me?

Wow I want to be the first to see that.

Oh, wait...

bc

Sounds great. I really enjoyed the Tom Hanks HBO (I think) series "From the Earth to the Moon" and this sounds even better.

I swear to god, I got goose bumps just reading this article about it. I love hearing about the men of program, hearing their stories, hearing their families stories. I recall an interview I saw with the Pete Conrad that still cracks me up.

I cannot wait. I absolutely cannot wait.

Oooooooh this sounds really good.

That's one small Boodle for a man, one Giant leak for Mankind.

bc

It'll be playing in Brevard County, home of the Saturn launches (which were utterly spectacular) on Sept. 28.

Thinking of old film, a few years ago, the local theater gave one of its largest screens over to the freshly restored "Apocalypse Now." It was utterly spectacular--even more so, when you realized that they really didn't have computers back then.

Ummmm, so how did the moon program manage with the dinky computers of the day? Shouldn't the whole thing have been put off until, say, 2005?

Calling a Saturn V take-off "incidental smoking" must be the understatement of the year.

A viewing sounds like a good sorta-BPH candidate, if you ask me...

:-)

For the record, the Soviet Union beat the US to the moon by almost 11 years (48 years ago today). Though they sent no man or woman. not even a monkey or a mouse. And technically Luna 2 didn't land, but "impacted" the lunar surface...

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/expmoon/luna/luna.html

DotC: http://www.abc.net.au/science/moon/computer.htm

I think I would be amenable to spending the cash to see this movie. Surely others have been to the Kennedy Space Center for the tour? What I remember best is the film; there is a scene where the camera does the descent down a zip line which is the escape from the launchpad. It made me whoozy.

When I was growing up, we had an inside view of the space program via a close family friend who was labor relations director at the Center. He got my parents into the stands to watch the launch of Apollo 13. Amazingly loud, my mother said.

To pick up a thread from several days back, the technology developed for space has had impact beyond the program. PBI, the fiber developed for space suits, is now the best on the market for the outer shell material for firefighters' turnout gear.

Scottynuke, that is a BRILLIANT idea.

I'll go with ya, even if it's just the two of us.

My grandfather worked on the Apollo program back in the day, and I have some great memories of that time, even though I was still a child. Saw a lot, heard a lot, met some very interesting people (some of whom are in this movie, apparrently).

I think of the Apollo program as part of my heritage.

bc

Scotty, why don't you repost that link to the Lunar X-prize?

I think it's pretty darn on-topic.

bc

FYI I posted the link to the bloggingheads.

http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/

Joel, I think you should have been cast as a 3rd brother in "Everyone loves Raymond".

S'Nuke, great story! It planted a breakfast cootie in my head, though.

Luckily, I'm home today. . . It was delicious. Can I fax some to anyone?

Omni, that's an interesting link about the Soviet Union and it Luna craft.And how it "impacted" the lunar surface

It almost conjures up images of a Looney Tunes rocket going to the moon and ending with a giant "poof"

You mean this, bc?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/14/us/14xprize.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Or this?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/13/AR2007091302255.html

:-)

The day men landed on the moon I was seven. The schoolyard threat to punch someone hard enough to make him the "first person on the moon" had suddenly become moot. My brothers and I discussed the deep philosophical implications of this all afternoon until it was time for Armstrong to emerge from the Lunar Module.

When that time finally arrived I found it a bit underwhelming. The figures on the television were so ghostly and murky that it was hard to comprehend it was real. But at least I was watching. My little brother was having a tantrum of some sort and hiding his face in our fuzzy brown couch, much to the great irritation of my father. For, as he stated, things like this only happen once in a million years.

My later memories are more disjointed. There were angry tears when I learned Apollo 13 wouldn't be landing on the moon. I laughed at the moon buggy, and was especially fascinated by scenes of the Lunar Module lifting off from the moon.

One of my most vivid memories doubtless has stuck with me because, as Joel points out, it revealed the humanity of the astronauts. The memory is of the Apollo 17th astronauts, Cernan and Schmitt, bouncing along on the lunar service in December of 1972 while singing an atonal riff on "Strolling in the Park one Day." They were celebrating the wonder of it all with a moment of absurd humor. Just a couple of guys clowning around. A quarter of a million miles from home.

SCC: "lunar surface." Although the "lunar service" sounds like something we would have wanted to join.

I too was 7 years old. I had actually turned 7 about 5 hours earlier.

And perhaps still want to join, RDP...

DaveoftheCoonties, re. 2005:

Back in 1969, how much money would you have bet on the idea that there would be either a USA or a Soviet Union capable of launching a Moon shot by 2005?

There was reason to think that the Cold War mighta het up a bit, and that by 2005 I'd be a monk copying circuit diagrams in the Leibowitz Abbey, and performing Punch and Eusa shows On the Beach in the Forbidden Zone.

bc

I remember years later (about 9-10) telling a friends girlfriend about it happening on my birthday. She didn't believe me for some reason. I then said I remember it like yesterday. We were in class watching it on TV all day long. That she believed. I was actually watching it at home with my family on Sunday evening like the rest of the country.

I have a copy of "Man On the Moon", a 45 that came as a premium with some product from Time/Life and a copy of "We Came In Peace" that was a premium from Gulf gas stations. The space program fascinates me to this day. I get uptight every time I watch Apollo 13, even though I know the flight returned the men safely to Earth. The people that achieved that end pulled off one of the most amazing engineering feats of all time.

Bang, zoom, RD!

As many cool TV images of the moon there were, starting with the nighttime broadcast of Armstong decending the Eagle's ladder,

[Tune cootie: Tasman Archer's "Sleeping Satellite"]

the one that sticks with me the most is Alan Shepard's six-iron golf shots.

Funny thing though; he didn't get either of the balls anywhere near the flag, and he put both of them in the sand... even though he claims that second shot went "miles and miles."

bc

... as Seinfeld says "what the h*ll are you doing with a car on the g*d d*mn moon... the essence of male thinking... why don't we fly all the way to the moon so we can drive around on it... " he's so funny!!

but the movie does sound amazing... I wanna see them drive'in around :)

I must have heard something related to this movie on the radio this morning as I drifted along with the clock-radio failing to awaken me. I was on the Moon with two other guys, taking pictures of an abandoned lunar outpost that had telescopes and antennas and such. We went inside, where I was startled to discover cats. Several black cats. The living area of the facility in fact had been converted into what appeared to be a very small Afghani restaurant -- maybe 7 or 8 tables. This seemed very odd. I discussed this with my crewmates, who also were startled. After a bit, people started to come in behind us, wearing no spacesuits -- apparently, they simply ran across the lunar surface from wherever they lived, to get to the restaurant for a nice dinner. They looked at us a little funny, but no big deal. Then one of my scientific colleagues came in with some students. I cornered her in the coat room and asked what was going on. She was evasive. I asked who was providing the launch services for all this -- the Russians? "Well, some." Us? Our own country was doing this? She looked sheepish. Why has this been going on? Why wasn't I told? I couldn't take it any more, but someone had stolen my spacesuit -- there was a definite third-world feeling to this lunar colony. I did as the locals did -- I held my breath, sneaked out the door, and ran across the lunar surface back to my landing vehicle to sit and wonder what was going on.

This bothered me very much -- not only the feeling of being lied to, but the realization when I had awakened that holding your breath to survive vacuum is totally impractical. My understanding is that the best you could do is to empty your lungs and keep your mouth open, to improve your chances of surviving the 15 or so seconds that you get before the gases boiling out of your blood can do permanent damage. I feel so foolish. You'd have to have spacesuits of some sort.

