Hi, Martooni. Hi, Cassandra. Hi, CP. Have a blessed holiday season.

If the general public ever learns that evolution and believing in God are not mutually exclusive events, we'll have another Great Enlightenment on our hands.

I've been reading a book about the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta and the ongoing struggle with drug resistant bacteria. Anyone who really doubts that biological organisms can adapt in response to environmental changes should have no problem being prescribed 1940's era sulfa drugs for drug-resistant staph. Don't worry about those annoying oozing open sores. It's just a theory.

No disrespect to Professor Lewin, who sounds like a great educator, but that monkey in the tree bit dates all the way back to my college days. It's a classic. Of course, the pith helmet does add an extra level of panache.

Another very impressive physics demonstration involves a large heavy pendulum attached up to the high ceiling of a lecture hall. You put your back up to the wall, pull the pendulum to your nose, and let go. Physics dictates that it is impossible for it to injure you on the return trip. But, trust me, there are moments of doubt.

You forgot thet evolution of the killer cold virus, RD.

"beats a student with cat hair"

I know exactly what this means, but a small part of my brain keeps thinking it is terrible to physically abuse a student who is cursed with such a tragic affliction.

Okay, I'm all done now.

SCC: cat fur. Yeah. Much better.

I, for one, welcome the day when we have to worry about drug-resistant viruses. Because, obviously, that would mean there are drugs available for them to resist.

I'd settle for a Mediocre Enlightenment. A second Great Enlightenment would be wonderful, but a Mediocre One would be much more palatable to me than a trip back to the Dark Ages, which seems to be the fundamentalist/evangelical trend.

I'm a firm believer in Science (with a capital "S"), but I like to think there is a Purpose (with a capital "P") for our existence which is driven by something Divine (whatever that is). I also like to think that we are evolving toward a higher plane of existence, but then I look around at my fellow humans and my bubble of thought implodes.

As for evolution, I don't think it is selective. I think it is more accidental. A big-brained mammal with all the potential in the world, the first and most intelligent of its kind, could very easily be squashed or eaten by a creature with a much smaller brain but very large feet or teeth.

Just my opinion.

Time to go freeze my butt off in the shop.

Peace out...

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/12/08/State/State_rebukes_evoluti.shtml

Guess I'll have to join Florida Citizens for Science. And maybe fund a field trip by that Instructional Materials manager to the fossil exhibits at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. No dinosaurs, but plenty of big mammals, turtles, and Gators.

I particularly like the disease development example of evolution; as RD says, if there's really no evolution why use a later-developed drug? Why, for that matter, worry about bird flu? SARS? Killer adenoviruses? They shouldn't exist, as they can't have evolved from earlier types of disease. Unless God has decided to make them up and introduce them now just to torment us.

I also enjoyed the article about the physics prof star. He also did that experiment, RD, with the pendulum. After surviving a successful experiment he shouts out, "Physics works!" I may have to find this website myself, pig-ignorant of physics as I am (except, of course, for the half-understood crumbs I glean from the Boodle).

Good day, all.

Had an interesting thing happen this morning (and no, it has nothing to do with Jamie Lynn Spears (She's the same age as my oldest daughter. Oy.)).

I work on the 9th floor of a building, with a window that faces northeast. There's a balcony that goes completely around the outside of the building on this floor, but is unused except for building maintenance. Crows and pigeons use the railing as a perch, but this morning, a huge shadow blotted out the sun momentarily, and I looked up to see a large waterfowl of some sort alighting on the railing in front of me, looking in the window directly at me.

It was large enough and, well, threatening enough to remind me that birds are evolved decendants of dinosaurs.

Y' know, if it were a stork, I *could* tie it back to JL Spears. But I'm not sure what *that* would have to do with evolution.

bc

Jeepers, he says sheepishly, I should have read that article about Lewin. Of course we did some of those demos when I was in school. My profs clearly stole them from him.

One look at my extended family will clear up any doubts about evolution (it hasn't happened for some of them yet). And there must be a god who wants me to be happy because there are such things as Manolo Blahnik and Stewart Weitzman shoes.

bc, did it look like this, Herons always seem sort of prehistoric to me when they were in flight.

http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?cid=7&id=43

bc: Dooley or Dave might be better at explaining this than I. Some paleontologists argue that the structure of the pectoral girdle in birds have miniaturized versions of the same bones found in the pectoral girdles of some winged dinosaurs. Thus, the arguement goes, the dinosaurs are still among us. The evidence is in the form of homologous structures and divergent evolution, as you observed in your 2.03.

Ap is just now running this:

Kucinich's Brother Found Dead

The Associated Press
Wednesday, December 19, 2007; 2:01 PM

CLEVELAND -- The youngest brother of Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich was found dead at his home Wednesday.

Perry Kucinich, 52, was found face down by another brother, Larry, at about 9 a.m., said Powell Caesar, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County Coroner's office.

There were no signs of foul play, Caesar said.

Dennis Kucinich, 61, is a six-term congressman from Ohio who is making his second bid for his party's nomination; he sought the nod in 2004. He registers in low single digits in polls and has raised little money for what is considered another long-shot run. Kucinich, who is known for his liberal views, has attracted a devoted following.

Here's the weirdest part of the whole thing, bc. Lynne Spears, mother of Britney (the one who lost her two kids to parenting paragon Kevin Federline) and Jamie Lynn (the one with the bun in her 16 year old oven) has a deal with a publisher to write a book on parenting. Broke the needle on my flabbergastometer!

And wine, LiT. We must not forget wine.

I know a bit about plant anatomy, virtually nothing about vertebrates, except that those skeletons have lots of moving parts.

I think it was during the 1990s that there was vigorous academic debate over the "birds are descended from dinosaurs" theory. Alan Feduccia at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill was a vocal anti-dino.

One problem might possibly have been that ornithologists usually collect feathered skins, not skeletons, so bird bones might not have received the going-over typical of, say, mammals.

By now, the dinobird connection seems pretty well established.

Thanks, Dave. The professor you mentioned put a name long forgotten to my memory of the dinosaur/bird debate.

kurosawaguy that's kind of like taking psycological advice from dr. Phil as gospel, but maybe worse.

dmd, it *did* look like that, with menacing yellow eyes, and a fringe around its neck.

And a rather predatory strut...

bc

Seems Lynne Spears book deal is on hold - go figure!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071219/ap_en_mu/people_lynne_spears;_ylt=AnKW7wJYYGD4zRseltHqy_as0NUE

bc: FWIW, Great Blue Herons are quite common in the DC area. They seem to have adapted farily well to urban areas, kind of like the Canadian Geese have.

Lynne, Britney AND Jamie Lynn Spears?

What is this, Celebritology?????

Near the bottom of what the locals in Wheeling call Two-Mile Hill is a heron nesting area. In the autumn and spring when the leaves are thin you can see twenty or thirty huge black nests high up in the tops of a small cluster of trees. The birds themselves spend a lot of time fishing in the creeks in town. They're magnificent.

bc says, "it *did* look like that, with menacing yellow eyes, and a fringe around its neck.
And a rather predatory strut..."

You gotta start going to a higher class of bar, there, shipmate. :-)

The port area of Jacksonville had a powerful explosion today. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/121907/met_226959477.shtml

Great blue herons do well around people. Here, cattle egrets, ibises, and even sandhill cranes may do likewise, although golf courses really aren't good places for cranes.

Oh, we're talking about birds?
That 3:23 was me.

As ebtnut says, herons are all over the place in this region. And in fact, the largest heron rookery in the world is on Bloodsworth Island in Chesapeake Bay across the bay from Pax River NAS (which has a big program to help build nests on Bloodsworth). More than half of all herons on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States breed and nest in the Chesapeake Bay region, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service [quoting from story below].

http://www.dcmilitary.com/dcmilitary_archives/stories/092602/19449-1.shtml (And a darn well-edited piece this is, too, I might ad.)

http://www.dcmilitary.com/dcmilitary_archives/stories/012302/13529-1.shtml [This one not so much.]

