First?
And is Joel seeing Barry Bonds' pharmacist, or what?

Those darn snarky reporters. All flash, no follow-through.

I know, byoolin. This is what? five in three days?

Thanks for all the Oklahoma stories in response to my centennial statehood post on the last Kit. K-guy, I understand about the accent completely. We don't tawk lahk thayut but it has taken a conscious effort.

SD, based on almost no information (but when has that ever stopped me before?) about the dark noisy gregarious birds you saw, my guess is they were grackles. If you had ever seen a scissor tailed flycatcher swooping after insects in the prairie dusk, you would not forget. They are beauty and grace on the wing.

At this point in the game I wonder how many uncommitted Democratic voters are really out there. It seems to me that any Democrat who is motivated enough to take part in a caucus or primary election probably isn't sitting on the fence anymore. I certainly have no interest in watching these debates. I've made up my mind.

Of course, if they were to do a real cage match I might become more engaged. Especially if they wear cool costumes.

Oklahoma... that name rings a bell. Say, isn't that the place where the wind comes sweeping down the plain?

Ivansmom, enjoy the day.

I will say again I do not know how everyone copes with the never ending "election cycle".

RD, I think Liz had a picture of Hillary's cage match outfit in Celebritology yesterday:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2007/11/creative_captioning_oh_rihanna.html

That is one of the bonuses about being Canadian, dmd.

Don't we have a law about how many weeks election campaigns can run?

Time for a remake of "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome" with HRC as Aunty Entity, Obama as Max, Kucinich and Richardson as Master\Blaster, Edwards as Aviator, the White House press corps as the pigs, etc. The whole steel cage death match scenario only works if you retain the Judgement Wheel from the original, though. The possible outcomes on the Wheel are: - Death - Hard Labour - Acquittal - Gulag - Aunty's Choice - Spin Again - Forfeit Goods - Underworld - Amputation - Life Imprisonment. Sounds like Oscar bait to me!

Thanks K-guy.
Stupid grackle huh?
It looks like they are a problem around the city.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4182/is_20070914/ai_n20503435

byoolin, the comments under Liz's post are hilarious.

dr, I think it's 47 days from announcement to election, innit?

I recall watching TV the night Reagan was elected, defeating Carter. Conservative fundraiser Richard Viguerie was ensconced in an incredibly ornate room at the Capitol, snarling that Reagan would be dumped if he strayed from the Viguerie's version of the strait and narrow. I remembered the performance because of the chutzpah involved, not realizing that I was seeing the future of American politics. The cage matches are seemingly nothing compared to the fundraising.

I had to look this up, minimum for a Canadian federal election is 36 days, there is no maximum, spending limitations keep the number of days low.

The kerfluffle at the Smithsonian about the Arctic exhibit reminds me of a similar controversy in the 1990's regarding the Enola Gay exhibit. Apparently, not enough text was included with the exhibit condemning nuclear war to suit anti-nuclear-war types, and some people objected to having the bomber displayed at all. When the Smithsonian closed the exhibit briefly (I think it was to review and revise it) they got lots of heat from conservatives who complained about "political correctness." It seems now we're just seeing a new - conservative - form of political correctness being expressed at the Smith. The more things change, etc. etc.

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Huh?

I'm surprised that no one has accused any of the more aggressive participants in last night's debate of steroid use.

I liked the opening rounds when Hillary and Barrack started throwing Health Care haymakers, but realized that they couldn't knock each other out and went back to their planned match stratgies.

Ahh, politics: the other sweet science.

bc

I'd like to ask, Who's flipflopping now?" I suppose it's hard for you Easterners to get all riled up about Westerners, and probably vice versa...

http://www.lvrj.com/news/11424696.html

CNN's Roberts in particular had clearly done his homework on Yucca Mountain, the proposed nuclear waste dump about 100 miles from Las Vegas that the state and most of its residents oppose.

He reminded Obama that Illinois gets nearly half its energy from nuclear power, which produces waste that has to be stored somewhere.

"The question is, if not in your backyard, whose?" Roberts asked.

"I don't think it's fair to send it to Nevada because we're producing it," Obama said. He said he would pursue research into a new solution "based on sound science," the catchphrase President Bush has repeated as his administration has continued to press the project forward, even amid scientific doubts.

Richardson, a former secretary of energy, claimed, "All my life, as secretary of energy, as a congressman, I opposed the site." But Richardson in Congress voted for a bill that designated Yucca as the place for the waste storage, and as energy secretary did not stop the project.

Asked about it after the debate, Richardson flatly denied that he had ever voted Yucca forward or otherwise helped it along.

The focus on Nevada and its issues intensified in the second portion of the debate, when handpicked Nevada Democrats, seated in front of the stage, got to ask candidates questions directly.

Their concerns reinforced that Nevadans, while they might have different perspectives than Iowans and New Hampshire residents, share the worries of America as a whole.

I added a bunch of links. Yeah, that Balco stuff is kickin' in, baby!!! STAND BACK AND LET THE BIG DOG LINK.

I was trying to watch the debate, but a candle party downstairs and children upstairs left me little choice but to run about the house a bit frenetically. When I finally got a chance to settle in and watch the last 1/2 hour, our daughter sent word from the upstairs that Blazing Saddles was on. I caught Congressman Kucinich in his impeach him moment and thought of Mr. Cheswick in Cuckoo's Nest when he began to lose it when Nurse Ratchet wouldn't let him have his cigarettes. Watching Blazing Saddles, which has been aired a lot lately, was a far better way to spend my time at that point.

Joel, I think you neglected to link to Wolf Blitzer's excellent introduction to the debate. I found it in the transcript. Here it is:

Blitzer: "Listen all! This is the truth of it. Politics leads to campaigning. And campaigning gets to mudslinging. And that was d@mn near the death of us all. Look at us now! Busted up and everyone talking about hard choices! But we've learned, by the dust of them all... Crawford, Texas, learned. Now, when men get to fighting, it happens here! And it finishes here! Seven candidates enter; one candidate leaves.

"She's the ball-cracker. Death on foot. You know her. You love her! She's...Hillary!!" [Hillary enters Thunderdome.] "The challenger: direct from out of the heartland that is Chicago! He's black, he's beautiful, he's young! It's...It's the man with no experience!" [Obama enters Thunderdome]

"All our lives hang by a thread. Now we got a candidate waiting for election. But ain't it the truth: you take your chances with the law, justice is only a roll of the dice. A flip of the coin. A turn of the Wheel. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls... cryin' time's here!"

(Thanks to K-guy for the inspiration.)

Joel: At first glance, I thought this link would be of utility with respect to hair...context is so often misleading.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/318/5853/1118

...and while the boodle gently sleeps, a link to today's Spanish lesson...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/15/AR2007111501455.html?hpid=news-col-blog

...and from the if-it-smells-like-a-roach files:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/science/16roach.html

How did I miss the memo about this important conference in San Diego this weekend?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/11/16/flying.spaghettimonster.ap/index.html

Instead of Wolf Blitzer doing the intro to the debate, CNN should have brought in Michael Buffer:

http://www.letsrumble.com/main.html

bc

Wasn't there a methane-generating pigpen under Thunderdome? Perfect locale for a presidential debate.

Echoing the themes of Smithsonian and non-mainstream religion, you might want to check out the exhibit on Rastafarianism at the NMNH. BYOG- bring your own ganja.

I am reliably informed that the "Discovering Rastafari" exhibit closed 11/08. Sorry, my bad. Guess something temporarily destroyed my sense of the passage of time. Doh!

*flashing back to the ABC ripoff of SNL and the "Ganja Gourmet" with his herb of choice*

:-)

Yep, Dave, pigsh1t was the motive force underlying Bartertown. That's why I proposed casting the White House press corps as the pigs in my remake. I'm open to other suggestions. Lobbyists? Pundits? FEMA staffers in pig suits?

a "ball-cracker"? I suspect Mrs. Clinton may need a whole lot of Secret Servicemen before this circus is over. There just might be a creep out there that believes he's doing the world a favor.

