The never-ending bull session of the red-eyed undead hordes continues!

Yeah, you guys filled up the last open thread with comments already. Since one of the last revelations there was that David MarjanoviÄ has creepy red glowing eyes (and that TetZoo is four years old!), this very cheesy video clip seems most appropriate.

Run away while you still can! Or go ahead, fill this one up, too. They're cheap.

More like this

My children are pirates right now. There's a fallen tree in the woods that makes a superb pirate ship, and my children have boarded and captured it. And they are singing pirate songs. Loudly. It is a very good thing that we live so far from other human habitation - if we lived in the 'burbs the…
In the car, on the way from day care to campus to watch a softball game DADDY: So, what did you do at school today? STEELYKID: Daddy, I'm a superhero. They call me Strong Ninja Girl. Strong World-Saving Ninja Girl. DADDY: Because you save the world? STEELYKID: Right. And M____ is World-Saving…
So, you've picked up your copy of the just-released Eureka: Discovering Your Inner Scientist-- you have bought a copy, right?-- and now you're thinking "I'd love to curl up and read this, but what should I listen to while I do that?" Well, never fear, I'm here to help. Also, I'm really tired, and…
You all know how the Indiana Jones movies are written, don't you? Let me recreate for you the day Steven Spielberg sat down with his head writer to put together the outline of what would be the fourth installment in the franchise. Spielberg: Guys, here it is: the secret formula for a successful…

I so hesitate to ask this, but how could we best go about creating a list of upcoming palindromes?

Why not upcoming primes, or <snark> since Teh Thread That Terminates Trolls wonders all over the place without being predictable, irrationals? </snark> Palindromes are just so 2002…

I'm sorry, but Kausik Datta @436 just won teh thread. Need I read further?

Ahem! Why, thank you sir!
*Turns deep beetroot red in embarrassment*
But I am not worthy!

By Kausik Datta (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

David, had you lurked in alt.tasteless in its glory days, you'd have had a much greater knowledge of vulgar vernacular.

By John Morales (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

Blood sausage? I heard black pudding called that once. It's silly but accurate. Very tasty if cooked properly but a bad experience with it can put you off for life.

My favourite breakfast is a roll with both bacon and black pudding on it, with brown sauce between them. An amazing taste that comes from th clash of individual flavours. A bit like mixing ginger beer and tequila.

A ialso had it in a posh restaurant; cooked slow in some ale and served with peppercorn sauce and stilton over it. Yum!

Fap?

Maybe it's a US-Europe thing

Let's not get onto the foreskin topic again.

Black pudding is OK, but when I was a kid in Spain we'd eat fried coagulated blood. You could buy it so from the butcher's.

By John Morales (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

My favourite breakfast is a roll with both bacon and black pudding on it, with brown sauce between them. An amazing taste that comes from th clash of individual flavours.

The things Brits do to food, it's amazing. But then only Britain could invent the deep-fried Mars bar, Marmite, and the chip butty*. Then there's the names given to otherwise innocuous food: spotted dick, toad in the hole, bangers and mash, twiglets. The mind boggles. Occasionally the stomach churns.

*Chip butties are two fairly large slices of white bread, liberally buttered, layered with chips and smothered in tomato sauce.

By 'Tis Himself, OM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

I remember seeing a short filum on tv about snowboarding. It had a soundtrack that included Big Black, Fugazi and others of that ilk and ended wih an animated sequence with an avalanche. Can't find it on IMDB or youtube, tho. I'd love to see it again.

Also, Martyn Bennett

Tomato sauce isn't part of the chip buttie. What you're describing is a chip buttie with tomato sauce on it. (And, in a pinch, you can have just one slice of bread but fold it over the chips.)

Chip butties are best made with plain bread. Also, sorry for the broken link. I thought I could do the wiki link by hand without copy/pasting.

From alt.tasteless; (thanks JM @503)

GROGAN: A piece of shit.

'cos it reminded me of this which is proper goth. And accidentally led me to this, which dead heads may find more to their taste.

Thanks Nerd, SC... nice to know the forsaken godless here remember.
;^ )

By mayhempix (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

oh trust me, so am I. this place is ridiculously informative, and brutal about destroying any misinformation that has accumulated in my brain.

I have settled into a nice rhythm, where it takes me about 3 months to fill up a new list of books I want to read from things people have mentioned here, and by the time I'm through them, a new list has filled up !

Oh, and I have never in my life been to Starbucks, and not planning to go.Just bought a coffeemaker and some italian coffee, sick of the instant shit that people drink here.

By Rorschach (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

The things Brits do to food, it's amazing. But then only Britain could invent the deep-fried Mars bar, Marmite, and the chip butty*. Then there's the names given to otherwise innocuous food: spotted dick, toad in the hole, bangers and mash, twiglets. The mind boggles. Occasionally the stomach churns.

OTOH, tables is tasty, albeit only in small quantities and in combination with fuckloads of black tea; otherwise it might lead to severe sugar-overload.

By Jadehawk, OM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

Just bought a coffeemaker and some italian coffee, sick of the instant shit that people drink here.

Yeah, I can't drink instant unless it's masked; at work if there's no real (filter) coffee left in the pot I add hot chocolate powder to cover the nastiness. I've got a plunger at home (the kettle has just been put on to boil) - it's annoying to clean it out each time but it's better than drinking the granulated instant crap.

By WowbaggerOM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

tablet, not tables. :-p

By Jadehawk, OM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

tables is tasty

Perhaps you should stop nawing on them, Jadehawk. lol It'll damage your teeth.

By Gyeong Hwa Pak… (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

Who needs a cultural tradition... for... ?!?

eddie @505 got it...

But there's one thing I don't get: what did those poor monkeys ever do to anyone?

So we missed a palindrome.

So we missed a palindrome.
I so hesitate to ask this, but how could we best go about creating a list of upcoming palindromes?

There has been a palindromic comment count approx. every 100 comments ever since # 10001. This will continue throughout the 5-digit comment counts.

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

Er. Um. Naomi Watts. Sorry. It's amnesia.

Ah, I missed that. (Loved her in King Kong, but Jack Black was not the best choice for lead, IMO.)

By Flat 7th 386sx Blues (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

at work if there's no real (filter) coffee left in the pot I add hot chocolate powder to cover the nastiness.

You could exert yourself and make another pot.

There's a coffee percolator in the break room near my office. We have a saying "you kill it you fill it." Most people abide by that so there's either a pot with at least one cup in it or it's brewing a fresh pot.

By 'Tis Himself, OM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

I so hesitate to ask this, but how could we best go about creating a list of upcoming palindromes?

Come 2012, the country itself may become one giant Palindrome.

I'll get me coat.

People who should have played Carl Denham in King Kong 2005:

1) Johnny Depp
2) Tom Hanks
3) Samuel L. Jackson
4) Megan Fox
5) Bruce Willis
6) Russell Crowe

By Flat 7th 386sx Blues (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

There's a coffee percolator in the break room near my office. We have a saying "you kill it you fill it." Most people abide by that so there's either a pot with at least one cup in it or it's brewing a fresh pot.

Oh man don't get me started.

A small list of the office coffee faux pas that i witness daily

We have a three "burner" coffer maker. So three pots, but only one is under the actual maker. One pot of decaf, one of regular and one of "strong".

  1. When making your favored pot of coffee move the pot just made to a new burner and forget to turn the burner on
  2. If you are first one in, make your preferred pot of coffee and then take the time to empty the filter and spent coffee but instead of making the next pot, just put the filter holder back in the maker empty
  3. leave 3mm worth of coffee in the pot so it cooks down to a hard patina
  4. finish your pot of coffee then put the empty pot in the sink
  5. make decaf in not only the decaf pot but either or both of the other pots
  6. make coffee but because even the regular pot of coffee offends your delicate taste buds make it with half the amount of coffee that is required to get to regular.... and do it in the strong pot
  7. reuse the used coffee grounds to make another pot or two
By Rev. BigDumbChimp (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

see, this is why i like working by myself, in my own home. On the one hand, the availability, quality and type of caffeinated beverages is not in any way negatively affected by those altogether inconvenient and annoying creatures called "co-workers"; on the other hand, tasty cups of french-pressed coffee, cappuchino*, or masala chai are delivered to my computer by this awesome creature called "boyfriend"

:-)

-----
*well, not since the espresso machine broke, but considering the availability of alternatives, this isn't nearly as great of a loss as I originally feared

By Jadehawk, OM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

or cappuccino, even. gah. evil common misspelling is invading my language!

By Jadehawk, OM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

You could exert yourself and make another pot.

I'm not that lazy - I make/drink it about 2.30 on most days; by that time everyone else in the office has (apparently) had enough for the day. So, if I make a pot then it goes to waste and I'm very much against waste.

