a society, that is acceptable.

Alberto is not helping our cause.

I have no animus toward lawyers. I'd rather live in a land of laws than a land of strongmen. I just wish I could pick and choose. Oh, guess what? Catch me.

It's 50 years since Justine, the first part of The Alexandria Quartet, was published. Any others who were totally taken by that set some time in their 20s? Also, my vocabulary grew by maybe 10% -- I kept a notebook of the new words I learned.

http://www.theamericanscholar.org/su07/quartet-trueheart.html

I've been in Seattle for about 20 years now. Time flies, eh? I was in the DC area for about 10 years - most of the '70s.

My husband thinks there won't be elections in 2008. I hope he's wrong. bill, I watch C-SPAN for the hearing reruns sometimes, but I can't bring myself to watch Gonzales. I can't believe he won't resign. It's really a shame what this administration has done.

Catching back up to the Boodle after a good day out with my daughters...

Spoke to Mudge this evening, as Joel points out, we're unlikely to see him Boodling again until Friday at the earliest. He did ask me to relay this, and I quote: "Tell Loomis that I think *she* should take the Shop Steward duties while I'm out."

On another note, I used to work close to Sidwell, and used to bump into Ms. Clinton in some of the local resturants on Wisconsin Ave during lunch hour, seemed like a nice normal young lady. I was pleased that she had a good amount of freedom, but I worried a bit for her safety. No, not from reporters.

Goodnight, Boodle.

bc

The only Justine I've heard of is the one by De Sade.

I knew of The Alexandria Quartet, but never read it - maybe my brother had the books. It's on my list. Of course, I picture Durrell as Tyrone Power in The Razor's Edge.

I loved the quartet. I'm pleasantly suprised to know an American knows it. Outside of a few literate people like Mudge yanks are woefully ignorant of writers like Durrell(brother of the zookeepeer), the Waughs, Graham Greene not to mention playwrights like Stoppard.
Yoki has mentioned the Quartet when we were making lists.
Lawrence Durrel was a great friend of Henry Miller(one of my fav 'Merkin authors).
Still, the greatest writer in english in the 20 century was Graham Greene. IMO

Whee we're into Loomis territory. I'm related to Somerset.

hey ac, whassup? good to hear from you.

Greene is also at or near the top of my list. Durrell and Kingsley Amis were up near the top but slipped down a bit as I learned more about their personal lives. Hmm.... those are all English.

...and Le Carre is also English

Of course my opinion may be way off. I admire Ford Maddox Ford but wouldn't give you a nickel for DH Lawrence.

Oh, I love Le Carre and Graham Greene, Maugham, Hardy. And don't forget the Brontes, du Maurier, Austen.

I had just read Kingsley Amis' "Jakes Thing" and I was installing drapes at the Royal Ottawa Hospital (a mental institution, good food) in a woman psycologist's office. I was crawling along over the bookshelves trying to get the window coverings up when I looked down and saw a book with the title "Male Tumescence and/or whatever" in it and started giggling while she was there doing whatever important work those kind of people do. Anyway, she gave me such a look I found myself explaining why I was laughing while not giving away the point of the book which is that sex therapists are full of crap.
I guess you had to be there.
I do know this. If you have to eat hospital food, choose a mental.

Just for fun. If you want to laugh your a$$ off read J.P. Donleavey's "The Onion Eaters."

There were 2 or 3 occasions last year when the fire dept caught pythons over 20 ft. They were caught without much hoopla since they couldn't move - probably swallowed a kid (as in not a small human). Don't know if they were Burmese pythons. I have a few times dreamt of being chased by snakes so I wasn't about to look at the picture closely. Most upsetting dreams.

I think the fire dept released them further inside the jungle instead of having python leftovers. I'm glad the longest snake I saw in my back yard was only around 5' and that was that unsavory legless critter that flattens its jowl at will and hissed at me.

I might not see many critters in my back yard anymore since a developer have started to clear a large part of the forest to build houses. My dogs' 'playmates' (the monkeys) were forced to find new homes elsewhere. In the last 11 years since I was here, I have seen large parts of the forest being cleared to build houses and strip malls and it is still going on.