For something similar, read "The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester, when Gully Foyle encounters The Scientific People. Most Scientific! Quant Suff! Except the people in my dream had no tattoos.

RD, I remember Cernan and Schmitt's duet, particularly when they diverged at "month of [one said "May," the other "December.]."

I'm such a dork.

bc

*Tim, don't forget the sequence in "2001" when Astronaut Dave has to get from the pod into the Discovery's airlock.

Without a helmet.

Oh, Bester's "The Stars my Destination," one of my all-time favorites. I think I'm going to have to janunte over to the moon for some PyrE later.

bc

*Tim, I was given that book a few months back. I had just read Ender's Game, and needed to switch to history/biographies for a while. Thanks for the reminder...I'll pick it back up.
As to the bulk of your post -- the way your mind twists catches me off-guard sometimes. I should know better by now.

This use of technology and the accompanying rules infraction should have been, in my opinion, sanctioned by the Patriots' ownership with a summary dismissal.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/13/AR2007091300287.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Great breakfast story, Snuke! Maybe the cook was going for a 'deconstructed' version of the dish.

But probably not.

An interesting Space Race/Lunar-landing related book is John Calvin Batchelor's "Peter Nevsky and the True Story of the Russian Moon Landing."

A heck of a fictional page-turner about the culimation of the Space Race from the Soviet (or, make that Russian) perspective, that ends in classical Russian style.

bc

bc, I recall being asked in 1971 about when the revolution would succeed. My instant response was "What revolution?" Which at the time must have come across as incredibly obtuse.

I don't think anyone back then would have expected the Soviet Union to collapse, nor China to become a superpower. Nor for the pace of technology to pick up as much as it has. Back then, technological innovation tended to be something for Big Companies that dominated the Commanding Heights of the Economy. DuPont, Bell Labs, IBM. DuPont could spend all the time it wanted fritzing around with a new product until they felt like introducing it. Today, Apple introduces an iPhone and promptly sells a million. Some competitor will probably have something even neater in six months (though after the big Christmas rush, I guess).

I grew up liking gadgets (my dad built a telescope mirror when I was in 7th grade. I assembled Heath Kit stuff, and about the same time I got to wander around inside a newly-built nuclear power plant (Rincón) and toured the brand-new Areceibo radio telescope whose atomic clock had (wonder of wonders) a digital readout. Not to mention getting to see a U2 taking off. For all of that, I think I was more impressed by a local fossil bed, kestrels, maidenhair ferns growing out of the rocks, and the plants (including a cannonball tree) at the USDA facility in Mayagüez.

Then again, there was the period when I was called HAL because I allegedly talked like HAL.

Hmmm. That may also explain the interest in pods and daisies. ;)

FYI, you can post comments at the bloggingheads.tv site. Should you be so inspired. I think they need some comments over there.

Tim, I'd rather have your dream about space, than the one I had after the posts about the mommy blog nursing article.

I forced my boys to go see Appollo 13. They thought it was an ok movie but didn't understand why I was making such a fuss. It was my youth, it was the hopes and dreams of me if not my generation.

I am listening to the diavlog right now over my headphones. Which explains why people looked at me oddly when I yelled "Swag, you fools, Swag!" at the computer.

dr, generational confession: When I went to Apollo 13 I actually didn't know how it was going to end.

SoC, you are a brave man to admit that in this crowd.

I'm having a spelling problem today. Well a typing problem really. A seeing problem too. SCC. Apollo

I'm going to issue a blanket SCC warning for anything and everything I may type in addition to my usual blanket SCC protection.

Good thing I'm not doing legal stuff today.

Battlestar Galactica had a great episode last season where two of the crew were stuck in a leaking airlock. Right before they ran of air they parked a Raptor outside the airlock, opened the side door of the Raptor, blew open the airlock door and caught the crew members as they flew out. They then closed the Raptor hatch and repressurized the ship before the crew members' eyes popped out.

I am such a geek.

"Swag" is a great word. But I would never have thought of it. I know it, but I don't use it. You know? I use "eschatological" more than I use "swag" and I know it should be the other way around. I do, however, SWAGGER. But that's a whole nuther story.

I am going to be offline this weekend fyi so everyone please be on your bestest behaviors. Although I guess you now know you can be on your worstest. "Risky Business Weekend" on the A-blog.

I don't remember which Apollo mission took the first colour TV camera onto the Moon. I do remember, however, being awake VERY early in the morning to see the first live colour transmissions. The camera's imagery hardware got fried either as the camera was being set up, or just after, when the astromnauts inadvertently aimed the camera into the sun. What a drag.

If or when made into a movie, who would YOU cast as Gulliver Foyle?

You can trust us Joel. Sure you can.

...

Gulliver Foyle, mechanic's mate 3rd class, thirty years old, big boned and rough...and one hundred and seventy days adrift in space. He was Gully Foyle, the oiler, wiper, bunkerman: too easy for trouble, too slow for fun, too empty for friendship, too lazy for love. The lethargic outlines of his character showed in the official merchant marines records

FOYLE, GULLIVER-----AS-128/127;006
EDUCATION: NONE
SKILLS: NONE
MERITS: NONE
RECOMMENDATIONS: NONE

Well Jumper, if actors can become presidents...

My name is Gully Foyle,
and Terra is my nation.
Deep space is my dwelling-place,
the stars my destination.

http://www.khqa.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=29973

Apollo 12, jack, took the first colour camera. They trained with a fake. I remembered it, but thought I should double check. wiki confirms.

Hey is Wikipedia getting more accurate over time, with a lot of careful work on the originators parts?

Great googlie mooglie, Jumper. I didn't know you had it in you. At first I thought the byline was "Jumper Destroyed by Water Cannon at White House". *running to dose myself with more caffeine*

Risky Business Weekend?

Who's the U-Boat Commander? bc? Error?

'Mudge, editing question here from an AP article...

"The International Olympic Committee said Friday it had received formal applications from Baku, Azerbaijan; Chicago; Doha, Qatar; Madrid, Spain; Prague, Czech Republic; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Tokyo."

None of the above cities are in the dateline. I can't quibble with Baku needing a nation. Doha's tricky, but since when do you need to further identify Madrid, Prague and Rio??

dbg;

I'm just (one of) the Science Officer(s)...

:-)

S'Nuke, *just*. As if.

The tune cootie currently playing is Jim Croce's *Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy).*

And a quiz for today...

http://tv.msn.com/tv/emmys2007/quiz?gt1=7703

6/10

:-)

Thanks, dr. I'll bet if we tried hard enough, we could make a boodle wiki. Wikiboodle. Sounds like a cookie.

And someone's been raiding the bunker, I see...

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070914/ids_photos_wl/r1283985460.jpg;_ylt=AtoyFnO5GQnkbrt.V9hAfgtpaP0E

Finished up the "diavog." If you have the time, listen to the whole hour. Although Bob tries to affectionately push Joel out of his comfort zone, Joel holds his own quite well.

Despite the afore-mentioned inability of these two allegedly professional writers to come up the simple word "swag" there is much wit on display. Topics included "the affluent poor," (gonna get letters on that one Joel) Nixon's house, Testosterone patches, "He who must not be named," falling Seratonin levels, and women's soccer.

The boodle, described as Joel's "ardent fans" gets an indirect shout out. Although Joel's assertion that we just meet in bars is clearly untrue. We meet in lots of other unsavory places as well.

By the way, the comments section over *there* allows advanced formatting.

Yep, that's our guys in the bunker! Thanks for sharing, Snuke.

I have a story and a question for the scientific types.

