Len Downie Retires

Big changes at the WaPo. I'm sure some of them must be very difficult in some ways.

I doubt that very few, if any at all, in my generation will ever be able to say they spent 44 years working for the same organization.

Forty-four years. What a ride. I'm glad we had him where he was. I hope his successor is as good.

I hate those staff meetings where you find out your good boss is leaving. Your heart goes 'thud.'

Wow... if someone who starts her job today is with the same company for 44 years, that means she'll still be there in 2052.

44 years is an amazing record right there. Adding all the awards on top of that makes it even more impressive. I imagine he learned a lot from editing the Watergate coverage that carried over with him when he became Managing Editor and then Executive Editor. I imagine his command to get back to work was ignored by at least a few people.

Yeah, still makes me nostalgic for Watergate, somehow. Hey, should we invite him to our October BPH? He's sure to like it, dontcha think?

It's thundering and throwing off ether sparks right now, so I guess the better part of valor would be to shut down my computer. Um, wouldn't it?

bc, you were right -- the Mark Twain prize will still go to GC. Good for them. And for him. And, well, for us.

Welcome back Yoki -- full disclosure, I didn't know you were gone (I'm so ashamed). But welcome back anyway.

Forty-four months is about the longest I've ever worked for one company. Let's just say my resume is about ten pages long... and that's the executive summary.

Just never found a company to work for that I felt appreciated me enough for me to give a flying guano about them. And I even worked after hours off the clock because I wanted them (and their customers) to appreciate me.

So it goes, as V says.

I may not have the big paycheck anymore, but I really do like working for myself now. The benefits package stinks, but the combination of sawdust, lacquer and the freedom to smoke, drink beer and blast the radio whenever Cheap Trick comes on beats a cubicle farm hands down, IMHO.

In any case, congrats and cheers to Len for finding a job he obviously liked (if not loved) with a company that let him do his thing -- and let him keep on doing it for forty-four years and a day.

So Len starting in 1964. I am sure that one day, while vacationing in Florida he spied an energetic youngster and said to himself "You know, I like the cut of that kid's jib."

It's rare for one individual to so thoroughly shape an institution. And although he has much to be proud of, from our limited perspective here in the 'boodle it is clearly the Achenbach Acquisition upon which history should smile.

I started with my current company in 1987 and left a year later, pregnant with Son of G (I didn't know that part when I gave my notice there to take a new job).

I didn't stay away for long. I returned in 1992 and have been there ever since. I'd be a fool to leave this job.

Now Son of G is working there with me. Today, I was deep into my work and totally forgot that he was there. He walked into my office saying, "Mom?" My brain did not compute that my son was actually there and I had a tiny moment of confusion over why someone at work was calling me "Mom."

My husband and I were watching "Breach," the other night on HBO.
I told him I vividly remember when the story broke of Robert Hanssen's spying from the innards of the F.B.I. in the Washington Post.
Of course, I read the book.
I started telling him about the little details, most of which I documented from the articles in WaPo that I have saved all these years.
We talked about the misery of living hell in SuperMax.
Fred was intrigued about the why -- the hubris of Hanssen.
Now knowing that you worked closely with Woodward and Bernstein on Watergate, I can see that your touch hovers over many of the stories we read each day in WaPo.
I don't blame you as much for the sales job you participated in the run up to the Iraq War.
I'm sure you have regrets enough to fill a dump truck on that one.
The pressure must have been tremendous.
I'm glad you finally got the nerve to tell George he couldn't have everything he demanded.
That took real integrity.
Thank you, Mr. Downie, for all your hard work.
It will take a big, gutsy man of integrity to fill your shoes.

TBG... My Dad, brother and sister all work for the same company -- let's just say a very large Germany-based international energy and technology company that gobbled up Westinghouse several years ago.

I considered joining the family there, but thought better of it. Glad that you and Son of G are able to work together, but if I had to work with my Dad every day (or even my brother and sister), it would be like in the Elmer Fudd cartoons... two go out, but only one comes back.

Not that I don't like them or nuttin'. It's just that I've learned from past experience that we don't work well together.

Makes me all the more grateful that Joel invited bc and me to come on that radio show with him, and we bumped into Downie, talked with him a few minutes, and Joel conned him into coming into the booth with us. A very nice man, and he was fun and relaxed (didn't say much, but you could see he was enjoying himself just hanging out). As were bc and me, for that matter. A nice afternoon.

omni, I was finally able to open that Jessica Biel page. Very nice...but I have no idea why my work censor gizmo blocked it: nothing especially objectionable to it. But thanks anyway.

martooni... we're not working on the same stuff. They put him in the empty office next to me... we call it the G Family Compound since there's no one else anywhere near us.

Having him at work is great. I like his company, I love the easier commute and it's great having my own Personal Servant at the office.

Say the M word, TBG, and make RD cry.

We all know you're using your son as your office minion. For shame.

Yes! He's my minion! Bwah ha ha ha ha ha!

Hey... Isn't that why we have kids in the first place?

TBG... it's that "Personal Servant" role that would have me contemplating bad things that could land me in jail. I love my Dad, but he's a very... um... demanding sort. And he's more impatient than me, if that's possible. We get along great at cookouts and knocking back some brewskies, but working together? I'll take a root canal without anesthesia before that.

TBG -- in Maryland, cross the river, the evil laugh is

MuHAW, HA HA HA HA HA HA

I think. But remember, I might have a western accent. Off to pick up several very wonderful boys, but only one is mine. They have such huge feet and the blonde downiness upon the cheeks...but the faces are still soft....few squeaky voices....just about four years behind SonofG!

I'm with you TBG! We only had the second Alohakid because we figured it would be hard on our first one to have to do our parental bidding all by himself. Ha!

You are welcome Mudge, I really like that photo, though I don't see the ridge on nose part you wrote about.

Mostly lurking...I remembered the movie: "Tennis Anyone?"

A comedy of course. Mostly slow and boring with a few funny bits. But the sound track makes it worthwhile I think.

There is another song by JT that starts the opening credits, What I posted plays in the closing credits....

Classic Progressive

Another great song on this is "One Part Sugar" sung by Anika Noni Rose. Powerful voice in a small package. Unfortunately, I can't find video or lyrics online.

I can see both sides of the coin. How great for Len Downey. 44 years, a job well done, and now he can attempt living "normal" hours. May his retirement be just as successful. I imagine he'll have something akin to those dreams everyone has after graduating college... did I take that class? turn in that paper? take that exam? It will take time for him to get used to his new life, and then...he will. And he earned that new life. Lock, stock and barrel. May he enjoy every minute of it. And a big congrats to his family...I'm sure he couldn't have achieved half of this without their love and support.
But then there's the impact to everyone he's leaving behind. The colleagues that will miss his friendly yet wise guidance, the writers who will miss his nudging, shoot...the staff who will miss his friendly 'good mornings.' But he's not taking his hand in the card game away from the table. They cards will get shuffled back into the deck, and be re-dealt. Maybe they won't be played as deftly right away. But here and there, someone will trump, and the game will shift. Again. (Long way of saying -- 'time...marches on.')
Loomis, I gotta ask. Recently, it's been called to my attention that perhaps we (I?) overlook the true intent too quickly, or don't ask the right question. So. The stuff in the last boodle about Obama and the seal...was that to show us the comedic stupidity of what some will stoop to in this campaign season? Or were you putting it out there in the hopes of influencing our opinions? I didn't watch the video, but McCain's daughter...again, were you trying to who us the depths to which some will go to? I mean...aren't the children of candidates off-limits to the thinking adult? They're not running for office. They didn't volunteer for the spotlight. Shouldn't they be left out of it? Or is that what you were trying to shed light on...the rabidity of some supporters?
As an aside, it was difficult to tell if those were your views or a quote from elsewhere. I know you started with a link, but I sort of expected your thoughts about it to follow, not a couple of quotes (without quote marks) from the piece. Also, taking two disjointed thoughts and smooshing them together as one is misleading. I know you're proud of your journalistic experience, and find this a bit out-of-sync.

Scc....Sheesh. I should proof. You know what my mistakes were. Can you just mentally bleep over them please?

omni, try this site, slide 15. This shot shows pretty cleary the flat area that turned upward at the end of her nose. Then, just above it, very shadowy, you can just barely see the indentation. It shows better from the side, and with light coming from the side to put a little shadow into it. But you can see it clearly in "Home of the Brave" a couple times, and once you see it you can find it much easier.

http://www(dot)slide(dot)com/r/ZifPSXzc3D8ZGnxF87YOawfcbd1qCL6T?previous_view=TICKER&previous_action=TICKER_ITEM_CLICK&ciid=288230376265680742

This shows the upturn clearly: http://www(dot)actressarchives(dot)com/jessib/

Ah! Here it is. Second slide on the page, I think: http://www.actressarchives.com/display.php?img=39994&return=%2Fjessib%2F You can see the shadow.

And here: http://www.actressarchives.com/display.php?img=39989&return=%2Fjessib%2F

(Yeah, yeah, I shoulda been one of those guys who pours over recon photographs looking for Russian missile silos.)

A generational shift?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/business/media/24post.html?hp

Leonard Downie Jr. will step down in September after 17 years as the top editor of The Washington Post, he told the newsroom on Monday, making way for a generational transition under a new publisher, Katharine Weymouth, at a time of financial and technological strain for newspapers. ...

"A new, young publisher needs a new, younger editor," he [Downie] said in the Post's main newsroom. ...

Among the candidates to succeed Mr. Downie, according to people who have been briefed on Ms. Weymouth's thinking, are Philip Bennett, the second-ranking editor, whose title is managing editor; Marcus W. Brauchli, who was recently ousted as the top editor of The Wall Street Journal; Jonathan Landman, the deputy managing editor of The New York Times; and Jon Meacham, editor of Newsweek magazine, which is owned by the Post Company.

LL: And yes, the NYT article has positive things to say about Downie's leadership.

Mudge, I'll check it tomorrow when I have a less quirky connection.

Or one of those guys who 'found' "the face on Mars"...or not!

I can't believe you guys are still talking about Jessica Biel. So I'll continue with Jethro Tull. Ian Anderson is the one who claims that Hotel California came from We Used to Know. The album Stand Up came out in April 1969, before The Eagles were formed. So it's not a musical moron making this up - could be Ian inflating his influence...

Eric Clapton says that Tales of Brave Ulysses was influenced by John Sebastian's Summer in the City. Which I never would have picked up on - I was there when they were both wildly popular, and I never thought they were similar in any way. But that's why I'm not a musician, just a consumer.

Hectic day - have Boodled very fast. Is the Mommy Blog kaput? Why? I haven't looked at it in a very long time.

Mudge, that you can look at a young woman and say "what a fine nose" may be reflective of your age. I don't know if that's good or bad, it just is.

It is a neat nose.

Other than the cleft at the nosetip (which most people have), I don't see a ridge parallel to the slope of the nose, but I do see a small circular area that may be strawberry mark scars; a relative had a strawberry mark removed at birth and the scars persist to this day on the ridge of his nose. Therefore, cosmetic work cannot be ruled out in this case.

I'll say it again: Loomis! you are a bore! Go Away Already!!!

And Stay Away!!!

Go sit your fat a$$ on your Hubby and smack him around a bit....

If you guys want to oogle girls - oogle this a baseball ball girl make what to me is one of the best catches I have seen in a long time.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=si3eKv2sSTc&feature=related

Better video with a close up replay.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ea0_1214012482

Really nasty weather here in Hagerstown heading east,so look out ya'll. heavy wind and hail and clouds that looked the Alien ships on the movie Independence Day. Take cover everyone east.

You be careful there in Hagerstown, GWE...

Love the ball girl catch, dmd! Waayyy kewl!

Dare I say it? We have had precipitation four days in a row. I do not recall the last time that happened. I hope I won't jinx us for the rest of the summer.