By WowbaggerOM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

those altogether inconvenient and annoying creatures called "co-workers"

I agree. And if you do allow co-workers, they assume the strangest things, like, for example, that they can talk to you anytime they want.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

The LDS Church is buying more real estate. I posted earlier the story about the mormons buying about 13 acres of downtown Salt Lake City, then adding about another 3 acres to that purchase. The estimated purchase price is $25 million plus.

Now they're buying more land in Florida.

Deseret Ranches, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, bought a 3,152-acre parcel in Orange County in late December for $31.7 million, or more than $10,000 per acre. The ranch, which previously totaled 290,000 acres spanning Orange, Osceola and Brevard counties, plans to expand its cattle ranching and citrus-growing operations, said General Manager Erik Jacobsen."

Source: http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2010/01/04/story1.html)

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

Boycott those whose support gays, new tactic in Texas.
Pastor David Grisham of Amarillo, TX has called for a boycott “To impose economic sanctions on the city of Houston, Texas for voting in an openly homosexual mayor and for allowing the largest Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in the United States."
http://www.kens5.com/news/Minister-calls-for-boycott-of-Houston-over-cl…

""The main reason for the boycott is simply because it's about the only way that people in the rest of the state of Texas -- outside of Houston -- can actually take a stand for righteousness in the city of Houston,"
     "Now, Jesus said that we were to preach the gospel through all the world, and that includes Houston, Texas.""

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/01/boycott_houston.php

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

And if you do allow co-workers, they assume the strangest things, like, for example, that they can talk to you anytime they want.

That, and the ones you want to talk to you never do LOL !

The LDS Church is buying more real estate

Is there a strategy behind this or is this really just a business like any other making investment decisions ?

By Rorschach (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

They may have changed their tune over the decades, but I was told growing up that farms would be set up across the world for the Saints to gather at when the last days arrive and the government collapsed and anarchy was the rule of the day. Eventually, all Saints were to make their way to Jackson County, Missouri, the site of The Garden of Eden to await the return of Christ where he would rule the world in a benevolent theocracy.

Might just be business as usual, though.

Every place I've worked since c.1996 the coffee machine has been an espresso machine. The details differ. Sometimes the machine grinds beans (which the company supplies or else there's a communal/rotating arrangement to bring in a new bag), sometimes it's one of those pre-packaged bag or cartridge machines (which the company supplies or else everyone is responsible for their own), and once it was a vending machine (and that company went bust). Except for the vending machine, it's all been rather good. The only co-worker issue is waiting for the machine to be available. Meetings tend to start late…

Dear Sister Jadehawk,

I also have a one-man-coffee delivery service to my keyboard (whereon I slave to spread the love of Jesus). My awesome creature is called "Floyd Rubber" and he calls his specialty coffee a full-man-cream-latte. It is very distinctive and seems quite unique--he won't tell me how he makes it, just boasts that he adds a secret ingredient. My guess is that he has been raiding my supply of powdered Noo Zillund ram semen.

Yours in Caffeineianity

Smoggy

By Smoggy Batzrub… (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

My guess is that he has been raiding my supply of powdered Noo Zillund ram semen.

I had to read that comment while drinking a powdered-substance-based drink, didn't I? Damn you, Smoggy!

By WowbaggerOM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

Rejoice and be exceeding glad Brother Wowbaggy, my powdered ram semen operation has finally penetrated the US market. Chances are the very drink you spluttered down your y-fronts has its origins in the ball-bag of one of my woolly stud-muffins.

By Smoggy Batzrub… (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink
tables is tasty

Perhaps you should stop nawing on them, Jadehawk. lol It'll damage your teeth.

And now we discover the real reason the British have such notoriously bad teeth—even they can't stand their so-called "food" and resort to eating the tables… or perhaps they can't tell the difference between a nice yummy wooden table and a nice yummy wooden meal.

Yum. Surf and Kerf.

Rejoice and be exceeding glad Brother Wowbaggy, my powdered ram semen operation has finally penetrated the US market.

You haven't penetrated _that_ deep - I'm only as far away as Australia...

By WowbaggerOM (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

That's cow-orkers, in alt.tastelessee.

By John Morales (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

"I'm only as far away as Australia..."

Ooo...eerr, in that case I'm sorry brother Wowbaggy. In the true spirit of trans-Tasman cooperation I ship my inferior product to the land of Oz. You're drinking the product of the testicles of your most unwelcome export...the feral possum. Thanks to your infernally multiplying marsupial most of our forests look like they've got anorexia. As you surely know, it is the duty whenever a Noo Zillunder sees a possum to poison it, trap it, shoot it or squish it using every means possible. And once they're dead I milk the balls of the deceased and ship powdered possum semen right back to its State of Origin.

Drink up!

By Smoggy Batzrub… (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

That's cow-orkers, in alt.tastelessee.

I vaguely remember, and that's going back 15 years, there were programs you could let run overnight to download, ahem *files* from alt.binaries and their various subdirectories...:-)

Back then Usenet was all there was to get help with any weird linux issue, so clearly that was the main reason to be there.

By Rorschach (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

TiH OM #507

'Then there's the names given to otherwise innocuous food: spotted dick, toad in the hole, bangers and mash, twiglets. The mind boggles. Occasionally the stomach churns.'

There was a type of suet pudding mentioned in the Aubrey/Maturin (O'Brian) books called a Drowned Baby.
I don't think churning quite does it.
Recipe anyone?

There was a type of suet pudding mentioned in the Aubrey/Maturin (O'Brian) books called a Drowned Baby.
I don't think churning quite does it.
Recipe anyone?

You're welcome

By Rorschach (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

Rorschach @546, and didn't those files need to be pieced together from their uuencoded constituent files, and wasn't it a real annoyance when the [part 5 of 23] file happened to be missing?

Or So I Heard.

By John Morales (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

In an effort to return to cheese and possibly inappropriate names what about 'Stinking Bishop'

I would think this lot would make a promising target for a marketing drive.

Er Indoors is a veggie so I don't get to eat such delicacies as Hogs Pudding let alone bacon butties with white bread and HP sauce.

Damn Damn Damn

John,

I think I heard somewhere that this uuencode business only came much later, when greedy unscrupulous business people poisoned the previously innocent waters that had been alt.binaries...:-)

And, ahem, without providing a link, there was an app for that...:-)

By Rorschach (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

Ah, memories. I remember when I had an account with ADAM¹ that let you access the internet at the bargain price of 1¢/Kb.

Of course, it wasn't that expensive with a 300/1200 baud modem.

--

¹ Internet provider in Adelaide, Australia.

By John Morales (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

I'm not sure where you are, SteveV, but Stinking Bishop is available online in the US.

And it's veggie-compatible so that you won't have to pretend it's not there - which would be difficult, very difficult.

By https://me.yah… (not verified) on 23 Jan 2010 #permalink

Thanks Rorschach, sounds delicious if a little calorie rich!
I will try it (with vegetable suet of course) and report.

uuencode has been around forever (or so it seems). It started as a way of e-mailing binaries over the uucp dialup network and so was a natural fit with usenet.

I still use uuencode at work. It's a simple way of exchanging binary files between my workstation and the embedded systems I work with when the ethernet can't be used for some reason. (Which is rather amazing when you think about it, as the uuencode format is not robust at all: No checksums, uses characters that can be eaten/mangled by some software or line protocols (trailing and multiple spaces being the biggest(?) culprit), &tc.)

#554
(not sure how to address you - certainly not going to type that out)
I'm in sunny Cornwall (home of the pastie and hogs pudding) and it's a really beautiful morning.
Good to hear about the availability of Wallace and Grommet's fave in the colonies.

You're right about the impossibility of ignoring it's presence - reminds me of the Cheese/Railway story in 3 Men in a Boat.

When I first looked for Sexy Losers back in the day, I first came across Lozers. Damn unoriginal artists. Of course the former was dead due to carpal tunnel, and the latter was a lazy bastard who always went on hiati (not that there's anything wrong with that in general, since they're not getting paid to draw, but in this case his readers had just donated enough for him to by a new computer).

--o--

Though to make yet another oblique observation, I don't if chemists are blessed or cursed in not really having creationist loonies trying to invalidate our research.

*ahegm*

More seriously the names LaClair and the Biologic Brothers will go down in infamy. And then they're the Hydronium/Blackpower guys.

Rorschach | January 24, 2010 2:43 AM:

Is there a strategy behind this or is this really just a business like any other making investment decisions ?

Why did you put 'or' between two equivalent options?

Um, Sili. Link fail.

By John Morales (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

SteveV@557. Wallace's favourite cheese is Wensleydale. I suspect you are thinking of the scene in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit where Stinking Bishop is used to revive the unconscious Wallace?

Kausik @ 433,

since my "unthinking prejudice" only exists in your head, I won't be apologizing for it.