Have a good time, Ivansmom.

I did get the letter in this morning,(in response to the virtues of slavery) and received an email stating that it may take some time before it is printed for all to see. It may end up floating in cyberspace somewhere or deleted.

I really don't think anyone should highlight the fact that Obama lacks experience especially when stressing that point during this administration. It sort of like, duh.

I have a feeling I know where Pop Socket will show up in short order...

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/?hpid=news-col-blog

:-)

Love that "robot and the roaches" article jack. So can we assume from this that an android might make people do things they otherwise wouldn't? 'Cause this would put the unusual influence of the Vice President in a whole new light.

One of the reasons people support a flat tax is that they assume THEIR taxes would go down under such a system, which once the numbers are cranked, almost never proves to be true. There's a reason Steve Forbes was the biggest proponent of it. The AMT is the operative example of that.

I have to follow the link to see if the following statement is true:

"Judging from their comments on this blog, they [Paulites] combine passion with good manners, and enjoy a good debate."

Either those are different Paultards than I'm used to, or my sarcasmometer needs calibrating.

Attraction to the smell of a roach is nothing new. Heck, I can remember once at this Hendrix concert...

Hmm.

"Iron Candidate America?"

Nope...

"Hell's Dais?"

Maybe...

bc

I'm back. "Good manners" is highly subjective, but the Ronbots are definitely getting the benefit of the doubt. However, they are just as fond of CAPITAL LETTERS as I used to be.

jp1954, your cynicism about the Enola Gay exhibit is correct, but you have the complainants exactly backwards. There was much complaint and moaning and wailing about the exhibit doing insufficient rah-rah cheerleading for the rightness of the decision to vaporize a city. You describe petty bickering from the left, but the majority of exhibit-closing complaints in the last several decades, in many museums, has come from the right.

I think we should all take it as given that war is bad, and that mighty and indiscriminate weapons of war (nukes) are a bad thing to use. Only by understanding that these things are intrinsically bad can we have a genuine discussion of whether there are some things that are worse. The only justification for fighting and killing is that it is worse not to do so. The fuss over Enola Gay came from the exhibit designers wanting to actually frame the discussion that could lead to this sort of judgment by history -- was it right to bomb Hiroshima? and what about the following bomb on Nagasaki?

The complaints were from the camp that felt that we should take it as written that history already had judged the bombing(s) as right and proper, end of discussion, now shut up and eat your granola, no more talking. I have inside information that the original exhibit script was viewed by some as revisionist history that explicitly sought to condemn the U.S. I have my doubts about the veracity of this report, but it is an arguable point. The problem with the Enola Gay exhibit is that political pressure deprived the public of the opportunity for a legitimate argument over the decision to use nuclear weapons. We remain the only nation that has ever done so. Surely that conveys some special responsibility to periodically revisit the decision every now and then.

I don't doubt that Truman made an honest and serious decision based on evaluating the information available to him. I don't doubt that he considered the moral weight of taking all those lives, comparing it to his responsibility to make decisions over the lives of so many soldiers. He had no good choices, only bad ones with relative levels of badness. We can't improve our current decision-making abilities, however, unless we grapple with the issue of whether the additional information that we now have available to us would have swayed the decisions in the other direction. Truman had to make predictions about the foreseeable consequences of the decision. We have the results available to us from one of the outcomes of Truman's decision, including data that were not available to him at the time as well as ensuing results. Does history support the predictions that factored into Truman's decision-making? The exhibit that actually was presented did not seriously address any of these issues.

I have absolutely no doubt that the Smithsonian exhibit was intentionally "re-phrased" to evade criticism from entrenched interests. I agree that it is bad that blustering politicians are able to stifle public presentation of the basic facts that the public needs to know in order to make informed decisions. I can tell you that I encounter this sort of problem all the time when I make public presentations. I'm not so worried about politicians, who don't even know I exist (which is why funding is so hard to come by), but I have knee-jerk reactions from the public to deal with. For instance, I can talk about planets and history and changes in climate and changes in atmospheric chemistry, and I can even mention time scales of billions of years. However, I contort myself to avoid ever saying the word "evolution." There is a substantial fraction of the population -- arguably, the most important fraction for me to reach -- whose ears turn off at the keyword "evolution." They can understand the facts, they understand the processes, they understand the inferences, they see that it all makes sense. But if you say "evolution" they turn off their ears and flush out their brains, because they have been told evolution will lead them to hell, in the literal sense.

Interestingly, the same people who feel that evolution is not real and that all evidence of active evolution (e.g., London's peppermoths) can be written off as human-induced "micro-evolution", are the same people who think that humanity is not responsible for global warming. Surely we can't be so powerful that we could mess up God's creation. Yet, we are powerful enough to defy God's plan and create "micro-evolution" where absolute stability would have reigned otherwise. I'm sure similar false modesty played into the hunting-to-extinction of the Steller's sea cow, the dodo, and the passenger pigeon.

The Enola Gay fuselage (since that is the only part that would fit in the NASM) was put on display in the NASM on the mall while the rest of the plane was being restored. This exhibit, which was never meant to be permanent, was the source of the controversy. The fuselage was later removed to be reunited with the rest of the plane and moved to the UHC.

The displays at UHC do not have any interpretive narrative like NASM exhibits do, so the bombing interpretation argument is moot.

One of my pictures of it as currently displayed:

http://flickr.com/photos/yellojkt/72248050/in/set-1553268/

I just had this mental image of little robotic pied pipers leading all the cockroaches out of New York City into the Hudson, with all the roaches singing "Roachtown Races" as they march front left, middle right, back left, front right, middle left, back right, doo-dah..

And as they leave, half of New York City shivers then collapses.

And now for something completely different: the circuitry hooking up genes seems to differ drastically between humans and chimps. D'oh!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071114151513.htm

I am told that it is no accident, but rather a point of institutional style, that "informational" placards at the Smithsonian have no historical interpretation of any artifact. They will tell you what it is called, where it was found, and so on, but that's it. Often, not even what it was for. You can be shown a whole case full of ancient coins, covering a thousand years in a civilization's history, and be told nothing so helpful as their historical ordering and what they tell us about the culture through time. The most ludicrous example is in "Milestones of Flight" where the plaque for one of the war planes tells you about its motors and manufacturing date, but there is nothing to tell you why it is a milestone. Historical research is left as an exercise for the visitor.

Oh yes, people tend to accept science just as far as they dare go. They're on a "prove every case basis" when it comes to evolution, especially if they don't think well mathematically.

Some of them wouldn't even want to believe the earth goes around the sun if it wasn't so well established that they feared looking silly for believing the bible's literal truth in that regard.

However I remember a born-again guy saying he didn't believe in the explanation of gravity because why didn't the moon fall towards the sun when it had its perihelion during its earthly orbit. I knew but not well enough to explain, and he wasn't really interested in knowing why anyway.

Sometimes it scares me how strongly people believe that everything in the universable must be comprehensible to them in less than 10 seconds in order for it to be true.
It seems to me an order of hubris and a form of blasphemy to God to deny how complex, ancient, and wonderful the universe is. But some people are just plain agoraphobic in their thinking skills.

The creationists have seemed blasphemers to me for a long,long time.

Come to think of it, I'll be coming and going from Dulles in December and might have the chance to come into town for a Saturday.

there will be no thinking outside the box...er...bible

yello, you got some cool pictures there. The label for IMG_0314 is a bit off though. Just a little typo for sure.

Man, my loyalties are torn today. I am a confirmed Achenaddict. But gosh darn it. Over at Liz's place they are discussing Star Wars. And ponies.

Which Star Wars episode had ponies?

