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You know, the other night I was having a bit of a problem generating the appropriate amount of blazing snark to lob at Rudy Giuliani. Jane looked over my first draft and said, "You know that you could make this much, much funnier, right?"
It took me a few minutes to assess the problem, but then it hit me. Here I was, in this lovely house in the lovely woods in Connecticut; fed, happy, hanging out with my friend and hero, Jane, and her retinue of gorgeous, adorable dogs. I simply wasn't annoyed and irritated at all, which makes it very difficult to summon my usual lightning bolts to aim at the heads of the pompous, ridiculous, and banal.
I'm facing a similar problem tonight. I made us a dinner of fresh pesto, chicken, vermicelli, and a giant loaf of garlic bread. Jane has built a fire and the poodles are ranged throughout the room, snoozing in the warmth from the fire. By god, if I was any more relaxed, I would be a liquid.
Jane has a gorgeous vintage Eames chair and ottoman set like the one in the photo. The people she bought them from were friends with (ahem) Paul Freaking Newman, and it turns out that this chair was his absolute favorite and he insisted upon lounging in it for hours whenever he would visit them.
Now, R-rated musings aside about the fact that my big, scaly buttocks (and tail) are currently resting where the selfsame buttocks of Mr. Dreamy Blue Eyes Newman one rested, it occurs to me that while we all come here to this happy corner of cyber-space each night, we really know very little at all about each other's natural habitats.
Often, when I am here on the blog, I'm hunched over a PC in the control room at the radio station, but usually I'm at home kneeling at my coffee table in the front room of my little apartment with an ashtray and cup of coffee at my elbow. I have a cable running from my MacBook to the back of my stereo so that I can play iTunes at ear-splitting volumes if I so choose, and even though I was so excited to get a wireless modem a few months ago, it turns out that I tend to always be in the same place, half-on, half-off the couch, elbows on the coffee table, cat on my lap or leaning against my shoulder, purring.
So, how about you guys? Where are you right now? In a home office? In the kitchen? Sprawled across the bed with your laptop? What are you wearing? (ahem!)
Come on, don't be shy. You lurkers, too. Come out, come out, wherever you are!
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ZeD☼
zed
lolo @ 0
CHEATER!!!
What kind of fuckery is this?!?!
Hi TRex!
SnarKassandra @ 3
lolo is the Internet Sprite and official zedi master.
At my desk next to the window overlooking the deck and creek. The birdfeeder is outside this window. I’ve got on my usual stunning ensemble of sweats, fuzzy slippers, and a navy knit watch cap.
SnarKassandra @ 2
Cry baby!
SnarKassandra @ 3
Whoaaa, lolo, I think I mentioned Zeds being Prehistoric on the last thread!!! But, C’mon!! TRex!!!
I’m at the living room desktop right now, sitting in a comfy office chair with a big damned glass of iced tea and a bit of Sting playing. (A best of album, because I didn’t feel like making any hard decisions.)
just returned from a mother’s day family get-together in Wisconsin *burp* (excuse me, way too much food with a special pan of brownies for me made from scratch by my youngest daughter.
So here i am perched on a folding chair in front of my large-screen apple monitor (spurged on the monitor, skimped on the chair) with several cats taking turns on my lap.
Connecticut sounds wonderful TRex, glad you are taking good care of Jane.
In the study, jeans and cotton sweater, cat sleeping in the pencil tray of the desk. It’s the first night without a blankie around my feet–it must be spring!
Evening all. In response to TRex’s question, I am sitting at my desk in shorts and a t-shirt, listening to a mix of classic Chicago blues on the CD player and trying to avoid having my bare toes pounced by my young harridan kitty.
I am sitting at a desk STILL procrastinating my science homework and mad at Lolo for beating me to the Zed. I need a faster computer!
at the kitsch in tabla
I STILL want to know how Lolo does that…!
My computer desk is in my bedroom, next to the window so I can see the garden and the birds at the bird feeders. I can also see the TV, which can often be annoying, as it was for about 2 minutes this morning before retched and turned Timmeh off.
Right now I’m wearing my footie jammies and am taking my stuffed rabbit off to bed. I think it may be bagels in the morning, but maybe English muffins… {shuffles off to bed, where the cats are waiting}
SnarKassandra @ 14
Fear not…eventually people will get sick and tired of Lolo ALWAYS getting the zed and start grumbling about people without lives.
What is the subject of the avoided science homework?
I’m sitting at my big (very messy) desk in my bedroom. I made the desk out of a 36″ wide door and four filing cabinets. My TV is tucked under one end. I sit cross-legged in my chair ’cause my feet don’t touch the floor if I sit “normally”.
I usually have an overflowing ashtray on my left, a cold diet Coke on my right and occasional minor avalanches of one of the many piles of paper scattered over every available surface.
Sometimes the cat comes by and demands my attention. Which is okay, as long as she doesn’t sit on my mouse pad.
Definitely not my mother’s basement and I don’t wear pajamas. I was a teenager so long ago it seems like ancient history.
TRex, hope I didn’t make you sorry you asked.
Evening TRex. So what are you wearing?
It’s 1.05pm where I am, which is in an office with cinderblock walls and industrial green carpet. There is a fake Ficus tree in the corner – inherited from previous occupant – a stunning blue Buddha (acrylic on canvas) on one wall, and bookshelves lining two other walls. I’ve just finished a lecture and a seminar on Trinh T. Minh-ha’s text Woman, Native, Other, and am about to prepare for tomorrow’s lecture on cyborgs and gender. I refuse to have internet access at home, so all my visits to FDL occur in this space, which is probably why I almost never de-lurk; I don’t usually have time.
Also in Connecticut – northern Fairfield County. On a wireless laptop with some trashy VH1 reality show on TV.
Sleeping tuxedo kitty at my left elbow, glomming onto the heat from the laptop.
Impeach!
Sadly, this is my last night at Kobe’s house. Tomorrow I’m leeeeeeeavin’ on a jet plane…
I miss my kitties, but the poodles have been helping me with the withdrawal symptoms.
Shorts and a t-shirt, of course. This is Davis – summer has come. And the t-shirt has a bicycle logo. Again, Davis.
Home office, L-shaped desk scrounged from the company that laid me off after 25 years, surrounded by servers and other electronic paraphernalia.
Back to lurking……
Geez, you go to visit one of my blog heros and you’re already making a pesto yourself.
Sheesh!
Ah, what a day.
I’m sitting at an actual desk, in an office chair. The dog is curled up nearby, the sons are asleep after their day’s work.
Very cool day in Ohio here, felt like early spring or late autumn.
Hugs to you all.
I am lying in my king size bed with my laptop wearing a long silk plum colored nightgown with little spagetti straps with the windows open and a nice ocean breeze eating greenbeans and drinking darjeeling tea and a big tall glass of cranberry juice with stevia a lot of ice and a straw. *g*
lolo
Aah, TRex, my significant other, requested Italiano tonite, EggPlant Parmigiana with homemade Spaghetti and Meatballs, and a fresh Loaf of Garlic Bread!!! Must Comply, well under way, I might add!!!
Suzanne @ 19
My deepest, darkest indigo jeans and a green cotton/linen hoodie with an elephant on it. I may need to run and get some socks. My feet are getting a little chilly.
EvilDrPuma @ 17
Genetics. Recessive and dominant traits. Ugh!
In bed, with MacBook, hubby next to me, with his MacBook, comfy on a lovely spring Sunday evening. Just turned off the TV after watching the Sopranos and Bill Maher. We are your lurkers, who appreciate the insightful and entertaining commenters here at Firedoglake.
I’ve been reading M T wheels posts on TheNextHurrah this evening during commercial breaks of the Utah/Golden State playoff game here in my livingroom. Its dark out… It was a dark and
moisthumid night.shorts, t-shirt, sandals, just finished some of my physical therapy in the living room in front of the comp
Subway Serenade @ 24
Ooooowwww! Ouch. Aaaaah. That hurt.
The pesto was, however, sublime.
I strike the same pose.. tethered to the …tubes? There’s wifi in the park outside, some say. The sofa, library, and beer are up here on the 13th floor.
Better off in your Eames chair, I say, not only blessed with celebrity ass, but also the now forbidden rosewood. Sounds like heaven among the rocks of Connecticut.
Your posts always give me a laugh…
T
Hi,TRex. I’m sitting at my desk in my home office in a chair that is not nearly as nice as Jane’s but is adequate for my purposes. No music, TVs, cats or refreshments at the moment, although any one or more of five cats could show up on my desktop or keyboard at any time. (one, you may recall, is a ringer for Juan Carlos). The dog is lying on the floor, snoring. I’m talking on the phone to my mother.
SnarKassandra @ 29
Wow, they’re actually skirting the outer boundaries of EVOLUTION there.
TRex @ 22
Kobe is a large, or full-size poodle? My Detroit aunt had one years ago, large poodles are wonderful dogs!
SnarKassandra @ 14
Aah, the fine art of procrastination… lolo is just telepathic or something, my dear!!!
SnarKassandra @ 29
That is actually kind of interesting, though it confuses the hell out of my intro students. Explains why so many genetic disorders get preserved and some of how human diversity is patterned.
Hey jb…did you get over to the Whole Earth Festival sometime this weekend? Saturday had two great Salsa and Afro-jazz bands. Hot! Hot! Hot!
laying in bed with laptop resting on ribcage. Not bad for lurking, not good for typing.
I am, as usual, at my desk watching a TV show and working on pitches for my meetings this week.
And I’m really pissed off at whoever rents the Buffy DVDs and scratches them all up. Damn you, teen goth girls! Some of us yuppies need them too!
Sup, TRex?
Dammit, you had to ask.
I’m seated at my half of the two-desk side-by-side line-up (one for Mr. K8, one for moi) with the old-fashioned desk-top variety of computer.
Situated in the giant room we initially called “the ballroom” before we started filling it up with furniture after moving in, on the second floor of our house, overlooking the stairs and the dining room below.
And I happen to be naked at the moment, drying out from pool therapy in the backyard.
But don’t worry, I won’t embarrass anybody much longer — I’m actually headed to the shower now. (Too damned lazy to get dressed after ripping off my wet suit en route to the upstairs shower. Couldn’t resist stopping at the Lake on the way, though!)
DrDick @ 39
College kids have trouble with this? For real? It is easy and stupid!
DrDick @ 39
It also goes a long way toward explaining how my dark-haired, brown-eyed parents had a sandy-haired, hazel-eyed me. Either that or I’m just a mutant.
EvilDrPuma @ 36
Yeah, better be careful, this is Texas we’re talkin’ about after all.
In my bed-sitter in Austria at the pc under which are bookshelves, five in the am, getting ready to go to work, suited. Your Late Nite always gives me the smile I need to go to work with.
Hello TRex and Jane.
I really don’t know where I am.
But on the phone my mother told me ~1 hr. ago that she’d like to stuff a golf ball into “Swartzinger’s” mouth. (Helpful hint- she lives in CA)
That’s all I got.
What an odd little article…
Wisconsinites have deep-fried cheese curds, candy bars and Twinkies. They now have deep-fried livestock testicles, too.
This is the line that got me, though:
“What else can you do in a small town?” Fenske said.
I don’t know, I’d probably think of a lot of things before I hit upon the idea of a “Testicle Festival”.
I’m at the kitchen table with two dogs at my feet and wishing I were in Wisconsin with my mother like NewDealFarmgrrrill. And I’m already tired of 10 comments devoted to who gets the zed. Even as I wrote that I remember how puckish people were about Fitz!
I just posted the thing about the teachers scaring the 6th graders. Now going to say good night and finish this stupid thing.
Looking at the beautiful pond I built from my upstairs window surrounded by a cat, and guitars, today was one of the good ones. best to you Trex and all.
Same as the last several weeks. At the desk watching the playoffs, sipping an IPA, occasionally refreshing comments.
I’m at the dining/kitchen table in gardening clothes and long fuzzy socks (donned after gardening)with my husband watching the Jazz/GS game in the background.
By the way, you guys are the best! I’ve been lurking for a few weeks now and have become addicted.
SnarKassandra @ 44
You’ll be amazed to find out how much college kids have trouble with. A college dropout today only has the equivalent education of a high school dropout circa 1960.