You know how some of us are so proud to claim "First! (?)" Well, I've somehow managed, since I got back, this morning, to claim "Last!" twice, inadvertently. As I do most things, most of them ungraceful. My old white-haired mother wasn't kidding when she told a guest once, "I'm deficient in fine motor and social skills, and so is my daughter." He replied, "You mean you're clumsy?" hee hee.

omni, that was beneath you. "If you can't say anything nice, don't say nothin' at all." (Thumper, quoting Thumper's Mother, c. 1942, Disney Corp. CR The Disney Corp. Bambi.) Oh, for italics and underlining!

Did I put in enough detail that The Disney Corp. won't come after me (even for Fair Use?) with the well-paid high-powered sharks from a white-shoe firm?

Slyness at the risk of jinxing my area - can I pipeline some of our extra water your way - the rains we have had in the last few days are nuts - yesterday got almost a half in of rain/hail in about a half an hour - soil is beginning to reach saturation point.

I seem to be out of tune again

iF I could hum in an E-Minor Chord

I would

Loomis, I posted to you in my 7:51. Perhaps you blipped over it because my post was so long (I suspect you're not alone) or because your name wasn't first, you missed it. Please back-boodle.

Wow. That girl just caught herself out of a job. That leftfielder didn't look too pleased with her.
44 years in the same place is a lot. It looks like he was in the same job for a long time too. The WaPo will change of flavour, I'm quite sure. One guy I knew at DND had a combined service (in uniform and civvies) of 53 years and still had to be removed from his desk with a prying bar when the Chrétien government made the big personnel cuts in 94-95. He was offered 2 years salary to retire (at age 73 or so) and refused it. So his job was officially cut and he was forced to leave. Lest just say I won't need that much enticement.
I spent 5 hours on the river today. I should do that more often, I forgot how I enjoy fishing. I caught no big fish but a brace of 1-1.5 pounder and a dozen small ones is OK. There was a major hatching of small butterfly-like mayfly so the old, big and wise fish were gorging on them and I was left with the young, small and stupid, which was all right. They are all back in the drink for further growth.
I've seen the back and dorsal fin of a trout that was the perfect size for a family of 5 dinner though. Oh well, she's still out there for another day.
Funny sightv of the day was a lady merganser with 12 (yes, twelve) merganser chicks. They were so cute, just little puffs of yellow and brown feather. The cane brought them over a submerged sand bar for some diving training. They were popping out of the water like little cork stoppers. I should have brought the camera to catch that on a short film but it waa raining when I left this morning so I decided against it. Still, they are all good memories.

I LOVE that ball girl catch! I gotta show this to Alohadaughter.

As a peace offering to omni (whom I think will appreciate it) and the rest of you, have you watched "Dancing 2008" on YouTube which was only released on Friday?

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

Himself and #2 and me all almost-weep when we watch it. #1 says, "That's nice." and goes about her life-business.

If you like it, check out the lecture on wherethehellismatt.com. Excellent!

Interesting article about PUMAs (Party Unity My A$$). I had to agree with the writer on all 12 points. Thanks to Anderson Cooper's new blog for this link. ;-):

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/06/23/pumas/index.html

LiT: I saw it, but the part directed to me sure was embedded. Breaking up long text into grafs would be helpful and easier on the eyes.

Why is it so (from Frank Rich's Sunday op-ed at the NYT)?:

The night of the Baghdad bombing the CBS war correspondent Lara Logan appeared as Jon Stewart's guest on "The Daily Show" to lament the vanishing television coverage and the even steeper falloff in viewer interest. "Tell me the last time you saw the body of a dead American soldier," she said. After pointing out that more soldiers died in Afghanistan than Iraq last month, she asked, "Who's paying attention to that?"

Her question was rhetorical, but there is an answer: Virtually no one. If you follow the nation's op-ed pages and the presidential campaign, Iraq seems as contentious an issue as Vietnam was in 1968. But in the country itself, Cindy vs. Michelle, not Shiites vs. Sunnis, is the hotter battle.

Or this from today's business section at the NYT:

Both Ms. Logan and Mr. McCarthy noted that more coalition soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in May than in Iraq. No American television network has a full-time correspondent in Afghanistan, although CNN recently said it would open a bureau in Kabul. ...

Journalists at all three American television networks with evening newscasts expressed worries that their news organizations would withdraw from the Iraqi capital after the November presidential election. They spoke only on the condition of anonymity in order to avoid offending their employers.

I have to say, in my first post in the boodle, that I thought the literariness of the blog was one of its draws. I also don't know what's more hip than string theory... among a certain ilk.

Also... there are new ways to throw people under moving vehicles! This past week D.Brooks at NYT has Obama throwing people under trucks. I'm not sure if that's upping the ante or what.

"But then on the other side, there's Fast Eddie Obama, the
promise-breaking, tough-minded Chicago pol who'd throw you under the truck for votes."

uva yankee, I don't know whether you are real or a puppet, but I can confirm that the Literariness of the Boodle caused me to post the first time. And look at me now!

Thank Goodness I know nothing about USandA politics.

Yes, really great girl baseball catch. Thanks for the link. Sure hope she doesn't get in trouble for that catch.

In a slightly less stellar, but still really cool vein, this was a good Jeanne Marie Laskas column in the Sunday mag: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/19/AR2008061902906.html
(As a baseball dad, I had an undersize daughter do almost exactly the same thing. And I had almost exactly the same reaction.)

Um, mostly..I defer

Still a way cool song

I like better

Maybe tomorrow

when I'm soberer

Again

I'll reposte

En Garde
\

Welcome, uva. But I think before you need to make any snap judgments about the "literariness" of the Achenblog (Joel's half, up top) or the Boodle (the commenters part, down below, i.e., here), you ought to read back over the past couple of days' of blogs and Boodles, where you will find discussions of James Joyce, numerous poems, and a staggering amount of silliness, a good deal of which requires a certain familiarity with the highbrow. Or better yet, spot-check over the past year in the archives.

Think about it: we didn't get the rep over nuthin'.

Um, drinking too much I think,

Yoki? why Am I getting a peace offering???

Too tired to stay to speculate or defend but tomorrow I bet some discussion will take place about NASA scientist Jim Hansen who testified before Congress today. Hanson raised the clarion call of criminal charges for the corporate interests behind junk science on climate change.

Hansen is also proposing a cap and dividend system, rather than a cap and trade system. Caps on emission but dividends to citizens, to offset higher energy costs felt a consumer level.

Bet we hear some news about this in the AM. Very very very tired but happy to boodle on my last molecule of ATP.That is for DNA girl. SD, great nature post. Send a posse out for Son of Carl.

Loomis...thanks. Even an editor needs an editor. I had thought about it at the time...splitting it into two posts...but time is something I don't have a lot of these days, and I rarely have time to lurk, let alone boodle...well, you know the story. And fair's fair...I called you on a poor editing judgment, you can do the same.
But you didn't address the crux of my post. Help me out here. Tell me your intent. Who knows...maybe I'll end up being your defender.

You are getting a peace offering, omni my friend, because I reproached you previously, but appreciate you, always, nonetheless.

And whereisSonofCarl?

I wonder whether Literariness of the Boodle is still available as a handle? Could I reserve it (literally?) in case I ever have to blame it on Yoki?

One of my favorite Carlin bits, which I think about every time I fly, is the one where he talks about why we say getting "on a plane". "I'm getting IN the plane! Let the daredevils get ON the plane!"

And his baseball/football routine - love it.

Have never attempted Joyce. A colleague of mine said Portrait...was not so bad - but he's one of those scary smart people.

I thought "Portrait of an Artist etc" was excellent when I read it back in college, but that was a long time ago. Give it a try.

SCC: "Portrait of the Artist etc."

High literary content? High literary content? I came for high literary content and well...
uva, we just did high literary content. We'll get back to it shortly.

...

It is now a moment past shortly. I came across a book of the poetry of Sir Walter Scott in son 1's pile of books yesterday. The book carries a handwritten note that says 1891 and the owners name. I tried reading some of it before bed last evening. Let's just say tastes in poetry have changed somewhat. CP, any guidance you can provide on how to sort out the gems in this heavy reading volume? Anybody?

Mr. Downie, I salute your most excellent service to WaPo, and to all of its readers. May your future endeavors outshine even this.

Portrait of the artist kind of recaps the author's evolution in the use of language and thinking, kind of a berlitz immersion course. It's an interesting approach to "showing" rather than "telling", and the book is short, and definitely something teenagers and college-age students will appreciate because they still remember how their thought patterns were changing so quickly.

Which is to say, I liked it, probably would have liked it even more when younger.

SCC: I'm not only invoking my lifetime SCC membership, I'm using up all my bonus points for now.

Mostly-is that the one where he says we have it all wrong, it shouldn't be taking a snit, because we are leaving it?

Yoki-Dancing with Matt made me weep. Perhaps the viewer just needs a little experience to feel the tug of humanity on the heart strings.

44 years in one job. Can't imagine it. Can't imagine the Post without Downie either. But, Mr. F was in DC last week and brought the Thursday and Friday dead tree editions back for me. Not as good as getting Sunday, but what joy!

Toodles boodle. Sweet dreams all, and I mean all.

I'm sorry to hear of Downie's retirement, too. It was a great deal of fun to do a radio show with Len, Joel, and of course, Mudge (I'll always think of Downie as my left hand man, since he did the show sitting on my left). From the very little time I spent with the man, he seemed like a great guy; very thoughtful and encouraging. Plus, he knows how to stifle a laugh into a live mike.

Clearly, you can't argue with that many Pulitzers, including those this year -- the man is on top of his game, and he's retiring like John Elway; stopping when he's at the pinnacle.

LIT, I think most people - certainly parents - would consider a candidate's children off-limits.

Give that Ball Girl a contract!

bc

Ha! This is weird...we must be linked through the ether, CP. I hadn't checked in for days until a few minutes ago; I've been in research heaven since classes ended and I can start writing a paper now, yippee!!!

Students refer to the bottomless bag of chocolates outside my door as the ATP reservoir; I'm faxing you some for when tomorrow rolls around
http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2674

Much much backboodling to do. I hope to not find excessive unpleasantness associated with you know whose posts. It's a nasty world out there and this is one of my happy hidey places...

Yoki.... that video made me weep, too, with a huge smile on my face. (The Bollywood scene was fabulous!)

Glad to see you back! The nice thing is that now I can picture you at your computer. I hope the family is doing well. And that includes the four-legged members.

SonofCarl popped in the other day (yesterday?). Where's DNA Girl--and dbG?

Well... that was even weirder. Hi DNA Girl!

Look up, TBG, there's DNA Girl. My head's aswirl with everyone's vacation plans, and I'm giddy with delight because I have no imminent work projects to deal with and I'm not on call, tra la! So not sure where dbG has gotten to...

TBG!!!! Yes, of course. I knew it (and so did Himself) (he said "TBG is just going to love this video").

And where is dbG? dbG, come out! Come on and play.

That's a fun video. I was thinking, what, no Seattle? And there at the end, Gasworks Park in Seattle. The outtakes are good too - and at the end, he's at the iconic Troll under the Fremont Bridge. Apparently he lives here now.

Wow, I finally backboodled enough to see that Where in the Hell is Matt video - that's *awesome*.

Thanks for that, Yoki.

bc

Yoki, I loved the Matt video. I'll have to pass that one along. Thanks. And thanks in advance from those I pass it along to.

Even more awesome, I think, was that I posted a link! Successfully! Very linky. Very bloggy. And just now I've learned that blogs are *so* 2006.

But I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I love the Where is Matt videos. The one where he dances on the rock over the gorge in Norway can't be topped. Good to see him drawing crowds now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4&feature=user

I've been a rather few of those places and they are cool to see.