Thanks for the heads up. the caption now reads:

X-35 later to become the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter

Go forth, RD. It's very rare that Liz's chat is interesting, carpe diem. May the force be with you. Giddyup.

I just realized how that sounded. Ouch. But TV/movie/musican celebrity gossip is rather dull. It's all a media coverage sham to keep them "famous for being famous."

oops, similar label issue with IMG_0328

Oh oh, what do I see falling from the sky? Manna? It's either that or I'll get home in wet shoes.

yeah but RD, you gotta keep that red hair thing under control.

The nomenclature on that plane is a little fuzzy. The NASM websites call it the X-35, but a lot of other places call it the XF-35 since it was the prototype for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

But it fits in so nicely with my Spiderman fixation, what with MJ and all.

Have a great weekend everyone.

The end is nigh?

Comet 17P/Holmes is now bigger than the sun! (Wait for the backlash on *that* - it will make John's comment about The Beatles seem like a f*rt in a hurricane.)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20071115/sc_space/incrediblecometbiggerthanthesun;

"It seems to me an order of hubris and a form of blasphemy to God to deny how complex, ancient, and wonderful the universe is. But some people are just plain agoraphobic in their thinking skills."

Amen, Wilbrod, amen.

God's time is not our time, and he has no need to see anything completed in a hurry. I am astounded at the way creationists deny his patience and the wonder and beauty of the consequences of that patience.

yello, we had the X-35 (and its competition, the X-32) down at Pax River when I worked there. It isn't that the nomenclature is fuzzy; it is that it changes over the life of the plane. The original test version prototypes was (and remain) the X-35 (I believe there were three). There won't be an F-35 until one is actually produced and sent into service, which I think will be sometime this year or next. In the meanwhile, the test versions (there will be 22, from the briefings I heard) are the XF-35s. The reason it is called a "joint" strike fighter is because three branches will use it: Air Force, Navy and Marines.

See for instance: http://www.dcmilitary.com/dcmilitary_archives/stories/031004/27901-1.shtml

The key grafs: "During the testing and development phase, which is estimated to cost some $33 to $40 billion, 22 F-35 aircraft will be produced; eight of them will be static test aircraft and 14 will be flying models [these will be XF-35s--Curmudgeon]. Nine of those 14 will be tested here [at Pax River], while the other five will be tested by the Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base.

"The F-35 is not really a single aircraft, but rather a "family" of three variants. After the test phase, the Air Force will get 1,763 conventional-take-off-and-landing versions (the F-35A) to replace it's A-10 Thunderbolt and F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. The Navy and Marine Corps will purchase 680 carrier versions and short-take-off-vertical-landing versions (the F-35C and F-35B). Great Britain's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force will purchase 150 F-35s, bringing the grand total to 2,593 aircraft. Beyond this $220 billion worth of aircraft, half a dozen foreign nations who are partners in the project will purchase an estimated 700 F-35s."

SCC: The F-35 won't go into service for a few years; it's the XF-35 test versions coming out this year or next.

Oh my gosh... why don't you guys start discussing The Flash?

Jet fighters are so completely cool. They speak to men's inner cowboy-child. Can we talk about the F-22 Raptor, too? It's supposed to be "out" by now, isn't it?

Just called a friend of mine: delivery of the first XF-35s to Pax has slipped (what a surprise) to late 2008 or 2009.

TBG raises a good point: who is faster, the Flash or an X-35?

Cowtown, the Raptor is "so yesterday" that it has already been on an episode of Mr. Monk.

*chortling and thinking of TBG screaming and pulling her hair out*

Well, TBG perhaps we could discuss where I could find a nice Christmas Shower Curtain while the boys are discussing whatever it is they are discussing :-)

Well, that figures. I don't get HBO. Now I know what I'm missing. Let's drive TBG absolutely bonkers with an impassioned discussion regarding why variable geometry wing configuations disappeared from tactical fighters in the 20th Century.

Or baseball? or knitting? Or recipes?

My dad flew F-4Es in Vietnam and F-4Gs in Korea. He has a plaque in his office noting 100 missions over North Vietnam as a FAC. I once asked him if F-4s were too fast for for forward air command. He said, "Yeah, that's why they didn't do it for very long." And that was all he would say of it.

He was captain of the PACAF William Tell team in 1978. They had to fly their planes from Clark AFB, PI to Florida and back. That's a lot of bathroom breaks.

He was also a gunrunner to Iran. He delivered an F-4 to the Royal Iranian Air Force and came back with a nice samovar.

Hey, it's not like certain somebodies didn't go into the shop steward's office while I was away and slather doilies and lladro all over the place, ya know.

Just wait till the holiday decorations arrive Mudge!

When my dad was at TAC command at Langley, we all went out to see the delivery of the first A-10. Now that was one ugly plane. I once asked why the official speed of the F-15 was listed as Mach 2 and the F-4's was 2.5. He said, "Too many people have flown an F-4."

Swear to god, dmd, when I got home from work last evening my wife was looking at a silver tray she'd found at a thrift store yesterday that said "Merry Christmas" on it, and there was some kinda Santa Claus inflatable thing she got for three bucks.

SciTim,
The only good thing to come about as a result of the F-111 was that the Rooskis stole the design for the MiG-23 Flogger.

At least...I assume it was for decoration...

Sorry, Cowtown, I mistook your for SciTim. How's the Star Wars debate going?

Let's talk about shoes...

Did you know that Zappos.com has free overnight delivery? Both directions? So if they don't fit or if you don't like them you can return them for free as well.

I like the mules, but if you like pumps or slingbacks they've got lots of those, too.

And don't even get me talking about the handbags and purses. I could go on all day...

Oh, it's OK, except someone keeps trying to change the subject. Something about Britney Spears and driving. And ponies.

No. No. Not Britney Spears and ponies.

I hope it wasn't a prototype for one of these!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071115.wlevy15/BNStory/Science/

" Every major pundit -- Blitzer, Russert, Matthews -- is a complete and total idiot. Jeezus, where are the Walter Cronkites, the Edward R Murrows? This generation of 'journalists' would have been better suited to be circus clowns."

Someone commented that on another site. I agree. I had brief hopes that the candidates would arise en masse and just beat up Blitzer. This would have been rockin' good TV, and made people vote Democrat. Biden and Edwards and Richardson were all ready to roll against Blitzer and CNN. The others were not. It is said that the revolution will not be televised. It may have almost been.

Are Britney and the ponies appearing in Tijuana? I've heard about that show, but never seen it.

I bet I know what David Levy's "research" consisted of.

Isaac Asimov already covered that issue in his sequels to "Pebble in the Sky", including the "The Robots of Dawn."

I hope Roboporn isn't the future of robot sci-fi, though.

I rue the day my wife discovered Zappos. One of those boxes hits our front door about weekly.

dmd, it won't work, at least not for men my age who saw Westworld and Blade Runner.

Jumper this is for you, recent skit about Blitzer on Canadian TV. If the link doesn't go right to the video, it aired Nov. 6 - called Situation Room.

http://www.cbc.ca/22minutes/

When I was back-boodling and saw the reference to a delay in delivery of aircraft to Pax I thought that meant Pakistan and was thinking well, yeah. I recall there was an issue of delivery of F-16s to Pakistan; wonder what's become of that.

yellojkt: wasn't the F111 Bush's aircraft or was he flying the F105?

The number of F35 on order keep shrinking, apparently there is a costly war on or something.
I listened to 5 minutes of the debate last night and came to the conclusion that John Roberts of CNN is a partisan idiot. Have you heard his diatribe against teacher unions that was supposed to be a question to Hillary? He's just another outragist.
The tall dark candidate (Richardson?) seem pretty at ease with most issues IMHO.

Soc, the F111 was flying in Vietnam, the F105 wasn't. Now guess which reserve unit W used his daddy's influence to join?