I’m in the corner of my bedroom, at the computer desk. It’s a little tight, actually. But I’m listening to “Gil Evans & 10,” in which one of my favorite arranger/orchestrators of all time makes his usual magic (with a Leadbelly tune, Ella Speed–the resonances echo endlessly), and that touch of low-key transcendence, along with the minds I encounter in this blog posting, are doing a pretty good job of making me feel good. I got no complaints, really.
cinnamonape @ 40
Aaaagh. No. Listened to some of the music from my garage, while replacing brake cylinders and other wonderful domestic tasks that have piled up. I’d retire, and enjoy life, but I think I’ll probably die first….
My brother and I are green-eyed redheads born to our brown-haired, hazel-eyed parents. Redheads lurk in both their families and converged in us.
solai @ 41
Oops… lying in bed?
Home office on an “L” shaped desk in what for most people would be the dinning area. Earthlink DSL. I’ve also got wireless router and a IBM Thinkpad with AOL Broadband and haven’t used it in about six months, but still pay for it!? My Manx has figured out that if he gets (and stays) between my and my monitor I’ll pick him up! LOL He’s a smart one ; )
Zed tip, if I must. Hint: Note the time stamp on the above post ; )
L8er
One horrible summer in my youth, I was a chambermaid in a motel in which Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward stayed when they came to town to visit a daughter.
I once got to make their bed. It was pretty exciting for this teenager.
In my bedroom; I’m sitting on a piano bench in front of the dresser, which I use as a makeshift desk. I’m weating a nice button-down short-sleeved shirt, old jeans, and old sneakers (my old shirts are in the laundry basket). I teach an online course from home part-time; since my “office” is my bedroom, there’s nothing to stop me from surfing the net when I should be working (like right now). See what you’re making me do? :)
TRex @ 57
I have always wanted to be a redhead. My brother says I can dye my hair at 16.
EvilDrPuma @ 45
Or the diversity in a mixed race friend’s family. She is cafe au lait with dark brown wavy hair, one of her sisters is fair and dirty blonde. The rest of the family are everywhere in between. And yes, Cassie, college students have problems with genetics even though it is (kind of) simple.
Well I’m in my brothers basement in Kansas City in his workout room which is my temporary room till mid-July when I go back to LA for a month then I’m not sure. I’ll tell ya all though, as I go this period of uncertainty in my life it is good to have things like FDL that provide stability. Definitely helps keep me sane…
What am I wearing? Brown skirt. Orange top. No socks or shoes. Now I am logging off. For real this time.
Home office. Chowing down on pepperoni and Muenster cheese from the deli. T-shirt and shorts. Getting ready to email my timesheet for last week to my administrative assistant so that she can input it tomorrow morning while I am taking a vacation day and doing I-haven’t-figured-out-what-yet in honor of my 52nd birthday. Trying to decide whether to go to the 25-year reunion of my law school class next month. Listening to the new Bright Eyes CD, and when that’s done I will be listening to the new Kaiser Chiefs CD.
SnarKassandra @ 51
That is just an astoundingly stupid thing to do! Apparently, when God was passing out brains, the faculty of Scales Elementary School was just passed out.
Good night, Cassie, and remember: we are all greater than the sum of our recessive alleles.
At the moment, i;m still in Chicago. In our O’Hare Embassy Suites room. I’m at the table of the room. Next to the table strewn with pocky, pictures, pop and water bottles and digicams. Also a DVD or three as well. The usual remains of an anime convention well attended.
The other two are reading manga on the couch a few feet away and the gigglefests are amusing me as i browse through my various sites catching up on the weekend. I’ve got soome Honey Maid cinnamon graham crackers and i’m using nutella spread on them for some snackage.
All in all? Been a great weekend and this is the perfect way to wind down. (as my legs have expressively told me in no uncertain terms tonight. owwwie!)
Before I read the comments, so as not to be influenced, I’ll tell everyone I am in the family room at the table. (STIX) I do have an office with a PC, but I like it in here so I can watch Keith or CSPAN while online. I am wearing my flannel jams again, though for the last couple of weeks summer jams were warm enough. My American Eskimo is in my recliner, and my chihuahua is near me on her blanket.
I feel guilty about how good life is here compared to how the Iraqis lives have been since our occupation. If I could send money to help fix it, I sure would.
TRex @ 22
T, I like the reference; “Kobe’s House”, rather fatalistic, if you ask me!!! However, I have a House of Varmints, of all species, so I know the scoop!!! P.S. Golden Rule: “Thou shalt not eat Family Members!” Works!!!
Dana! Our paths have not crossed recently. Student term papers? Exams? Cheating students?
EvilDrPuma @ 55
Really? I dropped out of college after one year, and I’m on my way to achieving my dream job at 21. My God, if I had lived in the 60s I would rule the world! Bwahahaha!!!
Renee in Ohio @ 49
Come visit Missoula in the fall for our Testicle Festival. A unique “cultural” event with an abundance of “local color”. Just be sure to bring plenty of brain bleach.
DrDick @ 63
All I ever really covered when I taught human origins was the bare essentials–but I never thought it was all that dreadful. Then again, I wasn’t dealing with any of the biochemistry of heredity, either.
Jane Hamsher@33
OMG I didn’t mean for you to be busting a stitch.
So sorry!
TRex @ 58
TRex. do you have the extra tolerance for pain assoicated with red hair?
TRex (you incredible theropod)
Am at my computer here in the Big Apple in my usual West Side outfit, jeans and a T-shirt.
It’s been a thrill to think of your lounging in CT with Jane and the poodles. BTW, don’t trouble yourself about passing on a “Rudilicious” moment. Those wheels are coming off all by themselves.
Giuliani’s Legacy
Judith Giuliani
You just can’t make this stuff up. I’ve been online all night sending these to my family in NC knowing they will start the “forwarding process” that will disabuse the masses about Rudy’s 9/11 “heroics”, much less his checkered tenure as our mayor.
“America’s mayor” …. my a**.
Sitting at my desk which is between the breakfast and family rooms (used to be a wet bar and we converted it to something more usable), dressed in a white cotton nightgown, drinking an Amaretto with L & O Criminal Intent playing in the background. Hubby’s in bed and the kids have gone out. Will stay up until they are safely back home.
EvilDrPuma @ 55
Isn’t that a sad commentary on our times???
EvilDrPuma @ 55
Unfortunately too true.
Elliott @ 76
TRex what NPR show are you on?
Loo Hoo @ 69
I’m just curious here — how would being influenced by reading others’ answers change your answers?
Would you change your clothes? Move to a different room?
[And I can’t tell you how depressing it is to have mentioned that I’m sitting here starkers and nobody noticed. Oh well, I guess that’s what getting middle-aged means! And now I really had better get into the shower, as I’m getting chilly.]
Cassie,
My dad went ballistic when I had genetics homework.
Not that he didn’t believe in it, he did, but he didn’t believe that tongue-curling was a genetic trait. It just is, it said so in the text, and the homework was to go home and find out if our parents were “curlers” or not, and then figure out what percentage of the kids were, etc.
I still remember this, and it happened like in 1960-something.
Imagine if you lived in the old USSR, Soviet Russia, back when Lysenkoism
was the only scientific game in town.
I can’t wait until Michael Moore’s movie Sicko is aired. That should finish Rudy for a long time.
Valley Girl! Commencement was today, and for the first time in 22 years, I did not attend, deciding to spend one Mother’s Day of my career with my own daughter. (Commencement is always on Mother’s Day.)
How have you weathered the spring semester? Grades turned in?
Now multi-tasking. Blogging a bit as I surf the channels hoping to see our conductor in chief.
Three things that college students now have trouble with: The Anguish Languish, critical thinking, and common sense math.
Susan S @ 79
ooo I go for Stabler
Home office here, though it’s not all set up yet because we’re redoing the kitchen and there’s so much stuff spilling over that I have not gotten the new office space all together.
Ipod on speakers on shuffle. Current song from Counting Crows.
You’ve seen how much Michelle Malkin I’ve had to read over the last couple of years.
You tell me.
Mrs K8, I put a towel across my monitor – does that count?
Mrs.
RobinsonK8, are you trying to seduce me?Hhhhmmmm … I want to take your course!!!
where am I … in chicago, in the living room with the couch cushions mushed around so I can put my feet up … in real clothes since we had company here earlier, pitbull crying directly into my ear since I have been sitting here too long and he wants to go out and play … Al Jazeera English streaming behind this … just finished their cool film show and now it’s on to news. I adore AJ … they do wonderful documentaries and such … this weekend they had one on a group of girls in China that was stellar.
Lea-no uh @ 53
Welcome Lea-no uh.
Valley Girl @ 88
And in about thirty percent, by my estimate, a less than speaking acquaintance with American English grammar and sentence structure.
Suzanne @ 92
Bwahahahaha! LOL!!!
Thanks a heap! Off I go……..
ccmask @ 85
Hopefully, Ghouliani’s ‘Macaca’ moment (think Iowa!) once again had no legs within the MSM!!!
TRex @ 57
Not only do I have a cat that looks like yours, T, but I, too, am a green-eyed redhead born of brown-haired parents. I don’t have a twin, though.
Right now I’m in my home habitat– Computer desk, with desktop computer, office chair on wheels. To the right, a TV table with a place-mat over a dormant laptop, facing a large-screen TV so that I can multi-task with CSPAN going in the background. On weekdays at this time I’d be multi-tasking with NPR’s ATC in the background while I monitor FDL or eat. I’m about ready to start dinner, which I’ll put on the place-mat so I can multi-task FDL or watching TV while eating. You can tell from this description that I live alone.
OK, time to get dinner started. . .
Bob in HI
I’m on the bathroom floor. Curled up in the fetal position. I’m ascared because guess who’s back with the Tackiest post ever? A certain Marble Douchebag with:
as he was memorably described. I won’t link to his site but he’s calling out his ideological internet enemies and dictating terms of surrender. He’s acting all tough guy. Wait. Did you hear that?
Margot @ 85
Lysenko there, BushCo here.
EvilDrPuma @ 74
Ditto, but they still can’t figure it out. Simple things like co-dominance or partial dominance and why recessives can (theoretically) never be eliminated from the gene pool (another concept they have trouble with). I just think that they never study any of this in HS (unlike Cassie).
EvilDrPuma @ 96
Just wait until you get the kids that have gone through completely under NCLB. Not much thinking going on, let alone critical thinking.
Lea-no uh – glad you delurked! what were you planting?
TRex @ 57
Are you identical twins Trex?
Jane (nyc) @ 77
I don’t think this is gonna fly in NC, but that’s me…
Six years ago, she was the other woman. Today, she’s the ostentatiously adoring wife of the front-runner for the Republican nomination. Judi Giuliani’s run for First Lady.
http://nymag.com/news/features/31812/
Neil @ 93
Aha! Caught this on my way outta here.
Good. One little tiny virtual flirt, thank goodness. My mood (just my MOOD!!!) was beginning to sag.
Bon soir, mon cher!
(Hope I got that right — according to the foreign language of choice here, it would be “Gute Nacht, Liebchen! “)
Valley Girl @ 88
Dudette, of the three, the most tragic is critical thought!!!
Lea-no uh @ 104
I weep for the future. Cassie notwithstanding, of course.
Dana @ 86
Yes indeedy. Commencement tomorrow. A few last minute unexpected events- cheating students, bec. my newbie co-instructor allowed the students to sit next to each other at the start of the final exam. I came in for the second half, two students were reported to as cheating by another student, so I have to deal with the fallout. Also, plaintive emails from student who failed, and therefore would not graduate. I would have ignored the emails, or at least waited a while to respond, but for the sake of the education of my newbie co-teacher, took hours and hours of emails to discuss the issue. Otherwise, all is fine!
Mrs. K8 @ 83
Sorry, I was still fixated on Lolo in her plum nightgown with the spaghetti straps. Que caliente!
Valley Girl @ 88
I think I would make that common sense anything.
OK, in room just off bedroom, which is over garage. Wearing nightshirt (long T) and just ready to go and sack out. Getting late here on the east coast, time to rest. Bye all.
TRex @ 91
Absolutely. Impervious. To. Pain.