Len Downie must have been the perfect editor because his hand was invisible, but omnipresent. The quality and caliber of the Post must owe a lot to him.

At least this puts Joel yet another step closer to a covered parking space.

One more Carlin tribute. I can't ever pack for vacation without thinking of his Stuff routine:

"Sometimes you leave your house to go on vacation. And you gotta take some of your stuff with you. Gotta take about two big suitcases full of stuff, when you go on vacation. You gotta take a smaller version of your house. It's the second version of your stuff. And you're gonna fly all the way to Honolulu. Gonna go across the continent, across half an ocean to Honolulu. You get down to the hotel room in Honolulu and you open up your suitcase and you put away all your stuff. "Here's a place here, put a little bit of stuff there, put some stuff here, put some stuff--you put your stuff there, I'll put some stuff--here's another place for stuff, look at this, I'll put some stuff here..." And even though you're far away from home, you start to get used to it, you start to feel okay, because after all, you do have some of your stuff with you."

All of it here:

http://www.writers-free-reference.com/funny/story085.htm

Thanks for the welcome. Have been reading for a few months now (long time reader, first time caller)... So I have no expectations of "high literary content" disappearing. I'm assuming that the suggestions of Len Downie, though respected, will remain unheeded.

Sometimes I too wonder whether I'm real or a puppet.

Yoki, one thing seems clear.. no matter where people are, they don't get to dance enough. Very cute tour of the world.

I liked Gargoan India (nice synchronized dancing, bollywood style), Kuwait City, Papua New Guinea, and Nellis? airspace, Nevada in particular.

On Balance, I hardly knew ye
"Empty Chairs and Empty Tables"

There's a grief that can't be spoken.
There's a pain goes on and on.
Empty blogs on empty servers
"On Balance" is dead and gone.

Here they criticized each other
Here it was they flamed the guests
Here they groused about the "balance"
And the balance never came.

So, my husband says he doesn't think the ball girl catch is real. But I wanna believe it is!!!! What do you guys think?

And Mudge, Alohadaughter is undersized too and she plays baseball with boys, some who are almost twice her size. She can hang with them though, and manages to hit it in the outfield when the other coaches tell their players to MOVE IN! It's always sweet justice when that happens.

Aloha, you all.

Nice tribute to Len Downie.

No back-boodling for me. To the future, I say!

Mornin' everybody...

Am I actually up and at it before Scotty?

I think I need to go back to Slacker U for a refresher course -- they may revoke my credentials for being awake at this hour *after* sleeping.

But it *is* nice to have some quiet time before Little Miss Bean gets up and demands to be entertained. (I'm thinking a "snipe hunt" might be in store for her today)

Off to read and watch some news, then to sawdust land...

Peace out...

uva yankee,

Some of our best boodlers are former lurkers. Welcome aboard and serve as a good example for others yet to join the fray.

'Morning, Boodle. 'Morning, yello and martooni; you guys are up and about early. 'Spect Scotty's moving already, too. Cassandra, it's just you and me trying to get these old bones in motion.

Read Cohen, Appelbaum, Milbank and Robinson already. Eh. Nothing overwhelming or moving or worthy mention.

Here's what you need to know about James Hansen: he doesn't see any way to stop using oil (if we don't, somebody else will), so he wants us to stop burning coal.

OK, that's all I got this morning, other than to say it's nice having Yoki back, but then we lose SciTim to the upper slopes of Mauna Poi or wherever it is he goes. *Sigh* One wee bairn comes home and another one leaves. Story of my life.

That, and Mankind's constant search to see what's in the kitchen at this hour. Later, gators.

Good morning everybody. Please tell me if I'm crazy. A murder case has just gone to the jury here. A young mother and year old daughter were found shot in their home. The weapon belonged to the woman's step father who lived nearby. The woman's husband 'found the bodies,' did not tell anyone and returned the gun to the step father's house. He then bought a one way ticket to the UK where his parents live. He did not return for the funerals. The police found the bodies a day or two later. The husband had been surfing prOn an/or other sites for companionship. The defense did not call any witnesses but suggested in closing arguments that the woman was depressed (of which there was no evidence presented) and that it was a murder/suicide. Some lawyer on TV just stated that this was a brilliant tactic as it would place doubt in the jury's minds. I think it is laughable to suggest this in light of the evidence and that the jury will probably vote to convict before lunch. Am I nuts?

Morning, Mudge. Hey, Cassandra and SciTim.

Nothing much to say here. I did read Anne Applebaum, a good column on why the presidential candidates aren't nice guys. She's right, it's a process that only megalomaniacs can endure.

Seinfeld tribute to Carlin:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/opinion/24seinfeld.html

Hey You all, early morn is my favorite time "of the boodle". It is an extention of the village waking up, .stretching & going about it's business.

We had a small vacation condo at Va. Beach for about 10 years. First light brought the little street sweeper, chugging sweetly down Atlantic Ave, followed closely by teams of sailors from Ft. Story, out along the sidewalk in shorts & shirts, for their daily run; they were all so young and beautiful. By that time I could see the porpoise rising in and out of the gentle waves, heading south, always heading south, mindful of the beachcombers, alongside them on the wet sand.

Next came the local runners and the early morning tourists, walking swiftly, probably with breakfast on their minds. Finally arriving, the 8:00 am Merrill Lynch employees, who worked just across the street from my balcony, carrying their coffee cups and greeting each other in a soft, southern manner.

There is a rhythm of life for first light at the beach, and a rhythm of life for the early morning boodle, at least, that's the way I see it.

Thanks for the link, DNA Girl.

My favorite bit: "His performing voice, even laced with profanity, always sounded as if he were trying to amuse a child. It was like the naughtiest, most fun grown-up you ever met was reading you a bedtime story."

That pretty much nailed it for me.

I should add that having heard Carlin's narrations of "Thomas the Tank Engine" repeatedly (too repeatedly), he kept me from tossing a brick through the TV screen and I learned a few things to improve my own storytelling for Miss Bean.

He did a great "Sir Topham Hat".

good morning boodle!

VL-your 7:31 is perfect.

A stab at being literary. From McSweeney's Lit 101 Class in Three Lines or Less

The Great Gatsby

NICK: I love being rich and white.

GATSBY: Me, too, but I'd kill for the love of a woman.

DAISY: We can work with that.

Oliver Twist

OLIVER: Poverty ain't so bad, what with all the Cockney accents and charming musical interludes.

ME: Thanks to movies, no books were read in the passing of this class.

PROFESSOR WATERMAN: You're half right.

Read the rest here:
http://mcsweeneys.net/2008/6/16joseph.html

VL thanks for reminding me why I like the early morning so much. When it is warm outside I am often outside with a coffee sitting by myself listening to the sounds of morning - so peaceful.

This morning is a great example rains has left the area for the day and the sky is a cleansed clear blue - everything else is very green after all the rain.

You are correct Yoki, of course. I apologize for bringing the boodle down so low.

Great link dmd, love it.

Peace offering accepted, Yoki. I think my favorite bit is Gurgaon, India, And of course all the kids.

oh yeah, thanks mudge, for the better images of Jessie. I see it now.

Well hey, when NukeSpawn needs her pants pressed prior to properly perambulating to the train, a daddy's gotta do whatta daddy's gotta do.

Even at the expense of Boodling.

But she'll make up for it in the office today...

MWAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

*twirling-an-invisible-moustache Grover waves*

:-)

Hey, *Tim, glad you're done with the grant writing and back to the Observing. Let us know if you spot any Grays on their way in for Carlin's funeral services and to attend the Secret ribbon-cutting Ceremony for the LHC startup.

Aloha, I saw that video and I *want* to believe. But my first reaction upon viewing the closeup was that it was a little *too* perfect.

For the time being, I'm still willing to give that lady a contract.

I saw that clip of the undiscovered tribe in New Guinea turned out to be a hoax... (where's a Piltdown Man when you need him?)

Have a good morning, all.

bc

*paging Frostbitten, paging Frostbitten*

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/23/AR2008062301980.html?hpid=moreheadlines

:-)

And Sneaks, stranger things have happened, but I would hope 12 "normal" people can focus on the overwhelming evidence and see fit to remove Entwhistle from society. *SIGH*

Thanks for that link, frosti.

McSweeney's is good stuff; hadn't been there in a little while. I appreciate the reminder.

bc

Great link, frosty...and thanx to you and dmd.

I feel like Adam must have when the Eve-event required that a rib be removed. Getting better but this is one of my lapsing days. Must have pushed it yesterday, but getting better. Hope that Maggie's ribs are improving too.

Piltdown will forever be associated with one of my heroes. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

Scottynuke has the correct pronunciation of evil (often parental) laughter):
MWAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

SonofCarl is back in pure parodic form.

DNA girl is mystically linked to TBG. I predict a DBG sighting soon. Yoki is back and all is well with the boodle.

Oh, DR, much of that poetry is dreck BUT occasionally a phrase or two or image is a pearl. Put your gloves on and sort through or simply beg Mudge to send you some fine versification.

Off to the salt mines. The ides of June are past, we move on to July, hot July and after the 4th, we start the long slow descent to the burnt sienna and goldenrod days of August. Glad to be on this flight with you.

Forgive and pardon the sccs as I am off by bike and must take the long way there.

I was hoping you wouldn't say that, CP. I shall sink into the mire and will hope to be uplifted.

Good morning boodle. Off to town to get stuff for my fledgling garden in pots. I need poles and string for peas and beans and maybe tomatoe fetrlizer.

I may also stop to buy a new dictionary so that I may learn to spell.

SCC fertilizer

Dictionaries don't help you spell, dr, at least in my experience. To use a dictionary you must already be able to spell. I find that opening a Word document, typing the word and then doing spellcheck is the easiest way to determine proper spelling. YMMV. ;-)

Now, gotta decide how to ship packages of cookies to the second dottir's boyfriend and his brother. She said post office. I think I'll go to UPS instead.

I could courier the cookies, Slyness...

Couldn't guarantee the delivery amount, though.

:-)

Art lovers and/or Florida folks...there is a book coming out that may be of interest to you, "Painter in a Savage Land."

Much to my surprise last night I received an e-mail from author Miles Harvey. We had exchanged e-mails several years ago about his book, "The Island of Lost Maps," which I adored. Harvey provides the synopsis:

Published by Random House, Painter in a Savage Land tells the story of Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, the first European artist to journey to what is now the continental United States with the express purpose of recording its wonders in pencil and paint. In 1564 Le Moyne and three hundred other French Protestants arrived in what is now Jacksonville, Florida, hoping to establish a permanent settlement. Their quest ended in gruesome violence, but Le Moyne was one of the few colonists to escape. His story, largely forgotten for centuries, is a tale of both intellectual intrigue and swashbuckling drama, replete with shipwrecks, mutinies, religious wars, pirate raids, and Indian attacks.

You can read an excerpt of "Painter" here;

http://www.milesharvey.com/excerpt.shtml

It's been a literary five days. I picked up Jonathan Harr's book, "The Lost Painting" on Friday, and was far enough along--I say with some embarrassment-- before I realized it is nonfiction. I could not put it down all weekend. It's the story about the quest to locate a lost Caravaggio. Harr teaches nonfiction writing at Smith College (but he's been at the University of Chicago this past spring and recently gave a talk about Darfur), and his "Painting" book was edited at Random House by Bob Loomis. His earlier, award-winning book, "A Civil Action" was made into a film starring John Travolta and Robert Duvall (you know, Obama's cousin).

Some might say Harr's book is about "the delirium of research," I would argue that it's about having a pebble in one's shoe--going for the missing irritating nit that opens up the entire quest-and story.

But yesterday my thoughts were with writer Eva Jolene Boyd. Especially after a weekend e-mail exchange with a cameleer. I shall have to write more about her shortly--and the camel link to Ben Crowninshield Bradlee.