A couple of weeks ago, police and firefighters responded to an alarm in a shopping center not too far from my home. They found a deceased male in a business. It transpires that he was an employee of a check-cashing concern; having stolen a large sum of money, he came back to the business and splashed gasoline around to cover the theft. The gasoline acted as it will when ignited. The fire heated the business's bullet-proof glass, which offgassed a toxic gas to which the thief immediately succumbed.

Yes, this is Darwin Award worthy. Now my question: What was the gas? Any ideas from the scientific-minded?

Oh, dear. 8/10.

I would like it to be a Risky Business weekend, but the last time I tried dancing to Bob Seger in my underwear I hurt myself real bad.

7/10 on the Emmy quiz. Why two questions about Ricky Gervais? I saw the British version of The Office for the first time recently. Much higher on the cringe inducing sexual harassment scale than the US copy.

Also, you can download the mp3 version of the diavlog.

Slyness;

"Immediately succumbed?"

Sounds like some flavor of cyanide...

Then again, chemistry was never my strong suit.

:-)

I can't help you specifically, slyness. Bulletproof glass is a laminate of polycarbonate and glass. One of the monomers of polycaarbonate is a benzene based compound, bisphenol-A. The latter mimics estrogen, not your run of the mill deadly inhalant. I can't find out what the oxidation products of bisphenol are. Whatever the gas was, it probably interfered with the enzymes in our cells that use oxygen to metabolize food, or with the enzymes that control how neurotransmitters bind to our axons. In either case, expiration would seem to be be pretty quick.

Those "astronauts" sure have stuck to their story all those years. I don't know where they buried all the snitches, but those actors have stayed on message for an awful long time.

Keep looking for those lost first generation tapes that show the glare from the klieg lights and the cameraman reflection. You won't ever find them. They're in the vault of Area 51 way below the spaceship hangar.

Remember what they did to destroy OJ Simpson when he tried to go public.

Just saying hoodle to the boodle!

Thanks, Snuke and jack. The story I heard was that the ATF guys knew what had happened because they recently had analyzed what bulletproof glass gives off. I theorized hydrogen cyanide, but who knows? Anyway, the guy was the first fire fatality of the new fiscal year. He was 22. They found the money under the mattress at his home.

Hey DM! Hope all is well in your corner of the world!

probably Bisphenol A

Slyness, the traditional very thick type of bulletproof glass is made of layer of tempered glass glued together with polyester, polyvinyl or polyurathane film. At its simplest expression, it's a single sheet of glass with films of polyester applied on both sides (a.k.a. Ace Clear Defense) As far as I know all these plastics produce some nasty stuff upon burning but nothing that would put someone on his/her a$$ right here and now.
It may be that Mr. Thief burned all the oxygen of the room with his little arson experiment and was left breathing CO, the Sandman's favorite gas.

Do they astronauts in the movie explain how they built those moon sets out in the desert?

Expect some rain later today folks as I just finished painting one tough side of my house.

Ah, that makes sense too, SD. My question is truly academic; the guy is dead and there isn't anything that can be done about that. I was just wondering.

Sets in the desert he? Google Earth killed the so-called "lunar exploration" program then.

Slyness...

Just trying to stay of Countdown's Worst Person in the World List.

Been a bit rough around here.

People not paying bills can be painful.

Baku, Azerbaijan (definitely not Armenia)
Chicago
Doha, Qatar (not Dubai)
Madrid, Spain (not Castilla)
Prague, Czech Republic (not Czechoslovakia)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (as if there's a Rio anywhere other than Brasil)
Tokyo

I guess Baku is hopeless, Doha might get it, Madrid over Prague, Rio too dangerous, and Tokyo might or might not be in a suitable time zone for TV.

Tokyo's Yoyogi National Gymnasium is impressive today. It must have been astonishing in 1964.

the rain has arrived. just little drops here and there so far.

I must have 'map' tattoed on my forehead this week. I've been asked where building 2 is, twice. where the library is. where the metro is, twice. In all five instances the were around a dozen people nearby and every single time the lost person would walk right up to me, ignoring everyone else and ask. just seems kind of weird to me.

Actualyy, there are many Rios, but only one Rio de Janeiro

Río Bravo, Guatemala.
Río Bravo, Mexico
Rio, Florida
Rio, Illinois
Rio, New York
Rio, West Virginia
Rio, Wisconsin
Rio, Greece

omni... you look like a guy who knows stuff. That's good!

I thought it was hilarious when folks in Hollywood and Santa Monica asked ME for directions. Do I look like I belong there? Ha!

The woman who asked for the library first asked for Arlington Rd. If she hadn't added library as an after thought I probably would have sent her about five blocks out of the way for a total of a 10 block walk, when the library was only two blocks from where we stood.

Another funny thing, the two people asking for building 2 actually asked where 'Bethesda Metro Center' was. To which I asked 'building 2?'

I'm also psychic...sometimes

On Risky Business Weekend, name the movie with the following quote:

"Sometimes I sing and dance around the house in my underwear. Doesn't make me Madonna. Never will."

No Googling or IMDB allowed.

Working Girl, Joan Cusack to Melanie Griffin (Griffith)?

omni it must be that aura of approachability and harmlessness that you exude

Algorithm Movie Trivia:

On Risky Business Weekend, name the TV series where the actor who was male lead in the movie (where the lead actress' movie brother went to a school event dressed as Tom Cruise in Risky Business) also starred.

I'll have to make them harder, dbG.

Which character in Risky Business had a recurring role on Moonlighting, and what was that character's name?

I had to Google that one, dbG. Still not sure I understand the question.

Possible Hint: Can't wait until she becomes a hero.

oh, oh, wait, wait, he was "Booger" in Revenge of the Nerds. In the movie Ray also played one of the founders of Atlantic (I think) Records who first signed Ray Charles. I will remember this, I will not refer to IMDB (well at least not for a few minutes).

Hint on yello's ?. He's also in Revenge of the Nerds.

The guy who played "Booger" also played Herbert, in Moonlighting. Herbert was the love interest to Agnes Dipesto, who was played by the actress who was married to that guy who played one of the aliens in Buckaroo Bonzai whom she met while filming an episode of Taxi.

Welcome to my mind.

I know who, just can't remember the name.

Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.

My 2:56 was in response to 2:47. I don't understand the question in the 2:46.

yellojkt, it was the curly-haired guy who dated the receptionist on ML.

Dang, what was that guy's name?

I think his character on ML was called Quintin, er, dang. Is his name Curtis? Not sure if that's a first or last name...

bc

I'm afraid I don't even understand that movie/series brother/sister question, but I did immediately think of Joan and John Cusack?

Booger also played the principal in Akeela and the Bee.

Maybe not a hero, but an angel.

This TV series stars (starred)
1. male lead who was also
(a) male lead in a movie where
(1) *another actor* playing the brother of female lead
(i) attends a school function dressed as Tom Cruise in Risky Business.

Wait, Booger wasn't Risky Business, Booger was Revenge of the Nerds. The character in RB was Miles.

The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

Frosti, laughing here. I'd forgotten that.

Generally, we're all pretty scary.

BTW, I think Brad Pitt would make a dammned fine Gully Foyle.

I think about his performances in 12 Monkeys, Fight Club, True Romance, and Snatch, and think: yeah, he could do it.

bc

Good idea about Brad Pitt as Gully Foyle. I was thinking Robert Patrick, but he's too skinny; it needs somebody who can be physically heavier, and who can change from an empty-headed sunny disposition to menacing and implacable.

That's funny, when I was composing my 9:45 AM, I wrote that I still have some of my Grandfather's Apollo-era NASA swag from back in the day, but I erased it as unneccessary.