Siun @ 105
Cucumbers, red bell peppers, tomatoes, basil, oregano, mint, and the strawberry plant my 4 year old wanted to plant. The gardening thread yesterday was inspiring! Just a few of each though in planter boxes and a lot of pots…my backyard is tiny.
Imagine if John Edwards had done that.
TRex @ 92
that answers it!
DrDick @ 113
Two words: College Republicans. (shudder)
oh Trex … I used to sell Mr Newman blue jeans and movie tickets … went to high school in the CT town where they live … once asked Mrs. N or Ms W for ID on a check then died of mortification …
Sitting crossed-leg in bed with laptop on my wicker snack tray in my new pink & white striped pajama shirt. Cup of coffee on the left, ashtray by my kneecap, and cat at the end of the bed, thinking of what I need to do at work tomorrow.
Cozumel @ 108
That’s my point. Judy G. is not going to fly in NC or any other place where people really care about values. I’m probably one of the few people on the planet who knows both Ms. Giuliani and Elizabeth Edwards. (There’s a lot more about Mrs. G. that didn’t make the NY Mag article.)
If she and Rudy make to the White House, we should just spray paint the place black and close up our democracy.
Maddy @ 52
I love that image– building a pond from upstairs. Like Yoda, but with cats and guitars. I’m upstairs with cats and guitars too. In Joe Boxers, gettin’ snoozy. It was a hot one in the Twins today.
Sprawled across my prize futon, the Sandtrap, on a laptop which, in turn, is on a small wheeled table.
Just trying to relax a bit before the grind starts up in my molecular virology lab again on Monday. Mondays suck just as bad in grad school as in the Real World(tm).
VG! It’s nearly impossible to end a semester without a student problem, isn’t it? Glad to hear all is fine, though. Best to you!
Absolutely. Impervious. To. Pain.
Perhaps to MMkkk but he cries like a baby theropod when Jane zaps him with her taser after he’s been caught doing on-line shopping at the G*P, again.
Lea-no uh – sounds wonderful! the only thing I miss in our move to Chicago apt life is the big yard for serious veggie growing but as soon as this latest cold spell passes, I’m aiming to get a good herb garden going at least on the deck.
hmmmm …. maybe some tomatoes?
EvilDrPuma @ 110
My sister is a Third grade Teacher and my Brother-in-law is a Ninth grade teacher!!! My sister says there’s not much disparity between the two… That is sooo unacceptable…
TRex —- you scared the daylights out of me. I’ve warned Cassie to be wary of anyone out there on the net who asks her what she is wearing. Gotta be careful of creeps you know.
So, half an hour ago, I am in the bathtub and she knocks on the door. “Aunt Betsy, can I tell TRex what I am wearing and where the computer is.” Well you can imagine where my mind went young therapod!
So glad to know it was an innocent question. :)
I am in bed, legs propped up, listening to music and typing on a Mac PowerBook G4.
EvilDrPuma @ 110
I have seen the future and it was in my classroom this spring. Thanks to whatever gods may de for the Cassies of the world. They are what keep me going (and they are out there, if increasingly rare).
In the living room, laptop in my lap, Scrubs on TV, ‘Particle’ playing on the stereo, FDL in one window, YouTube in another watching the 1st 20 minutes of ‘The Secret’ (just heard about it today), the next downloading ‘The Secret Law of Attraction 7 Free Lessons‘ to meditate with starting tonight before bed.
I’m in the library with Colonel Mustard and the candlestick.
No, no, I’m in the front bedroom, at my ‘puter facing the window, and the Warriors game is wafting from the back of the house.
Reporting from Coronado CA . . .
In my workspace, which is a cozy La-Z-Boy surrounded by shelves and tables and piles of books and half-edited chapters. My feet rest on a pillowed footstool. My laptop is ensconced on a plastic table with legs that slide up under the chair. On the table to my right is a wineglass filled with sparkling cranberry juice and a splash of vodka.
The cat, one ear visible from here, is snoozing atop the 8-foot cat tree by the bay window.
Shrek is on the TeeVee, but I’m about to hit the mute button and do an hour of practice with the Bach B-Minor Mass, which we are perfoming next week. Then I’ll watch Love Bites, check the headlines at NYT and WaPo, and toddle off to bed.
Oh, and the Jane Candle is lit, as usual.
Bob in HI … I relate completely to the eating while computing thing … figure if I ever decide to play the relationship game again, the laptop on the dinner table will be the real test, eh?
SnarKassandra @ 29
Ah! That’s fun. Are we examining Gregor Mendel’s peas tonight?
Bob in HI
SnarKassandra @ 29
These are sort of like figuring out how to win at tic-tac-toe. Let’s say you have people with the propensity to place their right thumb over the left when the clasp their hands. Other people do this with their left thumbs over their right. You can try this with your friends. It feels weird the other way. Now you have to find out what their parents do.
First draw a pedigree (family tree) with two parents that have some identical trait …then have one of the kids with a different trait. In this case the parents are ” left-thumbed” while one of the kids is “right-thumbed” [It has nothing to do with “handedness”]
How can we explained this odd fact. Neither parent seems to “have” the trait.
The secret is that the parents both carry recessive alleles.
You probably know that alleles come in pairs and that some traits are affected mainly by one gene with two alleles.
So let’s do a thought experiment. If L= left-tending allele, and R = right tending allele…then try to guess what LL and RR genotypes would produce phenotypicall??? Simple huh! But what does the “heterozygote genotype” LR produce. That’s the puzzle and you can only solve it with the actual data.
If the parents are both “lefties” they have to have at least one “L” allele, and the same is true of righties. So two “lefty parents are L?= L? And one kid is R?. But if both parents are LL they couldn’t have a kid with an R. And if only one of the parents is LR and the other is LL then the kid would have to be an LR…and thats identical to the parent who is a lefty. That can’t be!
So Both parents have to be LR. And LR x LR can produce an RR (righty). Tada!
So any time that you have a simple problem where two parents are identical and the kid is different that means the parents are poth “heterozygotes” (LR) with one of the traits recessive and the other one that’s expressed being dominant. The kid with the other trait carries two recessive alleles.
This works for a lot of genetic traits. Some innocuous ones like the one above- and tongue rolling and hitch-hikers thumb. And it also works with a lot of genetic traits that relate to illnesses and syndromes (Sickle Cell Trait, Achondroplastic dwarism, albinism).
But a lot of other characteristics are much more complex, requiring a cascade of genes. And these genes are often the ones most influenced by environment in terms of expression.
Did you plant the tomatoes in a pot, too? How many plants? Hubby doesn’t want to make room in our flower garden this year for messy tomato plants. I do. This would be a viable compromise.
desktop, chair, dark low boot-cut jeans/black t-shirt, five cats (one is a foster cat for my animal rescue group) rotating through here for petting and to rub their happy-cat pheremones on the lcd monitor, just-graduated-from-high-school daughter (ceremony was this morning) studying for tomorrow’s ap biology test (yes after graduating)
outside: droves of gigantic grazing jack-rabbits, several bevies of quail with the young ones running hard to keep up, enchanted new mexico evening air
Suzanne @ 126
I still want the video, I was quite insistent to Jane!!! ;)
Bob Schacht @ 135
Interesting to note that “wrinkled” and “yellow” are inherited as recessive traits in peas, but seem to be dominant in Republican politicians.
Laptops in the living room, both of us (married 32 years) with big old yellow short hair cat,Elvis. Elvis is asleep under the coffee table; we have a short glass of red wine and tv on to “The Very Thought of You.” Lovely calls from adult children for Mother’s Day. Perfect. Love all you people from FDL — my sanity and sanctuary while living in Ohio.
CTuttle, DrDick, and DrPuma-
Yep, yep, and no.
Sadly, it’s just not the College Republicans.
I don’t know the underlying problem, but students too often take what they are told as gospel (so to say). I don’t know where the ability to do critical thinking comes from, or how it can be nurtured.
neurophius @ 35
Now I get it. One night TRex said he was scooping up Juan Carlos to go to bed, and the next night he was talking about a date. I thought maybe T and JC had an “open” relationship. Seems it’s a primate/feline thingy. Dang, can’t assume anything around here!
EvilDrPuma @ 140
Mendel, Anyone???
Siun @ 134
I think that is why I gave up on the whole relationship thing (that and my last ex-wife).
I am on the deck of an aircraft carrier conducting an invisible orchestra while wearing only a codpiece.
-GSD
Siun,
Two of the tomatoes are in pots, one is in the end of the planter box with the cucumbers. I really miss real tomatoes, so I wanted to give us a fighting chance for some.
EvilDrPuma @ 140
Every 707 that Boeing ever made! That is just priceless. Bravo!
EvilDrPuma @ 141
LOL
Me and the whole famdamily are sprawled across the sofas in the TeeBee room of our new house, watching comic relief from NOLA. We are surrounded by mountains and peeping frogs and the occasional coyote howl punctuates the wall of noise from teh stoopid yappy dog next door who won’t.shut.up.
Cats thunder up and down the stairs, teaching the young one AMBUSH.
I’m in shorts and a t-shirt, and my PC is in the room that functions as library, tv room and office. It’s really just a large bedroom, supposed to be the master, of a 1947 ranch-style house that really looks more like a cottage.
I’ve been clearing out the kitchen cupboards because tomorrow the guys with the sledge hammers will arrive, around 9, and take away the horror that is my kitchen.
Today’s Angels game is playing in the background; I already know we lost but I just want to turn around and see all the home runs by both teams. Almost all of the players have pink bats and/or pink arm bands in honor of Mother’s Day and Breast Cancer Awareness. The pink bats seem to be magic bats.
Sitting here with my IBOOK and my dog – after watching my youngest graduate college this morning – she’s going to work for Obama in a couple of weeks – watching “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” – and I need to grade papers. 8 days of school left and I have 10-12 days worth of grading left to complete. It’s a gorgeous day – my kids and husband took me out for Mexican food, my brothers and sisters all called, talked to Mom – we traded funny stories. What a great day! By the way -I’m sitting in my fake Eames chair! Just managed to get rid of all the junk food in the house so I can start once again – on a healthy eating kick first thing Monday morning. Just looked at some of the Sunday talk shows and saw that the Republicans look even worse than they did last week. My “Bushite” brother just left that fold – that’s almost a miracle. Only thing in the way of perfection for the day – all that damn grading I avoided all weekend.
GSD @ 146
Does GSD stand for George, Stinking Drunk?
Jane (nyc) @ 123
I’ve got close ties to NC too, and Mormons are considered to be a cult there, big time. So who’s left? ; ) Nada
So many cat people! My parrot, Grindl, says to be very suspicious of this thread….
EvilDrPuma @ 140
I think there is some powerful form of selection operating here. Otherwise the incidence is too high in the gene pool.
Hah, TRex! IIRC last summer when you went to CT to cover the Lamont primary you were shocked to see trees and even a cow pasture or 2 only a scant 75 miles from New York City. Now you’re lounging in the woods. We’ll turn you into a Connecticut Yankee yet. (Sorry!)
When I was a kid my family used to drive often from the middle of the state (I ain’t sayin’ where) to New York to visit family. The route we took to get to I-95 went over some secondary state roads not far from the coast and there was an T intersection with a stone wall and a very modern-looking house on a slight rise set back aways among a stand of trees. My mother always used to tell us, “Paul Newman lives there.” That was before I knew who Paul Newman was.
I can see how sitting in a chair he favored would give one pause to think, “Yeah, this is pretty cool!”
With MacBook on lounge chair by the pool watching GS/Utah game. Wearing pizza and margarita (been a long day and was already hungover from last night).
Valley Girl @ 143
we got healty doses of it at the dinner table.
Cozumel @ 155
I like the way you think … and agree completely.
I’m at my computer desk which is also my writing desk, with lots of fountain pens, including the green Esterbrook I restored, and my new Esterbrook which is Brand New old stock and I’m the first guy to ever write with it and it’s a nice copper color and my Clairefontaine notebook for my journal…
Gosh it’s been so long since we did fountain pens ;)
(MOD NOTE: Open bold tag closed)
I’m here in Thailand, staring out past my three computer monitors at a gray, rainy-season sky behind the palm tree, over the tops of the other nearby houses. My cat is bouncing around the room, putting half of her attention into my feet, and half of her attention into a piece of rope that I’ve put out for her.