CP? College Psychic? I was going to boodle around 3 AM but a work issue arose.

Many thanks for all the public & private inquiries! A lurking friend has been asked to inform you all if something happens to me, so never fear.

I'm fine, just struggling to keep up with work, working out, the business, gardening and, you know, basically changing my whole life for the better. :-)

DNA Girl, thanks for the link. uva yahkee, welcome. crc, have we heard from you before yesterday? I think so, but welcome back.

And now, back to work. Have an astonishing day, everyone!

I'll be happy to drop that package of cookies off at the UPS stop for you, slyness. You don't even have to give me the money for the shipping; I'll be happy to cover it out of my own pocket.

SCC: My apologies. That would be *yankee.*

Jeez, Scotty beat me to the cookies. I don't often get beat running for the cookie jar.

Morning all! Getting a late start. I loved VL's description of the world's awakening.

Thanks for the Seinfeld link, DNA Girl. I loved this line...

"He was like a train hobo with a chicken bone. When he was done there was nothing left for anybody."

Cookies!

S'nuke-tis a fine moment in Army history. Now to just get rid of that stupid combat prohibition.

I've been meaning to bring this up on the boodle for a while. In news reports, is the mention of the deaths of women (presumably adults) as well as children as innocent victims of war anachronistic? Methinks noncombatants, whether female or male, are worthy of equal consideration.

The better part of Jonathan Harr's book, "The Lost Painting," takes place in Rome.

According to the NYT, there's a lot happening in Rome presently--the filming, with attempts to keep it tightly under wraps, of Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons."

Tom Hanks reprises his role as Robert Langdon, Harvard professor of art history and religious symbology. (So tempting to jump over and discuss the elements of the Great Seal of the United States. Here are visuals of our domestic seals, side by side.):

http://www.neoconstant.com/246/obamas-new-presidential-seal-likely-illegal/

Caravaggio is mentioned in the NYT coverage of the film--as is the less than enthusiatic Catholic Church. The NYT homepage has a great shot of Hanks getting some makeup applied.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/24/movies/24ange.html

OK, from the link Scottie provided:

"There are 57 active-duty female general officers in the U.S. armed forces, five of whom are three-star generals. About 5 percent of the Army's general officers are women.

"Women continue to achieve great success and make invaluable contributions to the defense of this nation," Gates said."

ok, you read it here, first. The next time this country needs a presidential candidate, here is The Answer. Surely among these 57 military women, we can find a candidate/candidates who can lead our nation as President.

Wouldn't it be grand?

Could it be that even some liberals are having trouble dealing with the possibility of a black President? Here's one who is confronting his demons head-on:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-grahamesmith/fear-of-a-black-presiden
t_b_108163.html

second attempt at linkiness:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-grahamesmith/fear-of-a-black-president_b_108163.html

VintageLady, that's a good idea, but I think that if HRC couldn't take the Dem nomination and the GOP couldn't - or wouldn't - pull out all the stops to get Powell to run for *their* nomination, I wouldn't bet too much money on it.

Besides, my Magic 8 Ball just said "Outlook not so good."

bc

I won't EVEN say how much it cost to ship cookies, except that next time I'm going to find my own boxes. $9.95 for a shipping container when they were already in Gladware was definitely too much! But they are on their way...

Hey dbG and DNA Girl. Good to hear from you, and glad all is well.

It would be grand except for one thing, VL: generals 9especially in this administration) tend overwhelmingly to be Republicans, conservative ones at that. No offense to anyone in the military, but I don't want any more conserv. Republicans with strong military bent in the White House for a while. You find me a moderate Dem in that batch, and I'm on board. (With my luck, she'll be the foreign-born lesbian chain-smoking Ba'hai-worshipping woman who was formerly a Catholic nun until she had an affair with a priest, and both were defrocked, so she joined the Army, thinking it was the French Foreign Legion.) (Not that I have any objection to any of those factors. It just makes it a little harder for her to campaign.)

frostbitten,

the first female combat death in afghanistan from the UK troops has caused a bit of a stir in the british media... some of it just mentioning statistics of how many women there are in the british military.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jun/18/afghanistan

perhaps anachronistic... but i wonder how the coverage of non-combatants would be made equal. Ian McEwan's recent statements about why "Islamist" radicals are more dangerous than other sorts of religious radicals might suggest why the news coverage is different. It's all about local bias:

"...those American Christians don't want to kill anyone in my city, that's the difference."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/i-despise-islamism-ian-mcewan-faces-backlash-over-press-interview-852030.html

oh... and yahnkee suits just fine. gives it a bit of a long-a drawl.

I dunno, Bertooch: I think Seth Grahame-Cracker is basically a moron. He wasn't really confessing his demons; when he got right down to it, he said he really didn't have any (significant), and his one "true" reason -- that everything will change and anything is possible -- was really just a lot of crap. What he wound up saying is just the same-old same-old spineless lack of guts and courage that makes Conservs hate liberals: *he's* perfectly willing to vote for a black guy, he's just afraid all those other a-hats won't. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But what nobody realizes is, those a-hats weren't about to vote for a liberal Dem no matter what skin color he had; he could be a frickin' Gray from Alpha centauri and they wouldn't elect him delegate to a Star Trek convention. Here it is: The people who won't vote for Obama because he's black were NEVER going to vote for Obama anyway, and most of them are Republicans anyway. We don't need them, we never "had" them, we don't want them, and we can win (barely) without them. So pitilessly wringing one's hands and worrying that the sky is falling is a waste of air. (OK, maybe it is falling. So what? Let it hit you on the head. Just stop worrying about how the d@mn rednecks are gonna vote. Jeez, Seth. Have a little courage, a little [dare I say it?]...hope. And if we're wrong, don't show the b@st@rds any fear. Go down swinging, not sniveling.)

Yes, we can, Curmudgeon!

Claudia Kennedy would have been a grand candidate, unfortunately, she was born in Germany.

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

I agree with you all that it is not apparent at this time, but I'm not detered/deterred.

Mudge, you left out *tacky dresser*, although, men can't quite pull off *tacky* with the same disdain as women.

I'm gonna have to ask NukeSpawn to help track down my eyeballs after they roll right outta my pointy little haid...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25343812

*SIGHHHHHHHHHH*

LiT, I wanted to think overnight about your questions to me last night.

Let's delve a little deeper (and I'm writing this as I head out the door to do errands)...

Bloogers have the story that Ariana Huffington at her blog didn't write much about the death of Tim Russert. The reason they offer? Because Russert's wife Maureen Orth wrote a nasty piece about Michael Huffington some 15 years ago for Vanity Fair. Note also that the recent sleaze piece by Todd Purdum about Bill Clinton was published in Vanity Fair--Frank Rich at the NYT and Joel defend Purdum, although Purdum didn't name sources.

By now, we should all know about the longstanding feud between Hillary Clinton and Sally Quinn. Quinn's husband is Ben Crowninshield Bradlee, whose Uncle Frank Crowninshield owned Vanity Fair for a number of years. Is there still a connection between the long-gone (died '57)Uncle Frank and Vanity Fair's current management, owner or publisher? Is there any influence? I don't know, but I bet someone out there knows the answer to my question--whether that answer be yes or no.

Now as far as the Los Angeles Times blogger who wrote about the Obama Great Seal flap. He appended to his blog entry a close-captioned video about Obama, one of the captions suggesting that if Obama wanted to fight sleaze or rumor with sleaze or rumor, that Obama forward the notion that McCain's daughter (by his first marriage) has herpes. Why did the L.A. Times blogger do that--append that particular video, when the subject of his blog item was so different in content than the video? I have no idea.

The thought that Mccain's daughter has a STD is rather libelous, under the guise of humor, unless the producers of that video have access to McCain's ADULT daughter's medical records--which I very seriously doubt. However, if you go to 23/6's website, and clink on the About Us link at the bottom of the page, you'll soon discover that the people behind the website are Arainna Huffington and comedian Sarah Bernhardt. Why would Huffington and Bernhardt want to suggest sliming McCain's kid? You tell me. (Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger.) Again, why would the L.A. Times blogger want to insert the video--certainly he had to have known that the video was linked to Arianna Huffington, he's in the biz, after all.

Is this how Washington and media coverage works? A-list women in long-standing feuds? Old tribal networks going back to Boston Brahmins? You tell me.

Dobson opening his mouth is the best thing that can happen for Obama. (And once again it's the same old story: Obama was never gonna get any "potential" Dobson folks to vote for him. And half of them will sit home on election day anyway.)

Kennedy's wiki bio only says she was born in Frankfurt, Germany. If she was born in the military hospital (and is a military "brat"), she should be OK. It also says she's being considered as an Obama VP candidate (how seriously is hard to say). But presumably she has passed the citizenship test, as McCain has, or she wouldn't be on the list. But I don't see her as remotely possible.

Re the 10:56:

One must be born in the U.S. to be president. Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5.

By the time of their inauguration, the President and Vice President must be:

natural born citizens (or citizens at the time of the Constitution's adoption)

at least thirty-five years old

inhabitants for at least fourteen years of the United States.

Isn't 23/6 kind of a not-quite-as-funny Onion? Who would expect anyone to take anything on that site seriously?

Isn't that like questioning the integrity of someone who laughingly points out the SNL Weekend Update?

Re: the 11:48: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/01/AR2008050103224_pf.html

Also, on March 26, 1790, Congress approved an act that states, "The children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond sea, or outside the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural-born citizens of the United States."

In 1795, the United States Naturalization Act provided that "the children of citizens of the United States, born out of the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, shall be considered as citizens of the United States; provided that the right of citizenship shall not descend to persons whose fathers have never been resident in the United States ... ."

And herpes isn't necessarily an STD. Chicken pox, for instance, is in the herpes family, and I can assure you, none of us were having sex in the second grade back in 1954, when I and half my class got it. (Well, I guess I can't really speak for the rest of the second grade. I myself was a virgin at the time, is all I can say. Whether the other second-graders were having sex I don't know. But I wasn't, and I got chicken pox.)

Ditto cold sores, and some of the other herpes-related diseases (including types of cancer). So claiming, per se, that an accusation of having herpes is libelous because it necessarily implies an STD is nonsense.

Second dottir is a firm Obama supporter, but she is deeply concerned that, as the first African-American president, he would be more liked to be assassinated because of his race. I suppose that is a risk he has considered and decided to take. The little bit I have seen and heard about the Secret Service makes me think they will take that into account appropriately.

You're right about Dobson, Mudge. I just looked at the headline, I couldn't possibly read the story without throwing up.

Personally, I don't think it's helpful when people quote others' work without using quote marks around any reproduced text.

I would add that this isn't the first time I've seen links or quotes from questionable sources presented as some sort of news, serious opinion, or fact.

Just because something is published on the Web does not mean it's been through a rigorous editorial process, or any fact-checking whatsoever.

If one is questioning the validity and intent of information or news sources, is it a good use of anyone's time or 'net resources to reproduce or proliferate it (certainly with out some sort of very clear disclaimer)?
Is it a good use of my time to consider or actually expound on it in some public forum, even if it supported some agenda I might happen to have?

I would think myself selfish to do so and a waste of my time as well as others'.

But that's just me.

bc

From Russia, with love:

The US. Dept of Homeland Security has launched a spy satellite from *Russia*.

What, Cape Kennedy is choked up? Sheese

Hey, were did my link go?

http://www.marinelink.com/Story/ShowStory.aspx?StoryID=212159

Loomis-I must say you have a refreshing take on conspiracy theories. That tiresome vast left wing/right wing thing left out the Boston Brahmin, society dame angles.

VL-I get really peeved with people, particularly women, who think HRC was our last chance at a female prez for a generation. Are they blind to all the women in once unimagined leadership positions (without the benefit of a former first lady's name recognition)? General to presidential nominee is an unlikely path, but obviously not impossible.