Buddy999 likes species other than his. He's great friends with several cats and has been in the same room with ferrets without trying to chomp them. As for the likes of me:

I'm a fleabit peanut monkey
All my friends are junkies
That's not really true

Im a cold italian pizza
I could use a lemon squeezer
What you do?

But Ive been bit and I've been tossed around
By every she-rat in this town
Have you, babe?

Well, I am just a monkey man
Im glad you are a monkey woman too

I was bitten by a boar
I was gouged and I was gored
But I pulled on through

Yes, I'm a sack of broken eggs
I always have an unmade bed
Dont you?

Well, I hope we're not too messianic
Or a trifle too satanic
We love to play the blues

Well I am just a monkey man
Im glad you are a monkey, monkey woman too, babe

Im a monkey
Im a monkey
Im a monkey man
Im a monkey man
Im a monkey...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/24/science/24geck.html

It's nice to know that geckos can contribute. In this region, geckos are public enemy # 1 for anybody who has to clean the house. You could easily be a full time cleaner of gecko poop. There's just no way to get rid of them permanently. Even the pest man couldn't do anything.

very nice, boko999.

Well them's Stone's lyrics. I've moved on to Aqualung and I'm up 36 bucks on partypoker so I guess you'd call this evening a success.

36 bucks is alot of money.

When the minimum bet is $.50 it's not unrespectable

*almost-caffeinated Grover waves*

My head's a little too empty at this point for anything else...

:-)

Oh dear the sky is lightening. Best snooze.

Good morning, friends. Did not have time to read all the comments, will try later today or tonight. Busy day ahead, and so tired already. Eye still feeling okay.

The word "a go-go" made me think about that song by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Going to A Go-Go". I love that song. And it is so old. A classic indeed, but still has the power to inspire.

I hate I missed the debates, although it is early to try and keep up with this stuff. I agree with what Obama says about talking. Diplomacy has gotten bad publicity from this administration. It seems they only understand guns and blood, which doesn't leave much room for anything else.

I see the actress Lindsay Lohon is having trouble with her addictions. I wonder where this young woman's parents are, and why aren't they helping. She needs a stable person in her life. She's way too young to start out life this way.

Hope every one has a good day.

Morning, Mudge, Scotty, Slyness, and all.*waving*

And Micheal Vick doesn't get it. He does not understand how low what he did is. He probably thinks because we're talking animals here that it is no big deal, but it is. He needs help too.

It seems people in this country, and other countries too, have come to think that killing is normal. It's no biggie. It is truly sad.

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

Good morning, Cassandra. I didn't watch the debates either. I already know I'll vote for the Democrat, so I'm only half paying attention.

I suppose I'm just not into 20th century literature. I remember reading one Graham Greene novel, don't remember which one, and didn't care for it at all.

I hope Michael Vick gets the help he needs to understand the enormity of what he has done. Thank heavens we have moved beyond the notion that dogfighting (cockfighting, bearbaiting) is fun entertainment. Now, if we could just get the current administration to understand that its members are not exempt from the rule of law...I know, pipe dream.

From Today's Miss Manners column, I offer this sentence:

"When I worked in the steel mill, one of the rules was "the load has the right of way." In other words, you stepped aside when approached by someone carrying equipment or materials to allow them passage."

I love the image evoked by the opening clause. I like the evidence that manners are part of factory life, as well as on, say, golf courses.

>Voracious Jumbo Squid Invade California
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Jumbo-Squid-Invasion.html

I feel a B-Movie coming on... "The Fighting Calamari of Humboldt County"?

With Lance Henriksen as the ignored marine biologist who ultimately saves the day, eh Error?

:-)

I like squid but I don't think jumbo squid nice. Probably rubbery.

I'm fascinated by the NBA betting scandal. This could be huge -- particularly if it's not, as Stern says, a case of an isolated, rogue criminal. I'm guessing that others could be found out via statistical analysis...for example:

According to Bell, from Jan. 1, 2007, to the end of the regular season, the opening betting line -- the number that states which team is favored and by how many points -- of 12 games officiated by Donaghy changed 1 1/2 or more points, which is an indication that a lot of money had been bet. In those 12 games in which the money was predominately on one side, the money was right in 10 of them.

