Lessons of 4/18/1906 and 9/11/2001

Here's a good piece on the Pulitzers from Rem Rieder at AJR:

http://ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4107

Please don't give up on winning an award, the "P" award. And what you do is not drivel, especially here. It is definitely a learning experience, as well as a community. Good job, we need to say it more often.

As to the potential of natural disasters, and wars, we know that we're only so safe, and no one can guarantee our safety, but God. I do believe that science has enligthten us to the natural disasters, and how they occur and where, yet some folks live in denial and insist on living on the edge. As to wars, and enemies, we know that they exist because, hey, we haven't been so nice to others, and the fact that there are some people in the world that just love to hate.

Nani, the best on your move to Florida, hope everything is as you want it to be. We look forward to hearing from you after you get settled.

In September 2001, my neighborhood was all up in arms about closing the back entrance to the private school that's off one of the local streets. Traffic at the opening and closing of school was bothering the neighbors, so they went to City Council with a proposal to close it permanently. The proposal was defeated, 11-0, and the person who wanted it flipped a bird to the traffic engineers who told him it wouldn't pass. That was the evening of September 10, 2001.

The next morning, the whole espisode just felt so silly and insignificant.

But the main difference between the two events is that, although we can study earthquakes and find out what causes them we can do nothing to stop them.

But if we *really* learned the root causes of terrorists attacking the US and took action to change those causes, rather than just reacting to the attacks, we could dramatically lower our chances of being attacked again.

It would take a long time--generations maybe--and a lot of work, but we could eventually end the terror, or at least slow it down.

Mother Earth plays by the rules though. We might not understand them all but through observation and analysis we can certainly get closer to understanding them. **Broad Generalization Alert** A lot of the "terrorists" we are dealing with today have a set of rules in the form of the Koran (or Quran - I could never figure out when to differentiate) that by it's very nature is open to individual interpretation. When the rules differ from person to person, the world can be a very scary place.

"We discovered we were in the midst of a war with an enemy with whom we were only passingly acquainted."

This is Bush rhetoric. When Bush said, "This is not an act of terrorism; this is an act of war," he was really saying, "You provided the terrorism, we can make it into a war."

The 9/11 attacks were not an act of war. I prefer to say they were criminal acts, because "terrorism" is really created by our reaction, our terror. Since I personally was not terrorized, I consider that my country, in the person of those who were killed, injured, or lost loved ones, was a crime victim. Call it the crime of the century if you want, but it wasn't war until President Bush, with the consent of Congress, turned it into one.

kb, I get your point and pretty much agree with you, but those of us in DC felt like we *were* at war that day. It was really scary. To see smoke in the sky and to be hearing rumors and to wonder if you could drive home safely.

My co-workers and I gathered at my desk listening to the radio and when we heard that the Pentagon had been "hit," my boss said, "Oh my God... we're at war," and it felt true at the moment.

Of course George Bush wasn't here in DC on 9/11. He was down in your parts. He scurried around the country with his head between his legs. So he didn't feel it that day, either.

Big shakeup over at the White House:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2006/04/18/GR2006041800688.html

A lot of California geology still wasn't understood when I was a college student about 1970.

I was living in Portland, Oregon, when the date of the last great Northwest subduction earthquake was fixed at 9 pm, January 26, 1700. Until fairly recently, no one even knew that the coast had earthquakes. To its credit, Portland has worked hard to "earthquake" older public buildings. And the city has enough social cohesion to cope with a disaster.

In Florida, the legislature is wondering whether supermarkets and gas stations should have their own electric generators to cope with power outages. Meanwhile, some people are keeping their hurricane shutters on the windows all year--a practice that caused difficulties for a fire department at an oceanfront condo full of retirees this morning. Fortunately, no serious injuries.

I disagree, k. What is an act of war, if not a crime inflicted on one nation-state by another? And although the Jihadist movement is by no means a recognized nation-state, it has a populous, an economy, an army, and a unifying strategy. To use another example from history, what would you consider the sinking of the Lusitania? Act of war, or crime? In my opinion, "terrorism" speaks more to the motive of the act rather than the effect. That 9/11 did not terrorize you just means that either the attack was not as successful as al-Qaida hoped, or you were not the intended target (in a general sense).

Hmmmm. Going to have to think about this one. My first impression is that arriving at a great leap forward in our understanding of how the Earth operates coming out of 9/11 is not really the same situation as after 1906. My second impression is that the great leap forward involves a commitment to secular democracy, which of course is, at least in theory, the case for Iraq, leaving WMDs aside. Going back to the first impression, the human dynamic makes a big difference (at least the cold cruel cause and effect of plate tectonics can be understood and accepted).

Not to suggest it is an exact parallel at all, but what were the root causes of the conquistadors, and even if the Inca could have learned them, what could they have done about it? What if the root cause is 1/3 poverty, 1/3 perceived historical injustices, and 1/3 racism against non-muslims?

Also, didn't someone already try a Great Leap Forward? We may need a different slogan.

It's been my observation that human beings, when not suffering from conditions beyond their control, will somehow create misery for themselves through their own free will. Which reminds me, it's Tuesday, my day to worry about earthquakes and feel sorry for myself. Tomorrow, I'm going to donate my blood. Maybe I'll be able to save someones life.

This is a cool link:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/faultline/public.html

I especially like the Jello-shaking reinactment of an earthquaked city!

http://quake.usgs.gov/research/seismology/wg99/

(USGS predicts earthquake some time between 2003 and 2032, based on historical data. We're only 3 years into this time frame...)

"The results of this study are appropriate for use in estimating seismic hazard in the SFBR, and estimating the intensity of ground shaking expected for specified "scenario" earthquakes. In addition, they provide a basis for calculating earthquake insurance premiums, planning and prioritizing expenditures for seismic upgrades of structures, and developing building codes."

http://www.disastercenter.com/build/seismic.htm

What amazed me is how many will rebuild in exactly the same disaster-prone location, the same flood-plain, the same faultline, the same hurricane track or tornado alley, and FEMA and US Army Corp of Engineers will allow it even though the insurance to protect the homes is no longer available due to risk.

It's just flat-out ridiculous.

This is a cool link:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/faultline/public.html

I especially like the Jello-shaking reinactment of an earthquaked city!

http://quake.usgs.gov/research/seismology/wg99/

(USGS predicts earthquake some time between 2003 and 2032, based on historical data. We're only 3 years into this time frame...)

"The results of this study are appropriate for use in estimating seismic hazard in the SFBR, and estimating the intensity of ground shaking expected for specified “scenario” earthquakes. In addition, they provide a basis for calculating earthquake insurance premiums, planning and prioritizing expenditures for seismic upgrades of structures, and developing building codes."

What amazed me is how many will rebuild in exactly the same disaster-prone location, the same flood-plain, the same faultline, the same hurricane track or tornado alley, and FEMA and US Army Corp of Engineers will allow it even though the insurance to protect the homes is no longer available due to risk.

It's just flat-out ridiculous.

Is there some sort of Boodle Convention that we're supposed to be attending right now? Where IS everybody? I can see the headline now:

World Production Rates Up; Scientists At a Loss to Explain Why

Everyone's just bummed out. 9/11 isn't as much fun to discuss as pasties.

We should not forget that the worst recorded earthquake in the US was the New Madrid temblor in the Mississippi valley, ca. 1820. And while the North American plate is mostly grinding against the Pacific plate, the Atlantic side is also shifting as well, and we've had some minor quakes right here in our back yard in the past few years. Yes, it's more likely that the "big one" will hit California, but don't be shocked if one occurs right here in River City.

TBG, probably everyone's out shopping for legumes.

San Francisco in Jello is pretty cool, amo. I wonder if posters are available? I didn't see anything about that at the Exploratorium site or the artist's site, but I didn't look all that closely.

Maybe for Sara and jw's achenshower I should submit all my most loved legume recipes? I may have to think on that.

...and in penitence for my overly earnest comment earlier, in which I was shocked to find my self in mild disagreement with you know who (NO!)

...I do have a pasties story.

I was raised kind of sheltered, small town, Sunday School every week. I wasn't allowed to watch the Three Stooges because that was "too violent" or Psycho, likewise, or "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" because it wasn't appropriate for children, and so on.

When I was 13, my dad had a work assignment in New Orleans and the family went there for a 4-day weekend, you know, to visit the battleground where the Battle of New Orleans was fought and other similar educational outings.

Well, just about the ONLY thing I remember about that trip to New Orleans is walking down the street in the French Quarter, looking in doorways and seeing what those women could do with tassles. Cirque du Soleil has nothin' on them! So much for my sheltered childhood!

"...looking in doorways and seeing what those women could do with tassles."

And I can't even pat my head and rub my belly.

Hey buddy kb...

Now combine the image of a jello San Francisco with the women in New Orleans and you've got a picture of what I'd look like swinging those pasties right now!

THAT should wake everyone up!

(And get them crawling back into their respective holes, covering their eyes and trying to forget the image that's now been seared into their heads.)

I can't believe I actually hit "Submit."

ebtnut, thanks for the River City reference The only thing not packed is my tv and tapes. Soon as I get home, in goes THE MUSIC MAN!

.....................
And all week long, your River City youth'll be fritterin' away
I say, your young men'll be fritterin'
Fritterin' away their noontime, suppertime, choretime, too
Hit the ball in the pocket
Never mind gettin' dandelions pulled or the screen door patched
or the beefsteak pounded
Never mind pumpin' any water 'til your parents are caught
with a cistern empty on a Saturday night and that's trouble
Oh, ya got lots and lots o' trouble
I'm thinkin' of the kids in the knickerbockers shirttails,
young ones peekin' in the pool hall window after school
Ya got trouble, folks, right here in River City
with a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'P' and that stands for 'pool'

Now I know all you folks are the right kind of parents
I'm gonna be perfectly frank
Would you like to know what kind of conversation goes on
while they're loafin' around that hall
They'll be tryin' out Bevo, tryin' out Cubebs,
tryin' out tailor-mades like cigarette fiends
And braggin' all about how they're gonna cover up
a tell-tale breath with Sen-Sen
Now one fine night they leave the pool hall
headin' for the dance at the Armory
Libertine men and scarlet women and ragtime
Shameless music that'll grab your son, your daughter
into the arms of a jungle animal instinct- massteria!
Friends, the idle brain is the devil's playground, trouble!

Oh, we got trouble
Right here in River City
Right here in River City
With a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'P' and that stands for 'pool'
That stands for pool
We surely got trouble
We surely got trouble
Right here in River City
Right here

Gotta figure out a way to keep the young ones
moral after school

Spoken:
Mothers of River City,
heed this warning before it's too late
Watch for the tell-tale signs of corruption
The minute your son leaves the house
does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee?
Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger?
A dime novel hidden in the corncrib?
Is he starting to memorize jokes
from Cap'n Billy's Whizbang?
Are certain words creeping into his conversation?
Words like... swell?
And... 'so's your old man'?
Well if so, my friends...

Ya got trouble
Oh, we got trouble
Right here in River City
Right here in River City
With a capital 'T' and that rhymes with 'P' and that stands for 'pool'
That stands for pool
We've surely got trouble
We surely got trouble
Right here in River City
Right here

Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock and the Golden Rule?
Oho, we got trouble
We're in terrible, terrible trouble
That game with the fifteen numbered balls is the devil's tool
Devil's tool
Yes, we've got trouble, trouble, trouble
Oh, yes, we got trouble here, we got big, big trouble
With a 'T'

With a capital 'T'
And that rhymes with 'P'
That rhymes with 'P'
And that stands for pool
That stands for pool

Remember my friends, listen to me,
because I pass this way but once

I leave the boodle for a couple of minutes and kbertocci and TBG start...I not sure what you've started but you have me laughing. I'm not sure the picture will ever leave my mind, TBG.

Where is that Curmudgeon when you need him? Science Tim, save us. Joel? Help.

TBG: HAHAHAHAHA!

TBG: And thank you for submitting.

I will not submit. I will not be bent, folded, spindled, or filed. I am not a number, I am a free person.

Oh, wait, we're talking about something else.

I briefly skimmed the pasty boodle, misread and pictured women twirling eclairs and bearclaws. Ooh, almond bearclaws. Wasn't there a famous exotic dancer, Sally Rand, whose only "cover" was giant bubbles? (I'm hesitant to google Sally Rand because you never know what might come up on the screen).

Had a *&%$#@&^%$# two-hour meeting this morning, then had to play some catch-up. Am working on my (admittedly rather long) memoir of how naval signal flags were invented. Patience, my children; I suspect it may be worth the wait.

And I thought briefly about posting about 9/11 and earthquakes, but then said, naahhhh. Whoever said it was a downer was correct.

Nani, Sally Rand is correct. And she (an actress playing her, anyway) makes a brief appearance at the end of "The Right Stuff," if you can believe it.

All downers from here on. All downers all the time. Get used to it.

THIS IS NOW A LEVITY-FREE BLOG.

How about people's thoughts on the "demonstration" by gay parents at the Easter Egg Roll? I think it was pretty much the most masterful politcal statement I have seen. Gay parents showing that they are just normal families by...being normal families. No signs, no chanting, no inappropriate demonstrations, and no politicizing the event. Instead, those that opposed them we left looking foolish or worse, emabarrassing parents and corrupting the innocence of children that they claim to protect. Bravo.

Mudge, you a navy man? I'm halfway through Caroline Alexander's True Story of the Bounty and it is so fascinating. Man, naval life was hard back then. It's unbelievable that Bligh and 17 of 18 men survived the seas and the elements in that open boat for more than 1000 miles to land! I'm just now getting into the court martial. Bligh's logs (he kept 2, one official and one personal) both spoke favorably of Fletcher Christian.

I've tried twice to chime in, but my computer blows up when I hit Submit. Is Hal the Schemer off daydreaming about TBG, or what?

All I wanted to do was kvetch that Nani put a tune cootie in my head, and now I've got trouble in River City ........

So, 'Mudge is a naval historian, too. What a guy. Can't wait to meet him at the next BPH. I couldn't make the last one. It was Cub Scout pack meeting night, and I tried to demonstrate my homemade corona wire lifter device. THAT was a disaster. All it did was throw a huge spark, and then just sat there. Good thing I had other stuff for them to do.

Any of you science guys ever get one of those gizmoes to fly? If I ever get it to work, I'm going to brag all over the place here. 'til then, however, I'm not standing very tall about that.

Sorry for my duplicate post. Lately, WaPo has been holding my posts for review. I guess I'm one the usual suspects or something.

Yeah, the earthquake & 9/11 stuff tends to knock the spring out of one's step, which is why I was happy to contribute the SanFran 'city of jello' link.

If we can't have levity, can we have leavening? Or will this be an all matzoh, all the time blog now, too?

http://www.lizhickok.com/assets/portfolio/pages/01city.html

That's a picture. I don't know if posters are available. I couldn't find a link but it would be neat, wouldn't it?

Nani, I really liked that book when I read it. Caroline Alexander really has a wonderful way of taking her exhaustive primary source research and making it come alive. If you like "Bounty", you should check out her other book, "The Endurance" about Shackelton's voyage. It's filled with amzing photographs taken by the expedition's Aussie photographer, Frank Hurley. It's really an amazing story about how those photographs survived. The Endurance was finally sinking after being stuck in the ice for an entire winter, and Hurley actually dove into the freezing water repeatedly to retrive the sealed canisters that held his photographic plates. Imagine swimming through a sinking ship in ice-cold water for some photographs! They are spectacular though.

Give me levity or give me death!

Wait! Wait! I didn't mean that. Give me levity or give me, um, legumes.

Amo - on the power issue from the previous kit ...

They also had four plants go down for unknown reasons, at about 4:05 p.m., just as the grid operators thought they had things under control.

jw, your comment says it perfectly and I agree wholeheartedly!

Mudge - In your writings on the subject of Naval flags, do feel free to incorporate the crack flag-related research that I shared in the previous 'Boodle.

Anyone interested in prints of the jello city can contact the artist:

http://www.lizhickok.com/contact.html

liz@lizhickok.com

So, an astrobiologist, a geologist, and a fanatical spit-flying fundamentalist terrorist (your choice of denomination) walk into this bar.

The astrobiologist calls over the barkeep. "I'd like to order a glass of pure, still water, filtered by the clay of the Earth, rich with dissolved minerals, ripe with the potential to inititate and to sustain new life. With a twist."

The geologist goes next. "I'd like a dark brown ale, thank you, unfiltered, its fluid chemistry formed by natural biological processes, the bottom of the bottle coated in thick layers of immiscible sediments, preserving a record of all that has passed before, recording the history of that bottle from the time it first experienced the touch of wort to the moment that I excavate it."

Finally, it's the fanatical spit-flying fundamentalist terrorist's turn. "Death to the unbeliever!" he cries.

The bartender brings the water. He brings the ale. He brings a tray of Shirley Temples to a group of bikers and tells them that the terrorist paid for them. The biggest biker comes over to the table and shows one of his tattoos. It says, "But first: roo-roo!"

He's right. It is levity-free.

I was going to wait until the resignations started before considering writing some Faux Lettres. TBG's link beat me to it.

On the other hand, after posting that blog item last night (SciTim, you did see that, didn't you?), I've been Too Busy To Boodle.

TBG, I swear you're going to ruin me. But in a good way. Next thing you know, someone (not me!) will suggest a "Boodlers Gone Wild" video. I'm sure there'll be room on there for Mudge and His Amazing Cummerbuns and me and my leopard-print fruit basket.

That "picture" of counterrotating props, er, tassles, on NO wimmen in SF during a big quake reminds me of a bit on the old "Dana Carvey Show" involving jello and Wild Kingdom outtakes. Funny stuff.

Geez, I think I do need those smelling salts.

For those that didn't hear NPR this AM, there was a good piece on the Great Quake.
http://www.npr.org
The descriptions of marble headstones snapping was rather vivid to me.

bc

Dammit, another SCC:
"Cummerbund".

bc

Nice try, Achenbach. The mob has spoken and levity carries the day.