SofC, the F111 was a "light" bomber that held a crew of two or three. Bush flew an F-105 (I think) which was a single seat fighter.

I've heard tell that the A-12 Oxcart was a fairly impressive flying machine.

Pretty sure Dubya flew F-105s. They were farmed out to ANG units once the Phantom II came online. It was called the "Thud" for a reason. My dad's F-4 buddies had nothing good to say about it.

And for something completely dorky--
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071116/lf_nm_life/initials_performance_dc

"Yay! I got another C! That's C for Casey!"
"That's nothing... I got TWO Ds for David. I rock, dude!"

Dunno, because people don't pick their names, this can be a marker for other biases (ethnic naming systems; trendy names-- Chris* is an extremely common name).

I'd also analyze the C and D names by gender and see if there is in fact a gender or generational skew in the grad school population.

The most popular boys and girls name in the 1980's strongly suggest that, in fact, C and D name frequency may be skewed to males.
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/decades/names1980s.html

Since graduate school is selective of those who graduated college and qualified to be admitted, this may mean there is an unconscious bias towards accepting poorer-quality male applicants that have familiar names that are easy to remember... and perhaps.

I call bollocks on this analysis. If they had reliably shown there is an effect in the elementary or secondary school system, I'd take this result more seriously.

When the A-10 came out, it was officially the Thunderbolt II. It quickly got called the Warthog by the pilots and the name stuck.

Yes, I believe you're right, RD.

Thanks dmd. Nice to know I'm not the only one.

Hey! Those really fast fast tan pointy jets did a formation flyover to start the Centennial parade this morning. It was a great whooosh!boom.

I believe "fast fast tan pointy" is an official designation.

Have I mentioned that it is TOO EARLY to watch the "debates"? Although I like the idea of the candidates rising up against the "moderator". Also, I want to see Dennis Kucinich's Steel Death Cage costume.

I am particularly fond of fast fast tan pointy jets. They definitely speak to my inner Cowboy-Child.

I'm going over to the Bunker right now to paint it pink and lavender. Anyone want to help?

Wilbrod, I think everybody in their right mind is just waiting for the debunking to be completed. However, my daughter is getting better grades in college with an A-name than she did in high school with her original D-name. So you can't prove anything by that.

I was over at the Tulsa World this afternoon and read an article about Indians protesting the Oklahoma centennial celebration. There's a lively discussion in the comments section with a wide variety of views represented.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=071116_1__OKLAH12076

SD, yeah, but he's ummm, Canadian.

Well, Canadian born anyway. Like I said...

Me, me, pick me, Maggie!

Of course, dr. I'm thinking of stripes for the front entry. Too daring?

Maggie... Lemme pleeeeeze paint the bunker's foyer (pronounced "foy-yay") a lovely shade of aqua...

The Bunker interior shall be decorated with plastic fighter jet models and deer antlers! And Sports Illustrated swimsuit calendars. And there'll be Outside magazines on EVERY END TABLE!

My dear Cowtown, I am immune to deer antlers. Deeply, fundamentally, seriously immune.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/62628983@N00/?saved=1

And I know how to decorate them too.

And that is just the front entrance.

Ponies!

Someday I will blog about my adventures with kb at the Miami Book Fair, but since CowTown is here today, let me just mention that there is a Cowtown Bar in the Dallas Airport. I was not quickwitted enough to get a picture...I think it's somewhere among the A gates.

A CLIP FROM "CELEBRITOLOGY Live Chat", with Liz Kelly, TODAY (I lurk so you don't have to)

Chat comparisons: Has doing this chat made you more impressed or less impressed with Gene's prodigious chatting skills?

Liz Kelly: Oh more. Way more. Gene puts so much time into his chat. Seriously, the live hour is just the tip of the iceberg. He spends at least 10 hours a week on chat prep, debriefing and poll-building.

He's a little OCD.

AND THIS REJOINDER, LATER:

Debriefing: Liz, you were joking when you referred to Gene "debriefing", right?

Liz Kelly: Ha. HAHAHA. I didn't mean it that way.

_______________________

This public service sighting of Gene W. brought to you courtesy of

ZAPPOS.com

Shoes: Eat. Breathe. Live. REpeat.

End Tables? Bit la-di-da don'tcha think?
Can we have Harley Davidson napkin rings?

DR -- your photos run the gamut, with knitting juxtaposed to Char Catch, Circa 1970s. Wow.

Let's redo the ready room with antlers, yet flock them for the holidays. Shall we try a lime green/amethyst pink to go with TBG light aqua walls....a sort of fifties holiday look complete with a metallic aluminum xmas tree?

Gotcha covered with that retro look, CP.

Did you all see this latest mixture of money, politics and the Smithsonian?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/16/AR2007111601495.html?hpid=topnews

Let's not forget the four-footed stalwart guardians of the bunker.

There should be stuffed kittens buried in the baskets of yarn for us to chew on and play fetch with.

Oh, and baskets full of deliciously stuffed kongs with nice chewable squeaky cloth covers. An umbrella stand full of bully sticks would also be awesome. And don't forget to stock up with food and water and extra leashes and so on for the necessities of life. Dog beds or extra sofas are awesome, too.

THEN maybe I'll happily wear something stupid that goes with the decor. I draw the line at wearing pants of any sort, though.

The antlers look divine with each tip ending in a bow. And they do look tres chic in hats.

Seriously, We don't post a lot of photos of these things, but it is very much part of who mr dr is. It is part of his view of mans place in the grand scheme of things. It goes right along with my love of natural things and old pursuits.

I'm not going to post pictures of the garage, cause even I don't beleive that.

We're cutting the big tree up this weekend. We will do a ring count, but I don't think its going to be more than 80-90 years. The really big trees are from about 1890, the last time there was a major forest fire in the general area.

Wilbroddog,

check items 1, 2 and 4. Can do.

Here's an idea for sofa cushions

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SceneSevenDisplay?catalogId=10001&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=-50566&scene7Path=BassPro%2f18936%3flayer%3dcomp%26wid%3d500%26hei%3d500%26fmt%3djpeg%26qlt%3d100%2c0%26op_sharpen%3d0%26resMode%3dnorm%26op_usm%3d1.0%2c1.0%2c0.0%2c0&sourceName=images2%2f18500%2f18936.jpg&type=0&linkEnabled=false

*sobbing quietly*

KB -- Can I drive with that fish riding shotgun? I sorta want that thing.

STOP. Me. PLEEEEESE.

Off to take CPBoy to the ice rink, where they go round and round and round, to all sorts of music ranging from

Soulja Boy
to
Hokey Pokey.

Ain't life grand.

Gotta inject a bit of fact-correcting here. Bush flew (when he decided to show up) the F-102 Delta Dagger, not 105s. The F-105 was called the Thunderchief officially, b@st@rdized (rightly so) into the Thunderthud, shortened to Thud. The F-102 was not a great aircraft even in its heyday, but was obsolete by the mid 60s. They retired them as soon as they could, and basically gave them away to various Air National Guard outfits to play with. So basically Arbusto was flying the military equivalent of 20-year-old Pinto. It was basically a fighter/interceptor, but was barely capable of going up against a healthy Michigan mosquito. So George wasn't exactly poised out at the tip of the spear, if ya know what I mean.

I want that, KB! I want that! How did you know that I love fish?

Mudge, good to know that the future president was never in danger, except from himself.

Ladies, ladies! If you want a Fraser fir for the Christmas tree in the bunker, just let me know and I'll get and fax it tomorrow. We found ours today, at a place where there are many lovely ones. Will a nine-footer do, or do you want one bigger?

Far be it from a color-blind dog to comment, but perhaps the rainbow trout or marlin would also be good?

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/SearchResults?searchOption=products&hvarSearchString=stuffed+fish&storeId=10151&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&CMID=TOP_SEARCH_GO

Don't forget the singing bass.

http://www.funny-stuff-central.com/practical-jokes/big-mouth-billy-bass.php

I think my father in law has the whole collection, I am sure I could absoond with one or two.