Loomis, if you are going to call Macy's could you please tell them to quit phoning us at the office? I loathe those auto dialer computer advertiser calls, and no it does not make me want to shop there.

byoolin - Sometimes i like to lurk at Celibritology but this has gotten real weird over there i jus hope they leave poor jamie alone and I should just stop reading those postes before it begins to affect me.

dr, I get those calls at work as well. Does Macy's have any stores in Canada?

"I'd settle for a Mediocre Enlightenment."

Martooni you are a genius.

bc, did the creature on the rail look anything like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnZDNx1NpGM

The more I read about Professor Lewin the more depressed I get. This guy has spent his career teaching undergraduate physics and doing way cool demonstrations. What a fun job.

Hmm, dmd. I just assumed they did since they are bothering me.

According to the website, they don't. I gotta go and register a complaint because really....

I wish Dooley was still around. I'd like to know what he has to say about this

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/dec/19/whale.deer

Interesting video Mudge. I wonder where I can get a hat like that.

OK, Boodle! Everybody up! Yes, it's time once again for another calisthenic tune cootie! Loomis, on your feet. Padouk, let's go. Martooni, put down the router and prepare to skid across that icy floor. Cassandra, let's go. Ivansmom, put down thewrit of certiorari for a moment and come before the bench. (Yoki, you're probably doped up; you're excused.)

OK, everybody up? Here we go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKY7oc9L-LY&NR=1

Yoki - I agree. I wish some more familiar names would show up. Maybe if we put out donuts.

The Boston Cream Pie ones?

Donuts?

Thanks, Mudge. Don't exclude Yoki, though. I think being doped up might help.

Back in the innocent 60's there was a film which advertised itself as having "something to offend everyone" (little did they know our capacity for offensiveness). Called "The Loved One" it was adapted by a novel by Evelyn Waugh with a screenplay by Terry Southern and satirized the funeral business-human and pet- in California. It's no "Pink Flamingos" by any stretch, but it has its moments. The "Mediocre Enlightenment" reminded me forcibly of the scene where Liberace (yes!) as the casket salesman at "Whispering Glades" is explaining the different types of eternal flames available at graveside. There is the Standard Eternal which burns during visiting hours, and the Perpetual Eternal which burns 24/7/365.

Mudge, the Navy blocks Youtube, so I can't see what you've got. But, I'd take any tune cootie in exchange for the one that's been in my head since last evening. My wife asked me to scrub the kitchen floor, the old fashioned way with a scrub brush, on my hands and knees. She will have her quilt group over for a holiday party tonight, and just had her nails done. Of course, the only song that I could sing was, "It's a hard-knock life" from the musical "Annie". While she appreciated the effort, she was not amused when I said, "We love you, Ms. Hanagan..."

I visit Dooleys blog on occasion. Maybe is we posted there, we'd scare a comment up out of him Yoki.

http://web.mac.com/dooleyclan/iWeb/Site%202/Blog/Blog.html

Nice tune cootie Mudge, but not exactly the shoes I had in mind. A little cheek-to-cheek dancing would be nice (I think I remember how to do that), but if I had my druthers, my shoes would be FMPs. (Yours can look like something Maxwell Smart would wear.)

Golly gee Mr. Curmudgeon, clips from The Avengers sure bring back memories. I practically cried when Mrs. Peel left the show (she was paid much much less than whatsisname with the derby and the brolly) and of course the ratings in the U.S. left with her. This is first class corporate thinking: beautiful brunette in tight leather, drives a Lotus Elan, fights crime, subject of several trillion adolescent male fantasies, wants a raise, who does she think she is? Give that girl the sack!

K-guy, I often thought about Mrs. Peel and the sack, too.

A see at least one heron a per trip, all seaons, when I ride along the NE and NW Branches of the Anacostia.

I can distinguish several herons, unless they are juveniles:

Black crowned heron
Yellow crowned heron
Night heron
Green heron

And of course, the Great Blue heron that might most iconic of all.

My dad has a perfect name for them:

Needle-nosed pliers of death; however, needle-nosed plyers of death works too.

Monty Python festival starting at AFI Silver Spring on the 28th...

http://www.afi.com/silver/new/nowplaying/calendar.aspx

:-)

We have herons here too. There is a nesting colony in a riparian preserve near where I live. It's in an office building/industrial area which is also threatened by housing developments. I went a couple of years ago to watch the baby herons when they take their first flights - really fascinating. And there's a heron that flies over my house every day at 7 pm (when there's daylight at that hour - not sure what his schedule is in the winter). I can tell him by his long, slowly flapping wings.

I still check in from time to time, but I'm not a political junkie, and I've been swamped with work (in part with, of all things, an evolution exhibit).

I've only skimmed the Nature article on the whale ancestor, but here are the major points:

The key feature in Indohyus (the species in question) is one of the ear bones, the auditory (or tympanic) bulla (this is related to the structure that supports the eardrum.) All whales have a unique tympanic bulla, in that one edge of it is greatly thickened into a structure called the involucrum. This is thought to be directly related to the ability of whales to hear efficiently underwater. See this article:

http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/comments/evolution_of_the_whale_ear/

Basically, in whales the entire tympanic bulla (instead of the eardrum) vibrates; the involucrum apparently acts as an amplifier. Note that, while this system works, it's not _required_ for hearing underwater; sea cows and seals don't have an involucrum.

The big discovery, of course, is that Indohyus has an involucrum.

There are lots of additional supporting data, as well. Indohyus is in the right place, geographically and temporally, to be a whale ancestor, and it belongs to the right group (the artiodactyls). It was apparently semi-aquatic (based on osteosclerosis in its limb bones, and O18 ratios in its teeth.) It has a root pattern in its premolars consistent with early whales, and its teeth show the same wear pattern as early whales. None of those things alone is sufficient to call this a whale ancestor, but combined with the presence of an involucrum it's very convincing.

I'll probably have something on my blog about this later this week.

We'll be watching Dooley. You know the video of making a case for those specimens was really interesting. It was nice to hear your voice.

I've been on my feet all day. Nice of Loomispouse to tell me TODAY, what he'd like under the bedecked fir. Something I never heard of--a charging station. I thought I was his charging station--sorry, credit card joke.

I see the news about the D.C. fire:

Out of the old EOB there poured clouds and dark fumes,
Could it be that old Dick Cheney had eaten a lot of legumes?
Though the VEEP's suite of offices are pretty much ceremonial,
Is this where Cheney dreams up his schemes--mostly baloney-ial?
The alarm has passed--the fire out and considered a two-alarm clunker,
No worries? Cheney was probably hidden, secure in his undisclosed bunker!

from the Borowitz Report --

December 19, 2007
Attempting to Destroy CIA Tapes, Cheney Burns Down White House

Veep Apologizes for Accidental Inferno

The White House, one of the most historic structures in the nation's capital, burnt to the ground today after Vice President Dick Cheney attempted to incinerate a cache of CIA interrogation tapes in his office.

According to White House aides, the blaze started shortly after twelve noon, minutes after Mr. Cheney slipped out of a cabinet meeting, saying that he had to "hit the head."

But rather than using the bathroom as he had stated, the vice president instead went to his office and put a blowtorch to a pile of CIA interrogation tapes which the White House had feared might be subpoenaed in the near future.

"I started burning those things and boom, they went up like a rocket," an apologetic Mr. Cheney later told reporters.

The accidental blaze quickly spread from the videotapes to a nearby stack of transcripts of phone conversations involving Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and singer Barbra Streisand that Mr. Cheney had obtained via a warantless wiretap.

"Once those transcripts caught on fire, I knew the building was a goner," Mr. Cheney said. "There were literally thousands and thousands of pages of that stuff."