Inspired by the Music Man was one of the best Simpsons episodes ever - Monorail.

Lyle Lanley: Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
Like a genuine,
Bona fide,
Electrified,
Six-car
Monorail!
What'd I say?
Ned Flanders: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
Patty+Selma: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: That's right! Monorail!
[crowd chants `Monorail' softly and rhythmically]
Miss Hoover: I hear those things are awfully loud...
Lyle Lanley: It glides as softly as a cloud.
Apu: Is there a chance the track could bend?
Lyle Lanley: Not on your life, my Hindu friend.
Barney: What about us brain-dead slobs?
Lyle Lanley: You'll be given cushy jobs.
Abe: Were you sent here by the devil?
Lyle Lanley: No, good sir, I'm on the level.
Wiggum: The ring came off my pudding can.
Lyle Lanley: Take my pen knife, my good man.
I swear it's Springfield's only choice...
Throw up your hands and raise your voice!
All: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: What's it called?
All: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley: Once again...
All: Monorail!
Marge: But Main Street's still all cracked and broken...
Bart: Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken!
All: Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!
[big finish]
Monorail!
Homer: Mono... D'oh!

Bayou,

I wasn't sure if you'd seen my post on the last kit or not; people seemed to have moved on from the subject (or maybe I was a boodle-killer without malice aforethought) so I didn't bring it over.

Is that local Texas news reporting it, or is it on AP Wire? I looked but couldn't find it...

I missed the Easter Egg boodle, but when my kid was just under the legal age, we got up early and barely made the cut for the Easter Egg roll. Only a few select kids actually get to do the roll, but there are a lot of other activities.

The Easter Egg hunting area is continuously refreshed with new eggs so that everyone can be a winner. The eggs are pastel painted wooden "eggs" with a flat end for standing and the White House logo stamped on it. My son also found one of the very rare eggs that was "signed" by Socks the Cat instead of having a WH logo. We still have both of those eggs on display.

Based on the general mayhem and random organization of the participants at the Egg Roll we went to, I don't think anyone would have noticed there were same couple parents in the crowd if they didn't make a point of publicizing it and drawing attention to themselves.

It would be a shame to disrupt a general good time for very small children to make a political point, even if it is very valid. The WaPo write-up was in the Metro Section and seemd to have a hard time wringing any real news out of the event.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/17/AR2006041701042.html

The Devil's Advocate question is: Are these same-sex couple parents any more or less manipulative than pro-lifers that bring their very small children to anti-abortion protests?

Just asking.

Here is some levity. Er, levitation, anyway:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifter_(ionic_propulsion_device)

I've sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and by gum, it put them on the map!

I'd have to say that the same-sex couples at the egg-roll is not at all the same as bringing small children to an anti-abortion protest. All they did was participate, in a normal fashion, in a public accommodation. The act of ordinary, unexceptional participation was the political statement. Similar to women, having been granted the right to vote, publicly exercising that vote. Or African Americans exercising the right to sit at a public lunch counter. Their choice of symbolism was understated and recognizable only to those who wanted to know and to make it an issue. To a disinterested party, there was nothing exceptional going on, which is the way it should be.

The point of the article, what made it news, was to report on those who chose to overtly protest. They were given the fair and respectfully-reported opportunity to say their piece in their own way and, in the process, to look like crazy-eyed loons.

jw, I meant your post about the gay family celebrating Easter, just a normal family doing normal family stuff. Speaks louder than a thousand words. Haha CowTown, you're so funny! Bye for now. Have fun at the jw/Sara All Star Big Time Deluxe Faboo Achenboodleweddingshower!

My dad went to the WH easter-egg roll when he was a little boy. You know, back when men were men and toddler boys were dressed like girls.

You know how a dog shakes off water when he gets out of the river? That image always comes to mind whenever I hear of an earthquake. Maybe Mother Earth has had enough of our shenanigans.

bc, thanks for that NPR link. Here's the link to bc's funny blog item that he posted last night:

http://www.10thcircle.com/10/?cat=4

ebtnut, I think the magnitude of the New Madrid quake remains somewhat up in the air, as they didn't have seismometers back then. A geologist told me that perhaps the ground shaking was amplified in certain places because so many people lived on river muck in the river valleys. On the other hand, supposedly it rang church bells as far away as Charleston, S.C.

So I dunno.

SonofCarl - I can hear Phil Hartman's voice.

Amo - That reporting comes from the Houston Chronicle, a publication that is highly rated in terms of its Internet stuff, but Pulitzerless for more than a century.

Aw Joel, you're makin' me blush.

Here's a better link to the cool Quake stuff at NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5337518

Tim, I heard that joke a little differently. Actually, in a manner that's not really suitable for the Boodle. Still a funny joke though.

bc

I sincerely agree with you Tim. I was just throwing the question out. When I went, there were a lot of Dads that decided they need to spend more time at the driving range or stragerizing lawn maintenance practices that day rather than go to something involving lots of pastel clothes. Especially since the Egg Roll is on a nomitive work-day, the absence of males in a family at the Egg Roll is not unexceptional. There are plenty of older siblings, grandparents, and non-traditional care-givers in the mix, I'm sure.

I guarantee that if there were 16,000 families in attendance way more than 200 had gay or lesbian members.

And thanks, Joel.

If my book or screenplay ever get picked up, you're goin' in the "Thank you" page/frame.

bc

Bayou,

Got it. Found it at a Dallas/Ft Worth news site, but not much detail.

Here's ERCOT's website for grid info:

http://www.ercot.com/gridinfo/index.html

Here's what USGS has to say on the New Madrid series of quakes:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/events/1811-1812.php#february_7

SCC: "strategerize"

So many words have been written in the last few years about "what is a planet?", and related things, that I'd rather not contribute too much more. The crude working definition is that it's something big enough to overcome the strength of its materials and become spherical. Not a great definition, however: some things are made out really strong materials (nickel-iron asteroids), others are made out of dustbunnies (cometary nucleus rubble-piles of fractal ice crystals). And there has to be some level at which you decide "Okay, that's big enough; smaller than that, it's just vermin of the skies. Bigger than that, it's a planet." I'm not prepared even to suggest where the dividing line should be drawn.

More problems! If you're going to use a strength-vs.-gravity definition, then identifications at the small end require you to be able to peer at it pretty closely. But peering at it closely is hardest to do with the littlest things.

Moons! What the heck is a moon, exactly? Are the individual bits in Saturn's rings each individual moon? Aaaaggghhh!

ebtnut, just so you know, the New Madrid earthquake was been discussed here before. No discussion of the New Madrid earthquake is complete without referring to Curmudgeon's post of March 24, 12:45 a.m. (my own post regarding this earthquake was on March 23, 2:59 p.m.).

From the article linked by yellojkt:
"One of the demonstrators, Ruben Israel, 43, said he had flown from Los Angeles for the event. He wore a tool belt holding a well-worn Bible and two small extension cords. He took out the cords and poked the two pronged ends together.

"See, it doesn't work. Two men don't make a baby," he said to the sopping wet passersby who would listen."

Extension cords? Didn't this guy have a Father-Son talk at some time in his life?

"You know, Son, you're old enough now to know a bit about the facts of life. See this here extension cord? Well..."

Here is the key passage from the USGS site (and no, I don't know what most of these words mean):

"The magnitude of these series of earthquakes, usually named the New Madrid, Missouri, earthquakes, vary [sic?] considerably between the mb and Ms values estimated by Nuttli. The mb was estimated from isoseismal maps, and the MS was estimated from a spectral scaling relation by Nuttli for mid-plate earthquakes. The value of MS magnitude has a functional relationship to the mb. The authors have chosen to include the Mfa magnitude because it was estimated from isoseismal maps, as were most of the historical earthquakes."

The point is, the quakes weren't directly measured with any scientific instruments. These are estimates made nearly two centuries after the fact.

Harumph.

3 Million Year Old Ice Cube?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/04/18/old.ice.reut/index.html

May give us insight on climate change...Have to leave my gummint job. See you peeps in the ay-em!

Sometimes I think humanity is in a race with the natural world. I like to think that, given enough time, we can figure this place out. We can learn to minimize the effects of earthquakes, super-volcanoes, and asteroids. We can figure out how to deal with pandemic disease, global warming, and crabgrass. I just hope Mother Nature gives us the time. She can be testy. We better work fast.

Earth: "Pluto's not a planet, it's an Oort cloud object"
Pluto: "Am too"
Earth: "Are not!"
Pluto: "Am too"
God: "All right! That's it! From now on, none of you are planets. And nobody touch anybody!"

yellojkt, I think I liked it the original way better.

ScienceTim writes: "The crude working definition is that it's something big enough to overcome the strength of its materials and become spherical."

Like, Britney Spears?

bc

bc, *SNORT*!

"The authors have chosen to include the Mfa magnitude"; I can't get out of my head that Mfa is an abbreviation for a word commonly found in rap music.

Ha. That's quite a passage from the USGS.

"Hey, it's an educated guess, all right?"

SonofCarl, that puts a whole new spin on the term "bad touch".

bc

bc... SNORT! love the Britney Spears analogy. That's almost as good as Mudge and His Amazing Cummerbuns.

And, by the way, Amazing Cummerbuns is available as a boodle handle, I think

OK, enought snorting around here. It's getting messy.

Charleston had a nasty one in 1886. The city's location on squishy ground enhanced the damage. Of course the low, squishy site also contributed to hurricane damage. At least there's no volcano in the vicinity.

bc, in the LiveScience blog that you linked, I think Rob Britt was being harsh about planetary nomenclature because he thought the medium demanded it. I think he was off-base. He certainly was being arogant. It was especially funny, since he's supposed to be a moderately objective journalist, and he was stating a strong opinion on a value-judgment in an area that is central to his reporting beat. Naughty, naughty.

The fact is, culture *always* has the last word on the definition of every word. If you define a word, and you get ignored, it doesn't matter what you said or how "right" you may be. I've heard scientists (not many) make the same claim that Britt does, that "science will decide what the words mean, based on empirical data, and that's that." Horse-hockey. A word means what people use it to mean. Show me the empirical data distinguishing a fork from a spork from a grapefruti spoon. Show me the scientific definition of "race". Go ahead. I dare ya.

Science is simply another piece of human culture. Science can hone a definition, but it can only create definitions for words that didn't exist before, and they stick around only if they're useful. Try to discuss quaternions sometime, or phlogiston, or N-rays. We've become arrogant in the flow of new discoveries. We've forgotten how to work with the fundamentals that anybody can see.

If you try to inflict an incovenient definition on the culture, the culture will simply ignore you. I defined a term in a scientific paper 15 years ago in a particular way, for very sensible reasons, which I explained. The culture of my fellow scientists shrugged off the nitpicking aspect of it that was my particular contribution, because it was inconvenient and picky and didn't really contribute to fundamental understanding; it made sense, but there were other ways that were easier to absorb. It was a rookie mistake. As a result, hardly anybody uses my definition of the term. Heck, the next time I write on the subject, I'll be ignoring my own definition of it and I'll use the de facto definition created by the way that it has come to be commonly used.

BOO: I meant the 5:04 PM comment. With the "bad touch" and all.

Oh, never mind.

On a good note, I'm goin' to meet some Dad friends o'mine at a resturant where we're going to eat dead animal flesh (preferably medium rare), consume fermented beverages, and compare manlinessesses.

I mean, tools and topiary and all.

Akk. Never mind.

bc

Tim, kind of like the way American Idol is redefining the word "talent."

People always argue about what words really mean. If I say I'm nauseous, does that still mean I'm going to make YOU throw up? Not anymore. It's meaning has evolved in a short time. Just because it has evolved, doesn't necessarily make it wrong. I know, word sticklers will hate this (I used to be one of those), but it's the way it is.

Words mean what they mean. Wow... that's heavy.

bc, I hope the talk turns to jello and pasties. And I mean that in a good way.

Have fun!

TBG

You're right, TBG.

"Cummerbuns" it is.
Can't wait 'till Mudge reads that.

SciTim, of course I think you're right.
People are people, after all.

bc

Good afternoon, ladies and quaternions! I just flew in from Phlogiston, and my N-rays are killing me. You're right. Just doesn't work.

Sorry. Too much Easter candy around.

bc, you've already seen my cummerbunD. My cummerbuns? Never!

TBG, I promise to bring up pasties, jello, earthquakes, heavenly bodies and Cummerbuns.

bc

Eat your heart out.

Q. How many legs does a dog have if you call a tail a leg?

A. Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one.

Same goes for planets.

tim - i didn't get that joke - maybe i need to hear bc's ending...

to be a downer for a min - kb, i agree with tbg - i was in dc when the pentagon was hit and could see the smoke from where i live... it felt like we were at war! and i had some very fond memories of the wtc from when i was in college (romantic dinner at the windows of the world with my boyfriend - i worked down in the financial center so the wtc was my subway stop) so i was CRUSHED when the towers collapsed...

but hey - someone pass me a peep and some pasties!

MAJOR SCC - and bad word choice! please remove crushed from my previous post - i was... devastated... that's better!

One thought about the relationship between 9/11/2001 and 4/18/1906. One of the tragedies of 9/11 is the huge amount of resources diverted away from preparing for a repeat of 4/18. Spending for National Security at the expense of science is like eating your seed corn.

Too tired to be funny. 4 hour meeting. Metric used many times. Umbrage not once.

Joke explanation: It's meta-humor. It helps if you know the roo-roo joke, discussed in Weingarten's chat several times. However, the joke doesn't make any sense.

See, the joke is in the NEXT post, from me.

Alternate version: "No soap, radio!"

I don't think that "devastated" is any less startling than "crushed." That's okay; startling is what it was.

We were all aware of global terrorism well before 9/11. To argue otherwise is disingenous, especially from a newspaper reporter. If no Americans had been attacked anywhere for political reasons, not even in the US, before 9/11, I might agree. That's hardly the case.

It simply was the first time that terrorists had flown airliners into office buildings in the United States. It wasn't even the first time that the WTC had been attacked by terrorists, or that an office building had been attacked by terrorists.

...bin Laden had been on the run for years before 9/11, for attacks against Americans overseas. Al Queida was well known, especially after the USS Cole bombing.

This all just goes to show that even the liberal media can learn propaganda lessons from the conservative administration. And it goes to show why propaganda is so effective...when we have to spend 5 minutes reminding you of the truth which you have chosen to forget.

Nani/Don: yes, I come from a long line of Navy/nautical people. Those in the Navy: my father (WWII, was chief quartermaster aboard a subchaser in the S. Pacific that sank Japanese sub I-26 near Wotje); my father-in-law (gunnery lt. aboard battleship Tennessee), an uncle who was an electrician in the Navy in the 1950s, two of my three cousins, who were enlisted in Naval Aviation flying aboard P-2 Neptune subhunters in the early 1960s, and our oldest son, who did four years and was the guy who drew the stuff on the big plexiglass situation aboard in the combat information center (CIC) aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Vancouver in 1991 when the Marines landed during Desert Storm. Another uncle, my great-grandfather and I were all Merchant Marine. Gr-GF drowned in the collision of the Saginaw in dense fog off Norfolk in 1901. Uncle Pete (TBG, he was a Greek-American) was merchant seaman in North Atlantic during WWII, was twice torpedoed and rescued. I was in the engine room crew (called "the black gang"--don't blame me, that was what they were/are called) of a tanker in late 1960s. (I was doing my Jack London thing.)

cc, it's not disingenuous, it's talking about how people feel, compared to what they intellectually know. Before 1906, it was known that California had earthquakes, and that earthquakes could be bad. What that really means does not come home until you have a shocking event. JA is not reporting on a literal truth, he is describing a metaphoric truth about perception. There is no literal truth to a similarity between an earthquake and a terrorist assault, except that both cause damage. The metaphoric truth is about the change in your perception of confidence that you understand the world, and how to accommodate it. In both cases, the point is that we were made abundantly aware that that confidence was misplaced.

And lest we forget, the largest earthquake from the land that time forgot:
"The Alaskan earthquake occurred on Good Friday, March 27, 1964, at 5:36 PM local time. It was the largest earthquake ever recorded in North America.
Duration estimates range from 3 to 5 minutes.
Sources vary as to the magnitude of this earthquake, in part because a variety of scales are used to measure earthquakes. Bruce Bolt lists it as 8.6 Ms, where Ms is the surface-wave magnitude. The USGS gives it a 9.2 Mw, where Mw is the moment magnitude." http://www.vibrationdata.com/earthquakes/alaska.htm
If the shaking wasn't bad enough, the tsunami was the frosting on the cake. Who can tell what will happen the next time, what with all the new development up here and along the pacific coasts?

farnorth, that is something we all should think about. We build in places where homesand industry can fall off cliffs, and be swept out to sea. We build on faultlines all over the place and we keep on doing it. What we do for a view might kill us.

Stocking up on legumes is always a good plan.

proving once again our wisdom, dr, for living on the prairies, where earthquakes cause us to fall over and no more, and we can watch our dogs run away from home for three days.

It's a beautiful sunny day in San Francisco today (one of the first after a loooong and tedious rainy spell), the perfect sort of day to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Great Quake.

About a dozen survivors ranging in age from 99 to 109 were escorted to Lotta's Fountain in downtown San Francisco in the wee hours this morning and seem to have a grand old time. (The 99-year-old claims survivor status by virtue of having been conceived in Golden Gate Park days after the earthquake. This seems questionable, but who am I to deprive a 99-year-old of the chance to be feted and fawned over?)