And it turns out to have been the Word of the Day, too.

bc

Now I can't get Veronica Mars out of my head

Which makes me think of Gilmore Girls

Now I'm thinking of Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants

Ugly Betty and Joan of Arcadia

This six degrees thing is obviously taking me in the wrong direction...but who knows...if I keep it up I should eventually get there.

maybe not

The Girl Next Door...24...and there it ends as I have not seen 24

Did I read this righT?

'Great moment: Buzz Aldrin, descending from the lunar module toward the moon's surface, takes a moment to, as he puts it, fill his urine bag. The footage shows Aldrin holding one leg away from the ladder as he pauses on the bottom step. It's hilarious. "Everyone has their firsts on the moon. That one hasn't been disputed," Aldrin deadpans.....'

Nobody told me that dogs landed on the moon! I wonder what Buzz smells like? What breed? Shorthaired, wirehaired, what?

I'm in love. That's one giant leak for dogkind!

Omni, I and the gnome get targeted a lot for such questions, too.

We never saw you in Bethesda before though-- guess you were always inside a crowd of people asking you questions.

I believe Aldrin is a Swedish Vallhund.

http://www.i-love-dogs.com/dog-breeds/images/Swedish-Vallhund.jpg

"Booger" in "Revenge of the Nerds", IIRC, was played by Curtis Armstrong. I think he was also in "Better Off Dead" with John Cusack.

I'm feeling this compulsive need to explain the connections:

Veronica dates Logan who once dressed up as Tom Cruise in RB
Rory dates a boy named Logan
This actress also starred in Sisterhood with America Ferrera and Amber Tamblyn
Who are in Ugly Betty and Joan of Arcadia
Joan dated Adam Rove
Who was in Girl Next Door
also starring Elisha Cuthbert
24

Of course now I'm thinking of 42 which makes me think of Hitchhiker, which makes me think of Zooey, and it starts all over. Arrrgh. I'm going home, with a pit stop for beer and movies.

There you go RDP, my mind (in a nutshell).

Peace out

There you go RDP, my mind (in a nutshell).

Peace out

I got Elisha Cuthbert confused with Eliza Dushku which made me think it's time for another father/son viewing of Bring It On.

Our last guy-bonding movie was Donnie Darko and before that it was Election and Rushmore.

Joel, I watched your blogginghead video. It was good but went on and on. Luckily I could reduce it, lower the volume and multi-task here at the office. You covered some of your recent stories. The 4.4 mil house? I missed that one. Yes, I moved out of the DC area right before the big housing boom. It would be a major strecth to buy it back now. Most of my son's friends who have graduated from college are living with their parents again. My son lives in an apartment over a barn.

You are aging well...actually you looked a bit blurry. But good job.

And BTW, I know many women (myself included) who do like to watch sports on TV. It could be partly because I had two sons and a sports fanatic husband. I like to watch but there is a limit unlike them who could watch it 24/7.

Hi Birdie,

YJ -- you bonded with your son over Election!!!!! Do you recall the scene in the basement with the football player in the, shall we say, film?

The man who played the football player is my cousin. One of the interiors -- Omaha, all of them -- belongs to other cousins in the same town.

In the film clip, the football player is called B.J. B.J. is his real name.

He hid that movie credit from his mother for a few years.

You may have found another connection entirely, Omni. I was just too obscure.

Series: Alias
Actor: Michael Vartan

I was thinking, David Arquette played the brother of Drew Barrymore in *Never Been Kissed.* In that movie, the prom's theme was famous couples in history, he dressed as Tom Cruise in the RB underwear scene. Determines the movie. Leading Man? Michael Vartan, who also starred in Alias with Jennifer Garner.

Digression: JG's recent *Catch & Release* was truly charming. Good soundtrack too.

And who can forget the popular girls in *Never Been Kissed* arguing over which Barbie they're dressed as for the prom?

The other night my son was downstairs watching Clerks with his (now former) girlfriend. I stuck around through the Empire Strikes Back vs Return of the Jedi debate. I left before the "whether oral sex counts" argument.

I'm mad he watched Warriors with his friends before I got a chance to see it.

I was going with the Veronica Mars connection too.

According to IMDB Jessica Alba was in Never Been Kissed. I must have blinked during that one. A movie with both a Dark Angel and one of Charlie's.

Curtis Armstrong. Recently he's been on Grey's Anatomy and Boston Legal. And he was the record producer Arab guy in the Ray Charles biopic. And was Cheswick's dad on "Ed."

But I liked him best on Moonlighting. Which was a pretty good show for a while, until Willis and Shepherd started going crazy (which I realize was nearly all the time).

Oh, if you're wondering, "Who the he11 is Cheswick," no, it's not Cheswick from Cuckoo's nest. Cheswick is now the guy doing the Apple versus PC commercials. He's the nerdy/cool Apple guy.

And hey!! we had a drive-by from Miss Toronto!! Long time no see, MT.

Omni, I didn't think Aldrin was that short.

Though come to think of it, I know a pilot who trains people to fly our fighter aircraft, and he is not a large man by any means.

Brad Pitt sounds right for Stars. In '92 when Iggy Pop was getting some acting experience I thought maybe him. But it's 15 years later now.

I will put my money on chlorine gas, Slyness. It's produced from burning PVC for one, and is one reason to ban construction-debris burning, which I believe is a state law.

I'm nowhere near caught up on this Boodle and halfway through the Diavlog but I did post an appreciative comment there (go team!). I read it as "diavo"log and mentally translate it into "devil log" so you see I'm still unclear on the whole concept.

Eagerly looking forward to the movie. Wednesday at a small luncheon we talked with John Harrington, Oklahoma native (and Chickasaw) astronaut and Space Shuttle guy. He was fascinating, with interesting and sometimes very funny stories about NASA, the shuttle mission he flew on, and Rocketplane (where he works now). He's seen a preview and recommends the movie highly.

Off to a fencing tournament. Carry on.

Yello: //According to IMDB Jessica Alba was in Never Been Kissed. I must have blinked during that one.//

I think it's finally determined she's the one who's dressed as Malibu Barbie for the prom.

What IS with that pen thing Bob Wright does? It's rather annoying. I wanted to buy him a vat of itch cream.

It's not nice to trick a dog, Omni ;).
Wilbrodog is in seventh heaven and learning swedish already.

Ivansmom, I first read it way back at Divalog. I can only admit that now that Joel has left for the day.

Joel, you did leave for the day, right?

In amazing R household news, Broken leg man has morphed into Walks With a Stick. Well, he'll have a stick in a week or two, but his surgeon cleared him, disconnected bone and all, to walk with one crutch.

Y'know, "Stick" is a pretty good nickname. The Broken R (not nearly so good a nickname) could do worse. In the 80's, the Daredevil comic book (written by Frank Miller at the time, of "300") introduced a blind streetperson of that name who is actually a disguised uber-martial artist. He was retroactively introduced as the mentor that Stan Lee forgot to write into Daredevil's original origin story. So, "Walks With a Stick" or just "Stick" is a good nickname.

dr, when does the disconnected bone get reconnected? Soon, I hope...

We have enjoyed a rainy day in the mountains. Last we looked, there was almost 2 inches in the gauge. According to radar, it should be raining at home also. Yay! I hope there is enough to make a difference. We really need rain from a hurricane to make up some of the 14 inches we are short for the year.

Après Slyness dit, le deluge!