And "smugnacious" ? Ah well, even if that was true, still better then making character diagnoses based on 2-word statements on weblogs on the internet.

By Rorschach (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

In an effort to return to cheese and possibly inappropriate names what about 'Stinking Bishop' - SteveV

That one was clearly named by the Department of Redundancy Department!

By Knockgoats (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

blf@#561
Of course you're right *headesk* only excuse was written pre breakfast.
Just realised that my posts #547 & #557 both reference dead babies......

Just realised that my posts #547 & #557 both reference dead babies......

If stop chewing on your desk for a moment and hurry, you can also reference dead babies in 567…

Let's move on from dead babies please.

The Elements

*boast mode on*
I recently designed and subsequently handled a component which utilised nearly 1% of the world's annual production of Ruthenium.
*boast mode off*

Any takers?

Some apparently objected to the way that sounded, and proposed aluminium in its place.

Here's a British tongue-twister - the lady of the house is speaking to a travelling pedlar whom she has asked to repair some saucepans:

"Are you aluminiuming them, my man?"
"No, I'm copper-bottoming 'em, ma'am."

As for copernicium, why not pronounce it with the second "c" hard, as well as the first? Admittedly, copper knickers sound rather painful, but I understand some people enjoy that sort of thing!

By Knockgoats (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

There has been a palindromic comment count approx. every 100 comments ever since # 10001. This will continue throughout the 5-digit comment counts.

Huh. Looking into this a bit more I turned up John Walker's site about this:

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

which I had never heard of. Am I the only one? Has anyone mentioned this here? Oddly fascinating.

I recently designed and subsequently handled a component which utilised nearly 1% of the world's annual production of Ruthenium.

You English will do anything to attempt to make the "perfect cup of tea."

By 'Tis Himself, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I recently designed and subsequently handled a component which utilised nearly 1% of the world's annual production of Ruthenium.

You English will do anything to attempt to make the "perfect cup of tea."

This hardly seems like ruthless pursuit, even if it is steeped in mystery.

I defy the stereotype. I'm English, yet I'm not a big tea drinker; I only drink Earl Grey tea, and that rarely. By contrast, I drink several cups of black coffee a day.

The sage isn't really necessary. - 'Tis Himself

For a really unusual pear crostini, you could try using diviner's sage instead of the common or garden variety, but apparently you would have to ask your guests to chew each mouthful very thoroughly!

By Knockgoats (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

And I loathe the taste of milk, and therefore despise the practice of putting milk in hot beverages. That's why I only drink black coffee (which, by definition, contains no milk) and Earl Grey tea (which is never consumed with milk, though a slice of lemon may be added).

Sili @566: LO-fuckin'-L!

You inspired me to go looking. I found this - not quite creationist chemistry, but close: Islamic literalist chemistry!

A guide to teaching chemistry in the Islamic way, published in Islamabad, decries the usual way in which the formation of water from hydrogen and oxygen is taught. No, says the book, the teacher must say that when hydrogen and oxygen combine then, by the Will of Allah, they turn into water.

Yay for parsimony fails!

I defy the stereotype. I'm English, yet I'm not a big tea drinker

Are you a beer drinker? If not, and not being a tea drinker, there's only one decent thing possible for you to do. You'll have to emigrate to (dare I say it?) Australia.

Yes, Walton, if you eschew both tea and beer, your only recourse is to become a remittance man in Oz. So you better be tossing back the Tetley or it's a life of G'day Mate and being called a pommie.

By 'Tis Himself, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

To give David M. the benefit of the doubt, I don't think he was asking where the sound comes from, but whether that... activity... would generally make a sound.

It depends on the, um, technique one is employing at the time. I say this as a man with more than four decades' relevant experience! (Inconsequentially, this reminds me of an old Private Eye cartoon, showing a rather smug-looking man saying to another:
"I've been a practising homosexual for forty years, and now I'm rather good at it!".)

By Knockgoats (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Knockgoats,

For a really unusual pear crostini, you could try using diviner's sage

I think I'll stick with common or greenhouse sage, thank you.

By 'Tis Himself, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

My taste in caffeinated hot drinks is remarkably similar to Walton's, except that I sometimes take milk with my Earl Grey. However, it has been scientifically proved by men in white coats that tea with added cow's milk is the best source of moral fibre in existence! The decline of the British Empire followed the insidious spread of coffee-drinking among the upper classes.

By Knockgoats (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

BTW Walton, I'll check out your response on the Massachusetts thread when in a more serious mood!

By Knockgoats (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

SC,

Which Le Guin to start with? I wouldn't start with Always Coming Home, which I enjoyed, but which lacks a strong narrative thread. All the three I recommended have that, and memorable, three-dimensional characters (although The Lathe of Heaven is tricky because it's about shifting realities - I'd no idea it had been filmed, though I've often wondered why not!). The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness both take place in the same fictional universe, as do several other of her novels and short stories, and The Dispossessed is set earlier, but this doesn't really matter - simply, a technical device foreshadowed in one plays a minor plot role in the other. The Left Hand of Darkness describes a society of androgyns - asexual neuters most of the time, with short periods of intense sexuality when they may become either female or male (the rare individuals who are fixed in one gender are called "perverts"!). The Dispossessed describes an anarchist society - so it might be of particular interest, or you might find it irritating - I know you're more interested in here-and-now anarchist action than imagined utopias, but it is very well done (and neither a utopia nor a distopia).

Right, must sign off for now and do some work!

By Knockgoats (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Are you a beer drinker?

Alas, no: I can't stand beer either. As regards booze, I prefer gin and tonic, red wine, or, of course, a drop of port (the greatest beverage ever invented).

Today is an eating day. Rain, football and I have the house to myself. What to make....

Enchiladas with fiery habenero tomatillo sauce and some smokey chipotle guacamole.

Now, do I want to spend four hours roasting a boston butt or beef short ribs or go easy and make chicken filling....

This is going to require beer.

By Rev. BigDumbChimp (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

This is almost spooky - I don't like beer either (although I drink Kingfisher lager in Indian restaurants - wine and curry are a very bad combination). Red wine is my favoured tipple, and I also like port - but not gin and tonic, which smells like a hair preparation that was sprayed on me as a child when taken to the barber's. Now I really must go.

By Knockgoats (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Now I really must go.

You ain't gone yet?

By 'Tis Himself, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

… a drop of port (the greatest beverage ever invented).

FSMyou! Now I'm thirsty, and I think there's only a glass or two of port left in the house…

Of course there's a collection of beers (mostly Belgium and French), wine (mostly French, but I think I'm a bit low), and assorted other tipples, so I might, ah, survive a sudden port shortage…

Beverages:

I have yet to find a cafeinated beverage I don't like. I used to have no use for tea, but my first trip to Sri Lanka convinced me that I merely had no use for bad tea. Tea in Sri Lanka is truly wonderful. I remember my first taste of the stuff. I complemented our hosts on how good the tea was and asked what kind it was. They looked at me in that funny way that you get used to after traveling around the world awhile and came back from the kitchen with a carton of loose tea--fricking Lipton!!! Ah, but Lipton made and packed in Sri Lanka--it really is a different beverage.

Then there is coffee. Well, suffice to say, that I do not think it is a coincidence that coffee came to Europe at the same time as the Renaissance. I don't think science is possible without coffee.

Cocoa, guarana (the real stuff, not the nasty, sweetened drinks)...all good.

Alcohol: Hardly anything at all. I may have a couple of sips of wine once in a rare while, but I've never developed a taste for alcohol. Never saw the point.

By a_ray_in_dilbe… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I'm not fond of beer although I prefer British beers to lager. I like ale and stout and I'm particularly fond of porter.

It's Guinness's porter that has me this way
For it's sweeter than buttermilk and stronger then tea
And when in the morning I feel kind a rough
Me curse on Lord Iveagh who brews the damn stuff
-"Drink It Up, Men" Trad.

I drink wine with meals (red or white as appropriate). A good port is very good but most port is very mediocre. I prefer dry sherry to sweet, which shouldn't be surprising since I'm really a whisky drinker.

By 'Tis Himself, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Rev. BigDumbChimp:

A small list of the office coffee faux pas that i witness daily

From experience working on the dining staff in college:

Always remember to drain the urn cleaner in the morning before starting a new batch. Often your customers will notice the difference. They may even complain.

Rorschach @533:

The LDS Church is buying more real estate

Is there a strategy behind this or is this really just a business like any other making investment decisions ?

Good question. I've been trying to find some insider info on this, but so far no luck. I'm suspicious. They're buying more real estate than usual, and at a faster pace than usual. They're also using retired mormons as missionaries in the United States to work on water rights issues. They control quite a bit of water in Florida and Utah, some in Nevada as well. There have been recent moves to secure more water rights.