Yesterday, I woke up to find THREE new kits. Today, there's just 1 new kit so that's not too bad. Still there's a lot to catch up on.

Happy Belated Oklahoma Day, Ivansmon. IIRC OK is flat, flat, flat. Not that it's bad. Just different from Missouri which is undulating. In MO, there are many memorial plaques along the trail of the Trail of Tears.

I like a variety of needle arts, and enjoy home decorating, but for the life of me can't figure out why any topic could be more interesting than military aircraft, unless of course one drifts from fixed to rotary wing. But,that just increases the fascination factor X100.

BTW, our latest military aircraft transfer to Pakistan was late last month-RAWALPINDI: The US formally handed over 26 Bell-412 helicopters and four completely refurbished Cobra helicopters to the Pakistan Army at a ceremony held here on Monday.

US Ambassador Anne Patterson handed the helicopters over to Defence Secretary Kamran Rasool.

Rasool thanked the US government and said that the induction of these helicopters into the army would significantly enhance their operational capabilities.

Speaking at the formalising ceremony of the final acceptance and transfer of 25 Bell-412 helicopters to the army at Qasim Airbase, Patterson praised Pakistan Army Aviation and said that the induction of these helicopters would strengthen their efforts to fight extremism and bring peace and stability to the region. She said the day marked a new chapter in Army Aviation's history.

Read it all here:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C10%5C23%5Cstory_23-10-2007_pg1_8

My take on this is that helicopters are infinitely more useful in a coup than fast movers.

Is it okay if I bring some lights for the bunker? I mean Xmas lights, the ones that are different colors. I love Christmas lights. Will the lights fit your color scheme?

Cassandra, any Christmas lights will fit the color scheme!

I went out a few minutes ago to get a salad from Sub Station, and on the way back home, I thought about my son. Holidays always bring him to mind. And it is just so sad for me. I am thankful for my many blessings, yet I miss my son terribly. I don't want to kill the boodle or make any of you sad, it just that the loss almost consumes me at times. I am looking forward to the holidays with the bright lights and smiling children (my grandchildren also)reeking with anticipation for Santa. I believe that is one of the things that I miss most about being a child, that sense of wonder and excitement. We loose that as adults, some of us anyway.

I am off to bed. Sleep well, boodle, and enjoy your weekend.

Well, everybody knows that helicopters are cool.

*memo to self: add military aircraft to list of verboten kit topics, along with the Flash. In future kit discussions with fellow XYs, use secret code phrase "pink taffeta" to indicate military aircraft, and "lovely organza" to denote civilian aircraft. Use "tassels" to denote rotary aircraft. Try to convince unknowledgable female Boodlers "Enola Gay" is the name of new Italian cast member of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Discuss with legal counsel [not Ivansmom; try Bil Everything or SofC] feasibility of getting restraining order preventing yellojkt from ever again posting links to his photo collection of ...uh...pink taffeta and tassels.*

*additional memo to self: NEVER, EVER leave bunker or shop steward's office unlocked over the weekend EVER again*

Happy OK Day! I visited Tulsa and Muskogee, OK last year for a gathering of Leon Russell fans. Leon, of course, is from Lawton, OK. My sister and I visited the Five Civilized Tribes Museum:
http://www.fivetribes.org/History.html
What a patronizing name - I'm not quite sure what to make of it, or what the tribes thought about it. Anyway, it's a nice museum - had an art show when we were there with some fabulous pieces - near a park. It's actually on a bit of a hill.

Leon played Okie from Muskogee in the concert that was in Muskogee. I've also heard Merle Haggard do part of that song in Seattle - he stopped part way through, and said, "Oh, you all don't want to hear *that*." He plays anti-war songs too, now. I hated that song when it came out - now it seems pretty funny.

Cassandra, I'm so sorry for your loss. Holidays are a tough time to get through. If it helps to tell us about your son, please do. From what you've told us already, he seems like a fine young man.

I love the big fish pictures and really want one. The antlers on the wall were cool, but maybe just a few too many for my taste.

In all the hiking I have done, I have never came across any deer antlers....never.

Hunting season starts here Monday at dawn. It will sound like the 4th of July. A good time to stay out of the woods. There is no hunting in my community here, but a hunting property is located about a half a mile away. One year I had a buck run into my yard and collapse. The hunter followed the blood trail to my yard. I let him take his prize. I like venison and look forward to getting some from my hunting friends.

Oh, I forgot to say that our county closes the schools for the first week of hunting season. That always struck me as odd.

Off to work, everyone have a good weekend.

Dear Cassandra, tell us some stories if you like. We will listen carefully, around the campfire. Christmastide and all the winter holidays are about light. But the light shines in a darkness. Some of us know this darkness too well, too often, and too deeply. Becoming a parent makes us so vulnerable to the greatest grief: outliving a beloved and singular child. God keep you, dear one.

---
Off to watch Numbers, that best of contrived detective shows, and finish a green swirling scarf, knitted first at a certain ballgame in RFK with some random boodler-types last summer. The color is Mo-Dark-Luscious Green....and where is that fun and frolic of a gal?

And reading Mudge's secret code post and laughing heartily at the tassels = rotary aircraft moving parts. Too funny. You oughta have a permit this level of humor.

Cassandra-CP said it much better than I. Thinking of you.

Ah, Lawton OK. Where Mr. F and I met. Alas I only lived in OK for a year, but it was a good one.

GWE-our deer season is winding down. School was closed the first Monday of the season and today, the last Friday. Thus hunting season is always bracketed by 3 day weekends. Might as well close school, most of the teachers would call in sick and the kids would skip anyway.

SCC that all caps gwe, looks so totally wrong and sock puppet like.

Wow, this brought out the wingnuts:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/11/16/post_203.html?hpid=topnews

And counter-rotating tassels will mean a CH-47 Chinook or Belle Star.

And can we put a Miller Lite tiffany lamp over the pool table in the bunker?

From the NORFED FAQ:

Q. Can I use Liberty Dollars to pay my income tax?

A. This is a trick question. Income tax is UNCONSTITUTIONAL and doesn't have to be paid.

See, physicists shoulda take lessons from Mudge on how to name concepts.

None of this k,f,c business.

Lighting a room properly= Harmonize lamps until it hertz.

I miss Loompanics.

Reposting from the last (but also, wrong) Boodle. And this is why one should not Boodle when jet-lagged. I posted this a scant 10 minutes ago, just missed that there was a kit and Boodle more recent. (!)

No time to backboodle yet, just to say, landed home about 2 hours ago; lovely to see #1 and #2 and the boyfriend at the airport. I love Ireland. I want to live there. Even though I didn't locate Maggie O'D. Much much more later. I've missed all these imaginary friends.

Since I feel it is now about 3:00 am, I'm to bed.

Posted by: Yoki | November 16, 2007 10:46 PM

Yoki... glad to know you're home safe and sound. Go to bed and we'll talk in the morning!

Welcome back, Yoki. Hope you had a good flight aboard your lovely organza.

That didn't seem to work out very well.

'Mudge, don't forget, "silent but deadly":
Stealth B-2 bomber

bill everything,
That Trail piece on the Liberty Dollar raid is a marvel. The comments are even better!

Hi, Yoki! I'm still way behind and I only went to the East Coast.

This is on the front page - about the Liberty Dollar raid:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/16/AR2007111602267.html?hpid=topnews
Re-PUB-lic!

It's interesting that people notice that it's not normal practice to prosecute people for minting private coins, and assume this is politically related.

More likely, it's because they're mislabelling the composition of coins and selling brass as gold, and zinc as silver.

That would be massive mail fraud right there if people are buying them out of catalogs.