Speaking in front of the charred remains of the historic building, administration spokesperson Dana Perino said that the White House might have been saved had it not been for an unfortunate bureaucratic mix-up: "Instead of calling the fire department, President Bush called FEMA."

www.borowitzreport.com

Waste Someone's Time: Forward to a Friend: http://email.borowitzreport.com/cgi-bin/redir?MCid=1My7GG8gTgatH7MwXjg8&email=mm_donovan@comcast.net&rec=6808

Sign up today for your own Borowitz Reports, click the link below or paste it into your browser.

http://email.borowitzreport.com/cgi-bin/redir?MCid=FgdZZWqjk8atH7MwXjg8

hey martooni, don't push yourself too hard. you don't want a relapse.

Hooray for your post, Dooley.

I know whales are supposed to be descended from ugulates, but the image before, in my impression, was of progressively carnivorous proto-cows with a fetish for kelp & carp and the capacity to really moo-ve in water.

It'll be interesting to piece together how the early cetaceans actually lived.

A smaller animal makes sense, mostly because of the flexible backs required for water would be more commonly found in smaller ugulates rather than larger herbivores who have progressively more rigid backs to support the rumen and the weight of the body. Even a modern whitetail has a pretty straight back.

Conversely, carnivores like dogs and cats have more flexible backs due to the smaller guts, reducing the need for rigid backs.

I'm interested in how respiration is strongly coupled to movement in terrestial tetrapods. Horses (and I believe cattle) depend on the inertia of the gut to help drive the diaphragm, kind of like a pendulum as they gallop or walk. Carnivores, having smaller guts, tend to rely on the anatomy of the back and the shoulder to drive respiration as they run.

Pinnipeds and cetaceans of course have respiration that is uncoupled from movement, a key feature of adaption to swimming.
Humans also have this feature because of our bipedism-- otherwise we wouldn't be able to modulate our breathing for speech. (Even monkeys have their breathing locked in with their movement).

I'll be interested to see if there is any way to examine fossil evidence for evidence of the ability to decouple breathing from locomotion. I'd imagine it would be difficult to find, isolated from from other obvious adaptions to water, such as longer, thicker tails, change in pelvis, etc.

I wonder what adaption modern cetaceans have, exactly; I looked up diaphragms in cetaceans and it seems people are still baffled on exactly how breathing works in cetaceans.

http://www.sicb.org/meetings/2005/schedule/abstractdetails.php3?id=793

http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/209/19/3925

I look forward to your blog later on, Dooley!

Brava, Loomis, brava!

Sam Ervin said regarding a resolution against teaching evolution: "such a resolution serves no good purpose except to absolve monkeys of their responsibility for the human race."

Oh, jeez, Jumper, you had to bring up Sam Ervin. I wish we had him now...we certainly need leadership of his caliber.

Maggie, thanks for that - very funny!

**The big discovery, of course, is that Indohyus has an involucrum.**

But, of course.

I used to see Herons way out here in west by god all the time. But this past year I didn't see any.

Then when you have found the shrubbery, you must cut down the mightiest tree in the forest wiiiiith...a heron!

What really alarmed people about the fire and smoke was the suspicious absence of brimstone.

Dooley - thanks very much for chiming in. Without your excellent explanation I would have naturally assumed an involucrum had something to do with making Indohyus babies.

So if I understand this correctly, we are looking at some very suggestive circumstantial evidence.

I am eager to read your thoughts on this because, like most overgrown kids, I think whales are super cool.

*snorting appreciatively at Maggie's 6:35 and Padouk's 7:16*

Long day. Technical problems getting online, too.

I just came from a Romney event, had a nice chat with the former Iowa governor, Terry Bransted (sp?), who mentioned the concept known as "Iowa Nice." He didn't know where it came from, but someone chimed in and said it's from "State Fair" by Rogers and Hammerstein. No doubt someone out there in boodleland knows.

I also saw Huckabee, who tore into Romney for being "desperate and dishonest" in his attacks on Huckabee (not that I have followed these attacks as closely as some folks).

Hillary is speaking in half an hour here in Des Moines and I will rush to that.

Dooley, thanks for the whale info and I'd love to link to your blog posting when you write it, just let me know.

JA-Iowa Nice is just a variant of Minnesota Nice. Don't be fooled, they are both covers for some serious passive aggression.

I need to be updated on the forms that passive-aggression takes, Frostbitten. I would hate to get infected.

Added a bit to the kit. More in the morning! Gonna follow Huck and Hill toward NE Iowa....

There is a rousing number called "All I Owe Iowa" by Hammerstein that talks about all the nifty things associated with the state, but I can't find the phrase "Iowa Nice" in it.

Wilbrod-these entries from the urban dictionary aren't as nuanced as I'd like, but they're not far off.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=minnesota+nice

People often confuse "Minnesota Nice" for friendliness. It is not. It is a way to keep people at arm's length. Which is fine by me. If I wanted to be with people I wouldn't choose to live in a town with just 99 of them.

Gail Collins in her Aug. 11 NYT op-ed --about visting Iowa that month:

The Iowa State Fair is not actually about politics so much as about finding new things to deep-fry. (Twinkies! Candy bars! Pork-chop-on-a-stick!) This is why Michael Bloomberg is never going to be president. Midwestern fairgoers could never relate to a man who believes all fast food should come with a calorie count.

While Brownback was speaking to an enthusiastic crowd of about 20, the line of people waiting to see Harry Potter carved in butter snaked around the Agriculture Building. Since the statue itself is behind glass for climate-control reasons, the scene strongly resembled the viewing of the Pietà in the Vatican.

Harry, pointing his buttery wand toward the flower-arranging competition, was surrounded by toads and potion bottles and, of course, the traditional Butter Cow which has to be there whether it really fits the theme or not. This was all the work of Sarah Doyle Pratt, a 30-year-old elementary school teacher, who apprenticed under the legendary Norma "Duffy" Lyon, creator of the never-to-be-forgotten all-butter Last Supper.

Truly, if you are into art forms based on dairy products, you have to go to Iowa. The year Hillary Clinton first ran for Senate, the state of New York suffered a deep humiliation when half the world went traipsing through the fair in Syracuse and all we had to offer was a butter sculpture of a refrigerator.

Picture of the Harry Potter butter sculpture here:

http://www.midwestdairy.com/pages/news.cfm?TREE_ID=368

It's "Iowa gneiss"--from the mineral easily observed in the Iowa mountain ranges, near where "The Sound of Music" was filmed. A good reporter would have asked about the spelling, especially on such an important issue.

Many years ago I saw a movie about a state fair, that may the fair you are writing about.
In my opinion, at that time and still is my opinion, there was something that was structurally unsound about the story.
The daughter met a boy at the fair and they made plans to meet after the fair was over. However, the son met a girl who seemingly had a 'questionable reputation' and the family went to great lengths to break up that relationship. The girl must have met a 'nice' boy who apparently did not have a 'questionable reputation' so everything was okay by the family with that relationship.
I am so glad our society has progressed a great deal since then.
Ruth Beazer

Those physics videos concided with me learning some animation tricks, so I blogged on it. http://wilbrodthegnome.blogspot.com/

While linking to the MIT open course ware, I noticed those MIT videos have been apparently translated in Thai, Chinese, etc. but not even open captioned for the deaf. Odd, since MIT offers ASL as filfulling the foreign language requirement.

Wait, maybe the idea that ASL is "foreign" is the problem right there. Folks, American Sign Language is an 100% Made in America product. It's unpatriotic to imply otherwise.

Wow, I went shopping and out to dinner, and just *look* at all the great Boodling this evening!

I love this place.

bc

Before I moved to my present place, I lived about 3 mins from the beach. There were a lot of herons around. They were pure white and not big at all. I'm now 15mins from the beach but there are none here.

I agree that there was nothing subliminal about the cross in Huckabee's commercial. Subliminal advertising is supposed to be below the level of conscious recognition to work. Absolutely nothing subliminal about it at all.