Here's some sad news for any fans of DC radio back in the '70s, '80, and into the '90s: The founding father of WHFS-FM, Jake Einstein, has died "after a long illness" it says here:

http://www.dcrtv.com/

Just finished watching the diavlog, very enjoyable. It was the first time I've seen Joel other than in a photo. He seemed to be using a soft focus lens, or does he actually look sort of blurry in person? ;-)

Great news, dr, I'm sure he's happy to be gaining a useful hand.

i keep reading diavlog as diavalog, which in my head sounds something like "do ya have a log?" and makes no sense at all.

Well, Wilbrod, at least a deluge till midnight or thereabouts. Now we need several more just like it!

Like dr, I saw it as divalog. But I don't consider Joel a diva, so I get confused. It's a forced construction that doesn't work nearly as well as weblog. Regardless of what it's called, I'll check the thing out this weekend and see how many Boodlers have moved over there while Joel's gone.

"Over the past two and a half years, I have seen tyranny, dishonesty, corruption and depravity of types I never thought possible," - from Alberto Gonzales' Farewell Confession.

The Divalog runs way too long. This would have been a great format for about 15-20 minutes. Over an hour is way too long.

The rather distracted manner of Wright is very distracting as well. If he can't pay attention, why should we?

On the homepage, way down on the left, is a section called Smart Living, under that is a small headline which reads, "Make the Bedroom a Warm Recluse." I suppose it could be correct as written, but it sure looks weird.

I'm killing time waiting for the Red Sox/Yankees game to be over. This is the difference between baseball and football, I'd never leave the room during football, something might happen.

I thought that it was important to share the fact that I just saw a wonderful commercial which began with the words, "Wake up to the wonderful world of alpacas!"

Apparently, more info can be obtained at www.alpacainfo.com

The spoils of Humberto rode up the front that will pass through our area overnight. The much needed precipitation that fell in our neighbourhood measured around 1.5", my best estimate of what's in the Dane's food bowls. Last night the I feel Like I'm fixin to Die Rag was the song I couldn't shake. Today, it was the Fish Cheer. I went into a stress induced cleaning frenzy when I arrived at the home place. Yet another exercise in futility; we'll have the three rooms I ordered back totheir normal state of disarray in no time.

The last time I saw Joel up close was in Sacramento in the 80's. It might just have been me, but I thought he looked a bit blurry even then.

Hmmm... Speaking of blurry, it MIGHT have been San Francisco, not Sacramento. It all sort of blends together. NorCal, at any rate.

Oh, I love alpacas! Want to hear about my alpaca scarf? No? There's an event here in the spring that I want to go to - so far I've been on call or had something else going on - the Alpacapalooza! Llamas and alpacas and yarn, oh my!

Jeez, I'm blanking here... Who knew faux Eggs Benedict could slow down neuronal processes???

*stumbling for more coffee*

*low-energy Grover waves*

:-)

G'morning, everybody! Scotty, you okay this morning? You're up mighty early for a
Saturday.

*feebly waving back*

I'm in the office this morning trying to do all the work I don't get done on company time because I'm too busy boodling.

I still have a bagel and the morning WaPo to get through before I actually get to work.

The think to do with the diavlog is to download the mp3 and then listen to it on one of them-there portable player thingies. That way you can continue your life disturbed only by your own chuckles.

Good Morning!!
Jack | Start off today with a litte Morning Maniac Music. I may go slightly off script and play "Bathing at Baxter's", my favourite Airplane album.

Genesis is playing in Ottawa tonight so a group old pals from Sudbury came down to see them. Unforunately they came down Wednesday afternoon. More unfortunatlyer we spent Wednesday evening and Thursday reliving the revels of our youth. I managed to escape last night. I was afraid one of those old codgers wasn't going to get back up after keeling over so I slipped away, back to the safety of the country bunker.

Sorry, sorry. They came down Thursday. While I'm ticked I screwed up the last post I'm relieved I didn't lose a day. I'm too old for that kind of nonsense.

*chuckling*, Boko. I have a few friends from HS that cause the words bail money to be bandyed about whenever we get together. I'm not allowed to tell my children about anything we did back in the day.

Mornin All!
How about this lineup for driving songs I heard on the way home

Gimme Three Steps
Sweet Child of Mine
Jessica
Radar Love

Needless to say I was going a little over the limit.

Wildlife Report: I saw a very Large Piliated woodpecker this morning, The largest I have seen in a couple of years.

Off to bed, enjoy this beautiful cool day!!

I'm waiting for the stereo fairy to drop off a Macintosh amp, a killer cd player and a set of mongo Kilpsch speakers to set up on the porch. This feels like a Rock 'n Roll Animal/Sandanista/Rocket to Russia kind of day. Payback for all of the blaring car stereos at across the street at two in the morning.

Remind me never again to believe that nothing will happen if I leave the room when the Red Sox are playing the Yankees. The damm Yankees hit a couple of homers and ended up coming back from 5 runs down to beat the Sox.

This is a stressful time for New England sports fans. We fear the Sox will blow it again, and now the Patriots are in disgrace.

Fear not, 'Sneaks. I'm living and dying with the Cubs, Indians and the Orangemen. Things can't get much worse. *ducking the 500# weight dropping through the roof*

Haven't read much, but caught the word "alpaca." We have a Canukistani friend (born in Wales) who, upon meeting TWD, said, "I thought you said you had a dog. That's a bloody alpaca!"

Anyway, doing a quick drive-by. It's dinnertime here, but Raysdad is in our room, lights out, trying to sleep away a cold. I'm sure I've missed many good discussions, but see the suggestion for a moon-themed (moonflowers? moonbounce? shoot the moon?) BPH. Great idea!

Moonshots! Vodka and cheez whiz!

Just saw alpacas at Mitford Days in Blowing Rock. They have sweet faces but look like they could be a handful.

Howdy. It is a good thing I didn't rush to catch up on the Boodle because the whole actor trivia thing was just like reading a foreign language.

Congratulations on Walks with a Stick. Ivansdad is Walks with Boot and Cane, which is better than his previous month's identity as Walks with a Stress Fracture. Sheesh. Is it so hard to go to a doctor?

Wednesday at lunch one man kept asking John Harrington (former test pilot before becoming astronaut) whether they weren't trained to fly the Shuttle back manually in case something went wrong, like in Apollo 13. Harrington explained as politely as he could (the questioner was insistent) that there are several types of computer backup on the Shuttle, but it cannot be flown manually, much like the Air Force advanced planes and AirBus.

I'm known as Walks with Gnomes... when I can get Wilbrod out for a walk, which should be in exactly 15 minutes if I have any say in this matter. It's a beautiful warm day after all!

S'nuke, if I was your dog I'd be saying, get work done and out on time; life's too short not to go for beautiful walks and jogs with highly deserving dogs. Maybe shop a little, maybe buy a couple of hotdogs and share one with me...

I told Wilbrod that for years, but it fell on deaf ears until I learned how to pantomine it and threaten to explode from lack of walkies on the spot.

If you've seen Wallace and Gromit-- Gromit is me. Totally. Me and every service dog in existence. We don't get told to be awesome, we just do it because our owners? Sigh.

Enjoy your walk, Wilbrodog! You deserve a good one, for sure.

Grrrh: I'm stuck here in the house with the Annual Back-to-School HipHop Festival in the park across the street. The whole house is shaking. The dog is quaking, and there's no way to escape. Next time I get my knee replaced, I will check the calendar!

It's been FOUR WEEKS and I'm still not cleared to drive. Am I impatient and irritated? You bet!

Phone somebody to help you escape.

In the meanwhile, turn the TV on to something nice n friendly -- moderate volume to help drown out the music, get your dog distracted with fetching or something the dog likes to do.