I like the idea in the Kit that the U.S. should draw lessons from 1906 rather than 9/11, but based on the endless TV news documentaries about the 1906 earthquake and fire airing in the Bay Area, there was a similar mix of incompetence and heroism during both disasters. For example, blocks and blocks of houses were blasted away with dynamite by the U.S. Army in an attempt to create firebreaks and control the raging fires. Problem was, the dynamiting was done ineptly and created even more problems. Similarly, the then-mayor and Board of Supervisors ignored the fire chief's pre-quake pleas for cisterns and fireboats that were deemed "too expensive" despite the fact that the city had burned like kindling at least five or six times in the preceding fifty years (and was rebuilt with wood every time). This smacks more of Katrina than 9/11, unless you count having to take your shoes off at the airport as a 9/11 idiocy.

The good things that came from the 1906 quake, such as the science of plate tectonics and the massive outpouring of support for the survivors immediately afterward, are the type of things that come when good people try to make the world a better place rather than bombing it to smithereens.

We maybe in denial about earthquakes, but the weather makes it worthwhile. (Plus, the big quake *might* happen in the next 25 years, or in the next 200. I can live with those odds.) What scares the bejeebers out of me is the thought of being in a mobile home in a tornado!

Last thought before I retreat to the bunny-room to read Ferris’s “Seeing in the Dark.” Are we safer now than after 9/11? Good question. How does a nation quantify freedom from terror? During the Cold War one could point to throw-weight and run wargames and the like. Today, the only accepted criterion seems to be money spent. Unfortunately, this has a nasty implication for certain categories of government spending. If you don’t spend the money allotted to you that means you are not making America as safe as you could. Unspent money is viewed like unused bullets in a firefight. And the notion that the best thing you could do for our country is return some funds to the Treasury to pay off the national debt is not well received.
Lord knows I’ve tried.

This site has been around for a while, but I just saw it today. This is clearly important scientific research and it needs to be supported. ScienceTim, surely our vast government or private firms can come up with a 100 bucks or so to continue this essential effort. These guys need our help. (Since Easter was last weekend, we can get a better price on research subjects and make the experiments that much more cost-efficient.)

http://www.peepresearch.org/solubility.html

Thanks for all the chuckles, folks. Lurking...pass on right by. Nothing here to see today, folks.

Tim, I liked the esoteric science roo-roo joke. I guess bikers read Weingarten too. (Do they heart him?). Everybody else who wrote anything they thought was funny (songs, quaking jokes, porn)... yep, funny, pat yourself on the backs. Carry on.

I've been posting things I've thought were mildly amusing for the past year.
On reflection, I've probably been living in Lake Wobegon.

[Bah. Nobody was interested in the Lake Wobegon effect the first time I mentioned it. (See what I mean?)]

Boodleaire, thanks for that great little account of the day in San Francisco! t's nice to have stringers all over the place.

We have certain locales well covered (San Antonio, Siam, Hong Kong, South Florida, etc. -- hey, what happened to the Cedar Key correspondent??), but it would be neat if we could see more eyewitness reports from around the country, around the world, and, via ScienceTim perhaps, around the solar system.

Mark my words: Some day this blog will go galactic.

Dreamer, this is just for you:

I used to think that Lake Wobegon line about how all the kids are above average was a joke, and on one level, it is. But it is also a challenge to our perception, like your "What the Bleep" movie. Puzzle: how can all the kids be above average? Solution: They can, if you widen your frame of reference. The Lake W kids can all be above average in the context of the state of Minnesota, or the USA. It's a kind of a mind-expansion exercise. And also a joke, and that's the best kind.

kbertocci, that reminds me of the TA who taught my Calculus class in college and said to us: "You must ALL be below average, because you ALL got a D on this test."

Yeah, right. WE were below average.

also... Boodleaire is a great handle.

okay, and jw's comment way earlier about the gay parents at the Easter event reminded me of an old Dave Barry column about the speed limit. You know Dave is quite the subversive--he doesn't preach what he really believes very often. But the speed limit is the kind of thing that really gets him going. He did a humorous column about how the police know what the REAL speed limit is, but they won't tell us. That was funny. But then, somehow (and now I might be attributing something to that column that I saw somewhere else) the idea was broached that there's something wrong with a law if all you have to do to protest it is to obey it in en masse. That if we all were to drive 55 mph one day it would cause massive gridlock on the interstate.

That may seem like it has nothing to do with gay parents at the Easter egg hunt, but in my mind, at least, there's a connection.

And, speaking of gay rights, in the one step forward, two steps back department, this is from the City Link newspaper, a free paper published by the Sun Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale):

===========
The University of Florida introduced a health-care plan that requires university employees to sign a pledge that they're having sex with their domestic partner in order for the partner to qualify for benefits.

The partners of homosexual and heterosxual employees are eligible for coverage under the plan. In addition to declaring joint financial obligations, prospective enrollees must "have been in a nonplatonic relationship for the preceding 12 months," according to the affidavit. The university said that married employees are not required to have sex for their partners to qualify for benefits.

kbert: Actually, all of us driving 55 mph would have very little effect on interstate congestion all by itself. A case can be made that the somewhat lowered carrying capacity of the interstates WOULD lead to some (possibly significant) increase in surface street congestion.

The only significant factor in limited-access highway congestion is following distance. As average following distance drops below a certain distance (the specific distance depends on the average speed), it becomes pedictably certain that traffic jams will occur.

There's some great stuff on this at a couple of websites that I checked out a few years ago while writing a couple of pieces on mathematical modelling. If I can dig it up, I'll post a link or two.

I feel a little woozy... props from Kitmaster Achenbach AND on my handle, all in one day! Whew. I'd better lie down for a bit and conduct some research on the solubility of Peeps in stomach acid.

In all this discussion of 1906 and earthquakes, NO ONE has yet to raise the right questions, nor even discuss them. The question isn't are the buildings now strong enough, is anything built on the fault, etc. The question isn't even IF there will be another earthquake somewhere in California, but when--even that much is acknowledged.

No the real (series of) questions are these:

Assume there will be a major quake within the next six months. Assume a relatively "low" casualty figure of "only 3-4,000 dead and 12-15,000 injured.

Here we go:

Is there enough emergency rescue, medicval and hospital facilities (people, buildings, meds, etc.--the whole shebang that can operate WITHOUT electricity or water for, say, two weeks?

Is there enough police and National Guard to maintain civil order ON A MOMENTS NOTICE (and not three freakin' days later), and on a sustained basis (say for a month)?

Assume 100,000 homeless. Is there food, water, and shelter available NOW?

Is there even a freakin' PLAN?

I submit the answer to all these is "No."

And that's what's criminal.

Thanks for the props, kbertocci.
I was starting to think my Lake Wobegon comment had gone down like a Boodleleadballoon.

Mudge, don't be silly! There's a plan:

As soon as the Big One hits, fly to Arizona to attend a GOP fundraiser, fly back to Texas to clear some brush at the ranch, eventually fly back to Washington and watch a DVD about the Big One.

Mudge, there is always a plan. The problem is that earthquakes seldom go according to plan.

Besides, it was my understanding that the SF earthquake was caused by wanton wickedness, and I'm pretty sure that has been, like, totally stomped out.

BTW - on page 191 of Timothy Ferris's book "Seeing in the Dark" he mentions padouk. I'm taking this as a sign.

I want levity tomorrow. Levity and references to scandalous undergarments. For without these things the terrorists will surely have won

*smacks forehead* TBG, I hadn't thought of it that way. But of course you're right. But how will they handle the problem of a GOP governator? Will they blame Ahnold for being unprepared, or will Ahnold blame Geogre?

Also regarding funding for the Peeps research. Please send me a totally unsolicited white paper. I'll try to gin up a SOW and a SSJ in time for the CT-Sup money. Unless you think it is more a CP app.

I hate this part of my job....

Ah, padouk, your every wish just might be granted. My missive on the history of naval signal flags is just about finished, and I believe there may be some levity in it. (I *know* for a fact scandalous undergarments are mentioned.)

What really had my blood boiling (and shoe poised to throw at the TV set) was an investigative reporting piece on tonight's news where the chief of San Francisco's Office of Emergency Services, Annemarie Conroy, refused, as she has done for the past 10 months, to tell the reporter 1) whether SF had a complete emergency plan (which was to have been fully revised last December) in place yet, 2) whether the reporter could have a copy of it, or if not 3) why it wasn't finished? On top of that, Conroy is working only part-time as the head of OES *while getting the degree in EMERGENCY SERVICES required for her position* from a school in Monterey, 90 miles south of San Francisco. ARRGGH! And yet Conroy made time to appear for the photo-op wreathlaying ceremony this morning at Lotta's Fountain. She out-Brownies Michael Brown.

In addition, San Francisco has a special exemption from the California law requiring all fire hydrant hookups to be a uniform size. SF's hydrant hookups are bigger, so neighboring cities and counties will not be able to assist in firefighting in the event of an emergency. For a while the official plan endorsed by the Fire Chief was -- get this -- to have fire trucks stop at designated sites on the outside of the city to pick up special adaptors for the hydrants from the SF firefighters who would be handing them out. Double ARRGGH!!

Thank goodness I live in the suburbs. I'm really close to the Hayward fault but at least I'm not living in an unreinforced Victorian building in a city that has a rotating "brownout" of fire stations due to inadequate funding. I'll take my chances in the East Bay.

Sorry 'bout the rant. Evidently the forces of plate tectonics are equally applicable to rants about local government: grumble, gripe, EXPLODE!

My sister just emailed me with my assignments for Greek Easter: dyed eggs, soup, salad and PEEPS so that we can have Peeps tournaments in the microwave. As if the egg competition isn't enough!

RD Padouk says:

I want levity tomorrow. Levity and references to scandalous undergarments. For without these things the terrorists will surely have won

This should be the official slogan of the Boodle.

g'night all

wow, what a great Achenblog posting--thoughtful, insightful and relevant !!!...I heartily nominate Joel for the first Pulitzer Blog Prize

I live in Howard County, Maryland. Lake Wobegon is where we send the short buses.

Joel writes:
But I think in some ways the better comparison is between 1906 and 9/11. ...

But they had strikingly similar death tolls (about 3,000, though the 1906 toll may have been underestimated), and more importantly, in both cases Americans were hit with something they couldn't understand.

But think back to 9/11, and that initial confusion about what was going on. We were under attack by terrorists -- but which ones? Why were they doing this? We discovered we were in the midst of a war with an enemy with whom we were only passingly acquainted. A lot of people were going around that day asking, "What do they want from us?" Sophisticated foreign policy analysts could reel off the context of the attack, the motivations of al Qaeda, the prefiguring events around the world, but for most of us, this was a surprise attack all the way down to the underlying war. We didn't realize we were in one.
***

About a month before 9/11, President Bush received a Presidential Daily Brief at his Crawford Ranch with a warning that al Qaeda could strike on domestic soil using airplanes as weapons. The FBI knew in the summer before 9/11 that Saudi nationals were taking flying lessons in the United States and tried to alert their superiors within the agency. If this information had only been made available to the public, let alone been taken seriously by senior administration officials and various government agencies?

So, Joel, you're saying that Americans were unaware of the events overseas that led up to 9/11? Unaware of the bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa? Unaware of the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole? Unaware of the earlier attack on the World Trade Center? You claim, Joel, that we couldn't connect the dots?

I'm sorry, but within moments of learning the news of 9/11 in southern Indiana, I said, out loud, to Marshall Watkins, who headed our moving crew and to my husband, "Osama bin Laden." Why were most Americans only passingly acquainted with this "enemy?" Bill Clinton had opportunities to bomb al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan during his administration. Why was the public unaware of this? How knowledgeable was the public about us fighting a war by proxy in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, I wonder?

We didn't realize we were in a war? How many people know the history of the CIA? How many overseas conflicts have we backed during the course of the last 50 years? How many puppet dictators and regimes have we supported--either politically and/or through arms sales? We may be entertaining ourselves to death by our compulsive obsession with American media at the expense of reading, knowing and discussing world affairs. The fault for feeling that 9/11 was a sneak attack lies within us as citizens, as much as it lies with the government for treating us with utter disregard as far as communicating information to which we are entitled as citizens.

TBG writes:
also... Boodleaire is a great handle.

Dairyaire isn't bad either...

I see that I have BOO, as I mentioned, unknowingly, some of the same overseas terrorist events that cc did earlier. After posting, I Boodleskimmed backwards--shame on me.

I see that Boodleaire also BOO, since this Bay Area Boodler mentions the 99-year-old woman who was conceived in Golden Gate Park just days after the quake occurred, as I pointed out in the previous Kit/Boodle, my info coming from today's NYT article about the quake. And Boodleaire, *loved* your late post about a Bay Area television station's coverage about San Francisco's lack of a preparedness plan for the next big shake, rattle and roll. Hopefully, the reporter will keep pressing for answers/info, if not tomorrow, then six, nine, and 12 months from now.

*Totally* off topic [for the 'blog, although not so much for me], but:

On a recent visit to the Hong Kong Public Library, a book called "Reincarnation: A Critical Examination," by Paul Edwards, caught my eye. (No prizes for guessing whether I checked the book out and took it home.)

Edwards is by no means an advocate of reincarnation. And he gives new meaning to the term "blunt" (i.e., he's no Tom Shroder). He makes his purpose clear in the second paragraph of the Introduction:

"I have attempted to state, fairly and fully, all the main arguments offered in support of reincarnation and Karma. I have tried to show that this evidence is worthless. It has been claimed that such facts as child prodigies, deja vu experiences, hypnotic regressions, and the reincarnation memories of a number of children, mainly in India and in other countries where belief in reincarnation is widespread, can only be explained by reincarnation. None of these claims stand up under critical examination."

He later says of someone by the name of Christmas [sic] Humphreys, a proponent of reincarnation, "It never seems to have occurred to him that he just might be mistaken. As we shall see later in this book, it is quite certain that he was." (Quite certain? I'm thinking, it doesn't seem to have occurred to *this* guy that *he* might be mistaken. And why is he so angry about this? But whatever; no umbrage. Much.)

This should be a good read, although I feel kind of sorry for Professor Ian Stevenson (of the University of Virginia), who features prominently in Shroder's book and who Edwards admits is "the writer most frequently criticized in this book." (He writes, "I have never met Professor Stevenson. I have occasionally corresponded with him and he has always courteously responded to requests for reprints of his publications. He has written fully and more intelligibly in defense of reincarnation than anybody else and this is the only reason why he features so prominently in my discussion."

As I said, this should be a good read. But I'm wondering whether I should send Professor Stevenson an encouraging note. (Nah. That would probably make me a nut, no?)

Who's off topic?

Hi everybody
I'm Archie Bell of the Drells
From Houston, Texas
We don't only sing but we dance
Just as good as we walk
In Houston we just started a new dance
Called the Tighten Up
This is the music
We tighten up with

First tighten up on the drums
Come on now, drummer
I want you to tighten it up for me now
Oh, yeah

Tighten up on that bass now
Tighten it up
Ha, ha, yeah
Now let that guitar fall in
Oh, yeah
Tighten up on that organ now

Yeah, you do the tighten up
Yeah, now
I said, if you can do it now
It sure would be tough
Now look here, come on now
Now make it mellow

Let's tighten it up now
Do the tighten up
Everybody can do it now
So get to it

We're gonna tighten up
Let's do the tighten up
You can do it now
So baby, get to it

Look to your left now
Look to your right
Everybody can do it
But don't you get too tight

Come on and tighten up
Let's tighten it up now
Let's tighten it up now
Tighten it up

Do the tighten up
Come and tighten it up
Tighten it up now

Come on now, Billy
Tighten it up
Oh, yeah
Sock it to me now
Tighten it up

Come on and tighten up that bass
Oh, yeah
Now look here
I want that guitar
To fall in on there
Tighten it up now
Oh, yeah
Now tighten it up, organ
Yeah
Now everybody tighten it up now

Now look here
We gonna make it mellow for you now
We gonna make it mellow now

Tighten it up
You can get it
Move to your left
Move to your right
Tighten it up now
Everything will be outta sight
Come on and tighten it up
Tighten it up now
You can do it...

*What Earthquake?*

SCC entry:
I left out a close paren at the end of the penultimate paragraph.

Loomis asks, "So, Joel, you're saying that Americans were unaware of the events overseas that led up to 9/11? Unaware of the bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa? Unaware of the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole? Unaware of the earlier attack on the World Trade Center? You claim, Joel, that we couldn't connect the dots?"

I am saying that, despite all those events, which were big news at the time, that we were still caught by surprise. I know I was caught by surprise that morning. I thought: What the [expletive] is going on??? Who is attacking us? Why? Somehow the cumulative effect of the pre-9/11 events did not result in the realization that we were vulnerable to an attack on that scale.

It is possible that many people were not caught by surprise, and did not feel the degree of confusion that I felt in those initial moments.

Perhaps at some point today I will do a search of The Post's database to see how many times we mentioned Osama prior to 9/11 and how many times afterward -- just as a very approximate metric of the degree to which 9/11 turned something that we knew about into something that had our full attention.

Boodleaire, it's not just San Francisco, you know. New Orleans has a nicely complete emergency plan, for whatever good it did them. The trick is competent implementation. Here in the Queen City, our all hazards plan was totally updated a couple of years ago. We have a small emergency management staff, and our emergency operations center is not as advanced as we wish. But we're working on it. The key is maintaining adequate communications; we are creating dispatching center/EOC away from the center city with an uninterruptible power source. Regardless, in any large-scale emergency, it takes federal assets about 72 hours to arrive, so we have to be ready to deal with the first three days.

Would that have been a known known, Joel?