My parents feed hot dogs to a variety of birds off their deck in Florida. The bigger birds stand on the deck railing and squack until they are fed. They have a great blue heron called Buffett and an egret named Snowy and some other large prehistoric looking bird that has lost all fear of people. The heron's claws are terrifyingly huge.

Backboodling was one laugh out loud moment after the other today. I loved Jack's thought wishing for an enlightenment and Martooni, bless you, mediocre enlightenment...wouldn't that be refreshing after 8 yers of GWB and the current Republican campaign!

I love Ivansmom's pig-ignorant. I cannot wait to use that in ordinary conversation.

Please tell me that I backboodled too quickly and I'm wrong that Britney's sister is not pregnant.

I would add that:

a: I'd like to know if the Butter Cow is an evolution of the Dairy Cow, or is it genetically engineered?
b: Does the Butter Cow give buttermilk?
c: Is there much churn over the appearance of the Butter Cow at the fair?
d: I'm uncomfortable with the Butter Cow having the same initals as I do.
e: I'm *really* uncomfortable with the proximity of the Hillary Clinton and the Butter Cow images.

bc

No, wait- that would be...I'm wrong that Britney's sister is pregnant....

Please, somebody... tell me that.

No, Kim. It's Britney's sister that is wrong. Very, very, very wrong.

sigh.

We have "Seattle nice" - probably the influence of Scandihoovians and transplanted Minnesotans. Very polite, especially in public, but don't invite you to their homes.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2005/0213/cover.html
Kind of the opposite of the Boodle - ha!

"Seattle nice" is closely related to "Curmudgeon perky." It's all the rain that does it. Antidepressant pharmaceuticals will mitigate it, as a rule.

Definitely, now THAT sounds like Minnesota nice, sort of. Don't say anything that can get you hated, but don't exactly welcome people either.

But this isn't unique to either. It can be a particular disease of small towns, because people are not as used to changing their social sets or welcoming new people as friends. (Or in the other extreme, New York city where people often stay in their neighborhoods for long times and rarely adventure outside their familiar routine).

I have a pastor friend who experienced the same difficulty with a rural church; the people thought they were "welcoming" but a lot of new members were clear that they did NOT feel welcome. I visited the church and I understood why. Their friendliness was more a territorial attitude. "Who are you?!"

I like that L.A. gal who is leading the rebellion. Meeting new people is a skill that is not easy to learn.

I've had to learn it over my life, but I must say small towns have me stumped in that regard. There are very few venues for people to get together and socialize to start with-- games, an annual fair, restaurants, concerts don't promote interacting with others too much.

I get a sense that if I was working in the same place for a year or five, maybe people would finally begin to talk to me. But they wouldn't really be comfortable with "friendship."

The ironic thing is, I had "ties" here and a network already in place when I moved! I'd have to volunteer extensively at a church to make friends, I think, and thats not always a guarantee.

I agree that kind of civil politeness is the opposite of the boodle. It has its very good points. It can be taken to an extreme though; I wonder if TV and other solitary amusements are also largely helping drive this isolation and lack of socialization as well.

There is a song in "The Music Man" called "Iowa Stubborn" which starts off

Oh, there's nothing halfway
About the Iowa way to treat you,
When we treat you
Which we may not do at all.
There's an Iowa kind of special
Chip-on-the-shoulder attitude.
We've never been without.
That we recall.
We can be cold
As our falling thermometers in December
If you ask about our weather in July.
And we're so by God stubborn
We could stand touchin' noses
For a week at a time
And never see eye-to-eye.
But what the heck, you're welcome,
Join us at the picnic.
You can eat your fill
Of all the food you bring yourself.
You really ought to give Iowa a try

Sounds a tad standoffish, rather than nice!

mostly-you could substitute "Twin Cities" for Seattle and that Seattle Times piece would be just as true. In defense of MN, and perhaps Seattle, we can't help it. It took Mr. F some time to realize that I will never, ever, suggest that we ask the neighbors over for dinner. Should he feel so compelled he better give me at least two weeks to warm up to the idea (steel myself actually).

You don't like your neighbors? Or you just hate cooking for people you don't know well?

I learned how to entertain at home from an ex... it definitely wasn't something I felt comfortable doing before, as I'm from Midwesterner stock.

I do agree that it can't be "helped" unless people are drastically re-educated.

On a brighter note: we're just that much closer to tricorders...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071219/hl_nm/cancer_device_dc

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/12/indohyus.php#more

http://scienceblogs.com/loom/2007/12/19/whales_from_so_humble_a_beginn.php

Wilbrod-I do like our current neighbors, and don't mind cooking for strangers. In fact I love throwing our annual Chinese New Years party (60 people or so). It's just the small group and one-on-one encounters that are painful.

Thanks B9, that definitely looks like a water-going mammal to me. Long tail, heavy head, short neck and flexible back.

This would have had an interesting gait. The painting is lovely but I regret to say that I question the rodenty nose, the nostrils look too downward. I checked the palentologist reconstructions, and the nostrils are supposed to be at the tip of nose or over the incisors.
The skull photos I see don't have the full skull, so I'll amuse myself with a seal, moose, or otter-like nose in my mental reconstruction instead.

Here are some closely related fossils. The skeletons are quite incomplete here but the sketches are quite similar.

http://www.neoucom.edu/DEPTS/ANAT/Pakicetid.html

Ah okay, that makes perfect sense. I love one-on-one with good friends, but I do hate having to cook and leaving the person alone. Good friends don't mind, acquaintances are different.

I just can't talk and cook at the same time, so I usually just make it takeout, informal coffee, etc. or cook in advance.

BTW, I definitely want your chinese new years recipes when the time nears.

I've posted an entry on the proto-whale:

http://web.mac.com/dooleyclan/iWeb/Site%202/Blog/Blog.html

that butter cow scares me.

*almost-caffeinated-but-not-fully-backBoodled-yet Grover waves* :bg

We're cooking people we don't like now? With butter? What???

*going for more coffee*

Good morning, friends. Got in late last night, but we're riding again. Because of great friends here, the car is fixed. Thank you.

We have to be off early this morning. School is out, the parties are over. The g-girl got home yesterday with bags and lots of candy, even some fruit. And she ate the orange as the main course with a candy bar to start the whole thing off.

I missed the event at the Center. Didn't get the car until late. The Director came by with bags of goodies.

Can someone explain "cloned food" to me?

Mudge, I liked the video, but could not do the dance. The leg just does not allow dancing, and walking is getting to be a problem too. I used to watch that program all the time. I thought that show was so cool.

When I was growing up, I know ancient days, girls were ashamed when they got pregnant at an early age. I mean they tried to hide that fact. Girls did get pregnant, but they certainly did not tell the world. I'm not making a judgement call here, just noting the change. My mother had three girls, and she threatened to hurt us bodily if we came home that way. We believed her. We had seen her work.

Have a great day, folks. We have some stuff to do today. I wish there was a Santa Claus nearby so the g-girl could see that. Yesterday she touched the big Santa Claus in the neighbor's yard. A quick touch, but a touch.

Morning, Mudge, Scotty, Slyness, and all.*waving* Martooni, sounds like you are a busy man. Take care.

Loomis,love the poem.

Ivansmom, glad it thawing out at your place. Living without electricity is no fun. There isn't anything romantic about that situation.

RD, I know your thoughts were in the right place even though you forgot, don't worry about it. You've already done so much, RD.

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

Avast! Thar she...wades in the shallows? Man the boats! We're gonna go out and harpoon us a ...large muskrat. C'mon, peeps, yer killin' me here.

'Morning, Boodle.

"My mother had three girls, and she threatened to hurt us bodily if we came home that way. We believed her. We had seen her work."

Cassandra, my mother was the same way. I would NEVER have considered behavior anywhere close to that!

That's what amazed me about Monica Lewinsky. Where in the he11 was her MOTHER? I would have killed any daughter of mine who acted like she did, and they both know it.