"Uttering", which was a word I hadn't actually known about until a few months ago (such a straight and narrow path I walk, you see), means knowingly passing counterfeit money, and that is also a serious charge. It doesn't mean they're necessarily milling counterfeit money.

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

The FBI is apparently not commenting because it is part of an ongoing investigation to determine the parties involved. The coin company may or may not be cleared eventually.

Anybody who has a liberty dollar probably should get it tested to see whether it is in fact heavy enough to be the volume of gold or silver as claimed.

Doing a simple volume vs weight measurement should be a fairly reliable guide to see whether it is in fact the correct composition as claimed; not very many materials are as heavy as gold. Anybody who paid attention in HS chemistry could do it.

Someone in the previous Boodle compared working for corporations to indentured servitude. From the local paper today:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/339881_boeingsurveillance16.html
"It's not quite indentured servitude, because you can quit, but when you look at the mortgages and car payments, especially in Seattle, you're not exactly free," said the surveilled former employee.

I can't believe that Von NotHaus is someone's real name.

Evenin', y'all. The parade has parode, the show was shown, the food was et. The leftover food is stored and dishes are done, if not put away. Very soon it will be bedtime. A very nice Centennial has been had by all. I'm going to try and force the Boy down to the river for the nighttime boat parade tomorrow, before his (gulp!) Fall Dance.

Cassandra, many hugs about your son. Welcome back, Yoki.

rainforest, the western part of Oklahoma is flat. The east has hills and trees, and the southeast and southwest have very old mountains. Almost hills now. Mostlylurking, the Five Civilized Tribes acknowledge the name and recognize the irony in it - these tribes were living in real houses, eating off china, and engaging in representative government while the white settlers were living in dugouts, eating turnips and hoping to someday have indoor plumbing. The first college in Oklahoma was a Cherokee women's college.

Mudge, feel free to consult me about the whole "pink taffeta and tassels" issue.

Made-in-Oklahoma menu: chips, crackers. Maria Rae's #2 hot salsa, Enid; Shooting Star chipotle salsa, Bartlesville; garlic yogurt cheese, Wagon Creek Creamery, Helena; Scott Farms Herb Dip and Cheesy Enchilada Soup (made as dip), Altus; Krebs white cheese; Watonga cheese -- tomato & basil cheddar, white garlic cheddar, white & yellow cheddar; pinto beans with ham hock (pre-statehood family recipe); Shawnee Mills cornbread; brisket; rolls; sauce from my grandfather's barbecue sauce recipe, made annually by my cousin; Okarche cinnamon rolls; Watonga cheese fudge; Woody candy company pralines; Bedre chocolates. Two Tidal School Winery reds; one Grape Ranch red and one white; Choc (from Choctaw) beer - original 1919, wheat, and Choctoberfest.

That list did me in. A happy Centennial to all, and to all a good night. Vaya con queso, cheese fudge, and fondue.

"Von NotHaus, who said he years ago changed his name to a Germanic version of his given name, Nothhouse..."

I'm sorry I missed all the airplane talk (and I'll bet Scottynuke does too, he has some cred there, IIRC), wouldn't call it my wheelhouse, but I have more than a passing fancy for aircraft.

As far as the swing-wing military aircraft goes, I only Boodle-scanned, but I didn't see anyone mention the B-1 or the Tornado.

CP, if you've ever seen any counter-rotating tasselprops operating wide open, you'd likely be as impressed as Mudge clearly was/is.

Speaking of code, I think the word "fusilage" has some potential.

"Monocoque," too, come to think of it.

Got to watch a SR-71 (no, not an A-12 - and you know who I'm talkin' to here) take off from Andrews once, one of the darnedest things I ever saw. I was only able to watch from outside the base, but it was worth it to watch the thing lift off, point it's nose at the sky, light the afterburners and disappear d@mn near straight up. Oh, and did I mention the NOISE?

Way cool, not Rolls-Royce/Merlin at WOT cool, but a different kind of cool.

And if the little scale models need to be built for the bunker, let me know. I used to be pretty good at that stuff, think I still even have a decent airbrush and some sharp Exacto blades. Need some new plastic putty though, I think mine went solid at some point during the first Reagan administration.

bc

please, bc, ixnay on the ationaviay talk, please; the omenway don't ikeitlay.

Planes are OK, it's that damn alphabet-number soup that bugs us.

Maybe you should provide links to pictures so we know what the heck is being talked about.

Or, just hold a BPH at the air-space museum cafe and talk away to your delight about big flat things that go vroom really loud in the air.

Mudge is saying something secret to bc. I'm guessing it has something to do with the bunker. I think the bunker needs an aromatic diffuser lamp. A stress relief blend of lavender oil should relax everyone.

Hi Yoki. Glad to hear that all the boodlers who went on vacation got home safely.

On political campaigns. When a campaign period runs long so is the mudslinging period. I think this can cause the voters to not vote. A person working 8 hrs or more a day doesn't have that much time to check on what is true and what is not. If the candidates are as bad as what each other say he/she is then both are as bad. If that's the case, why vote?

Re : Enola Gay. SE Asians (I'm sure the sentiment was the same in China) were not sorry that Enola Gay drop "Little Boy". Sure, the death and sufferings from that action was horrendous but we equated that with the killings and cruelties we suffered under the Japanese occupation.

Hey wait a second. Mudge said Thunderthud was the nickname an aircraft? I saw a program the other day about aircraft, which mentioned the Thunderthud. Its just not a name you forget.

I'm up early(mt time) because mr dr has a severe case of gout. Fall is always tough for him. First a couple of toes, then his other ankle. It is what happens when he doesn't listen to his lovely wife and go to the doctor. He sleeps better if I'm not tossing and turning trying to get back to sleep.

I'll catch up with a nap later, but the coffee is on in the bunker. It seemed the least I could do.

Mention aircraft? Me? Nope. Never happened. Unh-uh. I didn't do it. Nosirree. Wouldn't be prudent. Won't ever talk about the a-word. Strictly a boat guy. Man was never meant to fly.

Disney dollars.

Thanks for the correction Mudge. I knew W conducted a pursuit oxcart that wasn't used in SE Asia because soon there wasn't anything to pursue, just did'nt remembered the model of pursuit oxcart correctly. The Thunderclap GT vs the Olds Delta 88 SE.

*happy-weekend-to-all-as-I-backBoodle Grover waves* :-)

Yes, I DID miss the conversation on those-technological-marvels-that-shall-remain-nameless... *L*

yellojkt, bc and 'Mudge might know why I have a particularly good understanding of the steel-to-concrete interaction characteristics of the "marvel" that yello's dad used to operate.

And I was ALWAYS happy to see the Warthog when I was in the Gulf.

And it's fun to see the "thinking" of the "let's make an alternate monetary system/taxes are illegal" crew...

:-)

G'morning, all.

How was the first week of married life, Snuke? And where are you taking the Mrs for her honeymoon?

Oh, I like the thought of a lavender diffuser lamp, rainforest! Good call! That should make Mudge so mellow, he'll be okay with the Christmas decorating in the bunker. We really should do something special for him in the shop stewart's office. Hmmm...will have to think about that.

I noticed in that story about Liberty dollars a reference to the local federal law office and checked the Charlotte paper's website for news, to no avail. I'll watch and post links, if anything comes up.

The big news around here this week has been the arrest of a local couple who allegedly ran a high-dollar prostitution service from their home, not far from where Mr. T and I live. The feds investigated and filed charges because the service was not just interstate but international in its reach. The service provider who is their witness said she made $160,000 one year, after the couple's cut. Wow.

It's been smiles all around, Slyness, thank you for asking!!! :-))))))))))

We've got plenty of ideas for the "honeymoon," but it'll wait until we're in a position for both of us to take enough vacation for it to be worthwhile. Hopefully early next year.

*humming a certain Carly Simon tune* :-)

Just checking in. I'm off today to take my son and four of his friends to see Beowulf in Imax 3D. The closest theater showing this format is in King of Prussia. You have to support your kids when they show an interest in literature.