I think McCain should pick a woman or minority for his running mate. What an opportunity to make sure someone in this year's election becomes a long awaited first.

Is Len Downie jr. any relation to Robert Downie jr.?

Just joking, just joking. The black helicopters are making me goofy. But, I have to get back at them. Lawd, I hate my job.

Just back from an energetic (and) very scenic morning.

Loomis, I appreciate the effort behind your response about how such a thing ended up on the internet, and who might have what axe to grind with who. But my question was different...I was asking about *your* intent in putting it here. From my post...

* * * * *
The stuff in the last boodle about Obama and the seal...was that to show us the comedic stupidity of what some will stoop to in this campaign season? Or were you putting it out there in the hopes of influencing our opinions? I didn't watch the video, but McCain's daughter...again, were you trying to show us the depths to which some will go to? I mean...aren't the children of candidates off-limits to the thinking adult? They're not running for office. They didn't volunteer for the spotlight. Shouldn't they be left out of it? Or is that what you were trying to shed light on...the rabidity of some supporters?

* * * * *

Off to try playing catch-up with my day. I'll try to pop in a little later.

Hope it's a sunny day for everyone.

We were just talking about something very similar:

Army General's Nomination Called Historic

Ann E. Dunwoody would become the first female four-star general.

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 24, 2008; Page A02

President Bush has nominated Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to take over the Army's Materiel Command as a four-star general, and if confirmed by the Senate she would be the first woman in U.S. history to receive such a high military rank.

http://www.britishmuseumshoponline.org/invt/cmc26500

"A new world: England's first view of America" is based on a recent, rare exhibition of John White's works.

It's good to know a new book on French artist LeMoyne is on the way. The Fort Caroline colony in present-day Jacksonville was a fiasco, but at least LeMoyne's art documents it.

http://www.britishmuseumshoponline.org/invt/cmc26500

"A new world: England's first view of America" is based on a recent, rare exhibition of John White's works.

It's good to know a new book on French artist LeMoyne is on the way. The Fort Caroline colony in present-day Jacksonville was a fiasco, but at least LeMoyne's art documents it.

TBG and other local Boodlers: a friend of mine is coming to town July 31 and Aug. 1. What's the best Web site to find out what is going on in DC those two days/nights? (Don't say "the Post"; I've tried to navigate their stuff and can never find what I want easily or quickly).

I hate to do this to you, Mudge, but this is what I use...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/cityguide/

Mudge-that LTG Dunwoody news is soooo 6 hours ago. Scotty posted the link at 8:13. But it is such good news it stands repeating, so I'm glad you did.

I was afraid of that. Just came from there. But thanks.

Mudge-Why plan too far ahead? Check the Style section of the dead tree edition each morning of the visit. It's going to be stinking hot anyway so see a movie at the AFI in Silver Spring. K-guy can explain it to us all afterwards.
http://silver6.afi.com/silver/new/

Getting home. Very hot. Thanks for the link to the John White watercolor book, DotC.

This the same John White written about in "Big Chief Elizabeth: The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America," well, the Giles Milton book is the source where I first became acquainted with John White.

At the time, I was curious if this White was related to my Whites. But tracking that down would take time and mean a jump across the pond.

Please know there is an upcoming exhibit of these John White watercolors in Jamestown:

http://www.historyisfun.org/John-White-Watercolors.htm

Also, I knew rather early on that Miles Harvey was working on his book "Painter in a Savage Land." Some time has passed and I now know that he's finished this effort and am glad for him. I do recall that some of our e-mail exchange had to do with old Indian trails. Those e-mails are probably here somewhere. *l*

LiT: Later, perhaps tomorrow. I have treasures to explore.

Hey... Hey about a BPH? Next Tuesday night?

We can celebrate July! A new fiscal year for some folks.

Who's in?

I thought they might want to go to a play or concert, Frosty, which would require advance ticket purchases. But not too much in town those days. Lion King at Kennedy Center, The Imaginary Invalid at the Folger, and that's about it. No concerts, to speak of; nothing at Wolf Trap, etc.

May just have to eat, drink and reminisce.

For once, a BPH on a non-Cub Scout evening. (Although I'm done with the little buggers for a while, anyway.) I'm in.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Gotta think about the Tuesday possibilities.

:-)

Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me.

Re Tues: might be able to! But will check with the entrails and bones and tea leaves and the hatchmarkings on the refrigerator calendar.

Mudge, for some daytime activites, you can dazzle your friends with your nautical knowledge at the Navy Yard Museum, display ship, and the other museums on the base. Good for half a day, anyway.

Mudge.. you might try Ticketmaster.com and Tickets.com and places like that. You can search by date, I believe.

Friendly neighborhood liturgy and fest reminder:

Today is the 24th, the Feast of St. John the Baptist. Long ago and far away, under the Julian calender, this was the solstice and the Eve of St. John.

(Mudge can regale you with the stories that go like this: on this wild night, s4xual escapades did not count: Sort of like "stays in Vegas.")
Some of us missed our bonfires on the 21st due to rain and thunder. You now have another opportunity.

I will light a citronella candle for such is my suburban life this evening. Will be busy with a swim-a-thon. I am the Maestra of the event, which means I shall herd kittens and their doting parents.

Has anyone around the DC area used Washington Green Grocer? What do you think?

http://www.washingtonsgreengrocer.com

You might want to break out the Canada flags for the Tuesday BPH, it is Canada Day after all.

No no, 'Mudge, when you do your vocal warmups it's "mi mi mi mi mi mi..."

:-)

I know, Scotty. It's always all about mi.

CP, are you suggesting that when I was in Rome way back when, I did as the Romans did?

Say, wasn't J the B the guy that lost his head (kinda literally)? Got hooked up with Salome, and all that? Anyway, that was all far, far away from where I hung out at that time, with a bunch of blue-bottomed, blue-faced folk celebrating the solstice around this big ring of rocks in southwestern England. (I'd come over on a royal Viking cruise. Had a window seat, and my own oar, and everything. And believe me, what happened at Stonehenge stayed at Stonehenge, because those *&^%$# things were waaaaay too heavy to lug back home. I think I got a chip off an old block, but that's about all.)

It's St-Jean Baptiste allright. We got an early out by our sympathetic Director General. She lives in Québec, maybe it had something to do with it. Or maybe it was the guilt she felt after calling a general meting on this day, the witch.
We had the fireworks last night, to the Puppy's terror. The Big Bonfire is tonight. There won't be a sober soul in a 2 miles perimeter. Maybe the firemen, who knows.

I remember this one solstice at Stonehenge, though. Wow. There these two blue-faced twins from out Tintagel way (this was before the Romans built that fort there at Tintagel Head, which later became a castle, after I'd convinced Old Man Pendragon that it was a great spot...but that's neither here nor there, now anyway). Well, the people out that part of Wales were called Dumnones, so you can just imagine what kinda childish nicknames people further east gave 'em. At any rate, the word on the cruise ship was, these blue-faced girls could do it until they were blue in the face. Well, little did we know that's how they started out, not how they finished up. At any rate, one evening around the campfire in front of the solstice hospitality tent, I start talking to these two ladies...

Oh crap. Gotta run for the bus. Have to finish the story later. Bye.

Loomis, it shouldn't take a whole lot of time to type out a short response as to your intent in posting something like that here. Shoot, I even gave you a few outs. I was hoping for anything other than you were just being mean, but your putting me off leads me to believe there's no other reason.

No fair, Mudge, to stop a story like that in the middle!

Day full of meetings. Tired, tired, tired. Most exciting thing is that I learned a close relative of a coworker works for Nickelodeon.

I know one young lady who will be getting some pretty nifty autographs.

CRAP - i can't do tuesday i don't think!!! :(

i wanted to backboodle a min -
pantyhose - the bane of my existence! i don't wear - haven't in, wow ever, i think! now tights are a whole different creature - that's for winter wear - nuttin better than a bare, and groomed, leg...
stockings on the other hand - with the garter belt - i loved 'em - was a big hit to show the top of the stocking and a bit of the garter back in my more "punk" days...

virginia wolfe - ACK! bad bad memories of her and "to the lighthouse"... much better read IMHO is "light in august" faulkner - stream of conciousness...

mo - garter belts? Those are like fripperies, right? Man, now my concentration is totally shot.

The Mrs. and the son are off at a Nats game. So I am hanging out with the daughter. I mentioned to her that I know someone who knows someone who knows Miranda Cosgrove ("Icarly"). My daughter hasn't been this impressed with me since I told her I used to work at McDonald's.

RD,
That's "iCarly". Get your tweener show titles right or you will lose all the cred you've established.

mudge,
That story sounds suspiciously like the opening of most Pentcastle letters:

"I'm a monograph illustrator at a large midwestern monastery and I want to share something that happened to me recently..."

Pretty soon you've dragged the abbess, a couple of serving wenches and the Wife of Bath into the story.

Come to think of it, I bet ole Geoff got his start writing for Medieval Forum. Some of those Tales sound pretty far-fetched.

rd - when i was living in englad - i was on the tube one day and a guy told me "i can see your suspenders" - i was very confused until he pointed to my legs - my garters were showing... suspenders are what they are called in englad... (but of course that was the POINT for them to show)

and what we consider suspenders are called braces in england... i spent the first month there very very confused...

I wanna live in Englad. My heart is Engladded. What can we do to Englad you today?

Ooops, forgetting my manors. A bonne St. Jean Baptiste Day to you.

(Please forgive my very limited French language skills. I was taught French by a series of Ukrainian teachers)

Wow TBG, I wish we had a green grocer delivery service here. I'd sign up cuz I suck at picking produce.

LiT,

While I admire your effort to cross-examine Loomis, her post was clearly nothing more than her typical incessant mean-spirited Obama-bashing. There is no point or larger purpose than to vent the bile from her rather bitter spleen.

It is typical of her that she is so humor-impaired that she is unable to discern a satirical embedded video in a tongue-in-check blog post as a less than factual source. She then backpedals when this faux pas is brought to her attention.

Some very recent posts are still nothing more than snide obliquely on-topic transitions, a link, and unidentified cut and paste copyright violations. It's a format begging for parody if it weren't already so patently ridiculous.

And now you see why I need a dictionary. Study cannot hurt at all.

Manners.

I once relied on spell checker, and was correcting the spelling in a fax to our insurance company. I was running late, as ever, ran the check, took the first suggestions without really reading it and sent it. A very short time later, our agent called and asked me to explain the fax. I had mangled 'certificate' so badly that the spell checker thought I was looking for 'cervical' and inserted that in the document when I blindly checked. They say it is still hanging in the lunch room...

Man, I really hate it when I get one of those persistent itches...

Sometimes you just have to ignore it until it goes away, yanno?

:-)

That's very funny dr. I sympathize with your spell check woes. I routinely have to spell check documents with chemical names like aliphatic and acronyms for things like Leaking Underground Storage Tank. I just hope no one in the office ever misspells 'last.'

yello - you are right regarding iCarly. I bow before your superior knowledge.

But the point is, to my daughter the prospect of getting a real life note from Miranda Cosgrove is epic. It's like when you heard from Vonnegut. Or when Joel heard from Carl Sagan. Or when I heard from Kate Winslett.

Although actually, technically, who I heard from were her lawyers.

Since the literary side of the A-blog has been noted, I wanted to note that it can be very arty as well.

Here's some real sculpture for all to enjoy-
http://www.boston.com/travel/explorene/specials/summer/gallery/hamptoncompetition/

jeez yoki - not once but twice i misspelled england... i would like to live in englad too...

Oooh! I see Len Downie is going to chat tomorrow. That will be good!

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

Good evening, my friends. Mudge, these tired bones are just getting here.