Good morning, everbody!

I told my older daughter about the younger Spears last night. After moment or two of taking it in and pondering the situation she replied "Well she is a Spears". I then mentioned that their Mom was going to write a book about parenting, my daughter just laughed.

The topic did open up a great opportunity to talk to my daughter about behaviour and responsibility .

Dooley, thanks for that link on your proto-whale.

On a side note, I see that Rudy may not be reacting will to his Iowa poll #s...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/20/AR2007122000550.html?hpid=topnews

bc

Thanks Cassandra. (Yes my heart is in the right place. It's my head that is sometimes stuck someplace it shouldn't be.)

"Cloned food" is from organisms that are genetically identical to each other. They have been produced by taking the genes from the cell from a desirable organism and using this genetic material to grow a duplicate organism.

We have been eating cloned food for many years. Navel oranges are clones, as are many of the other common vegetables and fruits we eat.

Much of the current angst is because the process is being extended to animals. Even though cloned animals, by definition, are precisely identical to the original animal, the process makes some people nervous because it seems "unnatural."

Perhaps "Iowa Nice" is a mispronounced homage to the city in France?

(Man, they tell you to "think out of the box" but they never really mean it.)

I hope everyone takes the time to read Dooley's Dec 7 entry.

Maybe someone should point it out to Gene.

MoF -- very gniess pun there, I must say...

:-)

some of these seem almost too easy:

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/education_1/?page=quiz46&Quizid=46

there were three I totally guessed on

11/11

I scare myself sometimes

10/11

I'm just glad I got the "first fission" one correct...

:-)

SCC: "well" instead of "will" in my 7:26.

But you knew what I meant, didn't you?

bc

Wait, What?...there were two fission questions???

Assimilating bits and pieces from the kit, here:

Hillary Clinton, slathered in butter, deep fried.

Mmmmm, tastes like chicken!!

Oh, alright, I'm sorry, I'm sorry......

6/11. I will formally file a protest with the author of the quiz on the basis of bias. There is no way a run of the mill biology major such as myself would know all of the nerdy physics and computer science questions. Sheesh.

Only 7/11 on the scientist quiz. I fell for a lot of distractors. I'm so ashamed.

Not as ashamed as Mamma Spears should be. I'm all over Celebritolgy pimping my blog entry on how to write-in Jamie Lynn's condition into her tweener show. I also suggest Very Special Episodes of other kiddie shows.

http://livebythefoma.blogspot.com/2007/12/very-special-episodes.html

The entire post may go over your head if you don't have kids in the 10-14 demographic. I'm not sure what my excuse is. Oh, that's right, my wife works in elementary schools and I have to keep up with the trends. Yeah, that's the ticket.

The Marie Curie question did me a nice clue. It provided the three successful guesses. Without that I'd have made 8/11 for sure.

I'm afraid the chuckle factor of Jamie Lynn Spears drops somewhat among those of us with teenaged daughters.

Omni, at first there was just one fission question, then two, then four, and then the test rapidly became unmanageable.

7 right today. How am I supposed to know what physicist plays the effing bongo drums? Ugh.

Curt Sxhilling blogs about steroids, and has some interesting things to say:

http://38pitches.com/2007/12/19/one-players-take-on-the-mitchell-report-canseco-clemens-records-looking-back-or-going-forward/

Don, I had the same reaction, but sometimes you just have to ignore the distractions. A clue isn't any good if it doesn't give you a clue.

Don - yeah, like jack says, that one really favors the math and science crowd.

That pic of Senator Clinton flipping pork (which sounds kinda dirty but really isn't) is amusingly iconic. I mean, what rational country factors accepts community grilling as a valid criteria for elected office?

This is physical science scary. A B&E at a nuclear facility outside of Pretoria:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/19/AR2007121901857.html?hpid%3Dopinionsbox1&sub=AR

8/11, with some guesses that were right. Not too shabby for the English major...

Waitaminit...

'Mudge said "muskrat," didn't he??

RUN!!!! COVER YOUR EARS!! Here comes Toni and that Captain fella!!!

:-)

See, I knew the bongo drum ones because I've been to a community theater production of "QED". I muffed most of the biology ones and was surprisingly week on astronomy.

SCC: Pretty weak on spelling as well.

Some of the ones I didn't absolutely know I got right because the other two were obvious to me not the right answer. That gave me three easy guesses. Marie Curie gave me another three easy guesses. I could also have scored a 5/11 if the wrong answers were more plausible.

Muskrat Suzie, Muskrat Sam....

9/11 and ashamed because in the last year I've seen PBS biopics on the two I missed.

Morning boodle. A balmy 27 here this morning, on the way up to 30!

So glad you're riding again Cassandra. And a belated backboodling chuckle to Martooni's "mediocre enlightenment."

Didja ever hear the version of Muskrat Love done by "America"? I'm pretty sure it was first. No better, but first.

bc wrote at 11:05:
I'm *really* uncomfortable with the proximity of the Hillary Clinton and the Butter Cow images.

Aren't you uncomfortable with the image of Ron Paul being the recent cash cow?

Last night Anderson Cooper on CNN, and this morning Chris Cuomo on ABC and David Gregory on NBC, had the story of a family of four--a dad and two teen kids and a 12-year-old--being rescued from Inskip in Butte County, Calif., after being lost Sunday in the snow.

One of our reporters, she who became an editor, at the Tahoe Tribune got her reporting chops in Paradise, Calif., the town from which the family took off on its fir-finding mission. I know the area.

It's easy enough to Google to learn that many counties in California that are forested require a person to obtain a $10 permit to go to wilderness areas to chop down a Christmas tree. I can't locate the information about the requirement in Butte County. I would sure like the major networks to report whether Frederick Dominguez obtained the necesary permit on that Sunday when he traipsed off with his brood to the woods to hack down a tree. The reporting says he ditched the tree after he and his three kids became lost.

I can't commetnt because I don't know the details, but I'm beginning to feel my Sierra Club hackles starting to rise.

Saw the Dooley story in today's local paper. Fascinating reading, but the last graf ends with not all of the paleo community buying into the theory. I find it interesting where the Indohyus fossils are located--northern Pakistan. A missing link--from Bambi to Moby Dick?

If you like the idea of David Bowie playing the role of Nikola Tesla, check out "The Prestige" with Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. Interesting plot dealing with magic and physics and other stuff. My only criticism would be that none of the characters is very appealing. The puzzles and twists involve you but there is no one to really root for. For whom to really root. Whatever. 8\11 from this one time physics major.

dr,
Thanks for pointing out Dooley's coprolite blog post on Dec. 7. He's talking about coprolite in the very rough.

Dinosaur coprolite has been around for awhile--say, a few million years, give or take. The first time I learned of it when working in the jewelry trade, I was fascinated, and do own a cabachon of it myself in a mixed "stone" bracelet. For those who are uninitiated, here are some samples, which show the variety and color when the dino scat is put to high polish. There is tremendous color range, depending on the diet and the geologic area where the specimen was dropped.

http://customjeweler55.blogspot.com/2006/02/fossilized-dinosaur-dung-or-coprolite.html

I was invited yesterday to submit an application to manage a jewelry counter in a new store being opened by a former employer. I'm thinking about it, but don't know if I can take going back to standing on my feet for such long periods of time.

RD,
You aren't trying to induce a Muskrat Love/Horse With No Name tune cootie medley are you? Because that ranks right around waterboarding as an extreme interrogation tactic.

11/11 on the quiz. I am SOOOO on a roll.

Scotty, I would never stooop so low as to deliver that particular tune cootie, though others have already done so. Shame, shame on them, I say.

*wanders off whistling "Love Will Keep Us together*

Oh, jeez, Joel, ya gotta call the WaPo desk, The lede photo shows a guy boffing a sheep. Well, sort of.

I'm not kidding.

Well, Mudge, it's probably better than seeing what happens to that sheep next.