And, if it's making your windows and house rattle, you have a noise ordiance violation complaint to make to the police. Pick that phone up-- it's not supposed to be THAT loud.

It will end... eventually.

Maggie, you have my sympathy! You'd think a park would be quiet, and I hope it is most of the time. The parking lot of the Japanese garden here sometimes is an informal loud music fest, which is a shame since it is such a tranquil place otherwise. I've also got guys across the street with house-shaking car sound systems, which they like to tweak in the driveway, not to mention the random ones that drive by. Oh, to be in the middle of nowhere (with a good internet connection).

I watched the diavlog - hate that term, it just doesn't roll off the tongue. "Divalog" is more like it. Pretty amusing. I was too lazy to register so I could leave a comment there, though. Sorry, Joel.

Digital dialogue would make for a better phrase. Or Vlog a' deux...

English is not Inuit or German-- there's no need to compound words past recognition for every "new" idea.

Buddy is usually a very quite dog so I was surprised to hear him barking about an hour ago. When I came upstairs I saw that he was inviting the dogs from the local hunt in for a visit as they were passing by. Buddy met the pack last year before they made their annual progress though the neighbourhood so I suppose he was just being polite. After the dozen dogs and twenty or so riders passed he insisted on a walk, so out we went for a frenzy of sniffing and marking.

Just to avoid confusion I should add that the riders were on horseback, they weren't riding the dogs. Also, Buddy did most of the sniffing and marking.

Aaaahh... Sniffin' & markin' makes for a pleasant day!

Oh, you meant the dog!

I'm sure that it's been remarked upon previously, but this bit from the "Full Rules" is interesting:

--- You may not post content that degrades others on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual preference, disability or other classification. Epithets and other language intended to intimidate or to incite violence will not be tolerated. Furthermore, you may not impersonate others. ---

It was presumably drafted by lawyers, rather than by writers. Is "ignorant fool" a "class" or an "other classification"?

At any rate, I certainly do not intend to intimidate or incite violence toward ignorant fools. They punish themselves sufficiently.

"Blessed are the ignorant, for they have the numbers on their side."

Ummm... While I actually kinda liked that last post, it was, in fact, a (soon-to-be banned-from-my-computer) nefarious colleague of mine.

[muttering to self, "Use more robust password protection!"]

The BDDH (aka the veep, Darth, etc.) was at MacDill AFB in Tampa yesterday. Mr. F passed on the speech in favor of attending a former boss's retirement ceremony. This is as hard to read as the old Kremlin watching, but Mr. F noted a lot of SOCOM and CENTCOM brass he would have expected to be at Darth's do had opted out.

Retirements are important, Frostbitten. I'm sure the former boss was delighted to see so many brass there to see him fade away.

I remember when a certain charming gentleman who was retiring from a long career at my university was scheduled to speak at my graduation. Then Bob Dole, who was running for president, accepted an invitation to speak.

There was a widespread protest at the feared usurpment of him as a speaker, as though he was cast aside for somebody who was speaking mostly as part of his campaign tour rather than any deep affilation. It had absolutely nothing to do with our political affilations, of course, but the perceived slur.

The university quickly released the information that we would have TWO commencement speakers, Bob dole, and this gentleman. He was tickled pink to be on the same stage as Bob dole, incidentally.

So the secret service and all swept the university on our graduation day. And before we were to march in, people BEGGED us not to boo Bob Dole.

So he did his speech, fast and funny, but one or two jokes fell flat-- including the one that a speaker was like the dead man at the funeral-- he wasn't expected to say much. I doubt he had any idea why there were TWO speakers, or why virtually nobody laughed. "Man, is the interpreter bad or what?"

He was out in 10 minutes and the reporters left, and we had a very amusing speech about the history of our university, including the challenges of romance under strict sex-separation rules, after that.

The Post reported the next day that Bob Dole spoke at the university, but never reported there was a second speaker.

As for me, I got the graduation speech I wanted, so I'm happy with my memories.

But I'd strongly suggest that all current presidental candidates consider the fact that speaking last minute at graduations may NOT be the way to attract young voters.

Cool story, Wilbrod. Eric Sevareid spoke at my college graduation. I have no memory whatsoever of his speech. When it came time to get my masters, I went to the beach instead; the university mailed my diploma.

Prince Charles (I think) spoke at my brother's graduation... and I have no idea what he said, I could barely see the interpreter anyway.

I do remember Peter Jennings speaking at another brother's graduation... and some of what he said.

The gentleman I mentioned was Jack Gannon, author of Deaf Heritage and who also wrote Through Deaf Eyes.

He helped curate Through Deaf Eyes (exhibit at Smithsonian) after he retired as well.

http://depts.gallaudet.edu/deafeyes/about.html

So yes, quite a storyteller and a historian.

All of this just ties with why I can completely understand why brass would rather say farewell to a well-liked colleague rather than sit and listen to a politican.

I might do that when I get a masters', Slyness, unless they have a heck of a speaker lined up.

We had Bill Cosby. Only time in history the graduating audience wished the speech was longer.

I haven't the vaguest idea who spoke at my college graduation. Was there a speaker?

Wilbrod, I agree with you when you say "...I can completely understand why brass would rather say farewell to a well-liked colleague rather than sit and listen to a politican." However, it's a bit more than that in this setting because typically there are things that are just understood as "mandatory but not required" which is milspeak for "we can't officially make you, but your absence would be noted so your life will be much easier if you just suck it up and do it." A visit by a sitting VP is usually one of those.

We had the guy who edited Texas Monthly (and who went to Rice), whose name I forget. As I recall he was witty, but I don't remember anything he said. By the time my group got to cross the stage and get our sheepskin (yep, really) upperclassmen and friends had been passing us drinks for some time. Right after that I took my family away to eat, so I may not have heard everything. I have no idea who spoke at my law school graduation, but one of the speeches was in Latin.

Do I like this guy because I agree with him, or because this is the best opinion writing I've seen lately re: Iraq?

Lessons on the surge from economics 101
from the Rutland (Vermont) Herald

September 12, 2007

By OLIVER R. GOODENOUGH

Economics professors have a standard game they use to demonstrate how apparently rational decisions can create a disastrous result. They call it a "dollar auction." The rules are simple. The professor offers a dollar for sale to the highest bidder, with only one wrinkle: the second-highest bidder has to pay up on their losing bid as well. Several students almost always get sucked in. The first bids a penny, looking to make 99 cents. The second bids 2 cents, the third 3 cents, and so on, each feeling they have a chance at something good on the cheap. The early stages are fun, and the bidders wonder what possessed the professor to be willing to lose some money.

The problem surfaces when the bidders get up close to a dollar. After 99 cents the last vestige of profitability disappears, but the bidding continues between the two highest players. They now realize that they stand to lose no matter what, but that they can still buffer their losses by winning the dollar. They just have to outlast the other player. Following this strategy, the two hapless students usually run the bid up several dollars, turning the apparent shot at easy money into a ghastly battle of spiraling disaster.

Theoretically, there is no stable outcome once the dynamic gets going. The only clear limit is the exhaustion of one of the player's total funds. In the classroom, the auction generally ends with the grudging decision of one player to "irrationally" accept the larger loss and get out of the terrible spiral. Economists call the dollar auction pattern an irrational escalation of commitment. We might also call it the war in Iraq.