I suspect they're creating nodes of hardcore mormons who will be in control of major resources, resources from which they can make big bucks.

Here's an example of water rights issues that came up in September of 2009, this is in Utah: http://www.rickross.com/reference/mormon/mormon641.html
Excerpt:

In an emergency meeting on Friday, Saratoga Springs council members voted unanimously to purchase $62 million-worth of federal water for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
     As part of the agreement, the city also agreed to annex nearly 3,000 acres of church farmland and will compel some smaller landowners to join the annexation. The water will allow the business arm of the church to develop its land, plus as much as several thousand more acres in the area, building up to 20,000 homes, nearly quadrupling the city's population.
     The deal, which gives the church 10,000 acre-feet of water, is unusual on several fronts.
     For starters, the $62 million must be paid in a single lump on July 1, 2019. In addition, beginning in 2020, the city must pay $3 million a year, in perpetuity, and that payment will rise over time to an unknown amount, and must be paid whether the city uses the water or not. Initially, the church will pay the annual fee as well, and as homes are developed, owners will take over those payments in the form of their water bill...

Here's an example from Nevada, an excerpt:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&ad… The Southern Nevada Water Authority has struck a $7.2 million deal to lease water on the Muddy River from what might seem an unlikely source: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

And Here's a link to some info on Florida water rights and real estate holdings.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I've never developed a taste for alcohol. Never saw the point.

It's not (necessarily) about a taste for alcohol, friend. It's all about the gestatlt taste of everything else in solution with the alcohol. Plus the cognitive alteration that can follow.
The point can vary anywhere between a single delicious beverage for the pure sensory enjoyment, all the way to gettin fuckin hammered.

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Good to see you on the endless thread, Smoggy. It's been awhile. I thought I spotted Floyd Rubber back when we were searching for Bigfoot, but Patricia informed me that it was only her hairy-assed brother. And, of course, I should have remembered Floyd's relatively hairless state, but the thought of him puts me into such a tizzy that I sometimes experience brief bouts of global amnesia.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

where by "gestatlt" I meant, of course, gesta "integrated" and by "sensory" I meant "gustatory/olfactory" and by "fuckin" I meant...yeah, that's what I meant there

And now, EVERYBODY MUST view Stewart doing Olberman, if only for the sheer delight evoked on arrival at the clip's final word, so perfect for This Thread.

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

And now, EVERYBODY MUST view Stewart doing Olberman, if only for the sheer delight evoked on arrival at the clip's final word, so perfect for This Thread.

Except, of course, those of us who can't view any Daily Show (or Colbert Report) clips online by virtue of being British. We therefore typically have to settle for the words "Sorry, Videos are not currently available in your country" [random capitalisation in original] in lieu of Jon Stewart's face.

Stewart is a genius.
Olbermann has 2 Ns and his response was a pretty classy "Point taken."

Favorite phrases from the former's fantastic fusillade:

"childish attacks as hominem as they are nauseam"
"it is beneath you; it is next to me"

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

And now, I'm going to the gym, since running produces a far better buzz than either tea or alcohol.

Am I the only one?

Ha! There is more math in Heaven and on earth than your philosophy can dream, Horatio.

Which is to say... I had no idea whatsoever!

I loathe the taste of milk

I pity you. Not all milk is good, skimmed milk is a bad joke, and heating milk too much destroys its taste (I put mine on what comes after "defrost" for 1 minute in the microwave, 2 at the most), but there is such a thing as good milk. It's even available in England (pers. obs.).

However, it has been scientifically proved by men in white coats

:-D

I'll so steal that.

that tea with added cow's milk is the best source of moral fibre in existence!

The whole world wonders why the English put milk in their tea. Been there, found out: the tea is so strong you have to put milk in it to be able to drink it at all.

The teabags I acquired at the congress in Bristol last year last for three mugs each! (Though I must say I drink tea for the taste, not for the caffeine. Caffeine seems to have no effect on me.)

[...] I can't stand beer [...]

How similar a little quote-mining makes us. :-)

Today is an eating day. Rain [...] and I have the house to myself. What to make....

I still had some kind of weird sausage/pâté thingy from the canteen (a couple of days old, kept in the fridge). So I cut it to slices, fried it in a pan (in its own fat) to get rid of the slightly stale smell and to make sure it was actually fully cooked, and ate complexly spiced purée with it. :-)

<sound of Jadehawk whimpering in the distance>

Now I'll finish the After Eight and perhaps nibble on the 50-%-cocoa chocolate. (40 % is better, but wasn't available.)

I don't think science is possible without coffee.

MWA HA HA HA HAAAAAH.

Cocoa

Eh, that's not caffeinated! That methyl group makes a difference, you know!

("Divine smell" is it called, Theobroma. Both the smell and, in stark contrast to coffee, the taste fit that.)

Alcohol: [...] I've never developed a taste for alcohol. Never saw the point.

:-) :-) :-)

By David Marjanović (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Methinks that Stewart not only watches Olberman, but he reads Pharyngula! Or maybe his writers read Pharnygula.

Rachel Maddow has been better than Olberman of late. For example, see this presentation on the March for Life:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#35025772

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Always remember to drain the [coffee] urn cleaner in the morning before starting a new batch.

But freshly-brewed soapy water is just so much better than industrialinstitutional coffee. Thanks for trying to do the inmatescustomers a favour!

oooh, bummer; sorry, furners.
try the MSNBC version, which plays Stewart's thing unedited

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Not everybody agrees that Olbermann's response was "classy." Personally, I thought it was all in good fun and that, while comedy is clearly not Olbermann's thing, he got in a mild zinger or two.

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

"Theobroma" -- I thought that translated to "smells to high heaven", or perhaps, "an aroma of biblical proportions", or "God's Feet!" or "Oh, God! That really smells!" I may have been misinformed.

On the serious side, there are few things that match in sensual pleasure the smell of coffee made outdoors on a frosty morning in the mountains. Bacon cooking, maybe. But you can't have bacon without coffee. And bacon draws bears.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

And bacon draws bears.

I tried a quick search for artist bacon drawing bears but whilst that got lots of hits, none seemed to appropriate (or it's hidden amongst all the other, ah, stuff…?). Do you have a link to Ms(? Mr?) Bacon's gallery of bear drawings?

The Stewart/Olbermann has already been linked once.

But it's good enough to deserve more love. I, personally, though O was a sport about it.

Experimented with some soup tonight. Sellery, parsley-root, leaks and a spud cooked in cheap stock and blended to Hell. Gave it a splash of wine in place of bayleef. Not bad. Enjoying it with a leftover Crimbo beer and my last rye-five-grain-bun.

Had an English organic ale with my flounder, spuds and way too much parsley gravy last night. Nicely hoppy, but a bit too 'fresh' for that meal. Prolly better on its own or with something lighter. Do have some salad left that I need to finish, just have to make something to eat with it.

G'n'Ts are loverly by the way.

I was impressed that Olbermann played the entire Stewart clip and afterwards agreed that he had gone over the top with Brown.

By 'Tis Himself, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

final update of this subThread

20K in the next!

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

blf, I'll let you know if I find any bacon, with charcoal in hand, drawing bears. lol.

"Bacon attracts bears" might be less ambiguous, but then I get a vision of pole-dancing bacon.

"Bacon is attractive to bears" might prompt a business investment in bacon porn for bears.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Sven, the increasing frequency of PZ's additions to the endless thread is a trend, yes? Can you express it mathematically?

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

"Bacon attracts bears" might be less ambiguous, but then I get a vision of pole-dancing bacon.

What an interesting vision. That particular vision isn't even close to what I think of when I read the words "bacon attracts bears."

Personally, I get a picture of a bear ransacking a camp group looking for whatever smells so delicious. But then when I was a teenager I went hunting with a group of people and we had our camp pillaged by a couple of bears looking for food.

By 'Tis Himself, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Are we still apologizing?

I wish to apologize to the entire clade of tyrannosaurids, and to Godzilla, for calling a tyrannosaurid "Godzilla".

I wish to apologize to Cthulhu cultists for misspelling "Iä!".

I wish to apologize to Mr. Fire for putting him in danger of being devoured by a Pabst-swilling tyrannosauroid demon, and for forgetting to mention that the width and height of an image can be determined by checking its properties, and that that is what should be placed before the px in the width and height portions of the incantation.

I wish to apologize to Lynna for doing a poor job of ridding her of her creepy stalker, Mr. Fire.

I wish to apologize to {*something*}386sx{*something*} for inadvertently causing the loss of a lunch.

I wish to apologize to Cthulhu cultists again for completely mangling the phrase "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn".

I wish to apologise to UK and Commonwealth residents for the US-centric spelling of "apologise".

I wish to apologize to US residents for inconsistent spelling of "apologize".

I wish to apologize to PZ Myers for a comment filled with useless apologies.