Anyone else read this? Anybody believing?

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ifmdfhiuSQfh-kyCJ-a8bLEQjVAwD8TKTC7G2

Is there anyone wise in the ways of butter cows? Is that thing made of solid butter, or is butter applied, like a lactose-rich spackle, over some kind of supporting structure? Unless it was carved from frozen butter I can't possibly see how else it could be made.

DC might be getting a quarter after all: http://www.designscomputed.com/coins/capitol_8_pr.jpg

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/19/AR2007121902495.html?hpid=moreheadlines

Thanks for that link Linda. I knew it was used for jewlery items on occasion, but I don't know that I have seen examples before.

It is carved from butter, RD. I wonder if the sculptors develop a butter aversion.

RDP, you're forgetting the fable of King Lactidas, who was cursed to turn everything he touched into butter...

:-)

It is amazing what you can Wiki, RD here is the wiki entry on butter sculptures and a link to the photo gallery of the butter sculptures at the Royal Winter Fair where the sculpture contest has been run since the end of WWII.

They seem to be solid but not sure.

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

http://www1.royalfair.org/2007gallery/butter_sculpture/album/index.html

Joel, I am informed by usually reliable sources familiar with the region, that the phrase "Iowa Nice" predates the 1945 production of "State Fair." Memories are reported of its being used by a paternal grandfather in the 1930s.

All knowledge really is on the internet. I googled "butter cow" and found this quicktime video of one being made. This example, at least, is made with a superstructure.

http://www.mickle.net/buttercow.mov

Butter cows, big deal. This from Wiki re: MN's fine state fair butter traditions.

"Since 1965, sculptures of the winning Princess Kay and other finalists have been carved, one per day, at the Minnesota State Fair. Recent butter sculptures have been carved out of a 90 pound block of Grade A butter, in a walk-in, glass-walled refrigerator. The butter is manufactured by Associated Milk Producers, Inc., in New Ulm, Minnesota. The butter carving booth is one of the most popular exhibits at the Fair. The carving of the butter sculpture takes 6-8 hours per finalist. For the past 34 years, Linda Christensen has sculpted the Princesses' butter sculptures. Princesses take their butter sculpture home with them at the end of the Fair." Wiki also has pictures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Kay_of_the_Milky_Way

By the way, at last year's fair the MN state historical society gave away free state constitutions on a stick to kick off sesquicentennial celebrations.

OMG (tweener inflected) I have fallen into the MN is better than Iowa trap. Leaving for FL on Sat. Should be better 4-6 hours after arrival in Tampa, after I have a decent meal.

I found the contest entry for the Royal fair, it is for students of the College of Art, they are given a 25 lb. block of butter and supply whatever else they need.

Actually, making a butter cow is pretty simple. First you get a regular milk cow. Then you get a really big churn...

Thanks, Mudge. I just found a tune cootie worse than "Copacabana."

7/11 on the quiz and feeling pretty good about it.

The New York State fair always had a butter sculpture. Don't remember there ever being a cow, but definitely better than a refrigerator. That's what they get for going with a cut-rate butter sculptor.

When we heard the announcement about Tancredo, Raysdad and I looked at each other and said simultaneously, "Who?"

Whilickers Omni, next thing you know, DC will get representation.

Maybe I should have asked, if anybody cared, Raysmom.

After the first of the caucuses and primaries, do a lot of people fall by the way side? I seem to remember that happening in 04, but I wasn't really paying attention.

"Princesses take their butter sculpture home with them at the end of the Fair." This may explain why no one has never repeated as Fair Princess, although there have been the occasional coronary occlusion and several emergency angioplasties.

You'd think by now the plastics industry would want to get into the act with a giant margarine statue of some sort, perhaps honoring Molly McButter, or William Shatner saying "Promise."

"Princesses take their butter sculpture home with them at the end of the Fair."

If the fair is in the summer, I can see where that might create a bit of a problem:

"Sorry about your butter sculpture, Punkin'. Apparently that syrofoam cooler in the trunk didn't do the trick. Hey! How about some popcorn?"

Two ends of the spectrum for your consideration:

Europe:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/business/20emissions.html

and the United States:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/19/AR2007121902012.html?hpid=moreheadlines

*SIGH*

The ways, and rise and fall, of agricultural fair royalty is as hard to divine as the results in IA and NH. I was just recently made aware that Iowa almost dumped their Pork Queen and Princess back in 2005 (check off debate among pork producers, belt tightening and all that). A good friend is a former Pork Princess, back when pork still had enough fat to taste good. Her experience as porcine aristocrat prepared her well for a life as an army officer's spouse. At least that's what I tell her whenever I'm in awe of her social ease-"I could do that too, if I'd been a pork princess."

SCC: ways...are as hard to divine, not "is as hard"

Why can't I learn to preview??????

I think previewing was one of the Pork Princess judging categories, frostbitten... :-)

SCC: Styrofoam, of course.

Paging Weingarten!!!! *L*

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/12/20/ep.cyberchondriacs/index.html

Love that cyberchondriac link Scottynuke. The internet is a double-edged sword for parents of children with health problems as well. Yes, it can help augment information provided by your child's doctor, but it can also convince you that your offspring has some terrible rare disease despite the fact that you are reasonably sure said child has never once been to sub-Sahara Africa.

It's party time. Time to slide over the transpatial oscillator and plug in the Karaoke machine. As is good practice, gonna lock up the 'puter as well.

Gosh, hope we have enough beer.

The sine qua non of Pork Princesses-

http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Miss_Piggy

Then, there's the butter carton dress that no woman would be caught dead or alive in!

http://www.mnhs.org/market/mhspress/MinnesotaHistory/FeaturedArticles/5006218-228/pfbutterDress.htm

Part of an article on the history of butter sculpture--and if you read the entire article, a real tug of war between men and women:

http://www.mnhs.org/market/mhspress/MinnesotaHistory/FeaturedArticles/5006218-228/index.htm

The heyday of butter sculpture coincided with the development of table rituals involving the consumption of butter and with a widespread cultural preference for shaped foodstuffs. Rich butter had long stood for liberality and luxury in American cooking. In the 1890s specialized service dishes for butter, with compartments for ice and intricate hinged tops designed to keep the lid off the napery, were indicative of its high symbolic status, as were butter knives, used only to transfer portions from such vessels to individual "butter pats" or bread-and-butter plates. 28 Like the treatment of salt, the presentation of butter emphasized the preciousness of the commodity.

Everything you'd want to know about Norma "Duffy" Lyon of Des Moines:

http://www.thebuttercowlady.com/

Duffy's subjects have also included famous fictional and fairytale characters,
domestic and wild animals, familiar farm scenes, and extraordinary people, including President Eisenhower, Elvis Presley, country singer Garth Brooks and even versions of Grant Wood's "American Gothic" and Norman Rockwell's "County Agent."

And who among us did not read Miss Piggy's guide to life?

I have always followed her diet advice, "Never eat more than you can lift," and "Never eat anything you don't like."
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Miss_Piggy%27s_Guide_to_Life

Maybe I can claim this is "on kit" because of the State Fair musical theatre reference (or maybe just "on boodle" because of the Jamie Lynn Spears news), but I was listening to the Sirius Broadway channel yesterday on my way to work and heard Ethel Merman singing "Doin' What Comes Naturally" from the musical Annie Get Your Gun (boy, do we need italics, or what?).

I have heard this before and when I listened to the words I was aghast. I thought maybe I'd heard wrong, but after yesterday I did a little Googlin' and came upon the full lyrics to the song (most of the lyrics sites don't have all the verses).

This Irving Berlin song is a real testament to the good old days when girls were "nice" and... well.. you judge... especially the verses near the bottom about Sister Lou, Cousin Carrie and Sister Rose...