"Guys betting big money were right 10 out of 12 times," Bell said. "To me, that's a key number. Going 10-2, the odds of that are only 2 percent randomly."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072402259.html?hpid=topnews

Another piece on Hillary as "Hillary," yet once again ignoring my own extremely valuable contributions to the issue.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/013/907tlyip.asp

>With Lance Henriksen as the ignored marine biologist who ultimately saves the day, eh Error?

Works for me. Maybe we can get Harold Heckubah to produce. Is Annette Funicello available for cameos?

Just a flyer here, but I'm thinking Robert Downey Jr. in there somewhere.

Perhaps Downey could be the town's "free spirit" who first sees the squid and is blithely ignored?

JA, I think we'll have to wait to see if any other refs are indicted or come forward. Statistics only take you so far in this case. I mean, you'd have to somehow correlate calls/non-calls with an actual betting outcome, and I can't see that being anything more than circumstantial in this case.

I am thinking that the must be some mention of squid in the upcoming Simpson's movie.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/24/AR2007072402313.html?hpid=topnews

mmmmmmmmmm Squid mmmmmmmm

Mornin' all...

I'm off to hang a wallpaper border for a customer, but just had to pop in for a sec to say how much I appreciate you guys (and Joel, too).

Have a very groovy day...

Peace.

[5]

Hang ten, martooni!! :-)

Morning friends. Please forgive me for being so dramatically off-topic, but I received bit of a jolt this morning. My doctor died. Now, I should not be surprised, because I've known for some time that she had brain cancer, and she hasn't seen patients since January. But as I was scanning the Metro section this morning, I saw her obit. I had one of those moments that felt like the breath had been sucked out of my lungs.

This is a doctor that would take as much time as needed to talk a patient through a decision and to understand the patient herself. Even after her diagnosis, her focus remained squarely on the patient, even when the patient was whining about ailments that paled in comparison to hers. She was a sole practitioner, a dying breed these days, and unfortunately had to spend too much of her time fighting insurance companies and advocating for her patients. The world has lost another of the good guys.

I'm very, very sorry to hear that, Raysmom. *HUGSSSSS*

Congratulations, martooni, on that first horizontal tick-mark.

Raysmom, sorry to hear about your doc, that's sad news.

I'm off to OC for a few days with the girls, I'll try to check in while I'm there. Maybe more time for Boodling than I've had in the last week.

Need to get one of those turkey fryers for giant Calamari, I think.

As far as the NBA betting scandal, it looks like they've isolated Donaghy statistically, so maybe that's as far as it goes - for referees, anyway.

Maybe not, though.

Have a good day, everyone, and martooni - I'm glad you're still on it, but if things look tough, please ask for help, buddy.

We want you to succeed.

bc

Raysmom, I'm sorry to hear about your doctor. You'll miss her, I'm sure, and find her hard to replace.

BC -- hit up "shark" mini golf for us...ya know, the INDOOR one that is good for avoiding peak cancer-rays.

Raysmom -- I read that too. I am a devoted reader of obits, but I think others here do that too. TBG, is that you? Sorry. Sad. Young son now motherless.

Raysmom,
I can't say I know enough people to more than glance at the obits, but your doctor sounds like a terrible loss. There are not enough patient advocates out there. Sorry for your loss.

At the Outlook meeting this week (Mondays 11:30ish) we talked a little bit about doing a gambling story, tied to the Vick case and the NBA case. But we didn't go forward -- though I do wonder if there's a piece there, somewhere. The Vick case is so much about animal cruelty that it's not really a "gambling" story. But I do think that gambling is somewhat overlooked day to day in the newspaper -- it's a huge industry, bigger than ever, and the danger is that many of our favorite national sports will become subsidaries of the gambling industry.

Raysmom, sorry to hear about the loss of your doctor.

Martooni - keep going!

Off for a couple of days of work outside the office have a good day all.

Joel my husband and I were talking about the NBA issue and Michael Vick last night, two ugly stories that put a pall on the sport. My husband did smugly state that the NHL does not release the name of the referees before game time.

JA -- online poker is emerging as a vulnerability for some men in college: addiction, money troubles, disengagement from school and community....in short, drop-out with huge debt troubles and addiction troubles to boot.