America is long past the possibility of some kind of profitable outcome in Iraq. Neo-con dreams of a quick, cheap victory, delivering democracy and peace and self-financed from Iraq's own oil revenue, got us started on this misadventure. Like the students, the early bidding seemed like a fun adventure to the boys in the Bush administration. "Bring 'em on," the chief boy said about the other bidders. And like the economics class, suddenly we were in the thing up to our necks, with only bad choices available at an ever-escalating cost.
Read the rest here:
http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070912/OPINION03/709120368/1039/OPINION03

Maggie,

Sorry to hear about your knee and your neighborhood party. My boss had her knee replaced on Tuesday. I think she is expecting to hobble in in another week. We will have to see. Otherwise, how are things going?

Sitting here watching BC (but not bc) shred the Yellow Jacket's (but not my) secondary.

Frostbitten, I completely agree with you about the politics involved. The military ain't the only place that happens.

It looks like the political winds were in favor of taking the risk, what with a lame duck vp visiting.

As Cheney has made clear, the vp can be interpreted as not being part of the executive branch. Therefore he's certainly not in the chain of command.

He's worth paying attention to only on the likelihood of becoming president and CIC, which is looking dimmer by the day, and that, in any case, might launch an immediate impeachment process by Congress.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Kucinich_announces_impeachment_charges_against_Vice_0424.html

To the best of my recollection, President McInnes spoke at the grad ceremony. The day was a blur and all I thought was "free at last."

Blessed relief. A friend called with a ticket to the Navy/Ball State football game. Because it was a beautiful day for football, perfect weather with a tinge of coolness, and of course, to escape the noise, I went.

We had a wonderful time. Navy knows how to do pageantry and ritual, and the fans' loyalty to the institution is amazing.

Navy lost in overtime, but it was a great game, and I don't even know, understand, or like football.

And, when we returned the silence was just wonderful.

Maggie, dontcha just love it when the planets align like that?! Hope the knee improves rapidly.

Wilbrod. I don't understand your last graf concerning presidential succession. Is Bush ill? Is he getting better?

Re: that link. I'd be ticked off if I was one of Kucinich's constituents. The situation is too serious for grandstanding stunts. There is zero chance to impeach anybody before this admin. is out the door. All he would do is force a long legal fight over documents and access to admin. officals. There'll be enough of that stonewalling Rep. Waxman and his important work ferreting out politicaliztion of the Federal govt.

Thank you for posting that game theory analysis, frostbitten.

Good article by William Booth on Raymond Carver, with impressions and photos of Washington state (Olympic Peninsula):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/11/AR2007091101715.html

The Republicans tried to impeach Clinton for lying about an affair.

The general support rating for Bush and Cheney is low enough that far fewer people would be ticked off than you would think.

My last graf meant that Cheney is truly a lame duck, as in American political usage: i.e. he is not going to run for re-election; he has no political "ammo" to levy pressure on anything outside of his direct realm of power. Bush has distanced himself from Cheney for the last few years, according to reports from back in 2005.
http://infowars.com/articles/us/bush_meltdown_cheney_ties_frayed.htm

If the CIC (Commander in Chief) isn't exactly gladhanding the veep... well the military gotta follow the CIC's lead, right?

Maggie's situation (grounded and stuck with a hip hop party) sounds miserable.

I got around to listening to some of the bloggingheads.tv thing. Joel's incisors are looking fine. Isn't deer season coming up in a few weeks?

Considering that I'm having both my serotinin and dopamine regulated, maybe I should look at testosterone patches, too.

Nixon's house sounded like a good place for trick-or-treat. Considering that Alan Greenspan found him creepy back when . . .

Not to mention that Niall Ferguson this week compares Giuliani to Nixon, madman-wise. (Telegraph, London)

Then, Military Review has a story on Cuban-US relations from a moderate viewpoint by a University of Central Florida professor. Kind of interesting for a journal published by the Army and published in a Spanish edition.
http://usacac.leavenworth.army.mil/CAC/milreview/

Maybe even more wondrous, a Chilean officer explains good military relations with Argentina. Amazing. Could rapprochement with Bolivia come next?

The mighty St Petersburg Times has a perfect perp walk photo. A couple accused of plundering their real estate title company. He's in bad pajamas, bad hair, flabby belly showing. The contrast to publicity photos is wondrous.

The St Petersburg Times is really busy. They're looking into Fred Thompson's Cuban cigars.

Good Morning All and brrrrrrr
41 here this morning when I got up 30 mins ago. I am still sleeping with the windows open,but geesh getting out of bed was difficult.

I had such a fun evening yesterday. We had a birthday party for a neighbor who turned 77. She is sort of like my 2nd mother to me, out here in west by god. Good food and Great friends. A fun time was had by all who attended. That is what it is all about, being with friends and just enjoying each other and being happy.

Off to Bawmer today to catch the Ravens home opener. More friends and food and drink will in order for the day.

It may be a little chilly this morning, but what a Glorious day for Football!!

Oooh, there's ice on the dog's outdoor water dish. The farmer next door has his woodstove going, burning apple if I'm not mistaken, and I'm not. Smells wonderful.

Good morning boodle, Happy Birthdays, Anniversaries, Weddings, Briseses all round. Celebrate 'em if ya got 'em.
I have no idea why I'm in such a good mood. The Taurus spewed it's load of transmission fluid on the driveway so I'm facing a potentially huge bill.
Oh well, as long as I don't visit a doctor I can pretend I have my health.
Have a good one.

General concurrence on the "brrrrrrrrrrrrr" factor this morning, although as a certain canned ice tea commercial once said,

"That's BRISK, baby!!"

*blue-fingered Grover waves*

:-)

Yes, it is indeed a great day for football. Too bad we DC fans have to wait until tomorrow night.

GWE... have a wonderful time in the Charm City today. Go Ravens.

And Boko... your good mood is catching! Thanks for spreading your sunshine to a woman whose husband is sick with his first cold of the season. I don't know which one of us gets more miserable when he's sick.

Good morning, all.

Up with pot o' hot coffee this AM, admiring the crisp gold morning, surveying the WaPo, with Formula 1 cars blasting through the Ardennes forest in Belgium in the background.

bc

Yesterday at lunchtime the clouds cleared out and the humidity and temperature fell, so it was a perfect fall day, the kind that makes a person's heart sing. Mine did, for sure! Now I can shake off the long lethargy of hot weather and accomplish all those tasks I've been thinking about but didn't have the energy to undertake. It does improve the mood!

GWE, sounds like a great weekend. Have a good time! TBG, sorry to hear Dr. G is under the weather and hope the cold clears up quickly. When is it you come this way?

The temperature seems to be stuck on 43. We are planning to take a hike, so I will start out with a jacket. Now, the decision is, which trail do we want to walk on?

G'morning boodle. We had temps in the 40s here last night too, but as part of a warming trend. Nursed the tomatoes through and should have another surge of ripening this week. With luck when the hard freeze finally comes I will have only enough green tomatoes to satisfy the urge to fry them. Two meals a year usually suffice.

'Morning, Boodle. Yup, echoing the gang: 'tis a wee bit chilly this morning, but I love it. Autumn is my favorite time of year, no question and no second place. Just back from a jaunt to Einstein Brothers, where I indulged myself in a toasted sesame bagel with lox, a slice of red onion, a schmear, and of course capers. Of course, now I desperately need to go brush my teeth, but I'm stalling to let the aftertaste linger. Ah, well.

Interesting lede book review this morning in Book World on Denis Johnson new mega-600-page Vietnam War novel which I suppose I'm gonna hafta put on my must-read list.