Good luck, yello. If I'd known that Angelina Jolie was gonna be in Beowulf nekkid, I'd have paid a little more attention in freshman English, slicked back my hair and worn a necktie to class. (Hey, this was 1964. Gimme a break.)

Good morning, friends. Thanks, mostly, dear CP, frostbitten and Ivansmom for the kind and comforting words. They do help along with much prayer, and that name that is above every name, Sweet Jesus.

Ivansmom, that menu is mouth-watering even at this hour of the morning!

I am off this morning to a Minority Health Summit at the local community college. I went last year and it was nice.

Welcome back, Yoki. I hope you enjoyed your trip.

Slyness, I saw that news item on television. These folks were operating this business, for lack of a better word, out of their home. That's a lot of money for sin, isn't it? The Devil pays well, but I don't think one can stand that bonus at the end of life.

Mudge, I hope you didn't get offended at my comment about Mrs. Clinton. Women get a lot of grief in this world just going along, and called all kinds of names for just breathing.

And good morning Scotty, and all.*waving* I hope your honeymoon is the best, Scotty, for you and your bride. The backdrop for your wedding was fantastic!

Time to hit the shower. Enjoy your weekend. Give God some of your time, and of course, your family.

I know it is difficult for young people in this world. I have a daughter and she's still trying to find her place in the world. Young people face a lot of challenges and so much to draw their attention from what they need to do. Having said that, why are those babies of Brittany's being placed in danger every day? If that was someone not as famous as she is, they would be under the jailhouse, not just in it. I don't understand that. We cannot feed people's fantasies with the lives of children. Where are the people that protect children in that state? Must those babies die to feed the media? Has everybody lost their mind?

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

Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf is very right-on, luscious stuff. CPDots adored the story, reading every version we could lay our hands on. I think we have about seven versions. CPBoy may find the new sexed-up version of Grendle's Mommy Fearest a reason to dabble more. My rule of read-book-see-movie still carries force.

We have the good fortune of knowing a woman who studied Beowulf at Yale -- including some time with genius-candidate Harold Bloom. This talented friend who is auntie-like to my children would recite the opening lines of Beowulf in chilling and delicious Old English. Oh! the hidden lyric nuggets called kennings within the epic, spun-out stanza-by-stanza:

wide whale-path (sea)
salt-sea way (route by sea)
sleep of the sword (death in battle)
billow-maidens (mer maids)
ring giver (chieftain who shares spoils of war)

For children, Ian Serraillier's version is quite good, as is Robert Nye's retelling.

I am, dismayed, however, at the Jolie-ification of the monster's mother. The elliptical descriptions of the bad, avenging mother only heighten the fear. We should not be fully sure of her "person" or physical attributes. Here is a bit of word-annodating on Grendel's mother: 'aglæc-wif' likely denotes "wretch" or "monster-woman." Klaeber's glossary also defines "aglæca/æglæca."

Whoops -- demon, monster,....ya know, things that go bump in the night, although Grendle's mommy is a swamp creature.

John Gardner's _Grendle_ takes the point of view of being Grendle, which is a great AND SHORT companion read.

DR -- Sorry about gout-man's troubles. Ouch! Let this pass quickly, in the meantime, read Beowulf aloud? Knit along to a tape?

Drat on my spelling problems. More coffee, then bike ride. Brain will jump into gear in response.

Take care all, as leaves are slippery when wet.

Sheesh, I was hoping we'd start swapping video links to A-10s doing CAS.

However, I think we should leave the lavender diffuser lamp behind and talk dogsled racing. I thought I knew a thing or two about the sport, until I went to the local race committee's planning meeting in our fair city Thursday night. We are going to be the finish line for the amateur classes (38 miles from the start) and a way station for the pros who will race on another 92 miles. With the teams they have registered already we'll have more dogs than people in town on Jan. 12th. The old timers, and I didn't even know we had any old time mushers around, are of two minds about this as many feel mushers aren't waiting long enough to see what kind of shape their dogs will be in by January. But, with races filling to capacity if they don't enter early they won't have anywhere to race. Some big dreamers feel the only thing keeping us from having a NASCAR length season is global warming.

Here's the race web site-http://www.whiteoakclassic.org/apps/joomla/

I see while I was attending to a phone call from Mr. F, who is back from Afghanistan a day late but now enroute from Charlotte to Tampa, the conversation turned to Beowulf. A sad, gaping hole in my education I will have to fill with CP's suggestions. Read an excerpt in a high school textbook, but don't think the teacher knew much about it and rushed us on.

Back to the aircraft. Ahem, boodlers-some of you will be able to look at these letters and know immediately what is being done-
K1 P2

Too many letters, my patootie.

Good morning, all.

Mudge, I think "Thunderthud" would be an excellent ring name should you ever take up pro wrestling [Love to see you in one of those way cool Mexican wrestling masks. Heck, you could wear it while Boodling, like StrongBad. Now that I think about it, maybe you *already* wear a 'Curmudgeon' mask while Boodling...].

"Beowulf" is all the rage this weekend, my oldest read BW for school a few years ago, and this year her teacher had her class read Gardener's 'Grendel.' For a class project, she and her friends took on a project to create a video adaptation of one of the scenes, to give them an appreciation for how difficult it can be to translate literature to the screen.

I haven't seen either adaptation yet, but I'm sure I'll love both. I'm a Gaiman fan (so I'm looking forward to the bigscreen version), and my daughter is an excellent scupltor and artist, and well-suited to taking ideas and manifesting them in media.

She's going to see "Beowulf" today as well, I'll wait for her review...

CP, I've been meaning to read Heaney's translation, but I'm about a half-dozen books behind and falling fast...

bc

SCC: "For a class project, she and her friends created a video adaptation of one of the scenes, to give them an appreciation for how difficult it can be to translate literature to the screen."

Bleah, even *that* sentence stinks.
But you see what I mean.

Once again, I fall afoul of the rule that I shouldn't interact with people while Boodling.

bc

(pardon the intrusion)

Paging Yoki, Frosti, DR, DMD, Mostlylurking, Dave of the Counties, Raysmom, Maggie ODay, Mudgekins! (in my frenzy, frothing state, please forgive the other garden-boodlers I neglect)

I SCORED SEVEN, yes 7, bog sage plants for $2/heft plant.

Salvia uliginosa
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1152/

Blue as in the perfect blue. However, I have planned on green beans from the farmer's market for TG Day. Frozen will have to do.

But gardening joy trumps cooking ought-to, at least for the day.

Good morning!

Cassandra, thank you for sharing your son with us.

I have a bad cold, but will brave the mighty outdoors and the PA turnpike to make it to a gem show today. A little restocking, picking up new vendors, searching for some specific stones for a bridal party's jewelry (daughter of a friend). The b2b's secret shower is tomorrow, so tonight . . . I'll be baking cookies (sigh).

I may try to curtail bridal party jewelry in the future. My 2 experiences so far have been Bridezillas: (1) when all profits were going to the Komen for a Cure (breast cancer), she asked for a discount knowing KfaC would get less and (2) last night, listening to the b2b rail on how she shouldn't have to pay the priest $200. He should be honored to ask to officiate at the cathedral! He should pay *her!* (Yes, this is the $250/pillow b2b). Her mother and I looked at each other and her teenaged sister said, "You know, this may be the most important day in your life, but nobody else cares that much. Deal with it." :-)

Have a good day, everyone.

And welcome back, Yoki! We've missed you.

Little sisters are great, dbG. They'll tell it like it is--after going upstairs to fetch something for the older sibling, that is. (I am a little sister, I have one and I have mothered one.)

My DBG just laughed at your bridezilla stories. Good luck today and have fun tomorrow at the shower. When is the wedding?

dbg, little sisters are great. I have one, and she is so outspoken, but I love it. She goes right to the meat of everything. Your bridal stories are so funny.