Regarding Purple Loosestrife mentioned by a Canouckie? earlier (boodling on the sly), here is a useful US sheet from the National Park Service.

http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/lysa1.htm

Locally, on the Anacostia waterway (the Orphan Annie River in DC) I see that the loosestrife is nearly completely gone. However, just yesterday, near a shoulder on a service roadway on the UMCP campus, I saw a huge stand of loosetrife. It is magenta-purpley and lovely! However, I emailed the campus peeps for both physical plant/grounds AND the academic sorts. Let's see how long it takes to disappear. Locally, responsible gardners substitute Liatris, or Blazing Star, as a substitute, at least for the color.

In horse-racing, gambling is incorporated so thoroughly that it is acknowledged as the point of the activity. Of course, in that case, the athletes cannot be swayed by the offer of a monetary bribe. The athletes' "managers", however (the jockeys), can be influenced by money, so gambling maintains a hold over the outcome of the event.

What is the point of professional athletics, if not to gamble? The athletes gamble, the owners gamble. Athletes' earnings are based on demonstrated probabilities of success, with the hope that the athlete doesn't crap out before he has made his haul. The owners conduct a complex experiment in probability, gambling that they have purchased a high enough probability of success on the field that the fans will pay to see events to an extent that exceeds the owner's payroll expenses. The only ones who are expected to exhibit pure amateurism -- participation for the love of the game -- are the fans, who pay money to see other people compete, with no expectation of significant tangible gain. Denying fans the right to gamble on sports seems kind of petty, considering that's what everyone else is doing.

Frostniece#2 attends Warwick Hish in Newport News, VA- Vick's alma mater. More on his rep in the community later, but I wanted to see what the NN Daily Press was saying. Local boy besmirching city image and all-
Some legal commentary and a timeline in a story about the indictment:
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-89952sy0jul22,0,1403389.story

California minor league baseball team is offering free admission to folks bringing a Michael Vick jersey to burn.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-now-vickprotest.jl25,0,5367156.story?coll=hr_tab01_layout

Gambling is one of those vices that holds absolutely no appeal for me. Part of me thinks it's because I'm reasonably affluent and, hence, have no great desire for additional wealth. But it is my understanding that the lure of gambling is more than just a lust for money. I am told that some find it as thrilling as sexual passion.

I find this very, very difficult to imagine.

Of course, maybe it's because I haven't really given it enough of a try. My experience with gambling is pretty much limited to the dollar slots in the Las Vegas Airport and one trip with my wife to the Rosecraft Raceway. Maybe if I really tried I too could discover the joys of statistical delusion.

But I wouldn't bet on it.

SciTim - You make an interesting point about the linkage between gambling and sports. Maybe my lack of interest in gambling is related to my lack of real interest in watching sports. Maybe that part of my brain just doesn't work very well. (Certainly other parts don't.)

The much-maligned Michael Gerson says something in his column today that is a giant step forward for a former Republican speechwriter. About the U.S. assisting in the defeat and pacification of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, Gerson says that the U.S. should participate by "...perhaps providing radar to track suspicious flights into the region and paying what we owe for U.N. peacekeeping." It has been Republican policy for decades to demand that the U.N. kowtow to our whims, yet we shouldn't have to pay our U.N. dues. This is an extraordinary step. Of course, he's arguing that we should pay for military action by others -- akin to hiring mercenaries so that we don't have to do messy work -- but still, it's a step forward.

I still have a hard time recognizing poker as a sport. I know that ESPN covers the world series of poker and it popularity is growing everyday. But come on, these people are not athletes and to portray it as a sport is I think absurd.

I enjoy playing poker and betting on an occasional football pool, but that is about the extent of my gambling. But you guys are right, with the online gambling that can be done, and all the betting that can be done on almost everything. It is a serious problem world wide.

>Gambling is one of those vices that holds absolutely no appeal for me.

Given that I actually have a fairly addictive personality I count myself massively fortunate to somehow completely lack the gambling gene.

I'm happy to pay for my own drinks and watch other people generate the excitement. I think in my case I'm far too interested in gadgets, and at least when you "throw away" money on them you still HAVE the dingus.