GSD @ 146
You wish! 707
lolo @ 26
*Mind boggles*
I thought you were a boy for some reason… of course, there’s nothing wrong with wearing that if you are. ;-)
Valley Girl @ 142
I think it comes in part from being presented with large amounts of information, some of which conflicts and being forced to make sense out of it. This is where “teaching to the test” and over reliance on multiple choice testing destroys critical thinking ability.
GSD @ 147
Stunning.
The invisible orchestra is playing … Beethoven?
bmaz –
Hi again! Left you an answer to your question in the thread below. It’s very good to “see” you again!
Out of the shower and presentable again, but off to make some very simple dinner for both of us. Would love to hang out with y’all some more, but no can do tonight.
hpschd @ 161
Esties are nice, aren’t they? What nib do you have in it?
DrDick @ 63
Mendelian genetics is simple. But most of it is a lot more complicated. For something a little more interesting, look into the genetics of sickle cell anemia, and heterozygote advantage in a malarial environment.
Bob in HI
jb @ 155
My cats say, “Parrot? What’s that taste like?”
Jil In Pattaya @ 162
are the geckos barking?
GSD @ 146
He’s such an embarassment. Do you think he knows what an ass he is?
Yes.
okay. now it’s random pillow fight time between my friends. Sychogrl and Ten_Youko. XD
Yes, random anime fan moments. Before we settle into watch one last show before we crash to get up and leave on checkout time in the morning.
opie_jeanne @ 167Stunning.
The invisible orchestra is playing … Beethoven?
Flight of the Valkyries maybe.
jb @ 156
You just reminded me that last night we saw some stand-up by Dimitri (sp) Martin, who is the “youth expert” on The Daily Show.
One of his jokes was about a time when he was in the car with his family, on the way to visit a friend of his mom. His mother told him in the car, “She’s a cat person.” So he was a little let down when he actually met her, and he found out Mom just meant that the woman *likes* cats…
EvilDrPuma @ 45
We didn’t say any thing about mutants, did we Poodle?
lolo is: “… wearing a long silk plum colored nightgown with little spagetti straps with the windows open…”
?!?
TRex @ 174
Very cool. Trex, did you see my comment earlier? Up in the 140’s I think.
Elliott @ 159
Yes, I remember your comments in some long ago thread that mentioned JFK’s upbringing, and dinner table discussions. Sadly, this is not a common experience.
TRex @ 174
Not sure I knew that but love hearing it. My sister and I (the principal in Eden) are identical). It’s a great gift.
DrDick @ 156
Oh, I don’t know about that. Let’s not neglect the possibility that this is just another example of what genetic drift can do in self-isolating, highly endogamous populations.
hpschd @ 161
Copper Esties are so lovely. I have one, too.
TPhilip @ 175
Flight of the Valkyries maybe.
That was my thought ass well.
opie_jeanne @ 167
prolly Wagner
TexBetsy @ 129
Oh! Didn’t mean to alarm.
I hear you got some lovely new bed things.
DrDick @ 170
Grindl does all the pasta testing in this house. When it’s “al beaky,” it’s almost perfect. Your cats would not like the pasta test…. ;-}>
Forgot to include, listening to KPIG on the radio, with PBS’s Nature on the teevee. Token, the cutest dog in the world, is sleeping in the chair next to me. Bailey the skittish cat (who’s name comes from her propensity to take foot bail) is plotting some feline revenge for the d-o-g from her perch atop the kitchen cabinets.
Renee, how shocking!!! TestFest!
Jil In Pattaya @ 162
Welcome! Thailand… ooh, where? Bangkok, Chaing Mai…? The mention brings back fond memories.
Valley Girl @ 142
First and Foremost, the desire to read, no, an unquenchable thirst to read!!! My 90 yr Grandmother, whom oversaw me during part of my HS yrs, awhile back, chided me for falling asleep during Math Class, because I used to lurk beneath my Sheets with a Flashlight, until 2 am, on a few occasions!! My Daughter’s commencement was yesterday, at the reception, she scolded me, I retorted, “At least, I wanted to read!”, bless her heart, she replied;’I know you did!’, and smiled!!! Math was never my forte, anyway!!!
TRex @ 187
I did indeed! Bed is far more comfortable now, whether sitting or lying down.
I am wearing a large NY Giants t-shirt and purple shorts. Gladly NOT wearing my back brace.
burnspbesq @ 169
The new one has a 1551 and the green one has a worn 2668, both mediums. The new nib is wonderful. I haven’t had a new nib in an Esterbrook since 1956.
What Esties to you have?
Evening all.
I am at my desk, which is far too cluttered, in my study. Usually I am joined, on the futon to my left, by Bob and Ray, the silver tabbies who graciously allow me to live in this house (Bob, of course, being the inspiration for my FDL moniker). Apparently, they are more interested in events elsewhere in the house.
Haven’t gone through the comments – what’s the what?
Jane (nyc) @ 77
Judith Giuliani was introduced to the public by the tabloids. But that experience did not fully prepare her for the current one. Friends describe a woman who is hurt and baffled—“freaked out,” says one—by the barrage of coverage of her first marriage and the fact that long ago, her job had her demonstrating surgical-stapling procedures on live dogs.
Loo Hoo @ 178
Mutations move the species forward, is all I’m sayin’.
TRex @ 174
my mom is an identical twin, she and her sister were one of the first sets of twins to enlist in the WAVES in WW II. She died in 1990, but my aunt lived for more than ten years, so in a way, I only just lost my mother.
and I don’t know how this fits into any CHI-square but my mom threw like a boy and my aunt threw like a girl. I have one sister who throws like a girl and one who throws like a boy.
I live on 2 acres of gorgeousness in nw illinois.
This weekend I spent maybe 13 hours spar varing our deck after scraping and sanding, washing deck chairs, tables, etc., moving wintered over begonia, coleus, amaryllis, rosemary, tropicana canna, justica. I am so excited. It is so beautiful.
Today, we also planted 24 tomatoes, maybe 16 or so peppers, 8 brocolli plants, and mulched with last years’ rye grass.
For dinner we had watercress salad with egg, casserole of morel/potato/ham, mixed sauteed vegies (cauliflower, onion, garlic, zucchini).
The iris are really blooming, the lilac and red bud at an end.
Peony yet to come. And tomorrows posts of the essential news of our ongoing democracy.
good night.
ccmask @ 195
Poor, sweet baby.
Wow – sychronicity!
Was just yacking tonight with the new landlord about buying the existing furniture. Buying the sofa. The bookshelf. Then I asked about the Eames chair. He was shocked that I knew what it was. And chuckled.
Mutant Poodle @ 196
Mutations are the leavening that raises the loaf.
solai @ 173
I waiting for him to appoint a horse to the Senate.
He really is a great embarrassment. As is Cheney. Stunningly, appallingly embarrassing.
-GSD
SnarKassandra @ 29
Mutations! Yay!
TRex, I’ve always wondered something about twins. Do you and your twin share the same sexual orientation?
EvilDrPuma @ 55
Thank you EvilDrPuma
Over years (>20) of writing and reading in medical charts, and > 10 years of teaching third-year medical studnets, I thought I was just raising my standards too high.
On the other hand, my standards are basically: – - adequate grammar
- paragraphs and (gasp) even introductory/topic sentences
- NO homonym substitution (dude, you’re writing a prescription, not a text message)
- spell check (where possible)
Some of the med students are strong writers. Some are capable. Some – raised in the US by native English speakers – couldn’t have passed the English classes in my high school.
Now I better understand what I am seeing.
Thank you.
(and your 140’s a hoot!)
TexBetsy @ 205
Well, I hope they both enjoy sex…
hpschd @ 193
I’ve got two double-jewel J’s, a blue and a black, and a “transitional” (single-jewel) J in red. I’m partial to extra-fine nibs, so I have two 9550s and a 2550. They are out of the rotation now, but you and TRex have inspired me to ink up something vintage to use this week, since I don’t have to fly anywhere. Hmmm … maybe I’ll use the jade green Duofold Jr. with the John Mottishaw-modified needlepoint nib. Haven’t played with that one in a long while.
burnspbesq @ 66
Maybe you should go to your reunion. If you don’t, you may always wonder who/what you missed.
TexBetsy- in case TRex doesn’t reply, the answer is NO.
“Now I get it. One night TRex said he was scooping up Juan Carlos to go to bed, and the next night he was talking about a date. I thought maybe T and JC had an “open” relationship. Seems it’s a primate/feline thingy. Dang, can’t assume anything around here!”
TRex published a photo of Juan Carlos a while back. I sent it to our daughter, whose cat our Skyye really is but who left her here when she moved into an apartment that only allowed two pets. She e-mailed me back and said, “How did he get a picture of my cat?”
Evening from the Great Southwest! It was a beautiful day in the mid-80’s and finally got a bunch to critters, tomatoes, pepper, bok-choy, spinach, etc…, planted in the garden ,and to make my wife happy, started a lawn in the front yard. Hopefully the birds don’t think it breakfast, lunch and dinner.
So Trex, you are back inthe air tomorrow? I hope Jane checks to see all 3 poodles are in front of her when you leave. I hope that she has gained 5 pounds with your cooking too.
I sit with my big old 32-yr old, 6′6″, 225lb self in our apartment’s “living room”, my huge, obnoxiously heavy wooden desk covered in papers, games and all other manner of miscellany, the glare of the monitor reflecting off of my glasses while I catch up on world events, web-comics, and more.
Usually either my 1-yr old or 4-yr old daughter is on me, tugging on my (very) long hair (Founding Father’s style, all the way!). If not one of the rugrats, our kitty, Lord Byron is. My spouse sits at her computer reading her own (far less political) websites, forums, blogs, etc, or playing World of Warcraft (an addiction I admit I occasionally partake of, albeit nowhere near as much as my love).
So basically, having two kids, and way more stuff than room to store it, I live in what appears to be a war zone. :) Since I live in Gainesville, Florida, it smells like one too at the moment, what with the smoke day and night from the wildfires just outside of town. Ugh.
Oh, and I usually wear a t-shirt and boxers at night, while reading FDL.
Valley Girl @ 143
My students don’t seem to have been taught to ask questions. I mean that literally; they simply haven’t ever practised wondering ‘why’ or ‘how’ let alone ‘who and for what self-serving reasons’. They also get awfully confused when an author presents a claim only to demonstrate a bit later how wrong that claim is. They think that if it appears in print then it must be true and the author must agree with it. I spend lots of time asking my students questions that have multiple answers. Eventually many of them ‘get’ it and start to ask their own questions. But my life was not complete until I read about the ‘Anguish Languish’. May I quote you?
Blogging for Rudy’s Judy:
She’s in the parlor wearing her tiara. There are no dogs, cats, birds or any other (live)animal within 4 miles of their home. Rudy is looking over her shoulder and reminding her to mention 9/11.
I suspect that students today are all over the map just as they were 30 or 40 years ago. But the schools no longer emphasize the same things. I insist on looking at every paper my son writes (at my house) before he turns it in. But …. the vast majority of the kids at his middle school write better than the majority at the HS where I work.
solai @ 215
lol
TRex @ 184
I was incredibly lucky. This one came up on eBay and there were only 3 bids on it and I got a new-in-box 50 year old gorgeous copper Esterbrook for very little cash.
My bedroom has a huge glass slider door that overlooks some of the hills here in Topanga Canyon. The sun has set, the cool night air is gently lifting the curtain and the Coyotes will probably soon howl it up a bit. Am wearing faded jeans and work shirt.
TexBetsy @ 204
“Noooooooo, noooooooo, no”
(Amy Winehouse)
We are opposites, which happens about half the time with identicals.
Jane has a gorgeous vintage Eames chair
Is this indicative of a more generalized taste for modern furniture? Or is it just the chair? Personally, I’m obsessed with the stuff, though less the American stuff than European; though the Eames house is really extraordinary.
Siun @ 134
I’m lying on a sheepskin pelt in front of my fireplace (no fire tonight), head propped up by arm and elbow, typing with the other. Wearing plaid flannel pajama bottoms and a tee. Dinner involved grilling thai bbq chicken skewers and asparagus lightly coated with olive oil and garlic salt, along with some steamed rice. After dinner, my lovely other gave me a lower back rub to ease the tightness after the beds I weeded today. The rub is over, but I’ve yet to pick myself up from the pelt. feeling preety relaxed right about now.