By Owlmirror (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

So, I watched(the rest of) Der Untergang last night. Excellent movie. Disturbing and kinda surreal, too.

By Jadehawk, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

A little more porky goodness for you. It may not be Sunday morning where you are, but it's certainly a good time for this:

It's not bacon but it's not bad.

win win win win

By Rev. BigDumbChimp (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Posted by: Knockgoats Author Profile Page | January 24, 2010 10:24 AM

The Dispossessed describes an anarchist society - so it might be of particular interest, or you might find it irritating - I know you're more interested in here-and-now anarchist action than imagined utopias, but it is very well done (and neither a utopia nor a distopia).

For most anarchists, a future anarchist society is not a dogma like it was for most Marxists. And when one did pop up, it was under unusual circumstances and everybody else went after them. (See the Spanish Civil War, both the nationalists and republicans went after the anarchists.)

I do not think that The Dispossessed was meant to be any kind of how to book. Le Guin basically sets it up by having a liberal society treating it's moon as a prison world and sending their anarchists there.

The key is the subtitle, An Ambiguous Utopia. It is basically an exploration of how humans (Just remember that in Le Guin's Hainish worlds, all humanoids are related.) will remain humans even when a more or less idealized political society is set up. There is still jealousies in relationship. Even with the responsibilities of jobs spread all through society, there is still the need to provide for people of exceptional and unique talents. I took the main point of the novel as this, even if the political goals of having a just and egalitarian society (Which, in my opinion, is an anarchist society.) does happen, history does not end. The is still strife but, hopefully, humans will be better able to deal with it.

I will agree that perhaps it is better for someone to first read her more traditional novels, The Left Hand Of Darkness and The Dispossessed, those have to be read by anyone interested in LeGuin. They are damned good reads. But the fragmented structure of Always Coming Home is as important as any of the fables, narratives, tall tales, recipes and music (There were some press runs that a cassette of music.) of the novel. One could say that LeGuin's form of anarchy is the structure of her novel.

By Janine, Mistre… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

[W]hen I was a teenager I went hunting with a group of people and we had our camp pillaged by a couple of bears looking for food.

Yeah, that happened to me too, albeit we were fishing, not hunting. And the bears (three of 'em), or at least one of the small ones (cub?), could be said to be pole-dancing: It was up the tree and perched on a branch swatting at the hanging bags containing all the smelly stuff (except, of course, us). Fortunately, the bears got the hint and left when we starting making a lot of noise.

Of course, one of the two counterweighted bags they did manage to bring down just happened to be mine. At least I wasn't the one who tied the knot (it looked like the knot slipped). The bear's claw had neatly sliced open both bags (clearly after the bags had fallen to the ground—as I recall, that was the noise that alerted us to the raid).

We also realised we'd goofed and hadn't evenly distributed the food amongst the bags. So had the bears managed to get the main cache/bag, we'd would have had supply problems. As it was, they did get enough food we opted to hike out a day early.

Then there was the incident of the fecking BIG rattler on the trail out. But no pole dancing, albeit watching a group of teenagers doing running the 100m dash faster than Usain Bolt, uphill and wearing packs, was rather amusing…

I apologize for not being even close to Owlmirror in skill at apologizing.

I am, however better than Mooney at apologizing, and you would think he would have it down pat. Instead, we get Mooney insulting Dawkins, giving PZ the cold shoulder in person, and insisting that we "new atheists" all apologize to christians and other persons of the religious persuasion.

I apologize to David M. for sending him to view a video which he couldn't understand thanks to the thick dialect.

Thanks for trying, Owlmirror, with Mr. Fire. Mrs. Fire apparently supports him in this stalking endeavor. However, I'd like to point out that it is Mr. Fire's basement that is creepy, and not Mr. Fire himself ... or so he claims. Reviewing the latest conversations about chemistry, I would say that Mr. Fire's basement is lucky not to be on fire, or radioactive.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Are we still speaking of bacon? Speaking of bacon, I just made my first proper Utica greens with a heaping helping of pancetta. If we're off the topic of pork by now, I apologize.

Ah, 'Tis and blf, thanks for that. I love a good bear story.

To be clear, bacon is most attractive to bears when worn as a necklace around the neck of a human being.

I've never had a bear take down one of my food sacks, but I have seen food sacks attacked by flying squirrels. And I met an idjit of a park ranger in Glacier National Park who believed that we could not properly hang our food sacks without an official Hanging Pole™ being erected by herself. Since there was no such pole, she was reluctant to let us camp in the great outdoors where bears were known to roam. (And this was after we had hiked more than 600 miles of the Continental Divide Trail, hanging our food sacks with no advice nor mechanical assistance along the way ... and without the supervision of park rangers.) She even stood in the path of the trajectory of the rock-tied-to-rope my brother was about to throw over a high branch. I had to move her out of the way. I think she must have been deprived of basic lessons in physics as a child.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I apologize to all of the would be Dendys out there that I have not given foul mouth abuse to yet.

By Janine, Mistre… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I still had some kind of weird sausage/pâté thingy from the canteen (a couple of days old, kept in the fridge). So I cut it to slices, fried it in a pan (in its own fat) to get rid of the slightly stale smell and to make sure it was actually fully cooked, and ate complexly spiced purée with it. :-)

just to counteract that, I have to point out that last night's dinner was a black bean and onion soup, with stock made from cornish game hen and honey wine, with home made egg noodles.

By Jadehawk, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Personally, I get a picture of a bear ransacking a camp group looking for whatever smells so delicious.

Damn it. I can't help picturing Jodie Foster in a bear suit.

I know! Not only does it not include bacon, but it was Nastassja Kinski who wore the fucking bear suit.

what's wrong with my brain?

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Jadehawk, I have a very silly question for you. What does an Austrian accent sounds like to a German? I know that there are many differences with German, we are talking about a country that is not even a couple of centuries old. Just to toss out an obvious example, Prussian and Bavarian accents are very different. But what does Austrian sound like? Is it like an American hearing a Cockney accent? Feel free to push the analogy beyond the breaking point.

By Janine, Mistre… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

And now, I'm going to the gym, since running produces a far better buzz than either tea or alcohol.

I agree with Walton here. Though I must say I do drink tea more often than coffee. Speaking of which, how do these other college student survive on only energy drinks?

By Gyeong Hwa Pak… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

The Austrian accent is indistinguishable from the Bavarian one, from this far north :-p

And they both sound as if someone got drunk and overdosed on vowels, to the point of incoherency. So yeah, Cockney is probably a pretty good comparison.

By Jadehawk, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Thank you, Jadehawk.

By Janine, Mistre… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

the increasing frequency of PZ's additions to the endless thread is a trend, yes? Can you express it mathematically?

Not mathematically, no, but graphically, I can try.

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Janine,MoFNA,OM

For most anarchists, a future anarchist society is not a dogma like it was for most Marxists. And when one did pop up, it was under unusual circumstances and everybody else went after them. (See the Spanish Civil War, both the nationalists and republicans went after the anarchists.)

Same happened to the Makhnovists in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War who got it from both Whites and Reds - but there, even the "official" Russian anarchists largely ignored what was happening!

I do not think that The Dispossessed was meant to be any kind of how to book.

No indeed.

The key is the subtitle, An Ambiguous Utopia.

Interesting - that doesn't appear on the UK edition. I think it's misleading, because as you say, a key point is that history has not ended - which it effectively has both in classic Utopias, like More's, and dystopias like 1984 and Brave New World. Talking of which, alongside those two, the best dystopian novel I've read is Swastika Night (1937) by Katherine Burdekin, set a long but indeterminate time after a Nazi world conquest. Another one for your list if you haven't read it, SC!

But the fragmented structure of Always Coming Home is as important as any of the fables, narratives, tall tales, recipes and music (There were some press runs that a cassette of music.) of the novel. One could say that LeGuin's form of anarchy is the structure of her novel.

Interesting point. I must reread it (I've read all my three recommends at least twice).

By Knockgoats (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

With no apologies, the best tea on the planet: the black drink of the Creek Indians, Ilex vomitoria. (ignore species epithet, it doesn't do that.) Yule Gibbons' favorite.

Dave M; I think a lot of the confusion about the caffeine content of tea comes from conflating with theobromine. I don't get a buzz from tea either.

My personal solution to the bear/camping problem? Sleep with your food and arrange a trip line around your tent with your cook gear and other noisy items tied to it. The most times I have been awakened in the night was twice. YMMV,however.

BS

By Blind Squirrel FCD (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

So who was the female in this sleeping bag?
Link also contains bears, so doubly relevant.

BS

By Blind Squirrel FCD (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I apologise for mixing up Naomi Watts and Kirsten Dunst. It's just that, in my dreamtime, they work so closely together ;¬)

holy shit

I've got to get me an exploding sleeping bag

By Rev. BigDumbChimp (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Thank you Knockgoats. I never heard of Swastika Night nor Katherine Burdekin. I just looked that up and now I will have to find a copy.