...now that we know who the decider is it
should be easier to assign responsibility
for the torture policies,the fiscal train
wreck now in motion and the real deal on
the iraq runup and the brewing sequel for
iran...bush2...the decider...
the big quake of 1906,the awful day 9/11/01
became with the flying of passenger jets
into the wtc and the aftermath of katrina
are all points in history that we now may
ponder for better insights into our lives today...hopefully when the big shaker or
wave hits the west coast it will possible
to effect better followup,reduced suffering
and more complete vital responses in better
position for more people faster...
...leadership,headsup planouts and ability
to initiate action without pointless delay
can make the outcome a much better one...
...current politics here in thailand are
undergoing much uncertainty as to final
outcomes of april 2 snap election for the
lower house of the thai parliament and the
PM...the current PM seems unable or worse
unwilling to address some concerns over
ongoing corruption and personal business
decisions and lack of tranparency over
all this...after 5 years it has landed him
in the position of having to mount attacks
on his critics,ignore the corruption ????
or respond by not being very responsive...
...hopefully by the fall there will be a
clearer picture of who's up and who's out
in thai politics...meanwhile the global
energy price spikes hit thailand harder
and harder,the enviromental degradation
of thai coastal areas continues and the
threat from illegal logging and land grabs
of remaing natural forestlands is not near
being held at bay... burma is racing to
fill lumber demand as is indonesia...the
destruction of natural rainforest in this
part of south asia is matched only by that
of the amazon region...global warming? it
still is exploitation and wanton misuse of
the natural world that the movers of this
part of the world embrace...lots of subpar
living conditions and economic hardship
being the handmaiden of greed and short
term wealth seeking...last time i looked
there were no "lifeboats" to get into after
we have ruined this world...if the leaders
of today...whether in the usa or here in
se asia are not willing to seriously act on
the need to protect this world we call home
it will lessen the world those who follow
us will have for life and living...sadly
man's unending quest for power,wealth and
glory may well lead to a ruined world that
remains only in photographs,museums or the
small,under continued threat rare remains of the natural world rainforests...

hi
sorry for the bad typing. sciTim was right about the "discomfort". Bone grafts after tumor removals DO hurt...my hand is a bleeping mess.

I was sorry to have introduced the topic of pasties at first yesterday, but now that I've laughed at the resulting boodling, I'm glad.

about the war on "tear", well, it surprised me. I grew up with car bombs and kidnappings, and my parents sent me to the States to enjoy normality for a while. This is the new normal, and we have to be prepared. I don't keep gas masks ay home, but I am always alert.

and now, the pain killers kick in...

Prior to 9/11 UBL and his minions were just another terrorist group. Recall that the previous attack on the WTC had been laughably incompetent, and nearly a decade in the past. Right now there are dozens of groups, and, I assert, UBL is falling back into the pack. Odds are another attack will come somewhere by some group whose presence is already known. So tell me, concerned citizens, who will it be? I would really like to know.

a bea,
Took a trip to Dover DE yesterday for business and we noted that it must be the car wash capital of the world. In fact, as we left, we felt compelled to wash the car. Just so happened that the car wash that we chose was "out of tune"

We had to back the car up to get close and still, we ended up with a 2/3's washed car. Think of me the next time you see a partially washed car! Don't laugh, don't hurt my feelings. I can deal with a clean car, and a dirty car, but partially cleaned???

I hope you feel better soon, a bea c.
I am in awe of you, since you have actual, real-life-induced pain in your hand, as opposed to the trivial kind I experienced recently from over-'boodling. (Repetitive use of the Page Down and Refresh keys, I think. Pathetic.)

RD,
Interesting point... though not sure that was what was intended... I read funny. Other countries have publicized who the terrorists are. We, in the USA, tend to keep it a secret.

Is it because we don't want to let them know we know who they are so we can watch them?

Or is it because we can catch all the number 2's?

jw's Quote of the Day:

"I like Huggie Juice, honey buns, Mike & Ikes and Now and Later," said Ashley Taylor, 16. Asked if she would buy an apple or a carrot for a snack, the girl frowned and let her friend, Tianna Parker, 15, answer: "I'd eat some if they tasted like Hot Cheetos."

From here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/18/AR2006041801668.html

Good morning, friends. I do hope your day is good, and everything you want it to be. I'm hoping also, that God blesses you more than you can imagine, through His Son, Jesus.

A lot going on in the Carolinas this morning. Of course we're still dealing with the Duke rape circus. There is the possibility of a third arrest, elevating the situation to real chaos. And the defense is still trying the case in the media, so one wonders if there will be a jury to be found. Every hatemonger and nut is coming out the closet, and I'm feeling real safe here. We're also dealing with a drought scenario, no rain for awhile, hopefully that will change today. Forecast predicting rain today. Gas is almost three dollars a gallon, and people are moaning real bad. My car has not been moved for two days now. Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? I am praying, still praying, and will continue to pray, that God will have mercy on us all, in the Name of Jesus.

DM – you have made an extremely insightful observation about investigations in general. There is always a tradeoff between tipping one's hand and exposing evil.
My point was that predicting what any given terrorist group will do is extremely difficult. Here is an unpleasant truth - a large portion of what is done in the IC involves looking at publicly available information with an "educated eye" and evaluating ambiguous situations. These people (and let me stress that this is my personal opinion) are like investigative reporters crossed with meteorologists. The value of IC analysts is often not stating what they "know," but what they "think." They look at the world situations and make predictions based upon history and a theoretical understanding of the environment. And like meteorologists, they can be wrong. An intelligent consumer doesn't schedule his daughter's wedding on a day that is predicted to be "mostly sunny" and then sue when it rains.
Now I gotta get some work done.
Am awaiting Levity with great eagerness.

I think we should make jw's Quote of the Day a regular feature.
It would be to the 'boodle what Tom's Dumb Question is to the Kit.

dolphin micheal, that Archie Bell and D's tune will not go away. I used to love that song. Now it's going to be in my head all day long.

Cassandra, here's what I always see as the silver lining when the defense is trying a case in the media--they only do it when they know they can't make a case in the courtroom. It's like bluffing in poker. If you are a lawyer, and you have a load of exculpatory evidence, then you just sit tight. Notice how there hasn't been a lot of chatter from the prosecution? Sealed indictments, not a lot of specifics about how much evidence they have? He probably has something really good, and knows that he doesn't need to play any games with the defense team.

Either that, or he's an excellent bluffer.

I also liked these quotes:

"I don't think the previous owners knew what they had."

"a core meal of juice, cake and two bags of chips."

[I probably shouldn't be laughing. Really, it's not funny. Nevertheless: Ha!!!!]

I 'boodled OOO.
I am definitely not all that and two bags of chips.

I hate to backtrack on a Boodle, but I sort of missed the whole Pulitzer discussion. Since I'm more of a picture guy than a word guy, I want to link to the Rocky Mountain News winners (for both Feature Photography and Feature Writing). In a world that's been taken over by video, still images have incredible emotional power.

Here is the story, by Jim Sheeler:

http://tinyurl.com/a85t5

There are a lot of photographer Todd Heisler's images in various places on the RMN site, but the Flash presentation is very powerful:

http://tinyurl.com/kw95w

Make sure you have Kleenex handy.

Oh, and after a few posts with different handles, which I understand is a no-no in the Boodle, I suspect I'll just use this one from now on. It's descriptive, since I spend my days wrangling pixels, while being mostly anonymous except for specifying a gender (though I could be lying). I was actually thinking about 'pixel dude' but somehow that's just not right.

Pixel guy, that's pretty moving stuff.

Last year I was a pallbearer at a funeral in Arlington for a WWII veteran, and although I had never met the deceased, with all the pagentry I couldn't help tearing up a little.

pixel guy:
Any relation to Pixel? (THE Pixel?)
And don't keep us in suspense -- what were your other handles? Really, it's OK to have more than one (says she, who has three). In the past there's been some confusion as a result of multiple handles that didn't always obviously belong to one person. But -- and again, I'm biased -- bona fide multi-handling is fine, and can also be fun (e.g., CowTown, MadCow, and Cow San, and ScienceTim and Storyteller Tim).

Pixel Guy, there's certainly no rule saying you can't use "Pixel Guy", but I may take umbrage.

The "Original" Pixel (not a guy)

Cassandra, I am dancing around my office now! You?

Tom fan --

Not enough posts to warrant repeating -- though I did get a lead-off post a couple of weeks ago, in which I misspelled 'straits.' So I blew it when the pressure was on.

Is there already a 'pixel' person here? No relation. Perhaps I should re-think my handle. Oh well.

jw -- I understand completely.

Pixel, take off your umbrage and DANCE!!!

after all, you are DEEEE Pixel.

Pixel:

2 posts passing in the ether. If umbrage is involved, I will submit gracefully.

My hiking trail name is 'Cranky' but if I use that it might get Curmudgeon to take umbrage, so that's probably out. Hmm, any suggestions?

RD, my only question, would the world end if we just got rid of the DMV?

Ah, so you were "mouseless," eh 'boodler-briefly-known-as-pixel-guy?
And you coined the phrase "bad straights." So it looks like you have at least three options.
(Sometimes our handles are decided by the winds of fate. We don't choose our handles; they choose us.)

Which reminds me:
We seem to have lost Error Flynn. (Now *that* was a totally accidental yet brilliant handle if ever there was one.)

DM - everyone knows that all that stands between us and total barbarism are little stickers for your car which prove you have paid money to produce and administer the little stickers for your car.

Just catchin' up.

jw's quotes are good. I'm awaiting quotes from the TomKat's proud parents; I love a good alien abduction story.

Except for the probing parts.

I'm with Joel in the "What the f is going on here?" camp at about 9:15 that morning. Sure, I knew about the attempts on the WTC, and the Cole, and other attacks on US presences elswhere, but it didn't add up to me at that moment that terrorists were bringing a war to our shores.

I do remember how I felt when I heard that there was another plane in the air and that it was heading for Washington.

bc

One day we must have a wake for all the 'boodlers who are no longer with us:
k'guy, Error, irregardless, Videlicit, Paulo Assis, RA, JAG, LP, LB, fdg31, notamember, Cubedweller, Bostonreader . . . oh, there are so many. (Where are they? Why do they hate us?) I'm tearing up -- I guess those darned tearsts got me.

Wasn't there a recent trial for corruption in Illinois, in which the former governor was convicted and now faces jail time? I think part of the case had to do with the DMV giving away commercial driver's licenses in exhange for bribes, with much of the money ending up in the Gov's campaign chest. One of the (presumably unqualified) drivers who got a CDL was involved in a wreck that killed 6 children, IIRC.

I'm not sure if this particular case supports the DMV or not, but I will say that having just any old idiot driving an 80,000 pound rig at highway speeds concerns me. Assuming the DMV is doing a proper job, regulating who gets a CDL is a reasonable function.

And I am working on getting a handle, I promise. Winner to be announced shortly. Hasn't anyone other than jw read the RMN story?

BBKAPG,

Sure we lose a few people, but weigh that against all the time and effort put into getting our stickers and paying our little fines and sorting out some keying error made 20 years ago in another state.

I mean really!!!

Somewhere there is a statistic on how many people have died sitting on those benches at the DMV.

Maybe you could bribe someone at the DMV to assign you a nifty handle.
(Just make sure they don't try to give you a$$man, which happened to Kramer on Seinfeld: "According to the State of New York, you *are* the a$$man.")

Tom fan, add Eurotrash to the list.

Pixel person, go right ahead and use "Cranky" if you wish. I shall take no umbrage. (I'm actually a little happy to learn you aren't related to "our" Pixel, who is...er...a dish...and...uh...prominently featured in some of my afternoon reveries...er...not that there's anything wrong with that... (though I believe she may be bespoke, but dammit, I can dream, can't I?)...

We do have a terrible problem today. Our administrative staff can no longer keep up with the damage done to people by our ability to keep large amounts of data on us for infinite periods of time. Soon, it will be all over. The machines will have won over the people.

A friend told me yesterday of his story. A problem in Joel's beloved state of Florida had haunted this friend for decades. The occasional trip to the state were fruitless until he was saved by a fire in a government building that destroyed the data. Soon, we will no longer be able to be saved like this. It will be OVER.

bc, did you see that TomKat's alleged baby weighed in at 7-lbs, 7-oz? No way a baby that small came from Katie's huge beach ball fake pregnant belly!

DolphinMichael, you're a bit late with the Archie Bell/Drells number. See http://blog.washingtonpost.com/achenblog/2005/12/its_raining_methane_updated_wi.html and my post on Dec. 1 at 12:51 p.m.

Curmudgeon -- Thank you, I think I will use Cranky as a handle. For one, it's easy to remember, which is a major advantage at my age. I will ignore your parenthetical comment as Too Much Information .

I had put a smiley after my last sentence in my last post, but it got eaten. I was smiling when I said that.

It's never too late to be wrong, |.

Joel writes:
I am saying that, despite all those events, which were big news at the time, that we were still caught by surprise. I know I was caught by surprise that morning. I thought: What the [expletive] is going on??? Who is attacking us? Why? Somehow the cumulative effect of the pre-9/11 events did not result in the realization that we were vulnerable to an attack on that scale.

Scale figures into it, but by degrees. The embassy bombings in Africa involved truck bombs with lots of explosive power and did major damage. But it was Africa's problem. A good-sized hole was left in the side of the U.S.S. Cole. It was their problem--jut a port in the Middle East.

I think the shock value and wake-up call of 9/11 is the fact that it happened on U.S. soil, that the geographical deterrents--the wide distances provided by the Atlantic and Pacific oceans--had been breached. And breached not so much by another nation's long-range planes or missiles, but by cleverness and sheer audacity of 20 rogue operators. 9/11's lesson is that we are no longer impregnable, but pregnable. It became "our" problem.

Joel, it will be interesting to see what your database search for OBL on the Post's pages during the last decade turns up. To add more kindling to the discussion's fire about terrorism, this story about CNN's Chriatiane Amanpour and the failure of television to adequately cover foreign affiars comes from our local paper today:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA041906.03B.Amanpour.1240d5c5.html

CNN reporter sees foreign news underplayed in U.S.
Scott Huddleston
Express-News Staff Writer

She's been to the Balkans, Israel, Iraq and other hostile regions, reporting war developments to television audiences around the world.

On Tuesday, Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent, was in San Antonio, speaking on world affairs and a fear that foreign news is underplayed by a broadcast industry obsessed with drawing young viewers.

"I wish that our news organizations would give a lot more attention and time and space to stories from around the world, because it couldn't be more important," Amanpour, said to be one of the highest paid news correspondents, told reporters.

Amanpour first spoke to some 500 people at Trinity University's Policy Maker Breakfast. Her remarks focused on Iran's nuclear weapons program, the January election of Hamas in the Palestinian territories and the war in Iraq, where she said the rebuilding effort is in jeopardy. ...

Amanpour said war correspondents have trouble getting on-air time, because there's "too much what I consider of the not-so-serious — the sensational, the scandalous, the sound bites."

the SUV - The weapon of choice by the most effective terrorists of the modern world.

its fun to joke about tomkat, but kate's parents must be worried sick.

Whoa!!! Big Doin's!! Scotty McClellan just decided to spend more time with his family!!! Check it out!!!

!!!! "a senior administration official revealed another move in the ongoing shakeup of Bush's staff, saying that longtime confidant and adviser Karl Rove is giving up oversight of policy development"

Oh be still my heart!

White House press secretary Scott McClellan is out! Mr. Obfuscation is gone....

Who will be in? Dan Senor, Campbell Brown's "boy toy" and brand new hubby--Mr. Fox News himself, a former spokesman for the Iraq Provisional Government Authority?
Early tittleltattle indicates McClellan's replacement may be Tony Snow, Fox News anchor...

CIA mining the Achenblog? *w*

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20060418-110124-3694r.htm

CIA mines 'rich' content from blogs
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
April 19, 2006

President Bush and U.S. policy-makers are receiving more intelligence from open sources such as Internet blogs and foreign newspapers than they previously did, senior intelligence officials said.

The new Open Source Center (OSC) at CIA headquarters recently stepped up data collection and analysis based on bloggers worldwide and is developing new methods to gauge the reliability of the content, said OSC Director Douglas J. Naquin.

"A lot of blogs now have become very big on the Internet, and we're getting a lot of rich information on blogs that are telling us a lot about social perspectives and everything from what the general feeling is to ... people putting information on there that doesn't exist anywhere else," Mr. Naquin told The Washington Times.

Eliot A. Jardines, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for open source, said the amount of unclassified intelligence reaching Mr. Bush and senior policy-makers has increased as a result of the center's creation in November.

You know, just after 9-11, I read something here at WaPo, as they were finding out who the terrorists were, and where they had been up to Sept 11. The writer talked about how we needed to know our neighbours better, how we needed to get out on our front porches and say hello and introduce ourselves and be just a little more connected to those around us. His hope was that if we knew the people around us, and asked more questions about what was happening right next door, maybe we could avert another tragedy. I thought the writer was Joel, but in searches after, I could never find the article, but the central idea of it has always remained with me. The kit brought it to mind again.

Last night, on the way home from work, there was an elderly gentleman walking down a road in the industrial area. Its just not where elderly people normally walk. He seemed a little confused, and a little lost. A bike commuter was stopped and was on his cell phone assisting him. It was really nice to see a good neighbour in action, and even better to see someone asking questions about a person in a place that was just a little out of the norm.

Won't they just find a new chief obfuscator?

It's been 1,675 days since GWB said he'd catch UBL 'Dead or Alive!' If you know anything about PNAC, AIPAC, and the OSP you know the wargames on 911 were an inside job. How the hell is some dude in a cave going to make the USAF stand down! Why did the Secret Service Bark? Cui Bono! I look forward to seeing the US Government US Forces and The US Corporate Media in the gallows for their war crimes and terror

dr asks:
Won't they just find a new chief obfuscator?

Bush is The Chief Obfuscator, unfortunately for 2 more years, 120 days, 13 minutes, and 29 seconds, or thereabouts.

And sadly, Scotty's replacement will just be the new mouthpiece obfuscator. Why do you think the search for his replacement was conducted among the ranks of Fox News' talking heads? *w*

Hmm..."Dead or Alive". I feel a Bon Jovi song parody coming on...

Where's al-Qaida?
In a secret cave they hide!
Bin Ladin's wanted (wanted!)
Dead or Alive!