Good morning. Gambling holds no lure for me, and this is not a virtue on my part. If I have a dollar, I can keep the dollar or wager it. If I win, I will have several dollars, but if I lose (the far more likely outcome) I will have no dollars. Particularly when we speak of multiple dollars, this is just not an outcome I like. I suspect I would be a bad investor too, if I had any money. In real life, I will "bet" on certain events (will I finish x cases in y days) but only when I am reasonably certain I will win. Consequently people seldom offer to wager with me more than once.

EF - I know what you mean. I am no stranger to mildly compulsive behavior, and I certainly know the excitement of buying a new toy.

But gambling? I would rather just take some dollar bills and burn them.

At least then you get to enjoy the flames.

The widespread prevalence of Fantasy Leagues has revolutionized gambling in that the performance of one game is no longer the make or break deciding factor. All the major sports are in on the action. I'm just waiting for the first major fantasy-league-fixing scandal to surface.

I think it fair to say that most of us regulars have at least slightly addictive personalities.

my mother likes to say she wins 365 dollars in the lottery every year because she doesn't play. not a bad way to look at it.

what is oc in the dc area? i read bc's post and thought "why is bc going to orange county?"

L.A. lurker;

It's Ocean City, MD. :-)

Good morning all.
Thanks for the loosestrife link CP.

I enjoy playing Texas Hold'em online. I join playmoney games and if things seem to be going well switch over and get into a game for real moolah. I play the $10 table and if/when my 10 bucks is gone I quit and boodle and/or go back to the playmoney games. Over the last two years I've won about $700 which is nice but not indicative of a skill that warrants selling everything, buying a suit and derringer and running off to cruise the Mississippi.

I don't 'get' betting on sporting events.
My investment in the teams I support is srtictly emotional.
GO! Jays/Leafs/Argos yadda yadda. Sigh.

"... the NHL does not release the name of the referees before game time."

Ah, yes... but the officials know which games they're going to be working, no?

>At least then you get to enjoy the flames.

heh heh yeah, undeniable attraction to the flame. May I recommend a cigar with that?

Thank you all for your kind words and hugs.

Yes, CP, that's me who reads the obits nearly daily (whenever I sit down with the paper paper). Raysmom... I'm wondering if I knew her too. Hard to tell on the Internet paper.

Boodling from beautiful Santa Monica! Son of G and I are here for vacation. Arrived last night via the adorable Long Beach airport.

Planning a West Coast BPH with L.A. Lurker on Friday evening. Any other L.A boodlers care to join us? If you can... email me at boodler [at] mac [dot] com and we'll work it out.

LTL-CA, where are you located?

Gladiatorial combat at least has the benefit of pure athleticism -- it is difficult to persuade a competitor of the financial benefits in throwing a fight. Even as a bribe on behalf of the gladiator's heirs, it is not attractive, as the athlete is not available to demand adherence to the terms of the bribe. All in all, it's the perfect athletic contest, except for the barbarism. And sometimes, you get to carry a cool trident and a net and be a fisher of men. Sort of makes you look at the papacy in a new light, doesn't it?

(Fisher of men? The Pope? Peter? Perhaps I am too subtle. But, perhaps I am not subtle enough. I guess I'll just have to see how the joke works out, won't I?)

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. Poker is NOT A SPORT. its a filler of air time. I am fundamentally deeply appalled that they show poker playing on TV. It ranks right down there with infomercials, and cash sucking preachers who prey on people who just con't help themselves. Poker is only a sport in a world gone mad, in a society that needs a serious readjustment of its values.

If its going to become a sport, and an entertainment business accepted by society, then we had better be prepared, as a society to expand our addiciton counselling servces.

As as we all know, as Martooni has bravely allowed us to see, those services don't go far enough for those who need them and want them already.

Speaking of which, and far from the ranting, one foot at a time Martooni, is a really nice thing to see.

Gotta go. My moms family and Error's experience, are taking to to a colonoscopy consult, and thence to a colonoscopy. I am not excited at the prospect.