TexBetsy @ 215
TB – Perhaps you could shed some light on what is going on in the public schools these days. As you say, students are all over the map intellectually. Most of my students are bright enough, they just lack basic intellectual skills. They also seem not to have a great deal of discipline or curiosity about the world.
Hi TRex and all: I’m in my home office, feet up on a storage container that Mrs bluejeans wants put in the attic, cat at my feet, coffee on my right and I’m wearing…bluejeansntshirt
Hey TRex, how goes the c*s*qu*n?
TexBetsy @ 216
I think people who write well can point to one or two people (sometimes teachers, sometimes not) who were manaical about grammar and usage.
My parents were both editors, my sister is a PhD in history and is about to publish her second book, and I had a teacher in HS and a professor in college who never let me get away with laziness, and always forced me to go back and make my work stronger.
But reading is the foundation – you can’t learn how to write a sentence by playing video games.
I’m sitting naked in a plastic lawn chair in my front room working off my notebook computer. And I am quite comfortable too!
Taylor MArsh has a good Mother’s Day pic up:
Mother’s Day
Jeff @ 220
She loves modern.
I told her today that hanging out with her is a bad influence on me in that she is rapidly teaching me to crave a bunch of things that are way beyond my means.
I have my family curse: expensive tastes plus artistic temperament often equals lots and lots of thwarted yearning.
Mutant Poodle @ 226
BINGO! And TV and computer games and IM.
Hey everybody!
I’m in a big fluffy bed, but it’s not mine. Hehee!
Oh, nothing too exciting… I’m in Houston on business.
TRex, if you want something to raise your ire, come here and see how much people love George HW Bush. (I have been avoiding asking people what they think of the current President… I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold my tongue if I run into people in the 28th percentile).
Oh, and if GWB picked up a baton in front of me, I don’t know what I’d do. I sure wouldn’t follow him – he’s so wrong all the time, I’m sure he’d end up creating a musical disaster. (Actually, I’d probably just drop my horn and scowl… and then get fired and searched by the Secret Service LOL).
I’m sitting 30 miles east of Seattle in our home office, looking out over a greenbelt and listening to music (as usual). Since I listen to everything but polka, right now’s selection is “Back in Black,” and I have fifteen minutes before I’ll be listening to the live Compline service at KING-FM.
http://www.king.org
-S
Laying in bed with my one (left) knee up, a striped comforter that I pulled from the floor (it’s cooler tonight then before I left Chicago Wednesday) insulates my thigh from my MacPro’s heat. By the way when it comes to laptops, half a lap is no lap at all. Years ago, my young nephew learned that the hard way when he rolled off it like he was on a log on a lake.
The toads in my garden drown all other sounds:
Screaming sirens; false alarms
Been organizing a winetasting to raise money to build a community building in Renk, Sudan – May 19, 5 – 8 pm, Turner Hall, Galena, Illinois.
Tuesday night, 7 pm: Highland Community College, Elizabeth, Illinois: Jeremy Scahill, Blackwater.
Yes Blank Kludge?
Dr Dick – when I got divorced, my ex tried to get an injunction against my use of computer networks which given that I was managing marketing for some early mac products was a little distressing … happily the judge tossed that idea but it sure was wacky. For a while I only dated programmers just to be sure…
TexBetsy @ 230
Oh, and studying for a damned standardized test every month instead of actually learning how to think doesn’t help either.
Carmen – how far is that from Chitown? I’d love to see Scahill!
Elliott @ 228
Cassie posted a similar one.
burnspbesq @ 208
What’s a needlepoint nib?
Mrs. hpschd has a Red SJ with a 9550 “Accounting” nib – that’s really fine
I’ve got a 79 cent Shanghai Dewen that has a miraculously fine nib that I like a lot. Sometimes I get lucky with the cheap ones.
Mrs. K8 @ 83
Sometimes a thread goes cattywumpus.
Ensconced within my secret satellite lair in high geosynchronous Earth orbit, wearing my evening exoskeleton, with my trusty waterpipe and medium-wattage cutting laser by my side as my genetically modified mammalian companions gambol in low-G.
;>)
Christopher @ 219
it’s like that here in the Sandia foothills tonight…
Television in room–no.
Cat on desk–yes.
Hubby at other computer, blogging away–yes.
Music–no, kids are in bed.
Piles of paper all over the place–of course, I’m reading blogs, not keeping house.
Temperature–warm and humid, Texas weather is ramping up for summer.
Attire–t-shirt and jeans, as usual.
I am at my desk in the corner of our living room,walls covered with everything from reproductions of Renaissance art, repro US Founding documents, and a giant hand-painted reproduction of Roger Dean’s painting from inside the Yes album “Close to the Edge”.T-shirts and jeans rule for both Ms.D and myself, as we hunch over Brownie hot fudge sundaes from Steak&Shake, with “Scrubs on the tube. God, it’s so smoky and dusty. Praying for rain, in this central FL arm of the ‘Lake
TexBetsy @ 238
aww, cute!
…and now, out of the study and to bed. G’nite, firepups, and all the ships at sea
Siun @ 237
Elizabeth is about 150 miles from Chicago. Galena is 18 miles from Elizabeth and you would be welcome to stay in one of our guestrooms.
Mutant Poodle @ 245
Night MP.
Mutant Poodle @ 246
Good night MP
Mutant Poodle @ 235
Thanks a hell of a lot, George, you less-than-magnificent son of a bitch.
Evening T-rex, Jane and Pups. I’m sitting in my office in Brisbane (Queensland) trying to avoid work wearing boring old business suit cause I had to go to court today. Usually I work from home in a T, stubbies and thongs -no, not what you think. In Oz stubbies are shorts and thongs are flip flops. At home I’m assisted by the 10 Kilogram Kitty (22 pounds of cat who likes to sleep on the keyboard.)
There do seem to be a lot of cats at a Lake run by dogs.
Carmen – Thanks so much but work won’t free me up enough for the drive time. But if you get to Chi ever, holler …
and someday I will explore the rest of this state …
Sitting at the kitchen table eating brownies that my daughter made me for Mother’s Day:-) Kind of makes up for having to work all weekend on reports for work.
DrDick @ 248
I agree, but I think that changes in the way teachers are educated is possibly a bigger difference, certainly an earlier one. The people I studied with when i was getting certified in the 80’s were NOT the cream of the crop.
Right now, it’s 12:30 a.m., and I’m sitting on a George Nelson sofa (I love mid-century modern furniture), watching HGTV, and getting drunk (actually, wasted) on cosmos.
BTW: that Eames chair is hot! (Shit – did I just sound like Paris Hilton? Guess I need to put down the liquor and go to sleep. But then again, I work for a federal govt agency whose budget has been slashed by this Administration – so I really don’t have any work to do tomorrow anyway.)
hpschd @ 239
Needlepoint = extra extra fine. They tend to be scratchy, but if you are careful about what ink you use with them you can get an acceptably smooth ride. Inks that come out of any other nib like water out of a fire hose (e.g., Levenger Cobalt Blue or Private Reserve Plum) tend to work really well with needlepoints.
EvilDrPuma @ 249
Well you know Dubya and the Repugs don’t want people actually thinking.
Hhhhmmmm @ 213
Of course! Spread wide and freely.
Greetings from the West coast. At the laptop, homemade cubicle desk next to the kitchen/laundry room, decorated with a zillion coloring book pictures. (The kids’, not mine.) Would be elsewhere in the house but Charlie/Rose/Paul/Maryann from Earthlink in Bangalore, India can’t get my VOIP, DSL and wireless router to work at the same time so I remain functional yet tethered. Which in a way seems deeply metaphorical. New brown linen bermuda shorts (mother’s day), white shirt. Procrastinating my consulting work long enough to call it a night (oops! too late to start now!)and watch Sopranos on TiVo.
TRex @ 229
Good to hear.
As for craving things way beyond one’s means, that’s what friends who can afford things you chase down are for. Scoring it for them is pretty fun.
Plus, you can still find modern stuff here and there unrecognized and therefore affordable. Not an Eames chair, but other stuff. Right now I’ve got my prized possession (one of two actually) right here – a very rare, possibly one-off, Hans Wegner teak and oak table from the late 1940s, got it for about 400 bucks, unrecognized in the middle of the upper midwest.
ebv @ 253
Awww. You sharing?
DrDick @ 256
If they did (and drawing in Betsy’s comment a moment ago), they might consider what to do about K-12 teacher pay and benefits so education programs stood any chance of drawing the cream of the crop.
TexBetsy @ 253
You may have something there. I dated an Ed major for a while in graduate school (back in the late 70s) and it seemed like they were all taking dumbed down versions of classes.
Herman Miller actually still makes the Eames chair and ottoman. Last time I checked, which was a couple of years ago, it was about five grand for the pair. I’d like to have one, but it would take too big a bite out of my pen-buying fund.
Some very interesting insights on the state of public education in the US here.
EvilDrPuma @ 262
My mother, who always discouraged me from becoming a teacher, said that in her day all of the smart women became teachers and nurses, but that by the time I was ready for college, I had so many more options. She implied, then later stated outright, that SMART girls chose more lucrative careers.
Oh well. I chose one that I love and am good at.
cool….maybe we’ll talk at the Kos Conference.
I’m pretty sure that Scahill will be in Chicago before he is in Elizabeth, Illinois.Siun @ 252
Galena is in the non-glaciated part of illinois. We have hills, not all corn and soybean, not just unending flatland. Still stunning landscapes merging into the Mississippi.
The question regarding GWB is: do you think he knows he’s an ass? Is he at all aware of how he is perceived when he does these ridiculous things like leading the orchestra? We’ve all done/said stupid things in our life. We think about them later and we’re embarassed. Is he?
It reminds me of the joke ‘An asshole is someone that doesn’t know he’s an asshole.’
EvilDrPuma @ 261
Now there is an idea that will never occur to a Republican. If you want better schools, better teachers, better education, actually invest in them. For people who worship at the altar of Mammon and the Free Market, they seem to have little grasp on how it actually works.
Mrs. K8, I was gonna ask if you got dressed, but I noticed your post was early in the thread, and I didn’t read the middle hundred-or-so posts.
Seems like a lot of people surf the web naked. Not me. I’m a jammies person… though I imagine the weather at home might have something to do with it. Oh, and I’m often in the livingroom when on the laptop, and I have a big picture window… that might have something to do with the preference for wearing clothes, too.
The comments here about teaching are interesting. I teach a lot of students both individually and in small groups, and I have noticed a growing lack of patience from students in the past 10-15 years. Instead of being curious about looking at evidence, taking many factors into account, and proposing possible solutions on their own, students want the teachers to simply tell them what to do. “Gimme the quick fix – tell me what I need to know, I’ll memorize and reguritate” is often the way students want to “learn” today. I often perplex and frustrate kids when I ask them to look at information, judge it, prioritize it, and use their analysis to make an educated guess at the answer to a problem or question. They want me to just tell them the answer, and I want to teach them how to THINK instead of just memorize. I’ve really noticed a big shift toward the “quick fix” mentality in the past 8 years in particular.
opie_jeanne @ 164
I am a girl. Isn’t it strange when that happens. I always pictured Swopa as a girl with long blondflowing hair long legs and really tall. I got the tall part right. It was such a shock to see him on the video wrap up of the Libby trial!
DrDick @ 263
The only one of those that I took was “Physics for Teachers” and that turned out to be a fantastic class.
Siun @ 134
That’s weird…had a whole comment lost…
It was funny when I typed it first:
‘The test is if you fight over who gets to use it!”
Then I described the humble Kludge studio apt (an urban location in WMass but a splendid view out the third floor of park-like area across the street). Using donationware WinXPPro tower CPU next to lobster-trap coffee table. Table hold monitor. Keyboard on lap. Me laying/lying on futon couch. Said peripheral (futon couch) acquired for use with the G3 PowerBook which has since met the bitbucket in the sky. And shall be replaced real soon now.
Coffee cup nearby, ashtray too.
Clothing? That would be telling…
Bifocals are required, however.