Loomis - It's nice to know that somewhere there are feds putting together reports involving pasties, flags and other important information. See, we're all just doing our part for America here.

As to McClellan, I'll just go ahead and post here what everybody is likely to already be thinking.

The message ain't working, so they killed the messenger. Or something like that.

Hmm.

Rove gets to play to his strength (Playin' election hardball for the GOP. When he's not feasting on human blood by night, that is.), and the McClellan filter is being replaced.

So, tell me again how this makes the White Hose, er, *House* more affected, er, *effective*?

bc

Everyone understands that the Press Secretary is there only to parrot the official line. Any way he/she can avoid an answer to an "unacceptable" question is OK with them (but not to the public, of course). Any senior administration official who commits "truth" will be gone in a New York minute. Notice how they managed to shut up Snow after an early gaffe? And he has continually been rumored to be on the way out. This isn't just limited to the current administration. It's just that they have been a bit better at it than most others.

And 'what's Al Gore up to lately?' you may find yourself not asking ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUiP6dqPynE

Does anyone think that this may have been a courtesy to the White House before they slap them with more indictments?

Mornin', all

1. Rove: see Tom Toles' cartoon today. A classic, as always.

2. AWOL boodlers: add shrieking denizen and VidaBlue

3. re: terrorist identity. I'm sure I'm not the only one that didn't want to jump to conclusions, especially after Oklahoma City.

The major stock market indexes, all down in early trading, have suddenly ticked upward.

cranky - we were hoping for levity today - THAT was NOT levity - i am a cubedweller and it does not look good to have me crying all over the place! but it was an excellent article so i'll give you that...

my uncle - retired AF and private contractor was killed in iraq by a roadside bomb - his funeral was very emotional - and those gunshots scared the crap outta me...

I'd rather see Rove handing things poorly in the White House than doing well out in GOP Election World.

jw, good comments on the Duke matter. Personally, I think media comments by lawyers are more an indicator of the narcissism of counsel involved than the merits one way or the other.

TBG, I am sure Rove left his playbook and his phone number on the desk. Rove has sort of lost his touch and the dirty tricks are going to look awfully bad these days a la the Spanish language commercials. People are getting "through" with him.

You know, it comes to mind all of a sudden that back in the old days, before they had microphones and the stuff of modern communication, the White House spokesman communicated with the press corp by waving flags. In fact, the spokesman also fielded questions from flag-waving reporters. "Would you describe the administration's latest policy as 'mugwump' or 'neomugwump," a reporter might ask, waving about a variety of flags. "I can't comment on that right now," the spokesman might reply, tellingly doing much of this by repeatedly waving a white flag much the same way in response to each question.

It was a colorful time in our nation's history. It ended with the harnessing of electricity and because of a flag-related incident involving Helen Thomas that put out somebody's eye. But as White House spokesmen of all stripes try to stick to repetitive talking points in response to every question — a time-honored practice honed to refinement in modern times by the late and ever-popular Ron Ziegler — it's nice to sit back and remember how things were done in the days of yore.

Look at all that happened while I slept off my meds...Wow!!

About OBL, how come Spain was able to catch 27 terrorists in the 2 years since Madrid and all we have is a "tearist" wannabe on trial?

Has anyone else read the NYT piece about celebrities naming their kids? Puts Brittney M.Smith in perspective. Some day we'll be introduced to Press Secretary Pilot Inspektor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/fashion/sundaystyles/16NAMES.html?ex=1145592000&en=40b1085819cab187&ei=5087%0A

I saw An Inconvenient Truth the other day -- probably should make a kit out of it, and the Gore Boomlet. Look for it later today, maybe? New resolution: Don't Overpromise Too Much. It's the "Too Much" that's key there. Lately I've been excessively overpromising way too much.

TBG writes:
I'd rather see Rove handing things poorly in the White House than doing well out in GOP Election World.

First question/reply from Murray's WaPo online chat, now ongoing:

Louisville, Ky.: Karl Rove left the White House voluntarily? Excuse me while I put on my tin foil hat, but might this be related to any impending announcement from Patrick Fitzgerald?

Shailagh Murray: Hi everyone, I'm filling in for Chris today, and it looks like the Rove shift/McClellan departure is the big topic. I can't tell what this Rove shift means. I suppose, in the low turnover world of the Bush White House, that this qualifies as radical change. **But how many Republican '06 candidates are going to be thrilled to hear that Rove will now be focused on them full time -- considering Bush's unpopularity?**

In the NYT, Bush on the role of the White House press secretary. (It's a hard job, taking all those questions, but somebody's gotta do it..."):

"I don't know whether or not the press corps realizes this, but his is a challenging assignment dealing with you all on a regular basis," Mr. Bush said today.

Loomis,
I guess the Pres doesn't understand there are people out there who know what their job is, and actually do it, even when it is hard. Then again, being that the WH is so tight-lipped, the press corps doesn't have to do that much to give the talking head a hard time.

Have they declassified the truth, yet?

Just to be clear, Rove is not leaving the White House. He is focusing on politics, and leaving his position as a policy adviser. During his tenure he had a hand in such domestic policy triumphs as the Harriet Miers nomination and the Katrina response.

You could make the case that there's an attempt here to create the impression of a shake-up without actually shaking any of the main players. A shake-up would be if Rumsfeld left, not McClellan. Will Rove even change offices?

a bea c, I'd bet that your rules of law are a lot tougher on the prosecutorial side.

Does anyone know if Spain follows the Napolenic system where there is no such thing as innocent until proven guilty?

Also, I'd go along with Amanpour regarding international news coverage by US media. Too much emphasis on what sells rather than what is important to know. The BBC is the best at international coverage by a long shot.

SCc Napoleonic

Joel, of course not, then they would have to move all of Jeff Gannon's toys.

A shake-up would be if Bush quit, actually.

I think Rove was also responsible for shepherding the Social Security privatization plan that went exactly nowhere.

Joel, you are not being quite fair to Rove, he did more than that! He may have been involved in crafting that marvelous StemCell compromise.

Is Condi above or below the Achenbach Salt???

Yes, dr, that's exactly why we have a bunch of (maybe) innocent bystanders in a zoo off the coast of Florida. It's not open to the public while the walkways are being paved...

I've seen talk since the Republican overthrow of Congress that the Republicans make a great minority party -- they are good at throwing bombs at the governing party, but not so good at the actual process of governing. Maybe 'cause it involves, um, compromise.

If so, then Karl Rove may be the ultimate Republican: compare and contrast his success in getting people elected, versus his success as a policymaker once in office. It helps that in writing this essay, it doesn't matter a hoot whether anything Rove ever said or did was truthful or legal -- all that matters is the outcome.

Scott McLellan had one of the most thankless jobs in the entire world. I'm glad he's resigning, for his sanity and mine.

As for Rove, I inwardly predicted this move. He will now get involved in the upcoming elections, no doubt to smear competent candidates with his own particular brand of ooze. Disappointing, but not unexpected.

dr and a bea c,

Spain has the civil code, as do all non-Anglo-American countries. I'm not sure if the statement about "no such thing as innocent until proven guilty" is correct (sorry, haven't studied civil code). My understanding (which may be incorrect) is that the only substantial differences relevant to this issue is that (1) the judge acts as an active investigator and (2) silence can be used as an inference of guilt.

The main difference is that, rightly or wrongly, Spain and the other European countries treat these guys as legally akin to bank robbers, whereas the US is (for the most part) treating them as soldiers (albeit unlawful in that they do not wear uniforms etc).

I guess I've had my first encounter with the Boodle censorship staff. A long-ish and linky post has not appeared in the hour since I submitted it. Feh.

I'm in agreement with the people who think this Rove move is Not Good. He's the master of character assassination, the King of Smear. Dirty Tricks R Us!

This is from 2004, but no less applicable in 2006 and we'd be wise to review. Make sure you get to page three where he does some of his best work against a guy (Mark Kennedy) by using his good works and defense of children to characterize him as a pedophile.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200411/green

I'm sorry to report, JA, that both AP and Reuters have glommed on to the phrase "shake-up" to describe what's going on. Of course, one could argue that it is a shake-up, but just not all that big of a shake-up.

Shake-up, shake-up, shake-up ... It'll be in the news and on the radio and in the papers. And if it's said enough, it'll be a shake-up in the minds of many. Of course, some folks will glaze over, all Emily Latella-like, with the image of a milk shake in their minds.

SoC,
Thanks for that explanation. So if OBL were a bank robber, we could finally find the right cave to bomb...Just kidding.

Joel, what were the results of your search of pre and post 9/11 OBL's in the WaPo?

Also, Spain has their own homegrown terrorist group--Eta (although as of March they've declared a permanent ceasefire). The Spain rail bombing was NOT the Basque Seperatists; it was not affiliated with any known group, but that didn't stop Spanish authorities from rounding up the usual suspects.

The US is lucky to be free of any active domestic terrorist groups on par with Eta or the IRA. But if we had them, our terrorism arrests would be in the triple digits, guaranteed.

jw, speaking of domestic terrorism, arrests and colourful moments in history, you may be interested to know that in October 1970 after the Front de Libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped a British diplomat and a Quebec politician Canada rounded up 497 suspects and arrested 250. And this was by the darling of the Canadian left, Pierre Trudeau.

I'm back to being nelson again. fits me better than sln.

McClellan may be immensely relieved to be relieved of his job. It has to be hard work to stand at his podium day after day after day and repeat the same pat phrases again and again.

to wit: "We don't comment on ongoing legal investigations." "Again, David (Gregory), you know this White House is above commenting on ongoing investigations."

"Look, all of you, I'll say it again; this White House is above answering any questions at all. Answering your question would aid and abet the terrorists -- even if the question is about 'No Child Left Behind.' (which was written by Tim LaHaye).

Actually, for you in the press to be asking any questions about the activities of King George and his court borders on treason . . ."

That's gotta be hard to do 5 days a week.

pixel guy, er, I mean cranky -- welcome.

I did think it was nice of W to say that he and Scottie will enjoy sitting on the porch down in Texas talking about the good old days.

Observation -- Bush killed any hope for a resolution to trade problems when he moved Portman to his new job.

Any bets on how many other folks already working in the Administration get shuffled around? I'm guessing the whole "shake-up" thing will resemble musical chairs.

John Snow as the new press secretary? That would make for excellent theater -- better than what Scottie gave us.

Nothing like some Canadian history to kill the 'boodle. Sorry about that. I blame the Easter chocolate.

Nothing like some Canadian history to kill the 'boodle. Sorry about that. I blame the Easter chocolate.

Yes sonofCarl, but he declared the War Measures Act first.

I wonder if having Rove gave up his senior advisor position in a public fashion really changes anything.

I doubt it.

He will no doubt be able to whip up indecent character assasinations and dirty tricks for '06 while still involved in policy (as if Bush actually has a policy of any sort other than "bombs away!" and domestic spying.

You're either with him or against him.

SoC: Another good example, thanks. If the US had to deal with kidnappings and bombings on a daily basis as the UK did at the height of IRA activity, and the perpetrators were hiding out in Anacostia rather than Afganistan, the arrest numbers would certainly be different.

ms. nelson says:

I did think it was nice of W to say that he and Scottie will enjoy sitting on the porch down in Texas talking about the good old days.

Reminds me of when W said he couldn't wait to see Trent Lott's waterfront mansion rebuilt after Katrina.

(couldn't resist that "ms.," nelson. Glad to see your handle back. On my little iBook screen your new handle looked like s-i-n.)

Yikes! That was me as 12:50

I don't know if this has already been mentioned (I refuse to read all 223 posting so far) but I was wondering what the level of preparedness is. For example, do people know where the gas shutoffs are in their neighborhoods and how to shut them off? How about water, electricity, etc... In other words, if the big one hits, will people be able to help minimize the damage as opposed to waiting for some expert to respond?

The reason I ask is that when the quake hit in LA a few years ago one blogger wrote that he was amazed that no one knew how to shut off the gas to their houses and he ended up shutting it off to about 50 homes (from the street). He only knew because he used to work in the field. If the only training we give people is to run, then we are only preparing people to panic.

At this point, I think the more role Rove takes in the election, the better.

1) It keeps him out of the White House
2) It energizes the other side
3) Everything he's touch has become counter-rpoductive. So I say, the more the better.

You know, my first impression was that looking at a terrorist attack as if it were an act of God was ridiculous, since it is indeed a premeditated act, with all of the moral considerations that brings.

But when you look at prevention of future attacks, I have to admit that it is an excellent way of looking at things.

After all, the 9/11 attacks were pulled off by ~20 people with a few hundred thousand dollars at their disposal. ***There is nothing we can do to prevent 20 people from hating this country.*** But we can minimize the damage they can do. We can ensure that supplies of truly dangerous materials are audited, and thus can't fall into terrorists' hands(fissionable nuclear materials come to mind). We can crank up security at places where huge amounts of energy are stored or transported (gasoline trucks, airports, nuclear power plants). We can rejoin the international community by abolishing our use of torture and our destruction of our own judicial system, which won't convince terrorists not to attack us, but will at least give us allies with whom to share intelligence.

Sully, that's kind of like when hurricane Bob hit my neighborhood. The eye passed directly over, and diring the 20 minutes or so of calm my dad went out with his chainsaw to clear the worst stuff out of the road and see if any neighbors needed help--while wearing a yellow slicker and pants. All the neighbors thought he was a little nuts, until the sky turned black again and they got soaked to the skin before they could get back to their houses.

There are a lot of things that people just don't know about any more because they're used to having things taken care of for them.

PREVIEWS PREVIEWS PREVIEWS!!!!!!

I got to preview a post! We have previews!

It obviously didn't help any.

We owe it all to our Shop Steward. Hey, what's this "union dues" notice that keeps floating across my screen?

OK.. so have you all read the FULL RULES?

I'm not even going to attempt to catch up.

There's rules now! I'm going to read.

The preview function may do away with the SCC. Nice, but a little sad at the same time.

No bold, no italic, no links, no permalinks...

No phone, no lights, no motor cars....

Not a single luxury!

Okay, so I only read the bold print. But I figure it's bold because 1) it's the most important part and 2) it's a summary of the regular print directly below it.

Am I the only one that's noticed Rove is least effective when he has to accomplish anything requiring diplomacy, discussion, or constructive argument?

For bagman stuff, though, he's da bomb.

And I think that the GOP realizes that's exactly what's needed for November if they're going to stem the erosion of the GOP/Bush II government's effectiveness.

Preview!? Sweet.
Thanks, Hal.
Thanks, Joel.

This should cut my SCC's in half, at least. A tool is only as effective as the guy (or gal) wielding it.

bc

jw,

"There are a lot of things that people just don't know about any more because they're used to having things taken care of for them."

I completely agree with this; it's amazing what functioning, apparently literate human beings can't achieve or don't know because they've never had the least inclination to explore or feel responsible for.

Isn't that what went wrong with Katrina? Lack of preparedness? Lack of experience? Too many people not knowing how to do stuff or thinking someone else would do stuff?

Oy vey!

*Post a Comment* says that we can challenge the blog, which I intend to do as soon as I can find my dueling pistols, which I think I left in my other coat . . .

I'm a little concerned by part of Rule 6. The word that troubles me is "exclusive". Does that mean that I have now relinquished all rights to my own words? That if, for example, I were to create a science-oriented blog that needed content, I could not legally go back and harvest my own postings to repost into my own blog, thus saving me the effort of recovering a flash of insight, a moment of mental clarity?

Stop, stop, stop! You fools! You NEVER read the "rules" as the sole function of rules is to hold them against you later! You probably all read the back of your parking stubs as well (hunh. turns out they're not even required to give me a parking space)

nellie, sabers and rapiers would be more fun.

Tim, I think the Post only owns the nouns. The other stuff is yours to use as you please. Oh yeah... maybe they also own the intransitive verbs.

And may I add that the Preview looks nothing like what shows up on the Boodle. Different font, different size. Sometimes even different meanings...although always the same words.

since we were talking about american idol - we WERE weren't we? (hey, i'm looking for levity here!) did anyone catch it? it was classic american songs and it was GOOD! (since they completely butchered the songs of Queen)

SciTim writes "I'm a little concerned by part of Rule 6. The word that troubles me is "exclusive". Does that mean that I have now relinquished all rights to my own words? That if, for example, I were to create a science-oriented blog that needed content, I could not legally go back and harvest my own postings to repost into my own blog, thus saving me the effort of recovering a flash of insight, a moment of mental clarity?"

You could link to them, like I did.

I would also add that since these rules were posted here as of April 19th at 1:00 PM (approx.), there could be some wiggle room for any comments prior to that. *That* meaning *now*. I think.

bc

What about Rule 6: Never call him unless he calls you first?

Wait, wrong rules...

What the ...

mo, everyone but Kellie Pickler was good. Her AI version of sepuku was very entertaining to watch--as well as Randy's reaction to her basically saying that she sucked. Ace looked a little creepy, but otherwise it was a good night.

I feel like I'm one keystroke away from violating a rule.

amo wrote:
"Isn't that what went wrong with Katrina? Lack of preparedness? Lack of experience?"

OK, so what are the things people need to KNOW to take care of themselves in an emergency when help has not arrived? I'm not talking about what to stock up on or otherwise prepare. I'm talking about knowledge of how to handle neighborhood and home infrastructure and techniques for helping yourself and others in a disaster.

Here's the beginnnings of a list since we now know FEMA is not going to arrive after a disaster. Please add to it!

Emergency phone numbers (of course)
CPR
First Aid (setting broken bones, stopping bleeding, etc)
Water shutoffs.
Gas shutoffs.
How to make/build a latrine.
How to use a fire extinguisher (you'd be surprised how many people have no idea how to use one).
How to cook food over an open fire.
How to start a fire (besides finding a boyscout).