Have any of you ever really felt concrete? It is one hard substance, and naturally, being the retard that I am, I had to find out the "hard" way, forgive the pun. I took my grandsons to the pool after leaving the Center. They didn't have chairs or a bench for seating, so I sat on the concrete. I took it slow going down, and was able to do that. It was the getting up part that threw me, and I mean that literally. When I tried to get up, it was no dice. I hit that concrete just as pretty as you please. Do you know concrete does not bend or even conform? I have scratches and bruises on all parts of the body. Someone came over and gave me hand, and I finally got up. I know there will be justice if I live to see tomorrow. I should have known better. Too old and too fat for those kinds of moves. I probably forgot because this morning I was dancing with five and six year olds(smile). I'm sure the folks at the pool had a good laugh because I did too. I think I should get the chuckle of the day award, don't you think?

Today is voting day here in the Carolinas. At the polling place where I vote, only twenty people had showed up. And in this county people should remember the guy that's running because of the Imperial Fire that happened here. If this is the same guy, and I believe that it is, people should have come out in droves to vote for the other person.
This guy was real nasty during that bad time. A heart of concrete.

I just wanted to check in, and say hello, well, and talk. I did more than say hello. Have a good evening, my friends.

I've only been at the Center two days now, and already I'm tired. Do you know five and six year olds can make one real tired? I mean they have just oodles of energy, and they never get tired. When I left the Center, they were still moving, and my tired body was trying to drag to the car.

Sweet dreams, boodle.

does anyone remember the commercial that came out where i guy was trying to make a color copy from a black and white original and the clerk kept saying "but it's not in color" and the customer says "but if you copy on the color printer it will be"... trying to find that commercial on youtube...

btw - when i say "showing my garters" i only mean of course the clips and an inch or so of the strap - i wasn't wearing see through skirts or anything... i was completely covering the naughty bits!

dr, that's funny.

NotLoomis, thanks. It had been pointed out to me recently that perhaps I was mistaking her brand of socially-challenged for cruel. I was trying to look into that, maybe end up being a better person. That didn't work out so well. I guess if I were going to really go all-out, at this point, I'd think through the differences between/nuances of humor-impaired and cruel. But it's been a long day. A glass of wine on the deck sounds much better.

mudge - dc area:
wolftrap - paul taylor dance comp july 8th - LOVE them! very entertaining

national theatre - mamma mia! thru july 13th

shakespeare theatre comp lansburgh - moliere's imaginary invalid thru july 27.

(i think the dead tree version of the washingtonian is the easiest most detailed guide to what's going on in dc)

What a dreadful game for my wife and son to go to. Six runs by the Angels in the first inning? Well, at least it prevents them from suffering from the anxiety of uncertainty.

LiT - Been there.

rd - are you frolicking with the lagomorphs?

There Joel! Downie agrees... all work no play makes Joel a dull boy... we are still waiting for those ROCK photos from the beach in OZ.

I see Don Imus said he was being sarcastic in his recent comments, but people didn't get it. Folks are being asked to pray for him. That's always a good start.

Hello, DNA girl and Yoki.

mo - of course I am frolicking with the lagomorphs. That's what I do in the evening.

I sit down here in the playroom than nobody uses anymore, you know, the one with "The Lion King" stickies on the wall and the old extruded plastic Power Ranger toys.

I let the bunnies out of their luxurious habitat to go binking all over the room whilst I sit in my comfy beanbag chair, read, (This week's selection is "The White Nile") and browse that internet thingie with my wireless laptop.

I mean, if that ain't good living I don't know what is.

A nice article on espn about Len Bias, what a terrible day that was.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=bias

A glass of wine on the deck sounds great.

Hello dear Cassandra. I'm so very sorry about your fall. I'm a champion faller (because I'm clumsy) and I know that sometimes an otherwise innocuous surface can become your enemy. Have a good sleep tonight (knowing you are holding those grandchildren close to all the goodness there could ever be). I know you know the best thing is just to put your head down and plow on. You *do* make a difference, for each of those children in your community, every day.

RD, you described the bunnies as "binking." I love that! That is exactly what our wild rabbits do!

I guess I need to say this, for me if not for anybody else.

Loomis is taking up far more emotional space and psychic energy than you good Boodlers can (or should) afford her. Ignore her. Don't read her posts, don't respond. She is a seriously mentally ill, boring, misguided, mean-spirited, boring, socially-oblivious, boring, cruel, boring, obsessive, mean, self-pitying, boring, thick-skinned, unbalanced, ill-medicated (did I mention boring?) sick and desperate female person. She will take any attention she can get, and feel vindicated in her (boring and small-minded) self-absorption with any encouragement at all.

Even with total ignoral she won't go away (why would she? She is at least as accepted here as she has ever been, or will ever be). But you don't need to be involved in that twisted world. Just let her be.

The real danger, as I see it, is that she is working to, and might succeed in, disrupting the civil and funny and intellectually rewarding and challenging discourse and community we all so value on the Boodle.

Just let it go. She'll post, and we'll continue our conversation. She'll escalate, and we won't. She'll pretend to be reasonable (because that is what psychopaths do) but we're not compelled to accept that, or to respond, or to be drawn into her sorry little world. Let us let it all go, with a single deep breath.

That is sort of hard, at first. It gets easier.

Of course if she attacks you, or yours, directly, I don't suggest you shouldn't defend the innocent. But honestly, if she wants to post hundreds and hundreds of plagiarized words here, what business is it of ours? If wapo.com decides not to have its servers used in that way, it'll block her. If she wants to obsess over this or that, Joel has control and can either tolerate it or not, as he sees fit.

Just let it all go, and be free.

For those who don't know, binking is when a lagomorph executes a mid-air shimmy. It looks a little like something a female gymnast might do, but with fewer spangles. It means the bunny is well pleased.

Yoki, over the course of my life I have learned time and time again that my influence on the mental states of other human beings is negligible compared to the forces that rage within such people. Yet, my hubris is so great that I have been known to still occasionally try.

What I am saying, Yoki, is that I agree with your conclusion. Just let it go. Do we not already have enough things in our lives to cause us pain?

How has that worked out for you, RD? Not so well? That's what I thought. My experience as well.

Thank you, Yoki, for those words of impassioned and accurate wisdom. May we all abide by them.

Goodnight all, sleep well.

And that indefatigable faith in the perfectibility of the human spirit is (among your other virtues), RD, only two of the reasons we so value your companionship here on this Boodle we sail in.

Sadly, I don't share it and am cynical. As you well know.

gwe, I'm going to try to steel myself to read that Len Bias article.

Len used to work summers and during the holidays in the building where I started my career. We'd chat a bit in the hallways and I shared a few lunches with him in the corporate cafeteria. I wasn't intimidated my him; he was just another college kid working over the summer, you know?

He was a nice guy; quiet, with an easy smile once I got to know him a little bit. Lots of people wanted something from him, and I believe he was somewhat reserved for that reason, and I suspect he was a bit unsure of himself working in a relatively formal office situation, and believe it or not, made him rather charming. I never asked him for anything, and I think he appreciated that.

I hadn't seen him since the holidays when I heard the news of his passing. One of those news moments when you remember exactly where you were, what you were doing, and who gave you the news before the room starts spinning around.

Just the night before I remember toasting my TV screen with a beer upon hearing that he'd been drafted #1 by the Celtics.

Dag.

dr, sometimes overly hasty spell checking leads to inadvertent humor. What does overly hasty asessment of humor as fact (where it fits an agenda) lead to?

Had a couple of glasses of wine on my westward-facing deck this evening, very nice. I had to come back and write this after reading your Boodle item, greenie. After I'd toasted Len into the setting sun.

Dag.

Sorry to get all Zeligy Baconesque on ya, but a figure with my zaftig social stature demands it.

bc

gwe -- we were living in Falls Church when Len Bias died, and the article captures the feelings of shock, sadness, and disbelief that I remember. I think the whole area had been so happy for him just the day before ---

Yes, RD. We do. We all have occasions of pain, almost more than we can articulate. So let us let those heal, and not take on other people's ( and I use that term loosely) problems. We all have to find our own way.

What I love about this-here Boodle is that we can explore our own paths, with good friends to hold our hands and guide us where they can see but no further.

Yoki has spoken. And the people cry, AAY-MEN, which means

it is so. (reminds me of Patrick Stewart on Star Treck Voyager saying "make it so.")

If we sing, this word is ahhhh-men....isn't that curious?

DR, I thought you meant your many manors, as in stately houses.

Binking bunnies! True, RD,and so onomatopoeic, really. Yoki called it and I agree.

My Sinjin night is simple: Small glass of red wine and the citronella candle, which is sputtering out. I do not have a deck but an aging fieldstone patio. Fireflies are with me but not as many as in years past. SD, tell us about Franco ways to keep the night of St. John? Fire, surely, but what else. Good food?

It is so.

The dancers at Stonehenge were the druidic elders. Interesting new documents about other elders who have conspired to destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. Thanks to the Russian religious mystic who revealed this cabal ;-):

http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/przion1.htm#The%20Protocols%20of%20the%20Learned%20Elders%20of%20Zion

Political freedom is an idea but not a fact. This idea one must know how to apply whenever it appears necessary with this bait of an idea to attract the masses of the people to one's party for the purpose of crushing another who is in authority. This task is rendered easier if the opponent has himself been infected with the idea of freedom, SO-CALLED LIBERALISM, and, for the sake of an idea, is willing to yield some of his power. It is precisely here that the triumph of our theory appears; the slackened reins of government are immediately, by the law of life, caught up and gathered together by a new hand, because the blind might of the nation cannot for one single day exist without guidance, and the new authority merely fits into the place of the old already weakened by liberalism.

NL: So true. Let's delve a little deeper into all twenty-four protocols (and I'm writing this as I head out the door to harass Catholic priests on book tours who haven't yet admitted to fondling young boys.)...

The administrators, whom we shall choose from among the public, with strict regard to their capacities for servile obedience, will not be persons trained in the arts of government, and will therefore easily become pawns in our game in the hands of men of learning and genius who will be their advisers, specialists bred and reared from early childhood to rule the affairs of the whole world.

NL: Finally, proof that Barack Obama was trained in a madrassa by Antoin "Tony" Rezko. The word 'servile' links these elders to Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama who is descended from slaveowner Walter Robinson NotLoomis of the Connecticut NotLoomises, my fifth cousin twice removed which makes her my great-great-grand-niece.

But what is the role of women?

Behold the alcoholic animals, bemused with drink, the right to an immoderate use of which comes along with freedom. It is not for us and ours to walk that road. The peoples of Helotes are bemused with alcoholic liquors; their youth has grown stupid on classicism and from early immorality, into which it has been inducted by our special agents - by tutors, lackeys, governesses in the houses of the wealthy, by clerks and others, by our women in the places of dissipation frequented by the deported illegal aliens. In the number of these last I count also the so-called "society ladies," voluntary followers of the others in corruption and luxury.

NL: These society ladies must be the Boston Brahmins and their old tribal networks. Lost tribe, perhaps? These revelations require further research into my library of obscure books on herstory.

In future posts, I will reveal how all the current Assistant Managing Editors of the Washington Post are direct descendants of the Rothschilds.

My Len Bias connections:

he went to Northwestern High School in PG County as did his younger brother. The younger brother was killed in a gun event near the school.

Mrs. Lonise Bias, who is active in the community on many issues, lost both boys before they were 20.

I was working on campus when he died. The sorrow on campus about a gorgeous and skilled and poetically-preternatural athlete was huge. The sorrow about a big boy caught up in a web of cocaine, invincibility, and faux-tough urban culture was equally huge. For about fifteen minutes, UMCP took stock of what the absence of good sense and lack of mentorship had wrought. I think that they should have brought in Morgan Wooten from De Matha. He would have changed the ethos of hoops at UMPC materially and spiritually.