Many anarchists were excited the the first wave of the Russian Revolution. Shit, many people were excited by the possibilities of what the over throw of the Czar could mean. It was the second, Bolshevik, revolution that brought about something worse than what was disposed of.

By Janine, Mistre… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

More Moments of Mormon Real Estate Monopoly Madness, this time in Arizona, which is also part of the Jello Corridor.

What follows is an excerpt from info that DrSuess posted on postmormon.org:

Suburban Land Reserve >> Property Reserve Inc. >> Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
     Yes.. it’s modern day monopoly. Not only are they buying land for big bucks – they are selling it for big bucks too! Case in point – LDS Inc (Suburban Land Reserve) has been heavily involved in developing a massive mixed use commercial and residential development in Surprise, Arizona called "Prasada" over the past 5 years. ...
     Suburban Land Reserve sold land to Wescor (retail developer) who in turn sold it to Target and Wal-mart. Westcor closed on a $34 million sale of about 256 acres from Salt Lake City-based Suburban Land Reserve in December 2007.

The same day Westcor bought that land, it sold 16 acres to Target for $1.1 million and 22 acres to Wal-Mart for $5.1 million, according to the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office. More info at links below.
http://surpriseaznews.com/index.php/2008/02/19/mall-on-hold-in-retail-p…
http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2005/08/22/story1.html?p…
Some of the other developers involved are also mormons, for example, Fulton Homes: Fulton Homes founder Ira Fulton is a high-profile Mormon and philanthropist who has donated more than $250 million combined to Arizona State University, the church-owned Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. [excerpt from source at http://www.rickross.com/reference/mormon/mormon568.html, a copy of an article from the Arizona Republic]
News stories from January, 2009, and more current stories, show Fulton Homes in financial trouble. Some of the deals in which the LDS Church bought real estate from mormons like Fulton are suspect.

Property Reserve Inc., a real-estate holding company owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, paid home builders Fulton Homes Corp. and Shea Homes for Active Adults a combined $72 million in October for about 1,900 acres of virgin land in the Pinal County city, 35 miles south of Phoenix.
     The deal has left local real-estate professionals shaking their heads. They say the land isn't worth anything close to what the church paid....
     As a result, most home builders have abandoned plans for future development in the area....
     Now the orphaned land of Avalea belongs to the church, and some local analysts say Shea and Fulton got off lucky.
By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I apologise for mixing up Naomi Watts and Kirsten Dunst. It's just that, in my dreamtime, they work so closely together ;¬)

Same problem for me with Foster and Kinski.
Sometimes the bear suit doesn't even enter into it!!!

I'm sorry

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I've got to get me an exploding sleeping bag

Invite your friendly neighbourhood suicide bomber on your next camping trip?

Sven @628: Thank you! That was lovely. ~:-)

Mr. Fire @628: Thanks for the link to the dancing breakfast. Very nice! That bacon really has some moves. That's Danish bacon for you, very liberal.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Invite your friendly neighbourhood suicide bomber on your next camping trip?

A mercury-mutated grizzly with anger management issues might be easier to find.

BS

By Blind Squirrel FCD (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Whoops. I fucked up. Mr. Fire's fine link to dancing bacon is in comment #627.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I've got to get me an exploding sleeping bag

Invite your friendly neighbourhood suicide bomber on your next camping trip?

Oops! Sorry for the double post. Migraine Typos gave me an error (which was not the submission timeout of days past, but some gibberish about an invalid value), and I didn't think to check…  ;-(

More info regarding my post @635 (toward the end of that long post): An ex-mormon pointed out that the $72 million deal that included buying land from Fulton Homes was concluded at about the same time that the LDS Church was gathering funds for the Prop. 8 campaign.

It's just speculation, but here's how it might work. In a down housing market, the LDS Church buys land from Fulton for more than twice its market value. Fulton, a high-profile mormon, gives a bunch of money to the Prop 8 campaign. Money laundering complete. Church owns more real estate. Gays suffer.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Lyanna,OM-Just a simple question from a rightpondian: Are there any Tax implications in the Land buying activities of the LDS?

By https://www.go… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

On BBC2 now - The Natural World; a prog on the great burp valley.

oops sorry #644 should read Lynna,OM

*Hides in shame*

By https://www.go… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Awesome tectonic animations!

with home made egg noodles.

Spätzle? :-9

The Austrian accent is indistinguishable from the Bavarian one, from this far north :-p

"The Austrian accent"? Don't you hear any differences between the Carinthian and the Viennese in the two videos I linked to? :-) (Other than the fact that the Carinthian switched back and forth between dialect and standard all the time for stylistic reasons.)

But of course, in terms of dialects, it's all one happy family of (to varying but rather large degrees) mutually intelligible dialects with very similar sound systems that differ a lot from those of Standard German (plural – like English, German is a pluricentric language).

This is a fairly good introduction to the matter. Have a look at the map, and also have a look at the map here, but most of the text on that page is very confused.

And they both sound as if someone got drunk and overdosed on vowels, to the point of incoherency.

Northern German is hacked apart, with one complete word after another. In the south, the breaks get smoothed out, leading to a result more similar to French.

So yeah, Cockney is probably a pretty good comparison.

Those people do something else: they pronounce t (unless it's followed by a stressed vowel) as something which you first have to learn to recognize as a consonant. It's the same sound that northern Germans put in front of every stressed syllable that would otherwise begin with a vowel, so when they say Naomi (strangely putting the stress on the o instead of the a), I hear na, Omi! "now – Granny!".

I think a lot of the confusion about the caffeine content of tea comes from conflating with theobromine. I don't get a buzz from tea either.

Not sure what you mean. Theobromine is the stuff in cocoa, coffee and tea both contain caffeine – and I don't seem to react to either.

By David Marjanović (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

@644: Tax implications for mormons contributing to Prop 8: They give money to ProtectMarrriage.org and they get a tax break for making a charitable contribution.

Tax implications of LDS Church owning many for-profit companies: Religious, tax-exempt organizations are not prohibited from owning for-profit corporations. Supposedly, the for-profit arms pay taxes like everyone else. In actuality, all sorts of behind-the-scenes deals are cooked up to funnel money to the religious organizations, avoid paying taxes, launder money used for political campaigns, control land and water rights, affect state legislation, affect liquor laws, affect development contracts, and so forth.

A church in Canada did lose it's charitable status. The loss was due to the church spending too much time and money on political activity. Nice precedent.

In other mormon-related news, http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_14254844 This is a review of the movie "The Mormon Proposition". Excerpt:

hot over 19 months for less than $250,000, the film uses statements of past church leaders and personal accounts of gay Mormons and their families in an attempt to explain what Cowan contends is a culture of obedience and an entrenched anti-gay sentiment that permeates Mormonism. Those attitudes, he says, contribute to a myriad of social problems including suicide and homelessness among young gay Mormons.
By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Vaguely on the prop 8 theme: I'm randomly offended by the recent(?) Macleans adverts on UK TV.

I'd rather they didn't have osculating people linked together by shared slime on their teeth (like mating slugs but less attractive!) anyway. But, having mostly turned away whenever they were on, today I suddenly noticed that they all seemed to be heterosexual pairings (with on-screen male and female names confirming this). Checking the internet (as above), because there was no reason to suppose I'd actually seen the full set, still showed that same totally heterosexual bias in a set of at least 11 couples (and possibly a caucasian bias in them too).

If the prevalence of homosexuality is anywhere near the upper end of the range of percentages mentioned in wikipedia then it's starting to be remiss not to include any homosexual kissing at all. Though, if the rate of representation should mean only one homosexual advert, then they'd have to choose which option to portray.

I wonder just how many adverts like that they do have to make before there's a legal case that they are discriminating against homosexuals by misrepresenting the nature of society - ie a weird sort of false advertising in implicitly suggesting that homosexuals would never use a Macleans product or kiss each other.

One more tax detail in reference to religious organizations owning for-profit entities: Passive revenue, like income from renting or leasing land and buildings, is not taxed when this revenue goes from a for-profit arm of the church to the non-profit, tax-exempt arm of the church.

There's lots of room for shady accounting and for arrangements bordering on the criminal within that structure. One thing is for sure, it give churches corporations like LD$ Inc. a big advantage over secular competitors.

It seems to me that it would be better to arrange for a charitable arm of LD$ Inc, like the one that delivers food to Haiti, to be given tax-exempt status, while LD$ Inc. overall is not tax exempt.