I was a good boy yesterday, and did a lot of my weekend honey-dos, thereby earning the right from my wife to spend the day mostly watching football and cooking. Her best friend of the last 35 years recently had a lumpectomy for breast cancer and is about to start radiation therapy (fortunately no chemo needed. So we're going to cook up a bunch of small meals for her and her husband, and we'll freeze them. So on thos days when she's just too fatigued to cook (or even eat) all they have to do is zap something in the microwave for a few minutes and they'll have a home-cooked meal. (We hope that prospect will help her want to eat a little bit.)

Yoki and some of you other cooks, the current issue of "Southern Living" magazine has an especially large number of really good-sounding fall recipes in this issue (it's got a baked apple on the cover). Don't know if you guys get that mag up there in the tundra where you live; down here in Nonhaute Maine, it's in supermarkets as well as bookstores/better newsstands. And maybe it's online, I dunno.

bc, what's the Formula 1 you're watching? Nurnberg? Spa? I can't remember which track is in the Ardennes. (Are you sure the Germans aren't coming through again? You know how nasty habits are hard to break.) Opps, never mind. Just remembered: the Belgin GP is at Spa (Francorchamps). Hope the noise isn't keeping Eurotrash awake. (Maybe he can tell how/why the Beliques named a town "Francorchamps.") (FYI, Spa has a section of the course called "Masta Kink," which sounds like the name of a rapper if I ever heard it. It's near the village of Malmedy, site of a famous WWII massacre. I'm beginning to worry about these Belgians.)

Mudge... you're a good friend. Nice stuff.

I imagine even up in Upper Canadia, every doctor's office has a copy of Southern Living.

Good morning all. Likewise, a little cool and crystal clear. We're going to go on a hike in the Back Bay area as well. I hope I don't see any water moccasins. I really don't like them.

The Junebug, my 14 year old also has a nasty cold, poor thing. I wish I could just have it instead of her, she looks so miserable.

Hubby and I went to see "The 3:10 to Yuma" last night. Wow. I understand Stephen Hunter's criticisms, but sometimes I just like to watch a movie with no intention of dissecting and this movie didn't disappoint me in that regard. Very violent but Christian Bale was great and so was Peter Fonda. Russell Crowe's bad guy sidekick, whose name escapes me, was REALLY a good bad guy! In short, I wasn't cranky that I spent $8 dollars to go see it. We both walked out of the theater and said, "Let's go get a beer!" Very intense.

Hi Cur,

I didn't watch the Formula 1. Instead I went to "Paradisio" wich is a zoo mainly focused on birds. It has a lot of programs to conserve species that are dying out. It is a realy lovely place set in the ruins of an old convent.

During the falconary show I had an Bald Eagle fly less than a footover my head. That beats any go-cart race I think.

The translation of Francorchamps I guess would be Field (champs) of the Francs. (The germanic tribe which gave it's name to France.)
Did you know that the town of Spa gave the English world the word "spa"?
Even though bottled water is realy bad for the survival of the world etc. I absolutly adore Spa water. At least the non bubly version. It's got a sweet aftertaste. Much better than the chlorofied horible water I get out of my tap.

Thanks, Euro. FYI, "Masta Kink" is available as a Boodle handle.

"Francorchamps" is not.

(We don't need to get that whole thing started again.)

Oh, the one recip[e from Southern Living I thought you guys would be most interested in is this one, for peach-rhubarb crisp, knowing CP's addiction to all things rhubarbian: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1654594

Peach-Rhubarb Crisp

Prep: 15 min., Bake: 50 min. Rhubarb adds fresh, tart flavor to compotes, crisps, and pies. Serve this dish warm with low-fat vanilla ice cream, vanilla yogurt, or low-fat whipped topping.

1 (20-oz.) bag frozen peaches, thawed
2 (16-oz.) packages frozen sliced rhubarb, thawed
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
Vegetable cooking spray
1/3 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces

1. Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl; add 1/4 cup flour, stirring well. Pour mixture into a 13- x-9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
2. Combine oats, brown sugar, and remaining 1 cup flour in a small bowl; cut in cold butter with a fork or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle mixture evenly over fruit filling.

3. Bake at 375° for 45 to 50 minutes or until bubbly.

Note: Nutritional analysis does not include ice cream.

Yield: Makes 10 servings

CALORIES 308 (0.0% from fat); FAT 6.4g (sat 3.9g,mono 1.6g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 3g; CHOLESTEROL 16mg; CALCIUM 188mg; SODIUM 48mg; FIBER 2.7g; IRON 1.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 61.4g

Southern Living, SEPTEMBER 2007

There's something kind of cute about a guy named "Curmudgeon" posting a peach-rhubarb crisp recipe.

Cute and perky. Come to think about it, just about what you *would* expect.

*turning purple*

Mudge, isn't that a shade of red, from being pleased and embarrassed all at the same time?

Could be, Slyness, could be.

We're at a major lull in the kitchen. My wife has made chicken pot pies with puff pastry tops: 4 ramekins and two small casseroles, to be frozen for our friends. Unfortunately, she had a fair amount left over, so she put that in a large corningware dish, so I guess we
ll just have to eat that ourselves.

Meanwhile, out on the girll, I browned/charred a whopping big 5-lb. top round roast, and then put it in a dutch oven and will slow-cook it for about 4 hours at 275 degrees. In addition to potatoes, onions, carrots, celery and garlic, etc., the "magic" ingredients include a pint of dark beer (Erdinger, as it happens), a cup of red wine vinegar, and two packets of Hunter Stew sauce mix (McCormack's), plus the usual spices and herbs. I every now and then I go out and take the lid of just so I can smell it.

O.

M.

G.

OK, who's gonna be here this evening for our annual live, online Emmy Boodle? TBG? bc? Scotty? How 'bout some a you Canucks?

One notes with some pleasure that the NY Giants are having their hind quarter parts convincingly booted by one Brett Favre, who is almost as old as I am. Well done, Old Man, well done.

I think bc might be home in time to participate, 'Mudge, but both the Pats and the BoSox come on at 8, so I'll be incommunicado

I might check for purple shoulder bows and such at halftime, maybe sorta.

:-)

I know, Scotty; I plan on doing some serious channel-flipping. Don't care about the Bosox, but that Pats game is the game of the week.

I'll be around for the Emmy Broadcast (I like that they now call it "The Primetime Emmys" so that we're holding our collected breath to see if Susan Lucci wins one this year.

Although our traditional award-viewing boodling has been done for the Oscars, I'm way more informed on what goes on the small screen than the large one.

(The copy editor in me is screaming to change that to Emmies.)

Rhubarb in the South? I should have kept a journal of what I ate in Orange and Wake Counties, North Carolina, circa 1971-74. I recall lots of greens and other affordable cafeteria food (cafeterias were big back then), bananas, Cadbury bars (of all things), and a fair amount of grits.

There was definitely lots of rhubarb, along with ice cream and apples, in central Pennsylvania just before that.

The monster top round roast sounds great. I once was surprised on British Airways to see something like that served with a mustardy sauce. It was certainly better than whatever the caterer on the Orlando side of the trip had provided.

The monster pot roast does sound great!

I was envious, so I turned the leftover moo shu pork from last week into eggrolls with hoisin sauce.

Somehow, we're even!

RD, your coffee extract is this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/style/tmagazine/06ticed.html?ex=1190088000&en=8c53ff1e4bacfbed&ei=5070

My only objection to rhubarb is it always seems to be cooked with sugar or sweetener.

(I've had a lot of it this summer and am concerned about the sugar consumed with it)

Otherwise, I have grown to love this rhubarb-strawberry sauce/jam on ice cream. Terrific.

dbG... I'm not RD, but I'll address your question...

Ever since reading about the cold-brewed iced coffee, I've been drinking it.