Folks are dumb where I come from
They ain't had any learnin'
Still they're happy as can be
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

Folks like us could never fuss
With schools and books and learnin'
Still we've gone from A to Z
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

You don't have to know how to read or write
When you're out with a feller in the pale moonlight
You don't have to look in a book to find
What he thinks of the moon or what is on his mind
That comes natur'lly
That comes natur'lly

My uncle out in Texas
Can't even write his name
He signs his checks with X's
But they cash 'em just the same

If you saw my pa and ma
You'd no they had no learnin'
Still they raised a family
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

[2]
Uncle Jed has never read
An almanac on drinkin'
Still he's always on a spree
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

Sister Sal who's mus-i-cal
Has never had a lesson
Still she's learned to sing off-key
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

You don't have to go to a private school
Not to pick up a penny by a stubborn mule
You don't have to have a professor's dome
Not to go for the honey when the bee's at home
That comes natur'lly
That comes natur'lly

My tiny baby brother
Who's never read a book
Knows one sex from the other
All he had to do was look

Grandpa Bill is on the hill
With someone he just married
There he is at ninety-three
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

[3]
Sister Lou ain't got a sou
Although she goes out shoppin'
She gets all her stockings free
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

Cousin Nell can't add or spell
But she left school with honors
She got every known degree
For doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

You don't have to come from a great big town
Not to clean out a stable in an evening gown
You don't have to mix with the Vanderbilts
Not to take off your panties when you're wearing kilts
That comes natur'lly
That comes natur'lly

My mother's cousin Carrie
Won't ever change her name
She doesn't want to marry
And her children feel the same

Sister Rose has lots of beaus
Although we have no parlor
She does fine behind a tree
Doin' what comes natur'lly
Doin' what comes natur'lly

Butter sculptures: wondrous are the ways of the county fair in the land between two wide-waters.

I descend from a long line of Corn Palace Princesses....but never earned the honor.

I sport cousins with Iowa-Nice AND Minnesota-Nice genes...I have in-laws with the uber-reserved Scandihovian version of quiet. Sitting still but breathing could be interpreted as both loud and bold. Powerdermilk Biscuits, hey there Frosti and Wilbrod?

Sigh on JL Spears. A little baby is to be born into a family of emotional poverty, limited vision and, uber-self-indulgence. Babies need and deserve so much more than bling, spandex, designer bamboo duds, carbon-neutral strollers, and a cheezy-insipid soundtrack to life.

Greetings to all, as I must put my head down again into the yoke of grading.

And, to Daiwainian (too many vowels, I think, so sorry, dearie) thanks for the greetings.

This is funny...

http://www.veryshortlist.com/vsl/daily.cfm/review/346/Website/newseum-again-lewiston-tribune/?tp

TBG,
I had no notion that Annie Get Your Gun was so smutty. Now I regret not seeing the Bernadette Peters revival of it from a few years ago.

TBG:

HA!

:-)

TBG thats pretty good. I wonder if the editors at the tribune saw the similarity, and printed the front page in that format for that reason?

To judge from my very, very brief experience at a farmers' market in Taipei, daiwanian farmers would appreciate a midwestern state fair, and vice versa. In particular, I think Iowa could use "pumpkin snow" (containers of dried pumpkin flakes, ideal for thickening soup).

On the side, the new courtyard canopy at the Old Patent Office (Smithsonian art museum/Portrait Gallery) reminded me that the House and Senate Chambers once had skylights, but were given solid roofs around 1950. I suppose those new roofs are still in fine shape, but what if they're aging . . . wouldn't it be appropriate to hire Lord Foster's architectural firm to build new transparent roofs for the chambers? Early Capitol architect Benjamin Latrobe would be all in favor. Don't know about the architect for the House and Senate wings, Walter, whose elaborate decor for the chambers was destroyed in the 1950 rebuilding.

Good morning! I've done my bit to erode the separation of church and state this morning by singing carols in the Capitol rotunda -- just a nice simple handful, quiet favorites interspersed with a couple of showy (meaning high voice) descants and ending with "O Holy Night". This is my Christmas gift to colleagues and others who work in the building. Here, I'll do one for you. Think of your favorite carol. Now imagine me singing it to you. There you go, a personal tune cootie.

Ivansmom,
It was really worth seeing the Capitol rotunda on Saturday. Apart from the dome, frescoes, and whatnot, the simple walls are wonderfully handsome. Wonderful room for carols, assuming the acoustics work.

Now how about Patent Office roofs for the House and Senate?

I've got Britney and family singing that song in my head. Thanks TBG.

Maybe the Spears could get a gig on my favourite show, "The Trailerpark Boys."

Actually, Dave, I was at the Oklahoma State Capitol. However, it too has a dome, murals, lots of art on simple walls, decorative molding etc. In fact, after a lot of money and effort going to restoration and commissioned portraits and murals, it is one of the most lovely state capitol buildings. This fall, in celebration of our Centennial, we opened up a climate-controlled art gallery in one first-floor wing, to display some of the state's collection.

Ivansmom, have you read the One-Eyed Mack novels of Jim Lehrer? I'm thinking of "Crown Oklahoma."

Despite lots of publicity here, kurosawaguy, I've never read any of the Jim Lehrer novels. Maybe some day. I have nothing against them, as far as I know. Should I read "Crown Oklahoma"?

Hi, guys *holday wave*. Sorry I'm a bit late to the dance. They seem to think that I should get some actual work done before I bail for the next week. Got 10/11 on the quiz-missed the bongo one. Am I spending too much time with the Discovery Channel?

For something really challenging: http://www.uclick.com/client/wpc/wpdom/

31 minutes with clues on

Way to conjure up those lyrics, TBG. I can't square the image of Ethyl Merman singing that song with the image I have of her disco days. The destruction of her disco records and others between the two games of a doubleheader at Comiskey Park is legendary.

yello-I saw the Annie Get Your Gun revival with Cheryl Ladd in the title role. Reba had just finished her run. It was superb, and Ladd was surprisingly good. Even Frostniece #2 and Frosdottir loved it, despite being in their "old fogey musicals are so lame" phase.

I had no idea that Ethyl Merman had done a disco album. The horror, the horror.

Lehrer writes his books to relax, and that's the way to read them. A good beach book or airplane book. If you want to read the Mack, start at the beginning with "Kick the Can."

Ivansmom,
Of course I know you're in Oklahoma. My slip. Got Washington in my brain this week.

There are some lovely state capitols. Pennsylvania's is grand, maybe too grand for its own good.

North Carolina's old Capitol is architecturally very much in the spirit of the one in Washington--different architect, but same similarities to the work of Sir John Soane, an inventive and influential London architect who's still very much admired. The NC House Chamber has served as a movie substitute for the old US House Chamber, today's Statuary Hall.

I understand the Virginia Capitol has a neat new underground wing.

Ivansmom, just wondering if you had to make a reservation to sing or apply for a permit?

I ask, because we have a situation locally that may test the constitutionality of city-sponsored or -approved assembly, coverage in today's paper:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA122007.08B.SpeechNotFree.27c5d92.html

When is speech not free?

Whenever it's spoken en masse by particular people on the streets of San Antonio, according to an ordinance recently passed by the City Council.

The ordinance has riled two local coalitions, both of which have sued the city. Today, the groups plan to seek an injunction in federal court against the new measure that requires most organizers to foot the bills of a street procession, including those associated with traffic control and cleanup.

Exceptions include parades or marches with "citywide significance," said Mayor Phil Hardberger, such as the Martin Luther King March and the César Chávez March.

"Not gonna be constitutional," said Scott Powe, a law professor at the University of Texas, citing the First and Fourteenth amendments. "Can't do that. The city is saying some things are more important than others, and it's not the city's function to decide what types of ideas and symbols are important."

City Attorney Michael Bernard, who said he took into account ordinances from across the country in creating the new measure, rebutted the notion that the U.S. Constitution requires government officials to recognize all gatherings equally. ...