I am absolutely *thrilled* to see Scott McClellan hitting the road. The joke about his presidential nickname being "Useful Tool" says it all. As for Rove, maybe the best we can hope for is that he'll go duck hunting with Cheney.

I don't think I am going to worry about rule 6 since I never say anything worth repeating anyway.

"1. You agree that you are fully responsible for the content that you post."

Now hold on a darn second... Does this mean I can't blame Hal?

jw, since you and Sara seem to be here today, should we schedule the Achenboodleshower?

[I will not hit Preview, I will not hit Preview.....]

OK, the "preview" feature is great. I still have to be careful not to sneeze when I prepare to click on "Submit," or I'll inadvertantly Subscribe to The Post.

But, tell me, why the ad for Surplus Military Tents (Ads by Google)? Are Hal's fembots out repairing the wind turbines again?

That's OK, Joel. I'll take responsibility for the content you post.

I'll get to be a good writer one way or another.

MY Google ads below (go figure):

23 Yr Old Makes Big Bucks
Learn Simple System That Makes Me More Money Than My Parents Combined
www.FastFortuneNow.com

Free Prescription Drugs
How Can People Who Can't Afford Their Medicines Get Them? Read This
Call-1-573-996-3333.com

World Bank Conference
The Effectiveness of Assistance for Natural Disasters

How to extinguish a fire
How to use a signal mirror
Cold weather survival
Hot weather survival
How to change a tire
How to swim

Oooh, ok TBG. I'm here Thurs, Fri, and all next week.

No infield fly rule? Have you no decency? I'm UMBRAGED!!!!!

jw - is it just me or does ace look like a mass murderer when he gets chosen for the bottom three? he looks like he's going to go postal! yeah, kellie blows the big one - REAL tired of her "i'm a big dum purty contree gurl" act!

Ace just freaks me out period. I like Taylor, and I'm annoyed that I missed the SNL skit on him.

'mudge - stop hogging up all the umbrage!

Mudge, clearly the Infield Fly rule is a silent rule.

jw - my money (and my heart i must admit) are on chris - tho paris blows me away! and kat - well, she's just a plain cutey pie! i can't believe snl did a skit on taylor - tho i hafta admit he's an easy target...

"6. For any content that you post, you hereby grant to washingtonpost.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, exclusive and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part, world-wide and to incorporate it in other works, in any form, media or technology now known or later developed."

Wha? Royalty-free? Talk about extreme umbrage! My words a pure gold, I tell you, and I deserve not only adequate compensation but intellectual properties rights!

See, this is why I *hate* rules.

TBG,

Good idea. We should schedule it. Nani needs to be there. She has the chicken and dumplings.

...Rove as bag man! I am still laughing, so thanks bc. Another headline choice might be "Fudd Gone!" McClellan always reminded me of Elmer Fudd...tried hard, but always seemed to be operated by remote control. Probably Rummy...

amo, that's why we should always preface our comments with, "Now.. this may be plagiarizing someone else, but..."

That should be enough to scare the Post off from wanting our nouns and intransitive verbs.

Okay, I had an argument there until I typed 'intellectual propertIES rights'.

Dagnabbit! I'm an idiot!

mo,

I love Chris. I have a crush on him (yes, Jeremy knows). Last night his performance was amazing. He's got a great voice. I love the rocker voice. I wish Ace would go. And Kellie is getting annoying. She never gets what people are saying to her. "Hehehe, what's that?" Buy a dictionary.

I wonder if having Opinion Re-Attachment surgery will hurt Scott McClellan very much. No human being could be that devoid of nuance or opinion without having had some sort of surgery; now it's time to put it back.

© Tim 2006. Non-exclusive license for usage extended to the Washington Post/Newsweek, Incorporated.

TBG, I could see sprinkling posts with random phrases like, 'I sure hope no one takes me seriously when I say' and 'possibly plagarized from someone who knows something about this'; but those will get old and stale quickly & I like to keep the boodle fresh, like homemade bread.

What others could we use?

Ooh, how about 'In my completely clueless and somewhat subjective opinion'?

Or the other option is to randomly make up stuff and see if WaPo publishes it.

(Just kidding...)

Jw - we must be from the same area. I too rode out hurricane Bob (on Cape Cod). I remember that there wasn't much warning, about 24 hours or less. It was just enough time to run to the store for batteries and film for the camera. Neighbors chipped in for cookouts of the food that was defrosting. My fondest memory was brewing coffee in the car with a percolator designed for a boat (plugged into the cigarette lighter). It tasted like it had been made with bilge water. My second favorite memory was seeing dolphins in our cove, apparently driven there by the storm. I do think people in general expect someone else to take care of everything when there is an emergency. It would be useful if we had some leadership from the president regarding taking responsibility, being prepared and helping our neighbors. We'd better hope the next big disaster doesn't occur 'til W is out of there as taking responsibility isn't a strong point for him - does he have any?

On another topic, I can proudly say that I have never seen "Idol" or any of the other reality shows, I'd sooner poke my eye out with a sharp stick.

I'd just like to point out, for anyone who might be looking for a 'Boodle handle, that "fully sublicensable license" is available.

I remember back to Hurricanes Frances & Jean where we were without power for a few days here and there.

My brother was staying with me at the time; this was before he left for South Korea.

We had a grill and charcoal, we had water and canned goodies, a couple of coolers full of ice, a radio, batteries, flash lights, etc. I explained to my daughter (who was 7 at the time) that we were going to practice 'indoor camping' and got many games like checkers, cards, etc for entertainment. The grown-ups also had plenty of booze, which doesn't seem safe now but seemed like a good idea at the time...

Anway, about mid-way through the storm, my brother was all in a panic. See, he's a devoted coffee drinker and was unhappy about the prospect of waking up the next day after the storm to a java-free existence.

I said, "Au contraire, mon frere, I have a French press and we can boil water on the grill once the coals are hot. Voila, du cafe!" If memory serves, we also had scrambled eggs & bacon because we had to eat the food from the fridge first, before it went bad.

See, now making coffee on a grill? That's a valuable survival skill. My brother, the kid who blew the Bell Curve and got 1600 on the SATs, couldn't figure out coffee without a coffeemaker.

He hates it when I tell this story.

my most recent hurricane memory is the hurricane 3 (or so) years ago - i went to closing on a house the day before - a house with 12 trees that i now had to worry about falling over on a house that i had yet to live in...

i was still living in a high rise at the time and we had no running water - electricity, but no running water so they drained the two big swimming pools that the complex had so we could flush the toilets... (meanwhile, the house had electricity and water, but no furniture, food, etc)...

boodleaire, I'm still laughing at the crack about Rove joining the Vice President for hunting. And welcome aboard.

jw, the Duke mess is a mess, and the defense attorneys I suspect are trying to sway public opinion for their clients, and I suppose that is their job. For me, it's just kinda greasy. I agree with your comment though.

dolphin micheal, Archie Bell and the Drells will not go away. My back and legs hurt so bad, I can't dance, but that tune is dancing in my head.

I don't understand all of this paragraph before the comment button, can anyone explain? Is there a new rule? Or rules?

and i hate to admit that am a reality tv show junkie - i'm EXACTLY who the market targets...

sara - i always knew you had good taste! i'm absolutely smitten with chris! he's so intense!

(please don't think less of me for being a reality show junkie! at least i admit my weaknessess!!)

Rule #1 is the one that concerns me. Anytime I see the word 'indemnify' it scares me. In this case, WAPO expects me to indemnify them WRT anything that I write, but they take no responsibility for posting it properly or completely. So if I say

"XXX blog says that Karl Rove is a dirtbag"

and the WAPO blog machine garbles it as

"Karl Rove is a dirtbag"

then I have 1) libeled Karl Rove, and 2) WAPO takes no responsibility, and 3) they expect me to let them off the hook for this.

I expect the jackbooted thugs to come pounding on my door later tonight.

cranky,

Don't worry, you haven't libeled anyone by saying "Karl Rove is a dirtbag."

What I really want to know is song lyrics? If we immortalise to a tune of, does this qualify as copyright theft? Defintions? If we attribute properly, will we survive?

Joel, I don't understand this binder that has been attached to the submit button, can you explain? Do you need blood, my first born, my granchildren, what?

Cranky, isn't it only libel if it's *untrue*?

In the aforementioned case, it's either opinion or fact, and if it's opinion then it's not libel. If it's true and factual, then it's not libel.

On the other hand, if you allege something about Karl Rove that isn't true, and state the allegation as fact...well, then you'd be up the proverbial creek.

Fortunately, in your example, that doesn't apply.

No jackbooted thugs for you!

Hell, I've already pretty much sinned against these commandments already. Let me start:

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In order to keep these experiences enjoyable and irritating for all of you pooflinging users, we ask simply that you follow these special minimal rules. These rules are only a minimum, which is why we refer to them as minimal rules; in addition to complying with these Planck-length rules, we ask that you also exercise the same lack of common sense and inconsideration that your fellow users show you. By participating either in the Live Online Forum or in the Discussion Forums or by submitting maximum Boodlage to articles, blogs, reviews or multimedia features, or any other neato thing you see on WaPo.com you are consenting adults to these rules.

1. You agree that you are fully responsible for the content that you post, even if you hijack a port and back hat you way into an Institution of Higher Learining's mail server and submit from there. You will not knowingly foist content that violates the copyright, trademark, patent or other intellectual property rights or wrongs of any third party and that you will remove the same should you discover that you have violated this provision, even if you have no tools or privilages to do so. Likewise, you may not post content that is libelous, defamatory, obscene, abusive, that violates a third party's right to privacy, that otherwise violates any applicable local, state, national, international, interplanetary, interstellar, intergalactic, or interdimensional law (quantum, newtonian, relativistic, or cosmological), or that is otherwise inappropriate, unless you think it will draw page views. You will indemnify, stultify, magnify, and SuperFly WashingtonHostNewsleakinteractiveHyperactive and Radio Company, its employees, agents, stringers, editors, centerfielders, linebackers, receivers, fullbacks, goalies, poseurs, dancers, fly fishermen, and affiliates from any and all claims, damages (including but not limited to reasonable attorneys' fees), and/or umbrage resulting from any claim brought by any well-heeled and well-represented party relating to content you have Boodled. Amen.

2. You understand and agree that washingtonhost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties. Don't get mad at US, we're just sayin'. You further underhand that, on the unmitigated discussion forums, washingtonhost.com does not, never, ever, nohow, and in no way ever monitor the content posted. Nevertheless, washingtonhost.com MAY monitor any user-generated content it damn well pleases and reserves the right to remove, edit, butcher, or otherwise alter content that it damn well pleases for any reason whatever without consent, even though we don't monitor it. We further reserve the right, in our soul indiscretion, to remove a user's right to post content on our site. We have our ways...

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6. For any content that you post, you hereby grant to washingtonhost.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, exclusive and fully sub- and super-licensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create, squeeze out, pinch off, issue, emit, or copy derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in hole or in part, multiverse-wide and to incorporate it in other works, in any form, media or technology now known or later developed. Hit "Submit" and it's OURS, capeesh?

So there."

Am I in trouble yet?

bc

Sorry, my first born is not here anymore, I keep thinking he's at work. Oh, how that hurts. And the spelling is "grandchildren".

Previewed SCC: "black hat your way into" in Rule #1.

Ka-Feh!

bc

Dolphin Mike, I decided to shed my (faux) umbrage and go ride my bike. It's far too lovely outside to waste sitting behind a desk. Go on everyone, leave early and go take a walk.

Our W&OD trail is a gem of a park. I can hop on my bike at my house, dive into the park at Four Mile Run and ride for hours along the Potomac, all the way to Mt. Vernon in one direction, or all the way to Purcellville in the other. Along the way, I always see lots of geese and ducks; they're nesting right now but soon there will be lots of fuzzy babies toddling along after their parents. Sometimes I see swans, osprey, even the occasional pair of bald eagles down near Mt. Vernon. Red-winged blackbirds guard the marshy areas, while cardinals and wrens sing from their brushy homes beside the trail.

Sharing the W&OD with the birds are people of every shape, size, color and age. I've seen some pretty wacky behavior out there, such as the Elderly Asian Ladies' Early Morning Walking Backwards Club (?), the Ladies' Jump-Roping while sort-of jogging Club, the not-very-smart person riding her bike with dogs attached to a leash and a kid in a trailer debacle-in-the-making, the assorted cell-phone talkers- walking, riding, jogging, yap-yap-yapping...

I encourage you all to get out and enjoy the rest of the day.

Amo: Great story. And people think nothing useful is learned from camping. Makes you wonder what kind of social upheaval would occur if significant numbers of people were unable to watch television for, say, a week?

[Disclosure: This post has been carefully previewed, and is still poop. All rights surrendered to the Great Benevolent and Wise Masters of The Washington Post and its corporate subspecies.]

Forget intense, mo. Chris is just hot, even without the intensity. And he reminds me of Vin Diesel who is also very attractive. Chris might be more attractive, though.

Haha, bc! I liked your wording better.

Previewed SCC #2: remove second "it" from first para.

I don't make this easy on me, do I?

bc

Cassandra, how about a massage?

I am back to dancing after restoring 30 servers and having lunch.

I can't even approach explaining what happened to the servers, but just imagine that it would be about as exciting for me as to dance the Tighten Up with Barbara Bush in the Houston Astrodome after the big flood.

Pixel, please use veiled speech when referring to locations where geese can be found. Turns out there are quite a few goose-haters around (and I mean that in the most non-libellous way)

[SonofCarl is a wholly owned subsidiary of Major League Baseball. All rights reserved, 2006]

I see that Fox Broadcaster Tony Snow is under consideration to replace Scotty McClellan.

That'll give new meanings to the term "Snow job".

bc
[All fights preserved In the Year of Our Lord two thousand aught and six]

CowTown,

"Great story. And people think nothing useful is learned from camping. Makes you wonder what kind of social upheaval would occur if significant numbers of people were unable to watch television for, say, a week?"

I shudder to think, but hey survival of the fittest and all that. If I keep my mouth shut, the chance of competition drops dramatically. *grin*

However, I do think everyone should have a copy of the Foxfire books.

http://shoppes.farmersalmanactv.com/ShowView/category/182

bc, "You will indemnify, stultify, magnify, and SuperFly". That's great stuff. I'm going to ask Washington Post if I can use that.

bc, that's great. Definitely post that to your 10th circle blog.

Now, as overpromised earlier in the day, I have obtained some numbers from our ace researcher Madonna Lebling, about the number of stories in The Washington Post that mentioned Osama bin Laden before and after Sept. 11, 2001.

Before 9/11: 539 stories mentioning bin Laden (the first in 1996)

After 9/11: 4314 mentions.

Many of these were news briefs, so here's another statistic, of stories that ran on the front page of the newspaper that mentioned bin Laden at least in passing:

Before 9/11: 73 mentions.

After 9/11: 820 mentions.

SofC, I like geese in both formats (alive and for dinner.) No shortage of them, though. I once smacked one with a golf ball. That really teed him off!

On a sports note, the WaPo has coverage of Smokin' Weber and Practice Man Iverson's missing "76er's Fan Appreciation Night" in Philly last night, but the Philly coverage is a hoot:

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/14375076.htm

bc

Pixel, I find hitting geese while playing sports, but particularly golf to be a wedge issue.

Whoa, Joel.

I'm not going to get the WaPo's Men In Black (Hal and Tom S.) showing up at my door with the flashy thing if I repost that thar there?

Or worse, your Boss?

bc

Oh. The Boss. She Who Shall Not Be Named. That'd be scary.

Sidney?

I *like* Sidney. [drags toe in sand]

There was a time, back in the days before the invention of fine print, when lawyers communicated boilerplate and nonboilerplate legal notices by waving flags. "Your mileage may vary," a lawyer might communicate, while twirling a certain flag as if it were a steering wheel. "Not for use in a shower or bath," another might legally notify clients, while using an assigned flag as if drying off shoulders and the back of the neck. This system ended when a lawyer hit another lawyer with a flag, leading to a lawsuit.

It was a colorful time in legal history. But the use of fine print led to much progress with the eventual creation of fully sublicensable (and even superlicensable) licenses -- for which no amount of flag waving could ever do justice.

Bayou Self, each time, my chuckle gets larger and larger.

Bayou, likewise. Kudos to DM as well. Try as I might, no golf reference could top that.

I like She Who Must Be Obeyed, too.

I just wouldn't want to be on her bad side.

On which I may in fact just be now.

(The previous sentence is designed to confuse and distract anyone with editorial tendencies.)

bc

sara - he reminds ME of vin diesel too!! and i've already said how fond of vin d. i am! and yes, i think chris may be a smidge hotter!

*i absolutely refuse to type anything serious today!*

never hit any geese whilst golfing, tho i find that i rarely hit anything whilst golfing - esp. that damm little ball!

Well, mo, at least you're starting from the ladies' tees.

Woe betide the man who does not drive the ladies tees, lest Serious Consequences emerge.

bc

Yikes.

Gotta run and do Dad duties.

bc

bc - thank the heavans for the ladies tee! tho i fib a little, i'm actually not that bad at golf - need to get a shorter driver tho, i'm too short for the one i currently have...

The word "exclusive" is a complete deal-breaker. There are sites out there that host videos and such with similar clauses that have generated a lot of ill-will when the creators of all those silly Flash-animated cartoons realize they no longer own the intellectual property they created.

I propose that bc flagerantly flaunt the rules by posting his parody (which is still protected speech) on his blog and try to get sued.

In the words of a famous PBS quiz show:

1. All questions used in Whad'Ya Know?have been painstakingly researched. The answers have not. Listeners who are sticklers for accuracy should get their own show.
2. Rule two is always something silly about a runnig gag or a current event. Not unlike the Boodle.
3. Persons employed by the International House of Radio are lucky to be working at all, let alone wasting valuable time tying up the office phone. Players who have won recently should sit on their hands and let someone else have a chance for a change.
4. All opinions expressed on Whad'Ya Know? are well-reasoned and insightful. Needless to say they are not those of the International House of Radio, its member stations, or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itching for a fight.