Gosh, backboodled quickly, but I'm sure I missed a lot. Glad to hear Mudge is doing well. If you have to be in a hospital, Georgetown is one of the places to be...something tells me that Mudge and the nurses get along fine, altho I'm skeptical that he has been blessed with a nurse who looks like the one Maggie (I think) posted a couple of days ago. You never know, though. He may have gotten lucky.

rain forest's posts about snakes always leave me wide-eyed! And Joel's mention of the guy who inspects for contraband exotic animals sounds like h@ll on earth to me. I think I'm truly phobic about snakes. I just finished a novel by Donna Tartt called the 'The Little Friend." Very interesting, different. Exotic snakes figured largely in it and I occasionally had to put the book down and compose myself. Either that or get a glass of wine.

Tim - I was one of those who recoiled when Gerson was hired. However, I've been surprised (I wouldn't go as far as pleasantly surprised) that he occasionally strays off the party line, unlike (grr) Krauthammer and Will. Where ARE those guys now that the administration has trampled all over the Constitution? Mudge is right. If the Democrats had done this....Whew!

Boko was in fine form last night!

RD - with you again...I don't have the gambline gene AT ALL. Even my friends who say they just take their allottment and then quit baffle me. I'd just rather buy a new blouse.

Whew! Clearly I have a mildly addictive personality and I'm boodle-binging and boodle-hogging!

>I think it fair to say that most of us regulars have at least slightly addictive personalities.

Agreed.

Fortunately, gambling has very little appeal to me as well. I don't bet on anything for more than a token amount. I do occasionally buy a lottery ticket (the tax for people poor at math), but only when it's above 5-10 mil (because then, you know, it's worth my while).

Addictions is an interesting discussion. There's obviously a few regulars here that struggle or have struggled with addictions.

Access to high speed internet was a problem initially. To a lesser extent some Computer games in the past - Civilization especially. Fortunately I haven't bought a gaming system since Nintendo 64. I have a cousin-in-law in Houston for whom the internet and World of Warcraft are significant problems that have already seriously affected her education.

In completely unrelated news, finished HP last night at 1 am. Best one of the series.

//Of course, he's arguing that we should pay for military action by others..

That may not be a bad idea. Let other NATO ,UN countries put the boots on the ground while the US supplies logistical(?) and air support. There is so much resntment towards the US in the third world this would avoid making US troops a target just because you're the big kid on the block.
Canadian Major General MacKenzie Ret.(NATO commander in Yugoslavia) has recommended a policy similar to this.

Boko, your selection of favorite teams is an admirable effort to overcome any temptation to bet on sports teams.

SCC - or would that be *bingeing*?

Also, Raysmom, I'm sorry to hear about your doc. It definitely seems extra upsetting when someone who takes care of *you* gets sick, I think. After so many years nursing, I am a compulsive obit reader, both here in Tidewater and the Post. I've been here for 12 years, but I still occasionally find docs, nurses, neighbors or teachers I knew up there. I think the Post's obit writers are the best.

Martooni - rooting for you.

TBG - have a great time! I love Santa Monica! You just never know what you'll see there!

Now that I think about it, of course, the crooked referee story also isn't really about gambling. It's about theft. I assume that a true gambler wouldn't dream of manipulating the outcome of an event, cause what's the fun in that?

That said, I would love to see a good story about online gambling. I think the internet has done with gambling what it did with porn - took it out of the bad portion of town and brought it into the den.

TBG, isn't the Long Beach airport a delightful tiny throwback? Well, except if your flight is delayed while waiting there. Do you still have to pick your bags up outside?

I have gambled on horseracing a few times and have concluded that the net effect would be the same if I went into the ladies room and started flushing bills. When we go on a cruise, the casino is never my destination of choice. Too smoky for one thing. One time we were given a $10 gambling voucher apiece. We played the roulette wheel, which has the best odds. We won a bit, got bored, and took our chips to the blackjack table so we could be rid of them and leave. Which we did, in short order.

Raysmom - Nasty news about your doctor. I am so sorry for your loss.

Also, I must admit I am one of those people who obsessively reads the obits. It makes me appreciate breathing.

San Fernando Valley, at one time the exact centroid of suburbia.

SoC | That's funny/tragic 'cause it's true.
*moving SoC to the top of the list*

This may an incredibly obvious observation, but it occurred to me a couple of days ago that part of the appeal of being a blogger is, as oppos