However, as Rev BDC has pointed out in the past, it is the tax-exempt status of religions that gives the government some semblance of control over their participation in politics. The ease with which religious organizations get around the controls, and the ease with which they launder and hide their contributions to political campaigns is an indication that enforcing agencies are failing.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Another thought on religious organizations operating tax-free, even within some aspects of their for-profit arms: I wonder if the water rights the mormons have been so adept at controlling and then leasing back to other communities also constitute a passive revenue stream that is not taxed. This would be an arrangement similar to the passive revenue streams the LDS Church collects when renting land and buildings.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

your word o' the week is, of course:

starfart

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Spätzle?

not quite, but close.

and on the subject of German accents/dialects, my personal favorite is Silesian, which sounds awesome both in German and in Polish. I could sit and listen to my aunts talk to each other forever :-)

By Jadehawk, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Janine, Mistress of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM:
"What does an Austrian accent sounds like to a German?"

I heard that when Terminator was to be released in Germany, Arnie wanted to do the dubbing himself. He wasn't allowed to as they'd think he sounded like a farmer. That was on QI so it must be true.

Silesian, which sounds awesome both in German and in Polish.

In Czech, too?

Because the tanned, long-fanged guy next to me on the photos you found is from the Czech part of Silesia. There were a lot of campfire discussions about the regional differences within Silesian (and within Czech Silesian, even).

By David Marjanović (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Shortly Teh CO will slam the portcullis down on the current subThread, and it seems appropriate enough to post an 18th-Century British seaman's tale as performed by a couple of 20th-Century Marin County residents:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfJZQNF5CDc

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Arnie

has a specifically Styrian accent whatever language he speaks. It's pretty amazing.

...Yeah, OK. When he was sworn in as Governator, he switched between the western US and the Styrian sound systems like this:

..."the cahnsti|tuschn |of the United S|tehts|, and the cahnsti|tuschn |of the S|teht| of Cali|fooohrnia"...

Not considered here is that there's West Styria, and then there's Rest Styria. I think Arnie's accent is West, but I don't know.

In any case, he didn't dub himself.

By David Marjanović (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

In Czech, too?

Because the tanned, long-fanged guy next to me on the photos you found is from the Czech part of Silesia. There were a lot of campfire discussions about the regional differences within Silesian (and within Czech Silesian, even).

oooh... I don't think I've heard that version yet. Fuck, I don't even think I could tell you which particular version of Silesian my grandfather's family speaks, since they've been speaking a flavor of Polish and a flavor of German fluently for those 200+ years that they've been living in deepest rural Silesia (and now I can't even recall what part of it), and the German and the Polish sound as identical as those two languages possibly can, to the point where conversations have switched languages mid-sentence and no one even noticed :-p

and it doesn't help that what my aunts speak now is, in both languages, a mixed dialect of High German/Polish and Silesian.

By Jadehawk, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Ah. Perhaps I do, after all, have something to apologise for.

I drink the granulated, instant crap. In my defense, I do adulterate it heavily.

Thanks for trying, Owlmirror, with Mr. Fire. Mrs. Fire apparently supports him in this stalking endeavor.

Supports me? Why, she is the evil genius behind it all. The Palpatine to my Vader, if you will. Or the Comfort to my Cameron.

Reviewing the latest conversations about chemistry, I would say that Mr. Fire's basement is lucky not to be on fire, or radioactive.

Tempted to make a joke here, but the D.E.-fuckin'-A. would probably flag all of us forever.

By the way, Lynna: I'm flattered you quoted me over on Art Meets Adventure. You should also be aware of a comment I left way back here.

Told you you're going to like the dig, even if it rains the whole 2 weeks through and we can't dig at all. :-)

and the German and the Polish sound as identical as those two languages possibly can

Reminds me of something else...

In the middle 19th century, there was an enormous wave of Czech immigration to Vienna. The phonebook still attests to this very impressively, but almost nobody in Vienna speaks Czech anymore: due to xenophobia as official policy, most of the first-generation immigrants spoke only German to their children. The result is an unremarkable East Middle Bavarian dialect that I had little trouble understanding when my family moved from Linz (200 km to the west) to Vienna when I was 11 years old, except for a few words and common phrases*, the "dark l" of the unspeakable video I linked to (limited to a part of Vienna), the remarkably slow speed of speech, and... all the details like intonation, which are identical to those of Czech.

With my background it's quite the experience to listen to a Czech conversation. I can barely figure out the topic, but I feel at home. :o)

* One way to say "fuck off" is literally "go into the ass", straight from Czech jdi do prdele and otherwise unknown in German.

to the point where conversations have switched languages mid-sentence and no one even noticed :-p

At least some of the Tunisians here in the students' home do that all the time (with Arabic and French).

By David Marjanović (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Why, she is the evil genius behind it all. The Palpatine to my Vader, if you will. Or the Comfort to my Cameron.

Genius! Comfort! I'll roll in bed laughing. :-D

By David Marjanović (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Oh! MrFire @661, thank you for reminding me about the poetry review. I meant to add that to the web page, but had forgotten. This time I actually added the review before it was drowned again in the endless thread stream. The comment and Bee Dance poem are here.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

A mercury-mutated grizzly with anger management issues might be easier to find.

wait... something is stirring in my memory...

There appears such a gap between Rorschach's and my posts that it seems like we are corresponding long distance by [gasp!] snail mail! Still...
[blockquote]Posted by: Rorschach | January 24, 2010 6:16 AM
Kausik @ 433,
since my "unthinking prejudice" only exists in your head, I won't be apologizing for it.[/blockquote]
You still did not answer my simple question in post #433, did you? Heh!

By Kausik Datta (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I drink the granulated, instant crap. In my defense, I do adulterate it heavily.

Whoa! I'm shocked. You may need to do more than apologize. We need to come up with some kind of penance.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Definitely check out LeGuinn, well worth it. She is an anthropologist and sociologist.

Hmm, she was interested in social anthropology, and it contributed themes for her novels, but her career has been literary. Her father, Alfred Kroeber, OTOH, was a founder of the discipline of cultural anthropology in the U.S. In one historical narrative, he gave a home and a voice to Ishi, "The last wild indian."

BTW, was anyone else reminded of LeGuin's The World for World is Forest when watching "Avatar"?

By Mal Adapted (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

"We need to come up with some kind of penance."

My favorite penance involves fixing a dozen King James Bibles to my man-bag then using them for step aerobics.

I also have a penance that involves tossing a cross the size of a caber into an Olympic sized swimming pool full of nuns wrestling in porridge, but it takes a while to organize.

By Smoggy Batzrub… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Dave M @648

Not sure what you mean. Theobromine is the stuff in cocoa, coffee and tea both contain caffeine

The font of all knowledge states that tea contains a small amount of theobromine, which probably accounts for my confusion. Wiki also claims that there is a small amount of caffeine in chocolate. Thanks.

BS

By Blind Squirrel FCD (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Damn! Blockquote FAIL in my post above! :(

Lynna:

A church in Canada did lose it's charitable status. The loss was due to the church spending too much time and money on political activity. Nice precedent.

Great catch. On much the same theme, let me offer some rather disturbing news. There is apparently a concerted effort underway to establish a sort of 'Christian Dominion' in which adherents of various christian sects are being told by their priests from the pulpit - to try to get into as many influential public positions as possible, and chaplains in the armed forces and law enforcement services are evangelizing in high gear. In this way, they plan to undertake a total christian takeover of the system.

Pipe dreams? I don't know; I thought this was terribly insidious, but then I don't understand all the nitty-gritties of this, since I am not an American. I read about this in the Firedoglake blog (where, incidentally, they are providing a rather engaging blow-by-blow liveblog of the prop 8 trial).

By Kausik Datta (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I don't drink coffee at all. I'm sorry.

One way to say "fuck off" is literally "go into the ass", straight from Czech jdi do prdele and otherwise unknown in German

Huh. I wonder if that has any relation to the Italian va a fare in culo or vaffanculo?

"Some Italians affirm that the ass referred to is that of one's interlocutor, while others assert that the orifice in question is not yours or mine or anyone's in particular, but rather the universal anus,"

By Owlmirror (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Holy crap, Smoggy! A caber is really, really big. Those guys who compete in the caber toss look like they've got the biggest dicks in the universe. I hope you hire one of them to toss the caber-sized cross into the swimming pool, because that would be ... delicious to watch.

We'll have to ask cicely is she has a nun's habit she can don for the occasion of doing penance. She won't be interested in the King James Bible step aerobics.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Dear Sister Carlie,

While I've never managed to convert you to Christianity (or anyone else for that matter), perhaps I could convert you to coffee drinking. Would you like to try one of my custom coffees? It's brewed for a year in the smallest room of the house using an ancient Batzrubble family technique and it is guaranteed to put hairs on one's chest. Sip slowly or your lips might dissolve.

By Smoggy Batzrub… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Hi All

Just getting back after attending to a procrastinated-and-thus-had-to-do-at-last-moment paper for my Masters.