The first thing you need to know about the boss is that her name is Sydney, not Sidney. Do NOT make this mistake again. Or there will be repercussions of a legal nature that will make the FULL RULES of the new Comment Policy look as terse as what you read in a fortune cookie.

Pixel: I for one would kinda like to have the W&OD back--the neat electrified trolley version, not the later diesel version. Think about it--a smooth, quick trolley ride from Purcellville to Old Town Alexandria. For those who came in late, the W&OD also ran out to Great Falls, VA and down what is now I-66 to Roslyn.

How short a driver do you need, mo? Will I do?

SCC: In Rule 2, it should be "running dog" not "ruining gags".

Old habits are hard to break. That preview button is going to be tough to get used to.

And hey, we got a preview at the price of our meager creativity. Maybe for our first-born off-spring, we can get italics. That would be a better deal.

Dolphin Michael - Thanks. I am to please. But did you know that there was a time, back in the days before the Internet and blogs and such, when people communicated appreciation for levity by waving flags? "That's funny!" one might communicate while waving a flag, with a finishing flourish that flashed the inclusion of an exclamation point. "That's so funny, I forgot to laugh," one could also convey, sarcastically, if need be. The waving of the flags was, itself, pretty humorous.

It was a colorful time in the history of humor. But the waving of flags as a form of audience response to levity fell off sharply around the time of the invention of television's laugh track.

Mr. Self intended to say "I aim to please" in his recent post. We regret the error.

Ooooooo. Sydney, with a "y." Like Sydney Bristow. Kinda kinky. I like it! Joel, tell us more. Is she pantsless, like Liz Kelly? (I heart Liz Kelly.) Does she do cruel things to Hal the Schemer?

'mudge - believe it or not, i think even YOU might be too tall! *smiley emoticon*

Well, there you have it: I have resigned in order to begin the next chapter in my life.

Eek! 'Mudge, we no nothing about Sydney; she is inscrutable. But I do know this--she does not like the word kinky.

good luck, Melvin/a

Thanks for the stats, Joel.

oh jw, you shoulda never told me that!

Bayou Self,

You are to please, too, I'm quite sure. Especially if The Boss has her way.

Probably just a Freudian thingy, but hey, you're on the right track.

*grin*

But my first born is just getting out of that 'failure to launch' stage (stolen shamelessly from a superior mortal, Curmudgeon). I don't want to let him go just for italics now. I've a vested interest in seeing him fully launch.

I will offer his laundry though. You can have that, and I won't even ask for italics.

Oh, Mudge. Careful, entries that refer to Sydney or Sidney in an even vaguely lascivious matter will be mysteriously erased by the Boss via Hal.

Praise her gently. Kind Sidney. Fair Sidney. Ah, what I would suffer just for a momemt to dwell in her merciful shadow.

Oh, damn that Preview. Post already.

Yo, welcome back, Melvin/a!

my hometown newspaper reports that Shakira will sing during the final game of the World Cup in Germany. And *that* is supposed to make Colombia look good???

The new rules still don't say anything about staying on topic.

If we stayed on topic, Joel would think the boodle was ill.

Maybe staying on topic is one of those ominous things Sydney might have posted in the FULL Rules.

Harummph. Well, as we just have the one child, I guess I will abandon the italics and revert to signal flags.

Since everything we post is the property of WaPo, I guess we are quasi-employees. Please accept this post as my request to be added to the waiting list for parking spots.

*signal flags*

*[inapproriate signalling removed]*

Has no one noticed this?

Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed.

Yikes. There goes the Boodle.

In order to be considered a valid signature, the name block must be filled in with full real name, Boodle alias, CB handle, and the nickname everyone called you in second grade. Additionally, for identification purposes, include mother's maiden name, social security number, checking account PIN, and the location of any house keys hidden in your yard. Please state your total net worth, your weight dripping wet, and any embarrasing activities you would not want revealed in public . Thank you for your cooperation.

Darn, since I granted all exclusive rights to this post, I have just abandoned all hope of ever getting it produced on Broadway.

under the title "Springtime for Boodler", no doubt

I am pretty sure that the new Comment Policy does not require that anyone post his or her real name. "Curmudgeon" can remain "Curmudgeon" and does not need to post his actual identity and location (Mitzi Fleeberhoffen, Falls Church.)

New pickup line in a bar:

"I like to boodle without previewing."

Cassandra, going back to upper boodle just now, I reread your post about your son.

Growing up I lived just across the lake from my Uncle's. Their 8 kids and our 5 kids were a herd, who yelled our good mornings across the lake to each other while we waited for the bus, got into trouble together and did our chores together as often as not. We grew up in each others pockets, and in so many ways, I have a lot more brothers than the one my mom gave birth to. Their eldest son is no longer here either, and I miss my other big brother every time I turn around. You have my sympathies.

So, Joel...

I know that we're generally pretty well behaved, so just what exactly did you DO to bring these new rules upon yourself?

I guess I never got around to posting a new kit. The things that slip one's mind!

I have to say that the new comments policy has the very faint whiff of lawyering. Clearly they are aware that at some point the boodlers will demand a 401k.

I keep looking at the word "challenge" and wondering why it doesn't say "criticize." I think the "even" needs to be dropped -- "even challenge" makes it sound as though this should be a very rare event, but one tolerated under certain select conditions.

I need to check the obsessive-compulsive antiPost blogs to see what they make of all this -- they must be loving the vague catch-allisms like "or any other policies governing this site" (that we are not going to reveal at this time).

[Submitted without Preview.]

So, what's the point of removing unsigned entries that are otherwise harmless, or even well worth keeping?

For instance, in part II of this unsigned post, I intend to reveal the secret...

I know, I know (jumping up and down with one hand raised). Its Britney Molly Smith!

Posting without a handle is like going to work without pants on!

jw

1. "very faint whiff of lawyering". Hey! *rapid signalling of indignation*

*clearing air of strong whiff created by rapid signalling*

2. From my Concise Oxford:
"Challenge v. ... 3. expose (the immune system) to pathogenic organisms or antigens." Hmmmm.

[attachment: annakournikova.exe]

I think it's amusing that, when presented with these rules over at the anti-Post Post blog, the posters responded with incomprehensible gibberish about how the Post is just showing that it's a pawn of the right/left and how the editorial page is still crap no matter what rules you give us.

We, on the other hand, make jokes about signal flags.

I don't think we get this blog thing. We need more vitriol.

[I'm adding this in the preview pane, just because I can. Take that, WaPo!]

jw, that was posted without pants, wasn't it?

You know how I know I'm getting older?

Because today the issue came up of whether I get an office, a cubicle or share an office in the new office building we are moving to in a couple of months. (I currently have an office with a nice big window.)

I work part time, but have been with the company nearly 15 years. My immediate boss keeps telling the big boss that I need an office, but Big Boss keeps coming up with other schemes to save space and/or money.

Today Immediate Boss asked me if I would share an office and I said I'd rather not. I told him to tell Big Boss that I'm worried about my flatulence problem bothering other folks nearby.

I'd rather have people think I have a farting problem than share an office or a cube.

That's how I know I'm getting older.

Now, Washingtonpost.com, aren't you glad you own that story?

TBG - Beautiful!

(Blog comment reviews rights granted reciprocal rights. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/liveonline/delphi/delphirules.htm
for further details)

(C)2006 - BS & Ass.

Oh, push for walls, TBG. I can attest that no walls is awful. As is no window (if they leave the vestibule door open, I can see outside). Joel at least is under the stairs. He has a boundary.

"Posting without a handle is like going to work without pants on!" -jw (a wholly owned susidiary of WaPoBlog.inc)

I thought Weingarten didn't believe in blogs.

Weingarten believes in them, just refuses on theological grounds to host one.

The best (most ironic?) part of the rules page is that the Google® ads are all for intellectual property lawyers.

Yuk! I hadn't noticed that. Very Washington, I thionk.

Way to go TBG! Don't let them wear you down!

'Mudge, you promised us a boodle on signal flags, didn't you? Where is it? I'm sure it will be excellent and and I want to read it...*grin*

Getting back to jw's 6:33, I thought WE were the pawns of the right/left. I'm so confused.

*apprehensive signalling*

I'm a bit confused about Rule 3:

"3. You understand and agree that discussion forums are to be used only for non-commercial purposes. You may not solicit funds, promote commercial entities or otherwise engage in non-commercial activity in our discussion forums."

{The forums are to be used only for non-commercial purposes, but we're not allowed to engage in non-commercial activity? Clearly they're messing with our minds, man -- er, I mean, person.)

Good morning Tom Fan!

I set the City Time program on my Treo to show me what time it is in Hong Kong. (I have such a hard time with that)

Glad to see you up and about. What's the weather like? Are you still in your PJs?

Just wondering.

Hi TBG!
You guessed it -- I'm in my pj's. It's 8:40 in the morning here (12 hours difference now that you guys have sprung forward) (we don't have daylight savings). It's sunny, but a little hazy, although I can still see across the harbor to the Kowloon side, so all in all it's a good day.

Long story short, it's good porching weather. My only complaint is that the weeds in the garden bed on said porch are growing very quickly -- exponentially; promiscuously. But I guess that gives me an excuse to be out there. (I still haven't quite gotten the hang of porching for its own sake. I always feel I should be *doing* something.)

D'oh. You already knew what time it is here.

Although I have no trouble remembering that it's morning here when it's night there, I still keep forgetting that it's the previous day in the U.S. On a Sunday night, I'll be eagerly awaiting the start of a busy day of 'boodling, only to remember that it's only Sunday morning in Washington. (But it works both ways; on Friday nights, I'll be thinking the week's 'boodling is over, and then I'll remember that silly Friday is only just getting started on the 'boodle.)

Tom Fan. You have found a typo in the rules. The wrath so incurred is sure to be swift and most terrible. Luckily you are on the other side of the planet.

I have now spent two consecutive days figuring out how to spend a good chunk of tax dollars. The money is heavily earmarked, so the obvious suggestions of roadsters, lingerie, and beer were not long entertained. Neither was the impudent suggestion that we just send the money back. So naturally, the discussion turned to marshmallow Peeps.

I was shocked, dismayed, and, well, shocked to find that certain highly intelligent individuals, many with advanced degrees, have never microwaved a marshmallow Peep.

Do they teach nothing useful in school anymore?

In the interest of Scientific Enlightenment I bought a few over lunch and performed an impromptu demonstration. Much hilarity ensued.

Then we had to go back to work. Once I cleaned out the oven.

RD Padouk:
Not only have I never microwaved a Peep; I've never even eaten one. [Ducks to avoid being bombarded by stale, rock-hard Peeps.]

Isn't it funny how money that has been recategorized in some way can become "free money," even though the owner of the money and the value of the money haven't changed? I have that problem when I convert money into a foreign currency; the new money almost seems like Monopoly money, to be spent as frivolously as possible.

When I moved to Hong Kong, I left my U.S. bank account open but took out a substantial amount in the form of a cashier's check that I planned to use to open a bank account here. It used to be easy to do that sort of thing, but the regulations have changed in recent years -- because of the tearsts, I think. Anyway, for a long time it looked like the bank wasn't going to accept my check. (Maybe they thought I was a money-launderer.) In my less rational moments, I thought, Oh no, I've thrown all that money down the drain!

In the end my husband managed to pull some strings and convince them to accept my check, and now I feel like I've suddenly got all this money that I didn't have before. I'm rich!

So far I've resisted going crazy with it, although I did buy a sneaker-shaped keychain with a clockface in it for the equivalent of 3 U.S. dollars. (It wasn't just an ordinary sneaker; it was made out of that Chinese-patterned silky stuff. Bright pink.) Oh, and I also bought a Japanese ceramic "happy cat" (not to be confused with a "lucky cat"). But that's it. No more shopping . . .

[I fully anticipate a call from Michelle Singletary in response to my admission that I have a separate bank account.]

Do they deal with the issue of separate bank accounts on the Mommy blog, or is that subject a little too touchy?

Oh and Tom Fan, you said:

"D'oh. You already knew what time it is here."

... just as I was going to say "D'oh. It's exactly 12 hours ahead... that's not so confusing."

I don't think the Mommy Blog would know what to make of me.
Not so much because of the separate bank account but because, right now, I'm a stay-at-home mom who doesn't actually have kids. It's a somewhat unorthodox and awkward situation, and I fear that the bona fide stay-at-homes would say something like, Get back to work you bum.

Nice catch on non-commercial, Tom fan.

(This has been a commercial post, unless it should be a non-commercial post, then, whatever.)

Loved the comment about "free money." My wife and I often do that when we get an unexpected deal on something. Discovering that the restaurant is having a two-for one special on Enchilada San Carlos means premium Margs without guilt.

The ultimate free money is when you get reimbursed for a business or medical expense. You just never seem to see that it was your money already.

Or how about a tax refund? FREE MONEY GALORE!

I don't really have anything to say but I want to try the preview function! Now my posts will be even further behind - yay! Or maybe this will help cure me of editing in my head.

Hal, the extremely annoying "double word" still occurs! It was not in my original post or preview. I am taking extreme umbrage!

Tom fan, I think "kept woman" has a much nicer ring to it.

I'm answering Joel and yellojkt's Triple Dog Dare from this afternoon, stand by.

bc

I love Rule 6, especially:
"media or technology now known or later developed"

That pretty well covers it, I'd say.

(We'll see how many of us have been hauled off before the week is out!)

Oh, Tom Fan, I think Error Flynn may have mentioned being away for awhile...but I might be making that up.

Ruth Marcus' column from yesterday is funny (channeling bc?) -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2006/04/18/GR2006041800688.html

"media or technology now known or later developed"

That phrase developed when Disney found out they had failed to secure the all-media rights from some of the voice actors in their very old cartoons. When they issued the DVD's they got some interesting calls from agents and lawyers.

As such, all the media conglomerates, which seems to include WaPoBrother here, have caught on and make sure the servants are indentured forever.

Does Joel give up all rights to his work? If so, does he have to cut in the Grahams if he wants to publish a collection of his columns? Inquiring minds want to know.

Wow, they really ARE just kidding about these rules. I mean, if I had taken the ridicule that's going to be heaped among them for not only allowing, but actually making mandatory, the following message, I'd certainly consider correcting rule #3!
---

Concerned about complying with the new WaPo.com regulations? Do you find your finger trembling as you choose between a third "Preview" and leaping into the abyss with "Submit"? Fear not, well-meaning blogger! The all-volunteer staff at "WeMakeNoProfitBeforeItsTime.org" are here to help you! For a small fee (barely enough to cover the costs of the handkerchiefs that we drape daintily over our privates, in lieu of pants), we'll help you learn to disguise your non-commercial activity [explicitly forbidden by rule 3] as commercial posts, while STILL not engaging in commercial activity.

O.K., maybe I'll start using "Preview"! That wuz supposed to be: "ridicule that's going to be heaped UPON them ..."

Kept woman.
OK then! Now I'm *really* feeling good about myself.

[Had to make an exception to my take-no-umbrage rule for that one. (I was going to say "Thanks an Achenlot," but I thought that might be going a bit far.)]

Getting back to the free money concept:
I've been justifying outlandish expenditures for years on the grounds that I don't get my nails or eyebrows professionally done, which saves me gazillions of dollars. (Actually, I don't even get them UNprofessionally done. I'm an unkempt woman.)

OK, I'm off now, to earn my keep doing grocery shopping and picking up yet more stuff from IKEA. (I've been practically living there since we moved to Hong Kong. I'm surprised I haven't been dreaming about the place. I guess I've been dreaming about other stuff: A couple of nights ago, I dreamed of George Harrison, and I also had a dream that I was at college and I'd completely forgotten about two of the four classes I was taking and hadn't gone to any of the lectures or handed in any of the assignments. Oh, then last night I dreamed about one of those hole-in-the-ground Chinese toilets. Clearly I'm deteriorating rapidly.)

Joel made me do it. Though I tinkered with it a little.

http://www.10thcircle.com/10/?cat=4

PreRamble to the Konstitution of the Kit and Kaboodle:
We the people of the Kit and Kaboodle, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic and Comment field tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posteriority, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Boodle.

Achenamendment I
Congress, LegalEase wielding killjoys, or overreaching knuckleheads like bc shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press in any form; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble in basr or anywhere else, and to petition the government or LegalEase-wielding killjoys and/or their bosses for a redress of umbrage- and/or non-ubmbrage-based grievances.

G'night, all.

bc

Like ScienceTim, I have concerns about Rule 6. As a state employee, I'm not sure that the state doesn't already hold the rights to any statements I make, at least those that relate to science.

Well, I'm guessing that whatever serves as the Great Being holds the rights to all empirically correct statements about science & math. I haven't noticed any country or company ever successfully defending their intellectual property in that regard.

I want you all to think about one thing: he is much worse than your worse fears.

To continue in my alarmist, conspiracy-theory vein:

Example 1: Many of us suggested a few days ago that Mudge's post on Plamegate was as good as many WaPo op-ed pieces. So, if NYT wanted to publish Mudge's article, he couldn't be paid for it, or give it to them for free. However, NYT could pay WaPo for the article, with Mudge completely out of the loop.

Example 2: In a response to a question from Loomis, I speculated about a possible source of Al Romer's inspiration in becoming a paleontologist. So far as I know, that idea was original, but if I ever decided to include it in a paper about Romer, I would have to buy my own idea back from WaPo.

To quote Wally in "Dilbert", "I'm hoarding my knowledge in case I ever need it." (Sorry, Scott Adams already has the copyright.)

I admit, though, Rule 6 might be a great nicotine patch for treating boodle-addiction.

Tom Fan, I always have those going to college and forgetting to go to classes dreams. In my case, I dream that I've forgotten to go to the class for weeks and realize that I need to catch up only I don't remember where the room is. I wonder what a dream analyst would say about these dreams.