DrDick @ 224
My guess? Public schools do not teach critical thinking skills. They teach you how to pass tests, and they teach you how to regurgitate information. Public schools do not teach you how to think your way through problems. Rote and memorization are the tools of choice. Art, history, music, foreign languages, literature, all of that is frowned upon.
Finally, we have a broken system in the first place: grade school. The entire premise of teaching your students based upon their age is fundamentally flawed. If you have a 4th grade student who reads at a “4th grade level”, does math at a “6th grade level”, knows history at a “2nd grade level” and can draw or perform music (or, rarely, both) with the same talent and skill as a professional artist, how does grade school help at all? You are teaching that child math far below their level, history far beyond their level, and most likely aren’t nurturing that child’s artistic abilities at all. On top of that, everyone in a given grade is taught to the level of the LOWEST performers in that grade/subject, not the AVERAGE. No, grade school is utterly flawed.
That is without taking how a given student learns best into account. Some do learn best by rote. Some by hands-on experience. Some with a verbal explanation, some by reading said explanation. Some learn best in a group setting. Others learn better by themselves. Some need a mixture (i.e. learn math better in a group, history alone, etc). Some students are motivated by competition, others not so much.
And then you have the social problems public schools involve. The cliques are a real problem, turning a school setting into Oz, where each group is isolated, yet at war with the other groups. Teachers have no recourse when dealing with genuinely disruptive students, and have classrooms that are massive, with far, far more students than a single teacher should be teaching.
Schools also require all students to come to school at the same time, even though biologically younger kids wake up earlier in the day, and older kids later in the day. There have been multiple, in-depth experiments showing that junior-high and high-school kids that go into school even ONE HOUR later than they currently do have drastic increases in grades, and even the “problem students” have radical turnarounds in behavior, able to focus far better and generally happier (which, coincidentally, drives DOWN the number of instances of bullying and other forms of intimidation or abuse quite significantly).
So yeah, there are some friggin’ problems with the current status of education in this country.
TexBetsy @ 265
It’s possible that added choices for women have played some part in the decline of the American educator, but that doesn’t account for the men in the field. The part about “more lucrative” is definitely where I think the greater part of the problem lies–and I’m nowhere near convinced that teaching is sufficiently rewarding in its own right to make up for near-poverty-level starting salaries.
Ich bin ein cinnamon roll.
I have a credenza in the bedroom with a crappy rolling office chair. Not extremely comfortable but not bad. I have a pretty good set of speakers so I can bring the noise if necessary. But tonight this will be a chamber of emotion and passion not a seat of learning and logic. Just a seething mass of I-gotta-get-some-release-before-I explode flesh.
Happy Mother’s Day!!!
I’m in the dining room with the ‘06 iMac atop my grandparents’ dining table. Beside me is the chest of wooden drawers my grandfather used in home office. Beside it stretches out the beautiful wooden chest of drawers from their dining room.
The day here has been breezy and warm – rare in San Francisco. Today I could leave the door (and window) to the back deck upstairs open for the kitties – they came in smelling of sun and ocean.
In the clear night air, the Gate’s foghorns are silent. Winking red lights squint down from the Bridge through the trees.
Cats are sleeping.
Still haven’t made dinner. Looks like organic cheese, peaches and chocolate – oh dear.
Blank Kludge – it remains funny! gets a good laugh here!
Used to spend considerable time in W Mass … in my NH/VT days … the investor who bought the company I ran was in Springfield and a lot of friends in the N’hampton area .. good part of the world.
Moderation @ 274
Actually, here, the elementary kids start at 7:45 or 8, the middle schoolers at 8:30, and the HS kids at 8:55. Works well.
kirk murphy @ 277
Sounds lovely. Sweet dreams all.
Moderation #274,
Amen, amen.
EvilDrPuma @ 275
And I earn approx HALf a teacher salary, plus bits and pieces from other jobs. I earn too much to qualify for SSI but not enough to really have anything approaching a middle class lifestyle.
Well, I’m starting to have problems refreshing, so it seems my dialup is giving up the ghost and I may as well go to bed. Be excellent to each other.
TexBetsy @ 130
I am SO proud of the relationship that you have with Cassie that she would come and ask! And TRex’s question may have been “innocent” in this context, but nevertheless it is not necessarily a good idea for a teenager to answer, even on FDL. Just remember that for every commenter, there are probably 10 lurkers.
Bob in HI
EvilDrPuma @ 283
Go be excellent to yourself and your family.
solai @ 268
I don’t think he knows what an ass he is. My guess (without getting all Bill Frist-like) is that he thinks he’s the cool kid, he’s still living in the mentality of a 19 year old fraternity president who is the best at the beer bong. It looks to me as if he thinks everybody worships him, and when he recognizes those who don’t see him as king, then he puts them down with petty remarks and/or decides that THEY are the idiots.
Mommybrain @ 178
Blinds are closed so no one can peek but the breeze can still come in. Lights are dimmed cats, rabbits and bird are all down stairs. I can here the Disneyland fireworks.
Breaking News:
The Decider turns into The Maestro.
-GSD
By the way, many of the orchestra don’t appear to be that smitten with the impish chimp.
Good nite, EDP!
Margot @ 280
Ok, this had me searching all over the 270’s looking for a problem until I realized it was for the commentor Moderation, not the moderator.
(slinking back into dark corner)
DrDick @ 263
UCSB had five colleges when I was there. Credits from the (graduate level) College of Education largely did not transfer over to the undergraduate College of Lettters and Sciences.
That was not impressive.
lolo @ 270
I think that is one of the fascinating and delightful aspects of this community. While many of us are open or obvious about their gender and other issues, others are (deliberately or otherwise)more ambiguous. It is is lovely to be able to interact with people based on who they are as persons, without being distracted by the externalities. As someone who researches and teaches about both gender and race and ethnicity, this is also professionally intriguing.
Bob Schacht @ 284
Bob, you’re the best!
Of course she will ask. Her ability to go on adult websites is contingent upon her willingness to follow rules, communicate, and maintain a certain trust with either me or her brother.
Moderation- thanks for the very interesting comment! Apart from anything else, I can relate to the timing of school time. However, I went from a private school with 20 students total in 6th grade, to a Jr. High School with 300 students in 7th grade. The change was so liberating. But, that was way back when.
Well, time for me to catch some sleep. I hope you all have a great night!
landofthefree @ 295
sleep well
EvilDrPuma @ 282
Night, EDP. Enjoy your break before summer session.
Siun @ 135
Heh. That used to be the newspaper at the breakfast table test, didn’t it? I guess that’s gotten a technology upgrade. I’ll have to ask my ex about that, sometime, but *I* don’t remember reading the newspaper while we ate together! But she left long before either of us had a laptop :-)
I think we may have watched TV together while eating, though.
Bob in HI
GSD @ 288
First rule when in an orchestra and a guest conductor appears: you never, ever look up at the dude waving their hands, unless you just want to be amused. You just follow the percussion and bass line, and completely ignore the gestures of the “conductor”. (”Stars and Stripes Forever” is very frequently used for guest conductors, as any decent orchestra can play it with their eyes closed).
Gnite!
landofthefree @ 270
Wonder how (if?) that trend matches up with exposure to TV/video games before three. IIRC decreased attention spans/ increased distractabilty result
[for which Big Pharma implores me to prescribe speed, but that’s another story]
SnarKassandra @ 63
FWIW – Easy for your brother to say my dear. I too have always wanted to be a red head but only experienced and costly hairdressers can be trusted for maintence. Its a very expensive conceit in time and money.
xo
TexBetsy @ 279
That is fantastic! I really wish more districts would adopt these policies (as a baby step into vast, sweeping changes of the school system).
Valley Girl @ 142
Have you tried serious debates? Lord knows the people on Fox news never learned. I can no longer watch Sunday talk shows either. I wait for the highlights from John at C&L. If your students are old enough, can you use the blogs as a discussion tool?
DrDick #292, Totally agree. How very unique to interact with people based totally on their ideas and language. I find it almost forces me to think and express myself slightly differently, as I cannot tailor myself based on preconceptions about to whom I am speaking. Very curious to observe, and quite…invigorating, even. I love this site and community.
TexBetsy @ 292
None-the-less, this is a special relationship that not all families have. I think both you and she (as well as the rest of your household) are truly blessed.
Siun @ 277
Glad for the laugh..
Here’s an possibly obscure reference from the therapod’s topic and pic for this thread. A paraphraded quote to Newman in a famous movie about billiards:
About WMass
I’ve been in Salem on the North Shore, Amhert and now back like a salmon to the City of Homes. Just a five minute walk to the alma mater of Tim Leary. And mine.
EvilDrPuma @ 141
Obviously they were adapting to a different environment!
Bob in HI
OT: Here’s how you know you’ve been spending too much time on line.
I was in the grocery store today and needed pine nuts for the pesto. I know exactly where they are in the grocery store at home, but not here in CT. I got ready to hit “Ctrl-F”, then realized (duh!) that “find on page” only works when you’re actually on the computer, not pushing a grocery cart.
DrDick @ 305
Until he was 11 or 12, I don’t think my son ever took any food from the pantry or fridge without asking permission. (Possible exception was cereal and milk in the morning.) And he talks to me about everything. Even told me all about his first kiss and the efforts to get the girl’s cell phone number so he would not have to call the house and speak to her parents or siblings.
I have a very open relationship with most of the people in my life, and kids (here and at school) can respect that.
TexBetsy, I think the facts and comments presented tonite underline what was said to you last nite…doubt no further!
TRex @ 308
I have been lost in Texas and called my dad in NY to ask him to look up the address of wherever I am going on the internet at his house. Done this more than once.
TRex, I seriously dislike grocery shopping at a store that is new to me. I don’t know where anything is. It totally upsets my whole system and I always end up forgetting something.
well gang, the cats have all found cozy spots and the pitbull is snoring really loudly so it’s time for sleep here (or actually book reading time followed by sleep)
Good night all!
Siun @ 313
Good night. Sleep well.
Night Siun.
Mommybrain @ 151
Ah! I remember that. The last kitten I had (when living with my ex) in a house with older cats, the young’un would sneak up on the older cat, preferably while it was taking a nap, nipping on one of its ears and then scampering under the couch, which was too low for the big cat to get under, when it came running back to retaliate. Kittens are such fun. I miss them.
Bob in HI
Good nite, Siun. May your reality confound your expectations.
Happy Mother’s Day! I enojoy reading FDL from the cozy cool comfort of a little room painted dark green with art from some of my favorite friends incuding a portrait of my beloved brother Mark who passed away 3 years ago. I was blessed to see my Mother today. Thanks for keeping this forum alive. Please give when you can so we can continue this fascinating community.
Goodnight, Siun. Sleep well.
landofthefree @ 270
kirk murphy @ 300
What an interesting thought. I had been assuming this change is caused primarily by how much information most people have today. When you think about what it must be like to grow up with always having hoardes of information available at your fingertips (300 cable TV channels, the internet, more books and videos, etcetera), it’s a pretty complex world in comparison to that which many of us grew up in. youngsters sometimes seem to want to cut through the piles of information for solutions simply because they’re overloaded – they could research and find varying points of view or data on many topics to the point that it could be difficult to make decisions. Plus, the amount of knowledge in a young person’s head about various topics is probably much greater in width (but not necessarily depth) than a young person 20 or 30 years ago.
What I’ve also noticed in the past 10 years in particular is that students I’m advising about college seem to be far less decisive in what they want to do with their lives. Far more of my students go to college with no major declared than they did even 7 or 8 years ago. In talking with them, I get the sense that they’re sometimes overwhelmed with the variety of choices they have. With a greater knowledge of the world and the opportunities available, they are often puzzled or even frozen to make decisions on their own. Many want to be told what they should do, and they are a bit overwhelmed with the notion of just trying a few different classes in college to see what clicks with them. They want the answer, and they find the research & discovery process a bit discomforting.
Ok, I have to stop reading all the cool stuff you guys are writing! I must get to sleep – big day tomorrow. Everyone have a good one, and I’ll read more tomorrow night.
g’nite siun. may your dreams be peaceful.
Sleep well, LOTF.
Evening Pups! Hope all enjoyed Mother’s day!