The lawsuit, brought by the International Women's Day March Committee and the San Antonio Free Speech Coalition, was sparked by the Nov. 29 passage of the ordinance. The groups also name as defendants in the suit [Mayor Phil] Hardberger, City Manager Sheryl Sculley and Police Chief William McManus. ...

Hardberger defended the new ordinance as a "content-neutral" measure that depends on a fixed formula to calculate the costs of a procession based on its length, size and duration. Such a measure, he said, benefits general taxpayers who might not agree with a given gathering's political message.

"It's your message, so you should have to pay for it," Hardberger said. "It's just like renting a house."

Ivansmom, I'd like to request...

It's not Christmas without Grandma
All the family's dressed in black
And we just can't help but wonder
Should we open her gifts or send them back?
Grandma got run over by a reindeer...

You can bet that Ivansmom's voice rattled the rafters of whatever Capital she was in. I'm picturing a diva like I saw on TV doing a Christmas show from Ford's Theater last night. Just don't have your favorite crystal goblet nearby.

Two for yellojkt:

First, as the kids say, Mad Props for your contribution to the Celebritology chat today, specifically the name "Hannah Montana Wildhack."

Second, in addition to doing the disco album, wouldn't it have been great if she'd done covers of Alive Cooper's greatest hits? I'd pay cash money to own something by Cold Ethyl Merman.

SCC: Alice Cooper, not Alive (or Aleve, or Algarve).

Ethyl Merman was the hottest babe at the gas station.

Ethel Merman, now she was Sunday night Ed Sullivan perfect. Just maybe not disco.

Loomis, I think you should have to pay for inserting that tune cootie into the public domain :-)

Thanks for call-out, byoolin. That's a much easier chat to crack than Weingarten.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/12/16/DI2007121600509.html
for more Liz Kelly Celebritology chat.

That's an interesting ordinance, Loomis. At the Capitol, I believe demonstrations, etc., outside may have to get a permit but I'm not sure. I've worked on several events held in the building; usually you just have to reserve what rooms you need and arrange in advance for any chairs, etc. One can't sell merchandise at events in the building, though you can give it away. We also get a lot of school groups, etc., performing or having scholastic displays. They reserve the space. There is a monthly event calendar which tells you what is happening when and where (and how many people it is expected to draw, very useful for parking plans).

As I just stand out there and sing, and need nothing, I never reserve anything. I usually check the calendar to make sure nothing is going on, though this close to Christmas that's not a problem. For a few years I would have them put me on the calendar once I decided when to sing. This happened because in a previous administration, I heard secondhand that someone from the Governor's office seemed huffy that I wasn't on the calendar. I couldn't figure out whether they were unhappy because I didn't follow the rules (if I didn't), or because they didn't know when it was and might have missed it. I don't think the latter was it -- if you have your door open while I'm singing, or if you're anywhere in one of the public halls, you'll hear it.

If you want a funnier song along the lines of The One I Refuse To Name, try this one about some (rein)deer hunters:

http://www.thefump.com/fump.php?id=147

Ivansmom, I was picturing you as part of a group singing. You do this solo, and a capella? Wow - that takes some chutzpah. Brava!

Greetings from Waterloo -- home of about three John Deere factories. I am going to go around praising International Harvester and see what kind of trouble I can stir up.

Spent the morning at Grundy Center. Now heading back west to Webster City. By the end of the day I will have seen a decent chunk of Iowa. Except that its completely socked in by fog. You can't see a dang thing.

Thanks, mostlylurking, but I think of this as the easiest kind of singing. I can choose whatever key I'm comfortable with at the moment, I can alter my playlist (as it were) to fit the mood of my audience, I can take liberties with an arrangement if the moment seems right.

I enjoy singing with others, too, and with a good accompanist. A couple of days I had the surprise pleasure of singing a handful of carols with a very accomplished violinist who is based here. He and I showed up at the same time to sing carols for the owner of a retail establishment here (the only person for whom I'll sing Twelve Days of Christmas). Naturally, we performed together. He's so good he could play in any key, and we followed one another so well he could improvise around my melody. It was a rare treat for me, and I think our audience liked it too.

Solo. A capella. Wow.

My own Iowa experience was 2nd grade in Iowa City. I recently looked up the memorable house we inhabited on Friendly Ave. Still there, still painted white.

Joel, you'd better watch that International Harvester talk. Those nice Iowans have guns.

Boss, my brother-in-law is the mayor or Janesville, the next town up from Waterloo. He also works for John Deere. Those folks just might take a dim view of you singing Deck the halls with International Harvester. I can't guarantee your personal safety.

I think Joel might prefer the overall whiteness of NH right about now, doncha think?

:-)

TBG, that was priceless. For some reason I could not stop thinking about "The Money Rolls In" when reading it.

To the tune of "My Bonny"

My father makes books on the corner
My mother makes second-hand gin
My sister makes love for a dollar
My god, how the money rolls in.

(Chorus Below)

Rolls in, rolls in
My god how the money rolls in, rolls in
Rolls in, rolls in,
My god, how the money rolls in.

My brother's a poor missionary
He saves fallen women from sin
He'll save you a broad for five dollars
My god, how the money rolls in.

(Chorus)

and other verses not suitable for WAPO or my friends.

And I meant the white of SNOW vs. FOG, of course... :-)

Were there any donuts left over from yesterday? Come on out, y'all. Maybe RD will bring us the beer leftover from his party.

For anyone wanted the composite unexpurgated lyrics:

http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiROLLSIN.html

We'll make it the closing number of the Boodle Caroling Party.

http://ytforums.ytmag.com/viewtopic.php?t=243164&sid=8d9c8456db5ca84d55ce93c28de3eddb

Poster is from Ontario, Canada...not Waterloo, Iowa...

The week before Christmas
And all down the street
Not a plow was seen stirring
The snow three feet deep!

When out of the carport
There rolled with a snort
A little grey tractor
With a plow of some sort

The controls were near frozen
The seat icy cold
Show some respect
She's near 60 years old!

But little by little
With pops from the stack
The game little tractor began its attack

Wide open throttle
Motor right on the boil
Muttered a prayer
To the ninety weight oil

Working the blade
So slow it would seem
Swirling snow on the hood
Turning to steam

The neighbours all gathered
To look and to point
When they saw the small Fergie
Start to clean up the joint

It huffed and it puffed
With a mighty big grunt
Who would have thought
So much from this runt?

Axles are buried
Snow up to the rad
Spinning and slipping
Fergie starts to get mad

Dancing on brakes
And finessing the clutch
Despite loaded tires
She was slipping too much

But the tractor and rider
Were firm in their plan
To push and drag snow
And help fellow man

And slowly but surely
There appeared some clear street
It started out small
Just a few tiny feet

The neighbours were cheerful
And thought us quite handy
Why one friendly lady
Brought a wee cup o brandy!

Til long after dark
The tiny tractor did chug
Dragging that blade
While engine did lug

Finally one car-width lap
Of the street was completed
Took almost 4 hours
But we had not been defeated!

Then back under cover
With a pat on the wheel
The chilled driver climbed down
With no sensation or feel

Next into a bath
With a hot mug of tea
Too weary to move
Or get out to go pee

And off into bed
We then fell with a sigh
Only to wake to a sound about five

Down the street it did come
With a rattle and crash
The city's big plow
Through the snow it did splash

Foot firm on the gas
He roared forward and back
No sign did he leave
Of our first little track

So much for our efforts
Little tractor and me
City plow scattered snow
And made it look so easy!

Never mind I told Fergie
It's OK, It's alright
It's the thought that's what counts
Maybe more snow tonight!

Loomis I used to drive by the Massey Ferguson plant on the way to my grandparents as a child, acres of tractors.

Thanks for posting that, I am assuming the original poster was from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

I think Joel is in Waterloo, Iowa.

It's a real good thing journalists aren't economists. They sure seem a little fuzzy on that supply and demand thing.

http://www.washingtonpo