I see there was much discussion regarding my martial status or otherwise back up in the 200/300's. To clarify Mr Sherk is still alive and kicking and my singleness is due to seperation not anything more sinister. As for divorce, well that's no doubt on the cards but you have to be legally separated for 12 months here in Aus before you can lodge the paperwork.

I was thinking myself about changing the name but I'm kind of used to it now so I think I'll stick with it. Also it's take too much of my brain power to attempt to come up with a name that can still give me the moniker BoSOM.

.. having said that Bitch of Shrek has a nice ring to it.

By Bride of Shrek OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Dear Lynna,

Floyd Rubber does all my caber tossing, and from uncomfortable personal experience I estimate he does have the biggest dick in the universe.

By Smoggy Batzrub… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

More overdubbing silliness: the first Road Warrior film was completely overdubbed because Mel Gibson's Aussie accent was considered unintelligible to American audiences.

BS

By Blind Squirrel FCD (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Kausik Datta,

sorry for delaying to answer your highly relevant post, sleeping and all that...

I dont feel inclined to answer your "question" to be honest, since you are the one making the extraordinary rather laughable claim that the words "don't ask" without a doubt establish me as a lesbian-hating anti-progress anti-women's rights fossil.
Maybe you could instead let me in on the sublime chain of reasoning that made you arrive at this conclusion ?

Or maybe you could just drop it since it's just all a tiny bit too ludicruos and wasting everyone's time.

By Rorschach (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Thanks for solving that little mystery, BoSOM. It's a drag for sure but probably for the best, speaking from personal experience.
You can split my sympathy up between sorry and congratulations however seems most appropriate to you at the moment.

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

What I like to drink depends on the weather.

Cold beer during the summer, hot green tea when it snows, sake when it's windy, and any port in a storm.

My dearest Smoggy, that sounds divine. Perhaps it would work - I hate most beers but took an immediate liking to Guinness, so it may be that I simply need a strong, bold taste such as your secret recipe. I do enjoy munching on coffee beans (chocolate-covered, of course), so there might be something to that.

BoS, good to hear it wasn't anything worse (not that it isn't difficult, but you know). You could keep it and just switch who Shrek refers to. :) Or you could be... Bride of Science!!!

Is PZ in Santa Cruz, or Chico? or Berkeley?

I think he forgot about his blog again, and those are some pretty forgetful towns.

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

At one point, I think PZ posted that he didn't know where he was, nor when he was. I hope he has minders to take care of him.

Also, I think he hasn't shut down this chapter of the bull session because we didn't include as many embedded videos this time. We learned our lesson, sort of. It's as difficult to load a thread without all that embedded-video baggage, giving PZ leeway as to when to shut this one off and start a new one.

Smoggy, thanks for the vision of Floyd tossing cabers. ~:-) Wicked.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Oh, fer fuck's sake, "it's not as difficult to load a thread without all that embedded-video baggage...

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Dear Sister Carlie, I'm quite fond of a drappie of Wee Heavy, perhaps I could convert you to that as well.

Dear Sister (Ex-)Bride of Shrek OM, I wish I had exciting initials like BoSOM, I'm sure I could find a lot of use for them, not 'Bride of SexOM' or 'Bite or Suck on Me' or 'Brutal oral Sadism on Mondays' or anything nasty like that, something naff and Christian like 'Bible opens Souls of Men".

By Smoggy Batzrub… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

We'll have to ask cicely is she has a nun's habit she can don for the occasion of doing penance. She won't be interested in the King James Bible step aerobics.

I'm afraid I've led a rather pedestrian life, and so have never had reason to acquire a nun's habit. Maybe I can find something affordable in the off-season Halloween costume websites.... Definitely no aerobics; number 1, I refuse to invest any cash in Bibles, KJV or otherwise, and number 2, I'm afraid my knees aren't up to step aerobics of any sort.

I might be amenable to some light self-flagellation, or maybe a three-day chocolate fast.

Told you you're going to like the dig, even if it rains the whole 2 weeks through and we can't dig at all. :-)

we'll see. On the one hand, I can already tell I'll be severely outbrained there, and being the dumbest person in the room is not necessarily fun. On the other hand, there will be cute, long-fanged* and smart nerds, and this whole new digging experience, too.

----

*is this a requirement for paleontologists I was not previously aware of? This is vital information, you know!

By Jadehawk, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

a name that can still give me the moniker BoSOM

Bereft of Shrek ...
Bored of Shrek ...
Bounced off Shrek ...
Bride over Shrek ...
Bailed on Shrek ...
Better off Shrek-less ...

All good things come to an end. My week long vacation is over since I'm going to bed now so I can get up at 0-dark-30 and go back to work.

Nighty night.

By 'Tis Himself, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I might be amenable to some light self-flagellation, or maybe a three-day chocolate fast.

Sounds, good, cicely. But if I were you, I'd go for the light flagellation, preferably while wearing a nun's habit. A three-day chocolate fast sounds brutal.

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

cicely (#690)

number 1, I refuse to invest any cash in Bibles, KJV or otherwise,

Invest cash?! Where do you live that it's not more of an effort to keep people from giving you unwanted Bibles for free?

Rorschach @682: Truce then. Can't engage in vigorous discussion with you in this punctuated manner in this damn lightyear-long thread. To be honest, I was only part-serious, and part ribbing you. Nevertheless, I did think that that particular comment of yours was in poor taste. But anyway, that's water under the bridge now. My weekend is over! :(

By Kausik Datta (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

SEF

I'm leaning towards the Bored of Shrek or Bride over Shrek. Though, Better off Shrekless is pretty awesome.

You can read between the lines as to what sort of split up it's been then!

By Bride of Shrek OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Speaking of bullshit and bad taste, Prof. Dendy has a blog post with a picture of a pile of shit and references to Rev BDC and Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM below it. Really.
I believe the Prof has gone over the edge.
Excuse me while I hold my nose and provide the link.

BS

By Blind Squirrel FCD (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I drink the granulated, instant crap.

wait...
she's...she's talking about, like, lemonade, right?
Lemonade? Or fake iced tea or something?

please tell me it's iced tea

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I heard that when Terminator was to be released in Germany, Arnie wanted to do the dubbing himself. He wasn't allowed to as they'd think he sounded like a farmer.

That story was invented so someone could do a cross-linguistic pun on Arnie's last name.

...Baroness of Schrecklichkeit?...

...Breaker of Schwanstuckers?...

...Boïd of Shark?...

I have no idea where those came from.

By Owlmirror (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I think I have uncovered another clue about the starfart.
I now believe that the starfart was occasioned by chronic, high-grade boredom, the kind of dangerous boredom that results from being simultaneously extremely bored, all the time, and boring.
Really, really boring.
Rockin' the platform, starfart!

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Owlmirror, are you drinking?

By Lynna, OM (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

...Bouncing out Shreck...

...Biter of Steel...

...Bitter or Sweet...

OK, this is just getting silly.

Hm.

...Banana Oval Surreal...

By Owlmirror (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Bride thats Shrekless - Sorry to hear that happened. But sometimes it's for the better. I once had a youthful folly myself.

By Patricia, Quee… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Blind Squirrel - Your link is broken (must be the power of gawd)could you do a new one. That lovely person deserves a slutty posting.

By Patricia, Quee… (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Owlmirror, are you drinking?

Nope. I am capable of being very silly while stone cold sober.

Scary, isn't it?

By Owlmirror (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Better Off Single
Bible Officially Sucks
Bastion of Sass taken
Belle of Snark

By Feynmaniac (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Lynna @664:

I meant to add that to the web page, but had forgotten.

No problem: always honored that you used them. Always feel free to use them - or not - as you please!

and from uncomfortable personal experience I estimate he does have the biggest dick in the universe.

*pictures Smoggy sitting on a chair, and the chair...um...disappearing...*

The one time I don't check...Linky

BS

By Blind Squirrel FCD (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Oh,and don't count on seeing any posts on his blog. I have been posting all along and a grand total of one post has gotten through. Else where Dendy claims he doesn't edit posts except for profanity, but often is delayed in approving them. I believe him because he is a xian.

BS!!

By Blind Squirrel FCD (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I apologise to BoS (whatever she decides those letters will eventually stand for) for being very silly with regards to suggested terms for initialismisation.

I also apologise for making up the word initialismisation.

By Owlmirror (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

Ring-tailed possums, discouraging: I think you need a physical barrier such as hardware cloth or chicken wire to keep them out. Or a real snake.

Oh, my. Professor Master Adjunct Instructor Dendy seems to be developing an unhealthy obsession with Pharngula.

By Sven DiMilo (not verified) on 24 Jan 2010 #permalink

I don't mean to harsh the mellow, everyone, but this thread is taking a nap and you'll have to move on.