I love Ikea as well. Don't have one in our state but am hoping and wishing really hard. One thing about Hawaii, no good, reasonably priced furniture here. Only junk that costs a lot. Must be something about shipping heavy things across the ocean. Discrmination, I say.

Aloha, Aloha!
Sorry to hear about your lack of good furniture. Sounds like there might be an unexplored market niche there -- some locally produced classy Polynesian-style furniture, perhaps? (Hang on -- is there sufficient wood in Hawaii for such an enterprise?) (For some reason I'm reminded of Jared Diamond's "Collaps," as in, "What were Easter Islanders saying as they cut down the last tree on their island?")

Re. the dream about college, yeah, in mine I hadn't been to lectures all semester and dared not track down the teacher to try to remedy the situation. Perhaps this particular dream is a reflection of aspects of our lives we feel we've neglected. Or guilt. (I've heard it said that pretty much all our problems have their origin in guilt.)

Several weeks ago I had a similar version of the dream in which the semester had just started and I'd missed only one lecture and had an essay due the next day; it was still possible for me to redeem myself. Before that, I hadn't had such a dream before, as far as I can recall. I've heard it's a classic, though. My father is in his 60s and still regularly dreams that he's about to sit an exam he hasn't studied for. (But when you think about it, aren't we all?)

[Speaking of my father, I should heed his advice on recounting dreams: Dreams are best kept to oneself, he says. Not only are they boring to everyone except the dreamer; they can make one appear to be quite mad.]

good morning!

isn't the "post a comment" disclaimer missing a few commas?

does this constitute "even challenging" or "analyzing"?

That slash didn't come out very clearly in the signature line.
Just goes to show, slashes are sloppy and should be avoided.

Good morning, a bea c.
Indeed, the lack of serial commas drives me nuts, too, but it appears to be the Post's style.

Should I tell them about the Rule 3 typo that Tom Fan discovered or should we just wait and see how long it takes before they discover it? "They" being the mysterious people who invented The Rules.

I have a new kit brewing ... but it probably won't go up until later in the morning...I realize this boodle is out of control but I fear I am on a wicked deadline with an actual story.

[Still not previewing! Caution to the wind! Write hard, die free!!!]

I was really surprised this am to hear there are 558 detainees in Guantanamo. I had thought there were about 300.

Question of the day:
What's more boring: my grammar analysis, or my dream analysis?
(Tough call! You'd better hope there's a new Kit soon.)

I say we leave Rule #3 as is, to serve as a reminder.

Tomfan, didn't mean to cause umbrage.
I think your current status of "at Liberty, but with Means" in an interesting city is an enviable one.

bc

a bea c, hope you are feeling better.

Has anyone noticed that the preview looks so much better than the actual post? It's kinda like when clothes look better on you in the store's dressing-room mirror than your bedroom's.

Seriously 'boodled out of order, i.e., after Achenbach and after a serious Guantanamo Bay comment.

I'm wondering if maybe the "non-commercial" typo wasn't in fact a typo -- perhaps it was the Powers That Be's way of telling us we're d@mned if we do and d@mned if we don't. (And I must say, there's been an awful lot of non-commercial activity in this 'boodle lately.)

[Or is that "Powers' That Be"?]

Tom Fan,

I have a good friend who moved to a new city with her husband and found that he was going to make enough money at his new job that she would not have to work. Which is good, because there is little work in her field in that city.

She was worried about appearing to be a "kept woman" but then her brother told her, "If I found out I didn't have to work a regular job, I'd feel like my ship had come in!"

She's enjoying her busy days filled with not working.

TRUE SCIENTIFIC FACT:

It's 420 today, all day. And twice today it will be 4/20 4:20.

Surprise your teenager and tell them to have a good one!

For those who don't celebrate 4/20, it IS Hitler's Birthday.

This message brought to by the book "A Brazilian Little Pieces" and the Future National Representatives of America.

bc

If the "non-" in Rule 3 wandered back to in front of the "exclusive" in Rule 6, things would be a lot closer to right.

The Wandering Non- would be a great Boodle Alias.

Of all the ^*#%^(#&##$%&%&($&^#@!!!!!!! times for me to have to take a road trip without Web access!!!!

*tearing hair*

FAR too much Boodleskimming to try and keep up, except:

You all know they made a huge mistake with Rule 6:
There IS NO RULE 6!!!!!!

And previews??? We don' need no steeeekin' previews!!! SCCs are half the fun of this!

:-)

I prefer "The Flying Non", yellojkt.

bc

Scottynuke, does that make you #2?

Enjoy your new status.

bc

thanks tbg. i am. i won't be taking any more rx pain killers. ibuprophen should be enough for now. anyone interested in my leftover pills?

disclaimer: i'm not selling them. i'm giving them away and charging s&h. this makes my post commercial and non-commercial.

Oh, I'm definitely *enjoying* my non-working days, TBG.
As I've always said, if a person can't think of any other way to fill his or her time besides working, that's pretty sad. Still, sometimes I feel a little self-indulgent, even though I figure I'll probably get a job eventually (if I can find one that doesn't require me to speak Cantonese). After I've visited Australia and done a whole bunch of other stuff. . .

You're right -- I should just enjoy it while it lasts.

If you microwave a yellow Peeps marshmallow bunny it looks just like a Pikachu.

My work here is done.

Just hope nobody wonders why the lab smells like burnt marshmellow.

Well, you could use your copious free time to learn Cantonese. Surely, you have a few bad words figured out by now? In high school, I dated a girl who had lived in Hong Kong for several years. She had a healthy supply of unprintable phrases and words in Cantonese -- or so she claimed.

Morning WaPo sports headline:

"al notebook: Angels' Colon Sent to the Disabled List"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/19/AR2006041902820.html

They had me at "Colon" and "inflammation".

bc

Tim - I went to college with a lot of people from Asia. The consensus was that although English is a wonderfully flexible language, it is woefully deficient in profanity.

Exam dreams...I have a funny story...I once went to class in college and forgot about the exam that day and hadn't studied for it at all. My response was to shrug, put my books under my desk while thinking either I no the material or I don't. I aced the exam. From that day forward I never worried about studying for exams or experienced any anxiety on exam days. Flash forward a few years after graduating and I have my first dream where I hadn't prepared for an exam. Here's the fun part. I wake up in a cold sweat terrified, just like I felt in the dream. I had this same dream and response several times over the next few years. Even though I never had the dream while in school, and I only started having them a few years after graduating. It was the complete opposite reaction I had in reality.

SCC of course no is know

I get the dream where I realize I am naked in public and hope nobody notices. We all get that dream, right? Right?

Very Scientific Peep Research.

Enjoy.

http://www.peepresearch.org/index.html

[apologies if someone else already posted this]

Ahh, there's been Peeps jousting here at the office over the course of the week, RD.

I disavow any further knowledge of this behavior.

bc

same happened to me, omni. when i graduated, i started dreaming about forgetting to officially drop a class and having to take the final after not attending all semester. and, after i left my old job in trade shows, i started having dreams about my graphics and samples not making it to the exhibit hall. now, as a teacher, i sometomes dream i've hit and injured my students, usually those from last year.

bcc sometimes

can't wait to get my right hand back in working order

bcc = scc

big scc

yellojkt, my *nightmare* would be that I were nekkid and no one noticed.

bc

Tom Fan--you're not a kept woman, you're retro. Invest in some aprons, and a shirtwaist dress, some heels and string of pearls for when you do the house cleaning. Find a bridge club! The rest of us wage slaves are gnashing our teeth in envy.

I vote for writing a book, Tom Fan.

Bless you, bless you, friends. Good morning to all, and a good day I hope. God is good, and I'm happy to be here.

Thanks for your kind words yesterday, dr. So many times I forget my son isn't here anymore, because I'm thinking he's at work. And when I crash, it just hurts. When I think about him, tears come to my eyes, because I so want him here with his family.

dolphin micheal, a massage would probably be good with this bad back and aching joints. The offer sounds very good. Archie Bell and the Drells are still singing this morning.

Thank you all for making me feel better about my lady-of-leisure status.

Re. the nekkid dream, isn't it funny how it always seems to be OK to be naked, for awhile, and it's not such a stretch to expect that no-one will notice. But then at some point it suddenly becomes *not* OK, and you find yourself wondering, "What was I *thinking*? Who am I kidding?"

I have reason to believe Joel will be posting a new kit shortly. Everybody chill, or talk quietly among yourselves.

The French Revolution was neither French, nor a revolution. Discuss:

More misplaced 'boodling on my part.
Sorry, Cassandra.

Yes, that's true. It was Corsican, and it was a minor rebellion. Wouldn't it be nice if some of the posters to washpostblog could join us with their constructive and witty comments?

Preview - Submit - Feed the RSS!

Should I put some clothes on?

Tom-Fan: Yes, that is the dream exactly!

The Holy Roman Empire was none of the above.

Tom Fan, I have a recurring dream in which I walk into the lobby of National Airport only to suddenly realize that my flight is out of Dulles. I wake up in a cold sweat each time because, being me, this scenario is frighteningly plausible.

RD, so many people have the DC airport dream that the local transportaion commission runs a dream shuttle between the two airports.

The term "Bush Administration" is only half right.

bc

Oh, DM, I guess not. No one noticed.

bc - I just learned of Peeps jousting today. Perhaps I need to make another trip to the store over lunch.

Also, when you are sick of the smell of toasted marshmallow, try microwaving a bar of Ivory soap.

jw's Dubious Quote of the Day:

"Think of this city as the hole of a doughnut. The doughnut's bottom half is the 6th Congressional District, represented by Tom Tancredo, the fire-breathing bantam rooster -- the image is ornithologically implausible, yet accurate -- who is the frequently contorted face of today's immigration debate. The doughnut's top half is the 7th District, whose incumbent congressman, Republican Bob Beauprez, is running for governor." George Will, from this op-ed:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/19/AR2006041902482.html

Um...what's that about a doughnut, George? The city's the hole? And these two guys are the top and the bottom layers? And one of them is a rooster at the same time? What kind of doughnut is this? Glazed? Chocolate glazed? Chocolate frosted? Frosted with sprinkles? How some doughnuts have a top and bottom, and some don't? So, are you saying they're the same? Or different? Maybe you meant a bagel? And why is Denver the hole? Because it's empty? I'm so confused, George. Maybe you should lay off the metaphors for a while.

I'm starting to think maybe Jung was on to something with his collective-unconscious theory of dreams. (I'm having yellojkt's naked dream, and omni's having someone else's exam-anxiety dream.) Sure, there are probably a few extra twists to it, but I think he was on to something.

So, 'mudge, where is this new Kit you have reason to believe will be posted imminently?
(And where are you getting your info? Do you have connections, or do you just feel it in your waters?)

Awwright, everyone! I've been too busy to boodle of late, but I have checked the NOAA site for weather on the East coast; all models have the weather cooperating at least as far south as SC. Thus, I declare that today is Spring In. Leave your desks ladies and germs, and enjoy the day...play frisbee golf with your friends. Nekkid.

"Waters" is amazingly prescient, Achenfan, as you'll see (sea). Just hold your seahorses.

Mudge: Do you think that Joel has been hired by the White House? .. Maybe to help delineate the points where a shuffling becomes a shake up and then becomes a house cleaning.

Even more coincidentally, today I purchased a product called "Fantastic Seahorse Moisturizing Bath."
So 'mudge, your "hold your seahorses" comment was also amazingly prescient.

[Further evidence for Jung's collective-unconscious theory. Maybe everything *is* related. Maybe we're all really the same person.]

[I don't think it actually has seahorses in it, though. At least, I hope not.]

contains the French illusion seahorse perfume essence to knead together the PCANa element, but the thorough clean flesh, eliminates the body abreast in row smelly, effectively removes 死皮, obviously improves the flesh, young lets your flesh slide, be tender. After bathes, the whole body sends out the noble delicate fragrance, all day lasting is invariable, and may omit the use perfume. the natural active ingredient, can activate the flesh organization, simultaneously the in-depth guarantees wet moistens, causes your flesh gentle like silk, bright and clean like jade

That doughnut quote is really messing with my mind. I'm trying hard to think outside the box, but I just can't seem to visualize a city-as-doughnut.

Actually, Dreamer, for quite some time I've suspected that Curmudgeon and Achenfan were the same person.

MAJOR SCC ALERT:

contains the French illusion seahorse perfume essence to knead together the PCANa element, but the thorough clean flesh, eliminates the body abreast in row smelly, effectively removes 死皮, obviously improves the flesh, young lets your flesh slide, be tender. the special effect stops 癢, effectively suppresses each kind of body to be smelly, has stops 癢 the effect, is maintained the flesh the healthy condition. effectively locks in the flesh moisture, moistens lastingly, after bathes, the flesh doubles feels moistens, the elasticity, every one day-long bathes enjoys, from this time on with ease has

Oh dammit, omni, you made coffee come out my nose. I hate it when that happens.

Wow, omni, I'm impressed!

Google and altavista Babel Fish did all the heavy lifting. I just pushed a bunch of buttons. And still got it wrong the first time.

http://www.hshcl.com/pdt.php?name=Acene&namec=%EF%BF%BD%E8%A8%B4%E8%9D%9F%E6%8A%92%EF%BF%BD%20Acene&line=26&page=2

search for ACE0201-6.

Hahaha. Omni, you forgot that all your base is belong to us.

There is no doubt in my mind that many people report similar dreams. The "collective unconscious" theory has always seemed a little too metaphysical to me. I suspect that we tend to regurgitate dreams we have heard about before. This fits into the idea that dreams are sometimes re-processed memories. Maybe there was some primal "sitting around the cave naked" dream that has become part of our oral history. Or maybe when we recall dreams we unknowingly shoehorn them into some well-understood template. Whatever the reason, it is a curious thing.

bc,

Perhaps "League" would be a better term than "Administration".

I will now exhibit some mystical powers. Clicking on submit almost always produces a new kit.

jw, I think you overlooked this quotation further down in George Will's article:

Think of Washington, D.C., as the air vent of an Entenmann's cherry cheese strudel. The strudel's bottom half is the Alexandria, represented by Alex Trebek, the fire-breathing game show host -- the image is flammatopically implausible, yet insoucient -- who is the frequently contorted face of today's WaPo boodle rules debate. The strudel's top half is the Silver Spring and Bethesda, whose incumbent institution is the National Institutes of Mental Health and Hoof and Mouth Disease.

Don't get me started on Babelfish. I was having fun with the German-English translator on Friday.

http://livebythefoma.blogspot.com/2006/04/warum-babelfish-saugt.html

Guest kit! By Curmudgeon. It's kind of long. It's not "pithy." But it's very amusing, methinks. Thanks Mudge! You really got to get your own blog.

i am SO glad to know you guys have that school dream! mine is always high school tho not college (which is weird cuz college was much more stressful for me) - i always dream that i've already graduated high school AND college but now have gone back to high school (for some god unknown reason) and hope they don't find out that i'm already a college grad - in my dream i also forget where my locker is and when i find it i forget what the combination is and of course all my books and schoolwork are in there...

(i also have the naked dream)

A curious thing indeed, RD.
I recall taking a first-year philosophy class that covered questions such as, How do I know what is real and what is a dream? At the time, I thought, duh, of course I know when I'm dreaming and when I'm not. Now I'm more inclined to think, Wait, how *do* I know? My dreams feel just as solid as my waking life does -- it's hardly like watching a movie.

[Note to self: Pop Richard Linklater's "Waking Life" in the DVD player sometime soon.]

When I was in 12th grade I forgot my locker combo for real. I kept thinking it was 28-12-6, but it wasn't. So I just turned the dial back forth a couple times stopping near those numbers and usually on the second or third try it would open. But the the very next time I would try to open my locker I couldn't remember what opened it the last time and I would go back to thinking it was 28-12-6. (repeat third paragraph) How weird is that?

such a pointless post, I'm slightly embarrassed. I think I'll go for a walk...

Omni - You found the operating instructions for my aromatheraputic foot massage device! Thank you!

Dreamer,

As I kid I used to sometimes have dreams where I was unsure if I was in a dream or not. I found that succesful attempts to levitate was a good indicator. Plus, I learned than being confused about being in a dream meant you are in a dream. But thinking about this is making my brain hurt nearly as much as getting all of Mudge's references in his "guest kit." Although the latter is pretty funny.

omni, that reminds me of another dream I've had:
Forgetting my PIN at the ATM [resists tendencey to add "number" and "machine," respectively].
After I had that dream, I wrote down my PIN in multiple places.

And mo, I also have that going-back-to-school-as-an-adult dream. Maybe it means we're kids at heart?

RD:
Occasionally I dream that I've just woken up from a dream, and I'm lying in bed, but then I'll wake up for real and realize that the lying-in-bed part was itself a dream. (Usually something is a little off in this intermediate dream, e.g., the bedroom door might be missing, or the front door of the apartment might be wide open, or another family might be having breakfast in the kitchen -- but I never seem to notice that anything's amiss until I reflect on it later.)

It all fits in with the there-are-many-layers-to-the-holodeck-of-life theory.

SCC:
Tendency, not tendencey. [Should have used the Preview function.]
No way will I ever get *my* own Kit.
[But don't for one moment think I'm Achenjealous of 'mudge. Oh no, not a bit. Not feeling like chopped liver at all. Now pardon me while I go take a Fantastic Seahorse Moisturizing Bath (which I probably should stop mentioning before I get accused of engaging in commercial activities).]

dreamer and RD - those dreams-within-a-dream dreams really wig me out! sometimes, i'll be having a nightmare, and i'll KNOW it's a nightmare and try to force myself awake where i'll awake into another dream where i think i'm awake my i'm not... i hate those!

This blog posting was of great use in learning new information and also in exchanging our views. Thank you.
Mary Anne Martin
http://www.statefarm4less.com