Missed the summit, have to go to church for a meeting. I still may be able to squeeze it in.

Thanks, TBG. I think the bride's older sister, who wasn't a Bridezilla, is pounding on her too.

Somehow I doubt the little sister will be a Bridezilla should she go the marriage route. Sometimes I think it's like getting older--impending marriage can intensify all your characteristics, bad and good.

The wedding is a few days after New Year's, early on a Friday evening.

Good morning! It looks like we're off to --are you ready? Beowulf. Then to read the Heaney translation en famille. A collective Boodle mindset?

I spend much time in my truck and installed a nice MP3 player in it recently. I'll brag on it briefly to say it has a slot on the front I just plug in one of several 4GB flash "thumb drives". Handy.
But sometimes NPR (the only radio I listen to much when I'm not listening to my newly-compiled music collection) and my music itself are not the exact thing I'm looking for. So, having been a longtime booster of Project Gutenberg, I was finally motivated to search their site for free & legal audiobooks. And stumbled onto a very long and provocative list, including, yes, Beowulf, which I found in the "A" section under "anonymous."
Here's the link:
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/categories/1

In addition, they have some computer-voice renditions of audiobooks. Haven't even looked at this list yet. This is actually how I was searching for all this, because I wanted to convert some of my ebooks into audible files, make some MP3s and load them up. As it turns out, the lexicon provided gratis by Microsoft is woefully unprepared to do this task in their text-to-speech synthesizer provided in the "Accessibility" options pack, and for a while my on-and-off attempts, to find a free lexicon I could plug into the Microsoft utility, were fruitless. I have searched for "open source" and "text-to-speech" and "lexicon wiki" to no real success. Just some promises. And actual applications I could purchase. As usual, however, the rules of my game state I should get these wonderful aps for free!
So ProjectGutenberg already has the actual books for me to listen to. I'm going to go back there and see what's available.

I still think someone should host a universal pronunciation guide wiki. Unfortunately I'm no linguistic speech synthesis expert.

Wow, Jumper... THANKS for the link! I think I'll start with the L. Frank Baum books.

Speaking of L. Frank Baum, my daughter pointed out to me recently that the name of the character Elphaba in the musical (and book) Wicked is based on Baum's name.

Get it? Elphaba (prounounced EL´-fuh-buh)... L. Frank Baum.

I have to right-click the download menu to save the MP3s, or they just start playing. But they are saveable.

I figured some Boodlers would be going to Beowolf this weekend. I saw one review in the local paper that wasn't great - says it doesn't stick to the original story (what ovie adaptation does?), and that it was sort of emotionless. But enjoy! (If I only went to movies that critics like, I wouldn't go to any).

CP, the salvia looks good. Nice blue.

SCC - movie (need more coffee!)

Interesting article about Vonnegut, Styron, Mailer:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/15/AR2007111501899.html?hpid=entnews
I spent some time in a Hudson News store in the Dallas airport on my way back home, and they had a good selection of Vonnegut's books - 5 or 6 at least. I read Thank You, Dr Kevorkian while I was there (it's less than 100 pages, I think). Could probably have read another, because it was a 2 hour layover that turned into 3.

Good afernoon all, CP the salvia are beautiful.

Been raking all morning and put up the green roping for christmas, just about everything hurts.

Yoki glad you back and Maggie a very belated welcome back.

Glad everyone appreciates little sisters, now can you pass on to my older sister how wonderful younger sisters are :-).

Off to little ones hockey game.

*belated but certainly heartfelt welcome-back-Yoki Grover waves*

:-)

Greetings, all.

I am still suffering through yet another Michigan loss to Ohio State. I remember being at such a game in the Big House many decades ago, when all the Ohio State fans were wearing "MUCK FICHIGAN" shirts. I tried to reverse it, but there were too many vowels in Ohio. *sigh*

On my way in a moment to get astonishingly and irrevocably glitzed up for a black tie party tonight down near the White House this evening. My hair is now below shoulder length, is mostly white and will be put up into what the stylist calls a "romantic" updo. The nails come first, however, having learned that lesson the hard way ages ago. And, yes, and THANKFULLY, the long gown still fits (whew!). I got it decades ago when Garfinkles went out of business for an embarrassingly low price. It's really, really gorgeous. Nice to be able to wear it again. Long dangly earrings and a sweet smile will go with it. The hostess is turning 50 in a very glamourous way. Awfully glad to help her out by going uber-glam myself.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Have fun, ftb... remember: You look mahvelous!

You're going to look fabulous, ftb! Don't stop with *near* the White House - you just go right on in. Er, maybe not - I suppose we'd be seeing you in the news, then. Have a great time.

Have a great time, firsttimeblogger. That sounds like fun. I love to dress up and seldom have the chance to do so - and I always wind up wearing pretty much the same thing (I might vary a shawl or something).

I recommend Beowulf, the movie. It is from the Gaiman comic book adaptation, not the "classic" poem, but it is still just a great story. The filmmaking has real actors who are then digitally altered (kurosawaguy can explain this, which I can't), so you recognize Anthony Hopkins, Robin Wright Penn, Angelina Jolie and John Malovich without their getting in the way of the story. The special effects were very good, and the 3D is cool (the glasses are much better this time around, and no headache). I think I was most pleased by the successful effort to tell a story. That is, this was from a comic book version but the movie is not a comic book. The characters change and grow. The Boy and I found some parts scary, and there was occasional gory unpleasantness where I closed my eyes, but I'm a little visually squeamish (I save dispassion for the crime scene pictures I have to view). By all means go. The Boy, who now wants to read the poem was prepared for the movie, but I don't know how many 11-year-olds would enjoy it. Slightly older kids would probably like it a lot. There are fights, monsters, dragons, and a barely clad Angelina Jolie. Oh yes, and the Beowulf actor fights the monster naked, with "casual" obstacles blocking his non-PG bits. Nice scenery for everyone.

That sounds like lots of fun, Frosti, have a great time!

My sister-in-law has a buddy who turned 50 this year and celebrated by renting a villa in Tuscany (complete with chef) for two weeks and inviting all her friends to visit. Since I'm past 50, I'll have to wait till 60 to do something kewl like that.

Here is my Married to the Sea comic favorite this week...

http://www.marriedtothesea.com/110507/air-conditioner.gif

OHIO can be made into obscene acrostics in ASL quite easily, if that helps you feel better, Firsttimeblogger. Besides, didn't OSU win?

Frostbitten, that race sounds interesting; I've never seen dogsledding before.

bc, I'm sorry, but I can't use "Thunderthud" for my professional wrestling name; I already have my porn name embroidered on the back of my pro wrestling robe: Ming Wyoming.

Just watched Joel's pal Jim Vanderhei (ex-WaPo) on "Inside Washington" a few minutes ago. Cool guy; seems to know his stuff.

I always loved John Gardner's "Grendel" much better than Beowulf, even the Seamus Heaney translation. I never considered the original to be all that great. It seems to be me it gets all its freshman English cachet because of its age and length, and as an example of an Icelandic saga, yadda yadda yadda. But that STILL doesn't necessarily "interesting," just "important." Stephen Hunter's review mentions (quite rightly, in my view) a lot of the problems with Beowulf as a piece of literature. I suffered through it in college, and then a year or two later read Grendel when it first came out because it was getting rave reviews, and almost shouted out loud at some of Grendel (Gardner's) observations about what a pompous stuffed shirt Beowulf was. And I simply do not understand casting Angelina Jolie as Grendel's mother, who is/was supposed to be this horrible tyrannosaurus-type evil giant monster. I mean, it's like casting Matt Damon to play King Kong while wearing a jock strap instead of a monkey suit.

I remember last year, a dogsled race to be run around February 3-5 was cancelled because it was bitterly cold. Might have been the Wh