I will say, however, that the basketball program at UMCP -- though better than at that time under Lefty Drisell -- is not a program that nurtures the entire person. Shame on those aspects of the institution using these young men and not calling forth the student-scholar ideal.

Jeff Green, playing now for the Sonics (headed for Ivansmom's locale), also played basketball for Northwestern. Under the wing of John Thompson II, Green was schooled in more than b-ball. Good choice, compared to UMCP. Jeff SHOUDA finished Georgetown, though. But I teach? Wadda I know.

I heard Mrs. Bias speak at a high school graduation last year. She could not finish the speech, so overcome by emotion.

Addendum:

My children go to NHS; CPBoy is there now. CPDot2 graduated with Jeff Green. Jeff Green is a great big lug of a guy with manners and he has called me Ma'am.

And, now the suing of me by one Gary Williams will begin. I will call in boodle chits to retain:

SonofCarl
Ivansmom
Firstimeblogger

Good night, y'll.

*faxing Yoki a virtual hug* *just because*

Yoki, I'm doing some good work tonight, the kind you said. Two different pieces, one old, one not. The old one was fragments. I was standing in the kitchen making dinner, and suddenly I knew what it was about.

Hah! I felt that!

Well done, sir. Well done! Are you being brave? Are you being honest? Are you *fearless?* Are you a poet?

G'nite CP. Sleep well.

My head is spinning. That 10:38 was incredible. I think I know who NL is, but I'm not going to say.

*faxing CP a hug, too, after her Mrs. Bias story* *and just because*

'Night, Boodle.

'night, 'Mudge.
'night, CP.

'night, bc.

I'm sort of happy not knowing who NL is. It adds a greater air of mystery around so many of my favorite men. (I don't know why I see NL as a man, but there ya go.)

Sweet dreams all. I'm on the road again tomorrow (ha!), so I will say tomorrow's 'have a sunny day' now. Have a sunny day!

NL, likw, *wow.*

So, where do the Bavarian IlLoomisnatti fit into this?

NL, you've raised sockpuppetry to a high art, like the Punch shows in Riddley Walker.

bc

CP... we've got your back when Gary Williams comes gunning for you.

We'll ask him to have one of his graduated players read the charges against you. You wont' have anything to worry about.

SCC: "like"

Oy.

G'night, all.

bc

Yoki, you have excellent advice.

Joel...cheer up. Dude!

Life is short.

It is a beautiful evening here in Colorado.

Oh look! Here is a wee eidrib.

'night all.

GO Bulldogs. The Fresno State ones in the CWS.
Hey LA guy did you watch the game? Come from behind down 0-5 and win, I think 19-10. Not much of a pitchers duel but fun to watch for an old Fresno State guy.
One of the players even has the same last name as me but I don't think we are related. Maybe loomis could research it for me.
I'm from Kansas and I think he is a California boy.

Hi, Yoki.

My cousin said he read the book by Henry Ford relating to the link in the 10:38pm post. I've asked him to lend me the book. He said he had to find out who had borrowed it. It's been a while and he hadn't got back to me regarding the book. Must go pester him.

It's hot, hot, hot here. The sun is cooking the leaves of some of my plants. The porch only protects the plants from the overhead sun but not the morning and afternoon sun.

Normally at this time of day/night, I amuse myself by contributing my own foolishness. Today/tonight, I'll selfishly partake of the pleasures offered by others.

Thanks, y'all. Great stuff!

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

Morning, morning, friends. I'm back! I was trying to make a funny in the story about the fall. What are we if we can't laugh at ourselves? And believe me, it was funny, even though it hurt like nobobody's business. And as for Don Imus, I find it incredible that he is in the news again for saying dumb stuff. Of course, we all say dumb stuff at times, but in his case, so soon. I think he forgot that he can't say certain stuff, even in jest.

Yoki, boy did you say a mouthful. And as for me, I had to almost drag the grandsons out the pool. It was hot here yesterday, and there were lots of kids at the pool, and some adults too. I want to learn how to swim so bad, maybe one day. I thank you for the kind words, but I'm just a plain old regular person, a grandmother that loves her grandchildren and trying to keep them safe. Nothing extrodinary(?) here, no saint. If cut, I bleed.

Today is Wednesday, the busy day. Good morning, Mudge, Scotty, Slyness, Martooni, and all.*waving*

On kit
I think it's great that someone can work a job for forty-four years at the same place. Not too many people do that now. I hope Mr. Downie enjoys his retirement as much as he seemed to enjoy his job.

Have a great day, folks. If it's hot where you are, drink plenty of water, and don't forget to check on the elderly and neighbors. Time to find the water. One of the grandsons wants pancakes for breakfast. All of this is to be done before going to the Center at eight-thirty.

I remember Len Bias, and remember his death also. It was shocking and really sad. I talk to my grandsons about drugs, and other things, but a lot about drugs. Some believe drug use to be a rite of passage, but that is so far from the truth. It really is the kiss of death.

NL,

Were those important documents given to you by a tall, attractive, bearded Persian lover? He might just have an axe to grind.

Doing my best to help bring down the literary tone, here is a new entry in the vibrant field of humorous astronomy music videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgIADiDSpO4

'Morning, Boodle, Cassandra, glad to see you up and about. C'mon, Scotty, yello.

Otherwise nothing to report. Got a hunch a new kit is coming.

CP,

That is a great on-the-spot memory of Bias's death and assessment of the current program. My memories of Len Bias are very different. To the rest of the ACC he was an example of how out of control many basketball programs were. I have no idea whether Lefty Driesell's ignorance of Bias's drug use was more Sgt Schultz or Captain Renault.

By all accounts Bias was the classic case of A Good Kid falling in with The Wrong Crowd. His life was a tragedy on many levels.

In 1986, I was following John Salley, the star player of Geogia Tech, who also was drafted in the first round that year. John Sally went on to play for three different NBA championship teams and is now a television commentator.

What is less known, is that like Len Bias (and most student athletes), he graduated with fewer credits than needed for his degree. Despite being a pro player set for life, he went back to school in the off-season and finished his business degree (the preferred major for GT athletes) in 1988. Many surmise this was a quid pro quo for having his number retired. Whatever the motivation, it worked.

I had one chance encounter with John Salley. I was on my way to a jobsite with my boss who took a side trip to a Porsche dealer to look for a present for his wife who had just gotten a big promotion.

Salley was also at the Porsche dealer decked out in full Boston Celtics (the team that would draft Bias) workout gear. I went over to him and said, "There sure have nice cars here." He petulantly replied, "But they don't have any 959s in stock, which is what I wanted to test drive."

Life is rough.

'morning, mudge.

You miss a day on the boodle, you miss a lot. It seems to have been Len Tribute Day yesterday.

I am going to resolve today to spend more of my life in tune with the spirit of Yoki's 9:25 PM post of yesterday.

"Some believe drug use to be a rite of passage, but that is so far from the truth. It really is the kiss of death."

As usual, Cassandra, you tell the unvarnished truth in few and well-chosen words.

I hope you aren't sore this morning. Yes, I've done that maneuver. Funny but painful indeed!

Morning all. Not Loomis, you crack me up.

I remember the shock and sorrow when Len Bias died. And for his mother to lose both her children, especially in such a way, wow. That has to be the most horrible thing a mother will ever face.

I should have provided sugar cookies, or made-with-sugar soda pop, or something for the office yesterday.

The US Sugar deal was an astoundingly well kept secret, even from Federal agencies concerned with Everglades restoration.

Morning all!

Yoki, as always I bow before your directness and correctness. *faxing a book of gold stars*

As much as I enjoy parody, parody is not ignoring. In this case parody is a big red flag saying we're still paying attention and devoting time and energy towards a useless topic. *shrug*

*finding-the-office-rather-quiet-and-calm-in-its-current-NukeSpawn-less-state-but-looking-forward-greatly-to-a-week-off-after-tomorrow Grover waves*

:-)

g'morning boodle! Packers come today for the 3 day or deal that is a Frostfam move. Oh for the time when all could be packed and loaded in one day. Also known as when we didn't have a pot to p' in.

Sci Tim-some show on PBS last night talked about the sexiest astrophysicist on the planet by way of introducing Neil deGrasse Tyson. I told Mr. F, "Sure, Tyson's good looking, and charismatic, but they must not have seen that kid on the Hotel Mauna Kea video." Good luck to Juan.

Our Tampa neighborhood has its own young athlete tragedy to remember. Freshman football player Kwane Doster was home from Vanderbilt for Christmas '04 when he was shot and killed in Ybor City. The rec center less than a block from us was renamed for him. I always think of Cassandra and her program when the kids are out playing and making joyful noise. It makes me smile and tear up. So much promise in the shadow of such sadness. Memories are short in children, few who knew Kwane are still young enough to attend the daytime programming. At night, in what passes for cool in a Tampa summer, the young men his age play basketball under the lights and we work to make sure the cars that stop by are not there to do business.

I'm getting the stink eye from Mr. F for not being helpful enough this AM so I better run. Must tame my MN passive aggression before we have a needless row. But what would moving be without a big fight? Not sure we know how to do it any other way, except solo, which is far worse.

"my MN passive aggression"

Oh Frosti, my goodness, darn it all to aitch-ee-dubble-hockey-sticks and golly days.

I am spraying coffee and hearing Garrison Keillor's voice saying that with wry and tender-truth English on it.

To plumb the depths of the Scandi-Nordi-Finnie way to say everything with.out.one.word. Paging Dr. Joyce Brothers.

Good luck with the move Frosti. With any luck I will not be moving ever again until they carry me out of here in a box or whatever.

I think it is time to take a deep, deep breath and remember what's important and what's not. The camraderie here, the silliness and the great people and information are what keeps most of us coming back. Rising above our human tendencies to reply to unfair or unwarranted words builds character. As my mom used to say, don't lower yourself to someone else's level.

Beautiful day here after yesterday's many thunderstorms. We had one after another from noon 'til about 8 pm. Some areas nearby had quite a bit of hail too. At least the grass and plants won't need water for a while. Have a great day all.

Good morning, all.

*Tim, I really enjoyed the video. Your acting (please note I didn't say "camera mugging") has come a long way from the early videos and the team's increasing sophistication in video production is clearly evident here. Do I detect a Monkees' influence?

I also appreciate how this song (and the lyrics you and she co-wrote) showcases Kelly's voice. Very, very nice.

Well done, all of you!

Re. Salley and the Porsche 959 (never legally imported for US): I could retell a story about how one ended up here in the US and was being used illegally by A Very Rich Dude, and how a smart person at the DOT actually read a car magazine and used that info to put an end to that car's use here in the US.

Maybe later.

bc

YJ -- good story. All NCAA schools keep the offer for degree open for the athlete's lifetime. "Come back, finish. (Lord knows you earned the right to the study and degree). Not many do, I am very pleased to hear your story.

I propose we use this word LOTS: Eventually, I will nominate it for inclusion in the OED. But, we must first proselytize.

BINKING, noun, origin unclear. binking is when a lagomorph executes a mid-air shimmy. It looks a little like something a female gymnast might do, but with fewer spangles. It means the bunny is well pleased.

Background on the Great Sugar Deal

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-flzsugar0625sbjun25,0,7036815.story

Guinea pigs also bink, but only when they are young. I'm sure there are exceptions, but all I've seen age out of the behavior by about age 2. That is middle age in guinea pigs so to be expected I suppose.

Wow... Tim.. excellent video! That Kelly is really something, no? She does it all, amazing singing, musical instruments--and SCIENCE! (She ain't bad lookin' either.)

Of course, certain lip syncing by you-know-who deserves a special set of applause. Clap clap!

Morning all! Finished a long string of deadlines at work and now I have a few days off to relax. Visiting with out of town family tonight and husband's old college roommate later in the week. The G family is getting social!