Parked at my econo set up (card table and backless wood chair)
the trade-off being reading FDL on a HD 19″ flat panel via HSI cable : )
oh yeah, sweats tonight…frost warning in CT even though it was a beautiful day
cats warming up the comforter *g*
love how their coats reflect different fur pattern genes!
Have a safe flight home tomorrow TRex.
{waves from the ‘quiet corner’}
And I am raising a kid who wants to be an assassin or a spy! Very decisively. Hopefully he will grow into more mature and socially acceptable choices.
New Thread
shhhhhhh don’t tell Cassie. *g*
and carmen, just saw your comment
sweet dreams!
TRex has Late Late nite upstairs
Night LoF. Some interesting points in your last post. I see many of the same things in my students.
TexBetsy @ 323
Fortunately for the human race, they generally do.
Valley Girl @ 181
I was one of those who was brought up with dinner table discussions. Was anyone else subjected to Parents’ Magazine’s age-specific quizzes for kids? If we got into an argument over the facts we were sent to the encyclopedia right then and there. No thought to our food getting cold.
Bob in HI
TRex @ 58
What was the explanation for the scales?
Both my parents encouraged critical thinking skills, and there were many conversations and impropmptu lessons. I recall wanting to double a recipe and then looking for a pan that was twice as wide and twice as long, and having dad walk me through WHY that wasn’t what I needed for the recipe.
TexBetsy @ 193
Have you gotten any help from a physical therapist for exercises you can do to help your back? They can be quite helpful.
Bob in HI
Bob, the other thing my dad did was to have us keep a running tab in our heads at the grocery store. Anyone who came within a dollar of the final total got a candy bar. We all have great mental math skills to this day.
I start again on Thursday. Regular PT and aqua therapy.
TexBetsy @ 331
Definitely a key part of the process. My parents always insisted that we think it through or look it up rather than “giving” us the answer.
LoF, DrDick -
Another neurodevelopmental variable is spontaneous play in nature. Associated with increased aptitudes in directions I’m too sleepy to recall.
An associated but independent variable is free-time. What happens to capacity to generate and assess ideas (hypotheses) in schedulles where activities and time use are pre-planned and over scheduled?
How does one acquire competence in making decisions about planning for future uncertainity from an over-determined daily life?
Read Blogs in only one place — Home.
Big Victorian House on top of a hill in Minneapolis. Desktop is on top of a desk custom made to fit into a Bay Window, (8 feet long) that looks down the street. A few years back the neighborhood voted to pay for faux Victorian style streetlights, so illumination is pools of light rather than mass illumination. In the last few days I have been fascinated, between reads and posts, with the development of this year’s crop of Oak leaves, from buds to full sized leaves in less than a week. My Oak trees are 4 stories tall — and I have seven of them.
The resident dog, sadly just one right now. A Siberian Husky who really digs Jazz. In my house you have choices in music that include Jazz and Folk, but also Classical and Opera, but rock is essentially verboten. Every once in a while for cultural analytic purposes, we sample a little rock, but it makes both of us shake heads, and turn off.
I don’t believe in Air Conditioning — have one in a room out back, but rarely turn it on. Instead, this week was wash the windows and install the window fans week, which draws in air from under a pine, and all these oak trees. In an old house the idea is to keep everything cool from spring onward, don’t let the walls and furniture warm up, and keep the air circulating. Sadly, putting them in makes me count down to Fall when they come out, and one wraps up everything tight for winter.
I really find modern furniture very uncomfortable — I like the overstuffed stuff. My living room is medium blue and maroon with loads of dark wood, oak floors, persian carpet (mostly maroon) and everywhere possible, an Oak Bookcase. Not enough shelf space, so there are many piles of books around the floor. Half read, fully read but doesn’t have a shelf home, removed from shelves for reference or re-reading, and then a heap that haven’t been attacked yet. (that pile always makes me feel guilty). What’s in it? — a book on the thesis that E. German Women, over time, by demanding respect for domestic time and obligations, set in motion the forces that brought down the Berlin Wall. (Whither Ronny Boy?) — It looks interesting. “The Italian Letter” is in my pile, so too is Hedges recent book on the Right. Chalmers Johnson’s book, Nemesis has been there for a time, and just today I finished up Hussain’s Frontline Pakistan. Sadly James Carroll’s House of War keeps getting other books piled in higher priority — but it is getting to be time — and I need to pull together some of my World War One stuff so I can intelligently cross read David Cannadine’s chapters in his Bio of Andrew Mellon that cover WWI. Otherwise, I also need to cross reference some art history for the chapters on his putting together the Mellon collection in DC. (For those who don’t know the story, Mellon, one of the great robber barrons, bought much that was of value out of the Russian Czar’s collection and the Hermitage Collection during the 1920’s while he was Sec of the Treasury. He then financed the National Gallery on the Mall in DC, and donated his grand masters. In a way it was his means of getting out from under some serious fraud investigations during the Coolidge-Hoover years, and in the early FDR years Congress was on his ass. But then he donated the Gallery, an endowment, and all his pictures, and as he was dying, FDR more or less forgave him over tea. Cannadine is a British Author and scholar who has done great historical snark on the demise of the British Upper Class, and this is his first effort on an American. Book came out about a year ago, but I am still looking for reading time to cross read several chapters. (one of the best fun books about the British Colonial Class is his “Ornamentalism”. It is a critique of both Edward Said and company and Empire apologists.) Anyhow much more could be referenced, but this is why one has a pleasing room in which to read, think and blog.
What to wear while reading or blogging — well really comfortable clothes — things that do not bind, constrict, are not too warm or too cool, things that don’t distract from the task at hand. Feet first. Thick socks — wool in Winter, thick cotton in Summer, and Birks. As I put it too the resident Husky — you always want to be able to slip off your pads and fold up your legs. Winter I like long, full, heavy cotton skirts with wool or thick cotton knit sweaters, and with a shawl handy — and in summer you put a fan under the desk and wear light cotton, as light and little as possible. MuMoos are great. You can always go out in public with one, if you make a sash to go with it (I tend to make stuff like this) and switch to street sandals from the birks and thick socks.
Siun @ 312
Nite Siun, excellent Post!!! Happy Mother’s Day, if applicable or not!!!
TPhilip @ 176
Flight of the Valkyries maybe.
… or the Surprise Symphony? heh.
TexBetsy @ 331
I was brought up in similar competitive environment!!! The quest to be Right!!! We didn’t mince words and you’d better be right!!!
Got thru about 100 comments and as always it’s good to be here. … Happy Birthday to Mr. Burns and many more to come.
I’m not in my usual FL uniform of light shorts and shirt, plus slippers. Friday Tampa and nearby areas were thick with smoke. Everyone was coughing and rubbing their eyes. The plane ahead of mine was not visible half-way down the runway for takeoff. The smoke was like a huge clould for about 40 mins into the flight.
Beautiful weather here in NY the last two days as I enjoy my daughter’s hospitality. We skipped brunch out today and bought CFL bulbs as part of our conservation effort. Later she started work in her garden.
After a lovely dinner I came upstairs to the spare room where her laptop is now set up. (I like the dining room table better…) She just brought me a cup of hot tea. Yum. … I’m wearing comfy jeans with lots of pockets and a light shirt and socks. When I realized one foot was cold I noticed one of her cats, 8-Ball on the other foot. He’s almost all black with some white. The black is so shiny it looks like patent leather. The other cats Leo and Duchess stop by. It’s quiet and sooo pleasant. … Cassie, good luck with the project.
GSD @ 203
Oh… that guy. duh! *blushing from the embarassment that I didn’t get it*
So, when I stepped out to the local CVS to buy some aspirin and Alka-Selzer, late late night hadn’t come up. But, the comments I read when I got back (late nite thread, not late late night) were so great. Critical thinking, and all that. (same before I went out)
So, my CVS experience would have been deeply EPU’d had I posted a comment there. So, here, instead. (AND NOW I AM POSTING IT HERE)
I happened to glance at the current issue of US News & World Report, on the way out the door. (current print, not latest blog time).
Cover had a photo of Bush. Caption/ sidebar was:
—Bush’s Last Stand
He’s plagued by a hostile CONGRESS, sinking POLLS, and an unending WAR. Yet he won’t budge.
IS HE RESOLUTE—OR DELUSIONAL?—
Almost laughed out loud. Wow! MSM is finally prodding people to do some critical thinking!
I’m sitting in my living room in a recliner that I never recline, because my legs are too long and I don’t find the foot rest comfortable. I’m in jeans and a black Hawaiian shirt with a Chinese-style tiger on the front and dragon on the back. I’m working on my Sony laptop, which I really like, on a lap desk, very happy to have a wireless network.
Ms. Redshift has some video channel on while she’s grading tests; I can’t see what it is because I don’t have my glasses on (I’ve worn glasses for distance since I was a teenager, but just in the last couple of years, I can’t wear them while working on the computer any more.) They’re playing “Anarchy in the UK” now. ;-)
Two of our rabbits are playing on the floor, and occasionally getting into mischief.
landofthefree @ 270
Heck, this was true of some students when I was teaching at the University level 25 years ago.
The thing is that critical evaluation skills are even more important now, when we’re all inundated with information of every kind and quality. I think maybe the #1 course in every high school should be “how to evaluate information that you find on the web.”
Like, pick a subject that you know will be controversial. Say, “Sexual preference is genetically determined.” Then tell them to find 10 websites that provide answers (copycat websites will be counted as one). Then ask them how to determine which answers to accept, and which to toss out, and why. Then talk about such principles as authority, evidence, logic, etc.
Bob in HI
kirk murphy @ 300
Actually, I think you touched on one of the real culprits without intending to: over-medication. We live in a day and age where, by a very significant margin, a much larger portion of the population, including the very young, are medicated in one way or another (I’m not just talking medicine, either).
First of all, there is an epidemic of anti-depressants and other mind-altering drugs being given to children because of a vastly larger number of diagnosis’ of ADD, ADHD, or some other form of “mental illness” than in previous decades.
Then, we have the non-medical problem: As a very personal example, we went in to see an allergist specialist with our oldest, Amalie, to find out what was causing her exema (which was getting pretty bad). The VERY FIRST thing this specialist (the only allergy specialist within 75 miles) recommended was that we put our child on severe anti-depressants, “so she would stop scratching herself”. We were floored. We wanted an allergy test, and we are getting an immediate recommendation for a prescription for a serious mind-altering substance. He didn’t think we’d need to have an allergy test until after he sees how she does on the drugs, either!!! This is, apparently, extraordinarily common nowadays.
So, we left without the prescription, and never went back there (and that was Shands/UF, one of the nation’s best teaching hospitals!). We had previously gone to an allergy specialist in Orlando, 100 miles away, to solve this six months earlier. He had recommended a series of ointments that included some serious steroids. Those had worked temporarily, but the exema came back immediately each time we stopped, no matter how long we kept up the treatment. Thus, the trip to the local specialist that recommended hard drugs. :/
So, we took matters into our own hands, and started Amalie on an elimination diet. This is a very long, arduous task that involves cutting out all foods, and reintroducing them in stages over the course of weeks to see what causes the exema to flare up. No specific food did anything…until we let Amalie have some M&Ms. Chocolate, we thought? So we cut out chocolate to see what happened, and the exema died down again. Whew, we thought we had one cause nailed.
We were wrong. She started flaring up a week or so later, with no chocolate in her diet. What did we buy recently? Hmm, the only new variable was that we changed the flavor of pop-tarts she had. We checked the label: no chocolate, just strawberry. Hmm. So we went back to the apple cinnamon type, and no exema. But lo and behold, shortly thereafter it flared up yet again! This time, all we had added was sugar-free Jello. Jello? We thought it might be high-fructose corn syrup…but we bought sugar-free. Moreover, Amalie’s attitude had gotten much worse each time her exema flared up, and she got more and more psycho at bedtime, which we chalked up to age-appropriate behavior and the itchiness of her exema keeping her up and irritating her. She also kept specifically requesting the food that made her itchy, and throwing tantrums if denied, like a drug addict asking for a fix.
So, what did all three foods have in common? Artificial coloring. Specifically, Red #40, which we then proceeded to research like crazy. Banned in much of Europe? Banned in hummingbird food because it is killing them? After countless pages of information sorting, we came to the conclusion that artificial coloring was the culprit. She never has any artificial coloring anymore, and her exema hasn’t come back since (except when a relative gives her food with coloring in it, and for a few days after that until it fades away again). She now knows to tell her relatives, “I can’t have that, it makes me crazy.” to remind them if they forget.
We’ve now talked to large numbers of parents with similar stories: food coloring makes their kids go psychotic, crave said foods desperately, and flares up exema. What’s more? Red #40 (and all of it’s relative chemicals used in food coloring) was introduced at about the same time the video game revolution was occurring (the early 1980s). Incidentally, in the countries in Europe it isn’t banned in, it is highly recommended that it not be given to children, for it is known to cause hyperactivity and rashes. :o
My conclusion? Countless incidents of ADD and ADHD in this country (and abroad, no doubt) are in fact caused by the crap in their food. The FDA, as seems to be standard operating procedure at the moment, just doesn’t care.
My recommendation? If you have kids, and they act crazy, have unexplained rashes, or you just don’t want to risk it, take them off the artificial coloring!
Loo Hoo @ 303
Ah! Excellent suggestion! How many high schools have debate clubs any more? Its an excellent way to teach rules of evidence, logic, how to present an argument, etc. You can even get students involved in judging. Maybe separate them into Advanced, intermediate, and beginning judges, allowing them to graduate from one level to another based on their mastery of evaluation skills. Oh, please, make it happen!!!
Bob in HI
Habitat: bedroom in apartment in downtown portland 200 feet from the Willamette River, laptop on computer table via cable net, sitting on armless wood chair with two blankets on the seat for cushion Unusually, all clothes on. heheh (usual is briefs and mock-turtleneck shirt).
At work. A proverbial night-shifter, I am. Less people, less noise. Fits into my reclusive personality.
I am sitting in an Eames chair! Yes, they are expensive, but they’re cheaper than a BMW and use less gasoline — and they are at least as comfortable!
lolo @ 287
My word, so can I! I’m in Anaheim 2 miles due north of the House of Mouse.
I am at work in Fishkill, NY. It is 3:15 AM. I’ve been working this shift for five years. That must explain my affinity for Anne Rice novels.
I normaly lurk, which is for the best as I am sure all will soon agree. This is quite the website, I have become a regular reader.
Habitat: 28 inches from a white wall, partialy covered by a 1965 national geographic map of the world pinned to the wall just above the hight of my spiffy new LCD monitor(aproximately 50 inches above the floor). Before me lies my self designed and created PVC and Acrylic desk, in all its 40×48×26 glory. on its rather precarious perch below the desk lies the desktop of doom that powers the operation. To my right lies first the TV, with its rerun of original starwars, and past that the near identical desk of my favorite person, complete with her slightly smaller LCD monitor that never gets used.
Below me is a well used and remarkably sturdy swivel office chair that i have come to love, and below that the Garage of my neighbors, which creates the Thunder each morning as I attempt to sleep just a few minutes longer. about 15 feet behind me on the couch lounges the lovely woman of my dreams, lightly mocking me and gasping in feigned horror at the idea of my posting here.
No cats, no dogs. no anything at the moment. Dust bunnies behind the many papers and my many electronic devices. But there will be. I have my plans. Kitty and ferret, they will be mine. But not until I am sure I wont have to flee the country at short notice.
side: east, City:portland, State:oregon
That said, Zed is dead. and if not, it really should be.
as a fairly recent college grad, I cant say I am too impressed with the education most people anywhere any time have gotten. My observation is that most college grads of my parents generation knew a lot less on most academic topics(save, perhaps, US history) than I did on high school graduation. Of course, i spent most of HS ignoring teachers and reading, so maybe that had something to do with something. I do know, if I ever have kids, it will be a cold day in hell before they enter the current Us education system or its equivalent.
And as to modern furniture.. blech. comfort is key, and making my own (out of pvc and etc) is much more rewarding.
And that it why I lurk, not post. Catch yall on the flip side, assuming he who shall not be named dosn’t get frustrated with his low polling numbers and “accidentaly” start the end of the world early.
Wow…moderation, my ex and I just went through this trying to figure out why our 11 year old is constantly breaking out in hives during the week on the three days he isn’t with me.
My ex started giving him Lunchables (!!!!) for lunch everyday after I had been getting up in the mornings and cooking chicken for him. He’s a very picky guy who never eats red meat and little else. When I mentioned maybe it was the garbage in the Lunchables she switched to feeding him peaanut butter and Ritz crackers everyday.
So now we had two things to eliminate…was it the crap in the Lunchables or the peanut butter? Long story short,,,on the three days during the week he now spends with me he gets chicken with a water bottle. She has also agreed to get up in the morning and cook for him…the hives stopped.
Red #40 and Blue #1 were in a lot of the stuff in the Lunchables and in Doritos which he used to eat when i didn’t know it. I’m not big on kis eating MSG or other neurotoxins.
The peanut butter we determined also played a part but independent of the food colorings.
As for where we are…the ex-wife and my two kids are in Washingtonville in Orange County, NY. I’m six miles away in Cornwall close to the Hudson River and about 12 miles from West Point.
I use my MacBook on a nighttable next to my bed and I sit on the bed….either that or I carry it to the living room. I’m retired so I mostly use it in the bedroom with two Logitech speakers connected and Sirius satellite radio streaming through the computer and in the living room through a receiver. Mostly I listen to AltNation or Little Steven’s Underground Garage with Andrew Loog Oldham. On Wednesdays and Thursdays from noon to 2 pm I listen to Sirius Disorder and Vin Scelsa and on Fridays from three pm to 9 David Johanssen and the from 9-midnight Fred Schneider on Ist Wave.
Best investment I ever made was this radio. When I first got divorced before getting my son most days during the week I was in hell….the music brought me out of what could have become a very serious depression.
And then I found this site which helps even more.
Nighty night (OMG…It’s 5:40 am!!!)
Jeff @ 221
Mission to mid-century modern. Plattner, Heywood Wakefield (though I like a lot of the earlier wicker as well), Stickley, Noguci, Wegner, McCobb, etc.
What European?
This is only my second post, so please be kind if I make mistakes–I’ve been a lurker for quite awhile, and you all have provided such fantastic insights and comfort–really extended the proverbial branch while I was sinking in the quicksand of despair after Nov. 2004. Thank you all so much for that. I was lurking cause I didn’t have anything to add.
I sit at my computer in my kitchen, with my custom-blend border collie on one side and one of 2 cats on the other, but I have to hop on and off when my 2 teenagers aren’t using it. Usually wearing something old and soft, sometimes bright, especially when the news is really depressing– just to stay afloat:)
Hey Innisfree—
Good to hear from you! Your post looks just fine to me. I hope you will join us often. Want to come up to Scarecrow’s new thread, that’s where we’re hanging out right now. And tommy yum is here.
Jane Hamsher @ 356
Possession- and obsession-wise, Danish, mostly – Wegner, Finn Juhl, Morgensen and a bit of Jacobsen (though most of that is beyond my payscale now). The nice thing about that stuff is not only is it beautiful and amazingly well made, you can actually find it and sometimes affordably. (Check out Kinsley’s review of Hitchens in the NYT book review yesterday – the chairs in the picture of Hitchens are our dining chairs, by Wegner.)
Beyond that, I love some of the more astronomically expensive stuff from a distance, like Jean Prouve, Charlotte Perriand (wood stuff), and some of the Italians.
And oh yeah, of course I love Nakashima but cannot believe how expensive it is – I found in NYC two of his old Knoll chairs, really beautiful, currently in the possession of my mother-in-law.
And one of my commodity dreams is to some day find a chair by Sam Maloof which is unrecognized by the seller and therefore affordable.
I should add, I completely think Mission and modern go incredibly well together.
And my obsession extends to architecture. You are in the land of awesome modernist homes there in Connecticut.
Nice to get to know you…
I wasn’t online when this was posted. My college kid was at home with her friends, you know: raiding the fridge, watching Black Adder, creating mess… So I am upstairs, in my room, reading.
Otherwise I would be at the dining room table on the laptop as there are electric/phone outlet constrictions in my old 1865 small house (in the ‘uptown’ close to a lake). I have the little Pom (female, white) that keeps an eye on everything and barks periodically out the window at passing dogs.
hi, i live in california in an airstream trailer, and a yurt, on a mountaintop near santa cruz, california. my situation is not considered legal housing in my county, but i have managed to stay here, with a little garden full of flowers and vegtables, butterflies and bees, behind a locked gate for 19 years now. i’m about to celebrate my 63rd birthday. i like to get up at about 4am. i know it’s crazy, but that’s just my inner clock. i sit on the tiny couch, with my dial-up laptop and scour the lefty blogs and news sites as the sun comes up. thank you for being here and bringing real news to me. i hate television and do not have one, and i am better educated that virtually everyone i know on news.
Jennifer @362
Airstream- wow! I saw a TV short on the airstream culture and I was sooo envious. I’ve been wishing to remodel my 9×9 kitchen with 3 doors but no contractors know how to do small and compact. So I dream of an airstream sometimes….
I know what you mean about knowing more news; my co-workers think I could go to Washington and shape Congress up. :)
I’m blogging from behind a big picture window in a 1905 Craftsman house that looks out over Lake Washington and the glacier covered peak of Mt. Rainier as the sun comes up over the Cascade Mountains in Washington State. All in all not a bad place to write a blog from.
I was going to respond yesterday night, but, as I was sitting in my basement, ready to stroke the keys, music started playing from the park, across my street. Four kids had their car in the park(huge no no), and a case of beer was being mangled. I knew the police would be called, but i wasn’t expecting four patrol cars…
I’m in the basement of a mid sixties house in Montreal. Music is playing in the background, yesterday night, it was The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway-Genesis-74. I’m big on prog, Fusion, experimental jazz. Wearing shorts and a Crab shack t-shirt, from Mantoloking, nj.
Today, I shaved my dad for the first time, he’s been diagnosed with a list of cancers that will see him exit in the next couple of months. Roller coaster extraordinaire!
I’m sitting at a shaky dinette table (with equally shaky chair) typing on a Sony Vaio notebook computer in a one-room (two if you count the little bathroom) apartment (”a-pah-tuh” in Korean)in the shadow of Hyundai Department Store in the Gireum-dong section of Seoul, Korea. It’s about 12:30 am Tuesday May 15 Korea time (that’s 10:30 am Monday Eastern US time) and I’m watching NCIS on Korean channel “XTM” (Extreme Channel) and I’m drinking Cass Red Beer (kickass beer with 6.9% alcohol.)
I’m sitting in a relatively comfortable 25euro IKEA chair, reclined enough so I’m relaxing but not so I can sleep. I’m in SW Germany, rain pelting the attic windows and the laptop slowly getting warmer on my lap.
Sitting in the rubble that was New Orleans.
You want ‘pissed off’ I’ve got plenty to spare.
Used
theGoogle. Entered genetics, cats, poodles, testicle festival and Eames chairs….and guess what I found?BasilVariety…teh spice of life!FDL…catnip for lurkers!
sumpl @ 363
hi sumpl,@363
the airstream is wonderful and terrible too. wonderful: the shape, the oak cupboards, does not leak, people think you’re cool.
the terrible!: rats and mice simply cannot be kept out completely, the airstream uses all the regular rv appliances, but seals them under aluminum and mountains of caulk. the appliances i have had to replace(it’s a91)have been: toilet, converter, refrigerator, drainage plumbing, sink , all the faucets, it also needs re-wiring(can’t do that on my budget),new refrig(the old pretty one is still installed, now for dry storage because it would cost over$2000 to replace) etc, etc, down the years. to get to these simple replacement problems, one had better get some strong aircraft snippers(not kidding) and about two weeks to pry the thing loose of the hard caulk.
before i had this airstream, i lived in a cheaper midas motorhome with all the same appliances as the airstream. i had to replace them too, because they are actually not meant to be used as a long term live-in. however, that was easy. everything was reachable.
well, i have to admit, i still love it, perhaps like a wayward child.
my neighbor has built himself a little house hidden in the woods. it is 10 by20 feet with a recent addition of a bedroom which is 6 by 8 feet. it has one wall of glass which looks out on the woods and animals. his toilet is on the porch under a tiny roof. his shower is outside on a tiny platform. he has a tiny on- demand water heater. now THAT’S great!