Dave o' the Coonties...Wow. Will this have any effect on the US sugar industry?

S'Tim, in case there's any doubt, you're a goof. I enjoyed the video. I see awards in your future.

Cassandra, I hope your bruises are minimal, and that the cement gets punished today.

Time to get on the road. And for the record, I really was trying to rise above the situation, thresh things out a bit, make sure I wasn't jumping to the wrong conclusion. I wasn't.

Have a happy day!

TBG,
The sugar and high-fructose corn sweetener industries in the US (including beet sugar) operate under a tangle of subsidies and political accomodations. The Sun-Sentinel story points out that the tangle is showing signs of unravelling.

I don't know enough about sugar politics and economics to predict the consequences of US Sugar shutting down. But there will be consequences. In a few years, a can of soda pop might even contain cane sugar from the Dominican Republic.

Yoki: standing O.

CP, St-Jean-Baptiste is not a family occasion. It's party time. Since the early to mid seventies it has become the occasion for big outdoor concerts. The young and the restless gets hammered on liquid, solid or gaseous substances. the old may take the occasional drink and enjoy the music as well. The is lots of fleur-de-lys waving, although not as bad as it was in the late 70's early 80's. The local shows ended with fireworks Monday nights and a big bonfire yesterday. The Fungi went to yesterday's party and came back around 02:00 this morning. The Ancient Giant Black Lab and the Very Large Puppy made him a very noisy welcome. This year, there were no troubles after the fire. There was a mini riot a few years back when the local cops tried to clear the place a little too early. It's always better to let things wind down on their own.
Binking bunnies: The VLP chased a baby bunny a couple of days ago. he bunny did a mid-air 90 degrees turn, is it binking?

The AGBL doesn't chase rabbits anymore (he's basically blind at this point) but he use to give them half-hearted chase until a couple of years ago. I would "wo" him when he reached the property line and he would stop chasing. After a few times both the dog and the rabbit would stop when I yelled "wo". They looked like a comedic team.

Dave, whatever else happens, I hope the US Sugar deal will be for the best for the Everglades. I'm sure it will be wrenching for the employees and former employees involved. Any chance the State of Florida will come to the aid of the dispossessed?

Nah, I guess not.

Morning all - went out last night an seemed to miss a lot.

Fantastic sunny morning here the start to some hot muggy weather, and probably more wet stuff after today.

Saw this quote this morning an it seemed appropriate.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

May I mention here that I have seen the "bunnies" in Yoki's neighborhood; they are the size of a small- to midsize dog.

If those lagamorphs were binking in RD's basement it would be quite a scene, I'm sure.

LiT:

Because it was a newsmaker.

Because the parodies were funny. One of the bloggers said the Seal of Obama was probably illegal illegal.

Because the Obama campaign appears to be about winning at all costs--and his stagecraft seems sophomoric--including the coming event this week in New Hampshire. Politics as usual. Anyone read Ruth Marcus' column today on the homepage?

I see Joel's article about the Florida land exchange elicited many responses last night, appended to the article--some folks talking about sugar cane as a fuel source. Anyone see Frank Sesno's one-hour special on energy this past weekend on CNN? I hated the two hypothetical doomsday situations Sesno started out with, but I thought Sesno's reporting from Brazil's sugar cane fields, later in the one-hour special, was worth watching beyond the ridiculous start.

Anyone read the NYT June 23 article by reporter Larry Rother titled "Obama Camp Closely Linked With Ethanol"?

Yesterday the lead article on our metro page was about Texas Gov. Rick Perry and ethanol. By reporter Brett Clanton of the Houston Chronicle, the article says that Perry has scheduled a news conference in Washington today to highlight the fears of the effects of high corn prices on Texas' cattle and poultry industries.

Well, my primary source of daytime food finally made the news: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/24/AR2008062401351.html

Ya know, the "binking" word, which is most excellent also carries the wink, wink notion, for some reason. Good words work on so many levels.

Hey, boodle, I need some help on determining the difference between vellum and parchment, both old and new.

Sure, I could wiki this, but one boodle motto is, Boodle First; Wiki Later.

Can I get an expert out there?

SD -- so the Canadians get all binky over Sinjin's day? Who knew. I am fast discarding my ideas about the staid and steady and stolid Canooks. Is the a Franco-ish thing? Do the other Canooks let lose on

St. John the Binkian's day?

DotC:

There's always sugar cane from Hawaii, beet sugar from the Western states, and the ubiquitous corn syrup, processed from Midwestern corn--the latter depending on how much gets converted for use as alternate fuel.

And if there's a downside to eating less processed sugar, I'd love to know what it is? For starters, I see a lesser likelihood of obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, fad diets...

CP - St. John Baptiste/Fete National is a Quebec holiday - not nationwide.

Shriek does NB celebrate as well or just Quebec?

Howdy y'all. Lovely various conversations yesterday afternoon and evening. Nice, Yoki. I forewent Boodling to trim trees. Public service announcement: when a branch falls on your knuckles, it hurts. But it gets better.

Cassandra, I loved your description of your fall at the pool. Very funny! I do hope you feel better. It is hard for some folks to picture falling while you're trying to get up, but I've done it too. Think of it as a talent.

It only itches more if you scratch it.

SCC: Perry's D.C. news conference was yesterday.

http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/other/06/25/0625renewable.html

Ivansmom I trimmed trees on the weekend - only managed to get the pole saw stuck once on a branch I later learned was just a little bigger than I thought. Fortunately a friend came by and helped me get the stuck branch out of the tree so I didn't hurt myself.

Afterwards the kids collected the limbs to make a fort, to prevent someone from losing an eye we used a cardboard box as the base for the fort and covered it with the tree limbs.

To say that US sugar policy is byzantine is to besmirch a fine ancient empire. US Sugar is one of two major players in the south Florida cane sugar industry. The other players are the Fanjuls, Cuban land barons that transplanted their businesses to Florida after the fall of Cuba.

What the Fanjuls do is the other shoe that needs to fall. As I posted a few days ago, the rich muck of the Everglades is nearly exhausted and a six year grandfather term should be long enough to squeeze the last ounce of nutrients out of it.

As the headwaters of the Everglades, restoring the farmland, if it could be done, would be a monumental miracle of reversing decades of damage.

We Boodlers, we band of binkers...

:-)

Good morning you all....

Science Tim, I am amazed at the mass of talent in your group. Being fairly new here in the boodle, I had no expectations when I clicked your link. What a fantastic surprise!!! And that was just the music and singing and bouncy acting, still don't know exactly what you do, weather stuff, right? :-)

Frosty, thoughts go out to you and yours that the move will be a seamless garment type and your movers will all be nimble of hand and foot.

Shortly leaving for Farmer's Market at Oakmarr, if I should find something lovely, will be back to boast about it.

The St. Petersburg Times has probably the best available explanation of how and why the US Sugar buyout came about.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wetlands/article641405.ece

US Sugar was faced with an uncertain future and Gov. Crist jumped in with a big proposal.

I don't think Hawai'i produces cane sugar any more. Puerto Rico does (and of course has a rum industry, too). Of course the feast day of San Juan Bautista is a big deal in Puerto Rico.

While I'm not sure this article says a great deal about George Carlin being a great source of financial advice, the quote I've placed below seems to me to be a good working definition of what it means to be an adult.

http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/smartspending/archive/2008/06/23/george-carlin-was-a-unique-source-of-financial-advice.aspx

"Since living in the woods isn't an option, he said, 'we all make adjustments to our value system according to our needs and what we can tolerate.'"

Well, technically St-John the Baptist is the patron saint of all French-Canadians, that term the nationalist quebecers despise so much. So yes there are some celebrations within the Franco-Ontarian and Acadian communities but St-jean-Baptiste is a holiday only in Québec. It was renamed Fête Nationale by a PQ governement of the past. In the same fashion Québec City was redubbed National Capital, the provincial parks became national parks, etc. These people lost their referenda in 81 and 95 but they remain delusional. Auntie Pauline, who heads the PQ at the moment, even suggested that a PQ governement should start behaving as a sovereign state as soon as they are elected to get things moving. *sigh*
I so long for the time when this generation of dead-enders will be gone.

Guess the Fanjuls weren't too crazy about the making of the documentary "Sugar Babies." Did it debut in Montreal?

Hawaii's sugar cane production is down from what it was in the 70s--thanks to a variety of reasons--put yield per acre was up last year--beating Louisiana, Florida and Texas for their yields, according to reporting in December 2007 in the Honolulu Advertiser.

And thank you, ScienceTim, for another fine video. While it was all good I particularly enjoyed the jumping photons.

If you turn around in mid-air, you'd be binking photons.

I believe, CP, that parchment is made of dried reeds as the raw material, and vellum from fabric (rags and scraps, essentially).

I think the entire lagomorph community would benefit tremendously if somebody like James Hobson or Pat Robertson-type would come out and oppose binking as a Satanic lifestyle choice that's corrupting the baby bunny youth of America.

Me, I think they should teach safe binking techniques in the school system at the appropriate age levels.

Forgot to add, great video, Tim.

Did someone say BPH next Tuesday? July 2?

Surprise!!!! I'm visiting D.C. and just might be able to make that BPH.

Yoki! Yoki! Yoki! (And the crowd goes wild).

NotLoomis takes the silver. :-)

Dreamer! Wow! howdy. I wish I could fly to DC next week - a BPH and the chance to meet Dreamer. And all y'all, of course.

When was that proposed October date for the megaBPH? the weekend of the 4th?

RockerTim, did y'll do the music? Or is that the wonder of digital editing.

I sent it to a WaPo reporter buddy who called me laughing out loud wanting more details.

Somewhere in downtown DC, reporters are laughing at side-splitting sciencey-nerdness unbound.

Perhaps, they are binking on steriods.

SCC: Tuesday is actually July 1, right?

Yes, I'll be in town then! (I'll be flying out the next day, so I might not be able to stay too late.)

I gotta call my wife, cancel the vacation rental and reschedule my summer. Dreamer is going to be in DC on the week I'm out of town. Dang!

As Boodler Emeritus, her appearance would make that a BPH for the ages.

I'm back from Austin and tested the travel fates every step of the way. I woke up late last Friday @ 6 am, covered the fifty or so miles to the airport, parked a space that couldn't possibly be farther from the terminal, caught a shuttle, cut line to get through inspection, and *still* made my flight. It left the ground at about 8.35 am. Arrived at the airport for the return flight at 9.05 am local time. I had my aunt in tow, who needed a wheelchair to get about the airport, only to discover that the outbound flight was boarding. She has an artificial knee and was wanded and frisked to be sure that nothing was untoward about her. We made the plane. Today is my birthday and I have much to celebrate, considering that I'm not dealing with air travel. BTW, Yoki, well done.

Happy Birthday Jack, enjoy your day, mine is in a few days - such a great time of the year to celebrate.

Yoki, I have been trying to find the rights words - but cannot - just know I am in awe.

Dreamer! You'll be there on Tuesday! Will you be bringing Achenfan and Tomfan along?

Fun!

Yes... the October BPH is scheduled for October 4. Will you be there, Ivansmom? I hope so!

boodle bacon alert!
Sci Tim, have you ever managed to break away and go "flumin da ditch" on the Big Island? Former sugar cane irrigation system, some tunneled through hills, other parts wooden aqueducts, all seen on a gentle kayak ride.
http://www.flumindaditch.com/

Sugar cane is water greedy. Better to let the glades and people have it. North Dakota beet farmers are left scratching their heads, wondering what big sugar knows that they don't.

Happy birthday, jack! I was just wondering if you'd returned from Texas yet. Hope all went well with the non-travel portions of your trip.

Today is my 25th wedding anniversary. In six months, I will have been married half my life. There should be some name for that.

I knew that would happen... new kit!

Happy Anniversary TBG!